With this discovery of a network of roads, buildings and settlements in the archaeological site known as The Cuenca Calakmul Viewpointwhich is located between the north of peten in Guatemala and south of campeche in Mexicoreveals details of the way of life and organization centuries ago mayans.
“We found a surprising number of ceremonial centers, cities, and farming systems where the Maya lived for more than a thousand years.”, explained in a press conference the archaeologist Carlos Morales, from the University of Austin, Texas, one of the seven professionals who carried out the investigation.
One of the most revealing discoveries is that of a network of roads that interconnected placeswhich were marked and painted with lime, which reached 40 meters wide and about 177 kilometers long, the experts specify
Another discovery is the identification of 189 new sitesthat added to the 775 found in 2015make a total of 964 ancient Mayan settlements, with houses, structures and ball game fields and that added to the roads found are part of a political state, indicate the discoverers.
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“Most of the sites date to the Middle and Late Preclassic periods from around 1000 BCE. C., until shortly after the time of Christ”, explained the fares foundationone of those who financed the project, in a press release.
3D image made with a LiDAR radar of the terrain of El Mirador, an archaeological settlement of the Mayan civilization, in Guatemala.
For his part, Richard Hansen, an American archaeologist who has been in charge of archaeological investigations in the area for decades and directs the viewpoint projectdetailed that the settlements are in one of the few remaining pristine tropical forests in the country.
US archaeologist Richard Hansen (d) shows a limestone frieze found at the El Mirador archaeological site on March 7, 2009.
In the opinion of María Belén Méndez, archaeologist and doctor in Mesoamerican Studies, who is unrelated to Hansen’s project, the findings are interesting because they show the form of organization of those who inhabited the place.
“It is possible to speak of the discovery of several roads but it is not known if they are all contemporary, if they were built at the same time”explains Mendez. “They show how they used water in ancient times, especially in that section of lowlands where it was difficult to manage the resource, they are important because they tell us about social complexity”, he added.
3D image made with a LiDAR radar of the terrain of El Mirador, an archaeological settlement of the Mayan civilization, in Guatemala.
The images allowedsee the sites in their entirety, each road, site, reservoir and majesty, large-scale agricultural fields, corrals where they kept meat for industrial level, formation of agricultural systems and swamps”, assured the archologist Hansen.
While, Josephine Thompson, team planner and LiDAR radar expert commented that the Mayans designed the constructions, buildings and roads as engineers. “They calculated how to build their roads, have water and their residential areashe explained.
The project began in 2015, flying over more than a thousand kilometers over the jungle area called Mirador Basin.
“The records were possible thanks to the use of Lidar technology, which are remote sensors that measure the distance between an emitter and a target with laser light.”, asserted Morales, who explained that thanks to this technology it was possible to observe the structures located underground.
With information from the EFE Agencies and The Associated Press.
