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An international team of archaeologists has discovered an artificial structure — which is 1,400 m in length, 10-15 m in height, has 9 causeways radiating out from it, and is about 3,000 years old — at the archaeological site of Aguada Fénix in Tabasco, Mexico, near the northwestern border of Guatemala. This is the oldest monumental construction ever found in the Maya area and the largest in the entire pre-Hispanic history of the region.
The findings show how the ancient civilization adapted farming practices in the face of environmental challenges.
The fall of the Mayan Empire may be one of the biggest mysteries to emerge from the Yucatan peninsula. While the reason for its collapse has long stumped archeologists, a new team of researchers thinks they might finally know what happened.
Ancient Guatemalan cities were larger and more interconnected than thought
A vast, interconnected network of ancient cities was home to millions more people than previously thought.
In 1526, the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Montejo arrived on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and found most of the great Maya cities deeply eroded and unoccupied. Many generations removed from the master builders, engineers, and scientists who conceived and built the cities, the remaining Maya they encountered had degenerated into waring groups who practiced blood rituals and human sacrifice.
To say that UC San Diego archaeologist Geoffrey Braswell was surprised to discover a precious jewel in Nim Li Punit in southern Belize is something of an understatement.
Research team working in Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project and led by Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona, have studied both collapses of Maya civilization at Guatemala’s Maya site of Ceibal.
A third structure has been found within the famous Kukulkan pyramid in eastern Mexico, experts say.
