RECENT DISCOVERIES OF ANCIENT MAYAN STRUCTURES IN MEXICO©

Archaeologists and historians have long been interested in the Mayan Civilization in present day Mexico.  Mayan settlements date back approximately 4,000 years to 2000 BCE, when small farming communities began to appear.  During the 500-year time span from 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE, Mayan culture developed, along with larger settlements.

Recently, scientists using an aerial remote-sensing method, discovered a gigantic rectangular elevated platform built between 1000 BCE and 800 BCE in the Tabasco State of Mexico.

Unlike the famous Mayan pyramids constructed much later between 500 CE and 700 CE in Mexican and Guatemalan cities, this very early structure was built with clay and earth rather than stone used in the later structures.  Researchers speculate that this newly-discovered structure was likely used for mass rituals and special occasions, such as celebrations of calendar cycles, because jade axes were found near the center of the structure's highest plateau.

Located at a site called Aguada Fenix, near the Guatemalan border, the structure is approximately 1/4-mile wide, almost 1-mile long, and stood between 30 and 50 feet high. 

What is remarkable is that in total volume, this structure exceeded Ancient Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza which was completed around 2560 BCE -- over 1,500 years earlier.

This most recent Mayan discovery comes just a few years after scientists in 2013 found an entire ancient Mayan city consisting of 15 pyramids --  one of which was 75-feet tall -- ball courts, plazas and several sculpted stone shafts called stelae.  The presence of multiple ball game courts indicates that the site was a very important city.
  


The city had remained hidden for centuries in the rain forests of eastern Mexico.  The scientific team named the city Chactun, meaning "Red Rock" or "Large Rock".  They estimated that the city could have been home to as many as 40,000 people, and likely flourished during the Late Classical Period of Mayan Civilization between 600 CE and 900 CE.

The site, which encompasses around 54-acres, is one of the largest found in the Yucatan's central lowlands,  now entirely covered by the jungle.  It was likely abandoned around 1000 CE due to multiple factors, including climate change and wars between the competing regions of the Mayan Empire during that time frame.

The Mayan Civilization was one of the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas.  At its peak, its rule extended over much of modern-day Mexico, and included large portions of the Yucatan, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. 

(Sources: Will Dunham, Reuters, June 3, 2020;  Luc Cohen, Reuters, June 20, 2013.)

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