Every time I think about the giant, complex remnants of ancient civilizations around the world it totally blows my mind. That said, this recent discovery that revealed roads, recreation courts, and even reservoirs is something else altogether.
The civilization was discovered in northern Guatemala and is made up of 964 interconnected settlements that date to between 1000 BCE and 150 CE. The remains cover around 650 square miles and are linked by 110 miles of ancient road.
Image Credit: LiDAR
Researchers used LiDAR, a detection system that uses laser signals to reveal structures and features beneath the surface, to locate the find.
“The LiDAR survey revealed an extraordinary density and distribution of Maya sites concentrated in the MCKB, many of them linked directly or indirectly by a vast causeway network.”
Archaeologists believe that around 417 cities, towns, and villages made up the unified civilization.
“The consistency of architectural forms and patters, ceramics, sculptural art, architectural patterns, and unifying causeway constructions within a specified geographical territory suggests a centralized political, social, and economic organic solidarity among the occupants.”
This was all discovered in an area that archaeologists had previously assumed to be sparsely populated.
Image Credit: LiDAR
“The magnitude of the labor int he construction of massive platforms, palaces, dams, causeways, and pyramids dating to the Middle and Late Preclassic periods throughout the MCKB suggests a power to organize thousands of workers. To build such a civilization would have required highly skilled lime producers, mortar and quarry specialists, lithic technicians, architects, logistics and agricultural procurement specialists, and legal enforcement and religious officials, all operating under a political and ideological homogeneity.”
The causeways alone were a huge achievements, and the fact that there were reservoirs present large and frequent enough to support a large water collection effort buoyed the idea that there must have been a concerted effort.
Image Credit: LiDAR
More proof that no one needed to come in and civilize the people inhabiting ancient South and Central America.
They were doing just fine on their own.
