Largest Mayan Structure Found

Image courtesy of Takeshi Inomata, Fair use doctrine.



Joel Kontinen

While the date of Stonehenge might be off by a few hundred years or so (due to the effect of Noah’s Flood , which very likely changed the atmospheric carbon-14 levels), the discovery nonetheless shows that people could build sophisticated structures much earlier than previously thought.

Here's how Life Science records the discovery of the largest Maya structure.” The oldest and largest Maya monumental structure on record has just been discovered after scientists shot millions of lasers from a plane to map an area in southern Mexico.

At the newfound site, called Aguada Fénix, researchers found an artificial plateau measuring about 0.9 miles 1.4 kilometers or 0,9 miles long, and 399 meters or 0.2 miles wide and between 10 and 15 metres or 33 to 50 feet high. And it likely served as a communal gathering place for the Maya.

However, this idea is now under fire. Radiocarbon dating of 69 samples from Aguada Fénix show that it was used between 1000 B.C. and 800 B.C. After it was largely abandoned by 750 B.C., small groups returned to use the structure.

Aguada Fénix isn't the only site overturning the traditional interpretation. For instance, a ceremonial complex and artificial plateau built at Ceibal in 950 B.C. (until now, considered the oldest Maya ceremonial center), indicates that the early Maya built large structures even before the civilization became organized under dynasties with centralized government, the researchers said.

“It's no surprise that the Maya built a place to congregate, Lucero said. Other monumental structures, including
Stonehenge in Great Britain and Göbekli Tepe in Turkey , show "when people lived dispersed and/or a more nomadic lifestyle, that they created a community to build such places," and they didn't need elite political leaders to organize it, Takeshi Inomata, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, who led a new study on the finding said this.

Source:

Geggel , Laura. 2020. Oldest and largest Maya structure on record discovered in southern Mexico. Live Science 4 June.