Scientists have discovered an extraordinary network of multi-tiered Preclassic Maya cities, towns, and villages that date back to 1,000 BCE in Guatemala. According to a research report published in the journal Cambridge University Press, the findings point to a culturally and economically complex kingdom-state, previously unknown, dispelling previous beliefs of “sparse early human occupation in the Maya Lowlands”. and raising new anthropological questions about this ancient society. Ancient Mesoamerica in December.
Richard Hansen, an affiliate research professor at Idaho State University who led the research project, said Hyperallergic that the report demonstrates the existence of “much more sophisticated and elaborate societies thousands of years earlier”.
“When I started in 1978 in Guatemala, the preclassic Maya were [thought of as] hunters and gatherers,” Hansen said.
Using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology, archaeologists were able to map 964 lost settlements, which they grouped into approximately 417 ancient cities, towns and cities. The team also identified over 100 miles of interconnecting roads. The site clusters were found in the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin (MCKB), an area that stretches from northern Guatemala south to Campeche, Mexico. Like much of the Maya Lowlands, this basin has always been difficult for archaeologists to explore due to its dense tropical forest terrain, according to the report. However, new technologies such as LiDAR have in recent years created more opportunities for scientists to conduct such research.
Beginning in 2015, researchers conducted two aerial surveys using LiDAR at altitudes up to 2,100 feet. Remote sensing technology works by bouncing pulses of light off surfaces. The time it takes for these pulses to return to the sensor is then used to determine the distance between the receiver and the surface, allowing scientists to construct a detailed map of an area’s environment.
These analyzes found “dense concentrations” of sites including ceremonial and religious complexes, massive triadic constructions, at least 30 ball courts, reservoirs and terraces, defensive structures, villages and a network of raised causeways. The labor such constructions would have required suggests “a power to organize thousands of workers and specialists,” the report reads, from lithic technicians and architects to law enforcement and religious officials.
One such labor-intensive construction identified from LiDAR surveys includes the Danta Pyramid. Located to the east of the El Mirador settlement, this monumental complex is 236 feet tall and researchers estimate it took “between 6 and 10 million person-days of labor” to erect.
Additionally, apart from small swamps, the MCKB lacks perennial water bodies, which forced the ancient Maya to construct alternative water harvesting and management systems. The researchers identified 195 artificial water reservoirs, or aguadasas well as a series of large reservoir systems including dams and canals.
Richard Hansen has been researching the early Maya of northern Guatemala for over 38 years. As director of the Mirador Basin Project, he was known to discover main ancient sites in Central America. But in recent years, critics have accused its practices of going against the wishes of local Guatemalan communities. Last month during the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books protesters interrupted a lecture Hansen was giving at the University of Southern California, shouting “This is stolen land!” and carrying banners that called him a “gringo colonizer,” according to reports from the Los Angeles Times.
Prior to this event, Hansen also received backlash for his work on the Mirador-Calakmul Maya Basin Safety and Conservation Partnership Acta bipartisan-backed bill introduced in the Senate in 2019. The proposed bill sought to “create a sustainable tourism model” that would provide “controlled, low-impact access” to the MCKB” with an emphasis on creating economic opportunity for communities in and around the basin,” according to the text of the law. While Hansen argues that this bill would provide protections for the region and support local communities, critics have claimed that the law would open the basin to large-scale tourism.
In response, Hansen claims that all of this criticism comes from the same source – an alleged disinformation campaign orchestrated by organized crime groups in Guatemala who “do not want the security and conservation of this area”. He said his research has always supported the economic and educational development of communities by hiring and training locals.
“The research is an opportunity to provide major new identities for Guatemala and Mexico,” Hansen said.
