At Aguada Phoenix, the largest and oldest known Mayan site, a treasure trove of buried artifacts sheds light on ancient rituals performed 3,000 years ago. The site itself was first discovered in southeastern Mexico in 2020, but researchers have now collected compelling evidence that cements it as one of the most important ceremonial sites in Mesoamerica.
New research published in Achievements of science details important finds at the site, including jade jewelry and mineral pigments that were likely left as offerings. These objects, as well as the location of roads and corridors, suggest that this place served as a cosmogram, a model of the order of the Universe.
Read more: How the Mayans created their incredibly accurate calendar thousands of years ago
Mayan ceremonial center
A jade artifact found in a cruciform shape most likely represents a woman giving birth, according to researchers.
(Image credit: Takeshi Inomata/University of Arizona)
As the oldest known Mayan site, Aguada Phoenix boasts a structure that is surprisingly impressive in its scale. The site, dating back to about 1000 BC, is nearly a mile long and a quarter mile wide, and 30 to 50 feet high.
In the years since Aguada Phoenix was first discovered, researchers have discovered about 500 small sites built with similar characteristics in southeastern Mexico.
But given the size of Aguada Phoenix, it appears that it was the crown jewel of the early Mayan civilization; it is as large as other iconic structures built almost a thousand years later in Mesoamerican history, e.g. Tikal in Guatemala and Teotihuacan in Central Mexico. This challenges the current idea that Mesoamerican settlements gradually increased in size over time.
“We found that there was a 'big bang' of construction in early 1000 BC that no one really knew about,” said Takeshi Inomata, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona, in his paper. statement. “A huge amount of planning and construction really happened at the very beginning.”
A colorful cache of artifacts
The size of the monument is associated with its status as an outstanding ritual object, which the builders clearly had in mind when constructing it. For example, the central line of the monument coincides with the line of the rising sun on October 17 and February 24; this 130-day period, according to researchers, may represent half of the 260-day cycle of the Mesoamerican period. ritual calendar.
The new research also confirms the ritual purpose of the site, and the excavation of a cruciform pit (called a “cruciform”) provides new insight. In this pit, researchers first came across several ceremonial axes made of jade. Further excavations revealed jade jewelry carved in various shapes, such as a crocodile, a bird, and possibly a woman giving birth.
At the bottom of the hole they found small piles of blue, green and yellowish soil. According to the researchers, these mineral pigments were located in every cardinal direction, which had never been observed before. Radiocarbon dating estimates the pigment cache to be between 900 and 845 CE. BC
Along with the artifacts, the researchers also observed raised levees and sunken corridors that followed the site's solar orientation, as well as channels and a dam to drain water from a nearby lagoon.
Rule smarter, not harder
Although some Mesoamerican territories were under the rule of powerful kingsResearchers in a new study suggest that Aguada Phoenix's leaders were intellectual rather than authoritarian. Rather than forcing others to do their bidding, these leaders likely had a hand in designing and planning the construction of the cosmogram based on their astronomical observations.
“People have this idea that certain things happened in the past — that there were kings, and kings built pyramids, and so in modern times it takes powerful people to achieve great things,” Inomata said. “But once you see the real data from the past, it's not the same. So we don't need really big social inequality to achieve important goals.”
Read more: The Mayan religion was more than just ritual sacrifices
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