[Aztlan] Surprising Findings at Cival

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

There are pictures of the deity on the URL below.

Mike Ruggeri


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3693671.stm


Maya culture 'ahead of its time'
By Julianna Kettlewell
BBC News Online science staff

Elaborate ritual objects and carved masks have been uncovered in the  
ancient ruins of a city in Guatemala.
Exploration of the 2,000-year-old site has caused archaeologists to  
question the established chronology of the enigmatic Maya civilisation.
The city, Cival, thrived in what is generally considered the "pre- 
classic" period - but it bore the hallmarks of the more advanced  
"classic" period.
The excavations were supported by the National Geographic Society.
The ancient city of Cival, in Guatemala's Peten region, was first  
mapped by the explorer Ian Graham in 1984. Since 2001, it has been  
the focus of an exhaustive excavation, led by Francisco Estrada- 
Belli, of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, US.

His team's discoveries have included two monumental carved masks, 120  
pieces of polished jade, a ceremonial centre that spanned 800m  
(2,600ft) and an inscribed stone slab dating to 300 BC.
Maya deity

Cival had pyramids and a large complex surrounding a central plaza.  
The buildings were carefully positioned so they faced the sunrise in  
the equinox. According to Professor Estrada-Belli, this suggests they  
were used to measure time.

"It had an important astronomical function," Professor Estrada-Belli  
said. "It's not coincidence that the central axis of the main  
buildings and the plaza is oriented to sunrise at the equinox."

The lead archaeologist said his most exciting find turned up in a  
dank tunnel dug in the side of a pyramid.



While he was inspecting the tunnel, he reached into a crack in the  
wall - and felt a curved piece of stucco. Digging to it from the  
other side, he found a well-preserved giant face of a Maya deity.
The 4.5m by 3m (15ft by 9ft) stucco mask had one eye visible and the  
mouth squared, with snake's fangs in its centre. "The mask's  
preservation is astounding," Professor Estrada-Belli said. "It's  
almost as if someone made this yesterday."
Excavations this April revealed a second, apparently identical, mask  
on the other side of a set of stairs.
Professor Estrada-Belli believes the masks flanked the staircase of  
the pyramid that led to the chamber, serving as the backdrop for a  
ritual involving the Maya king.
Pre-classic or classic?

After several seasons of digging, the researchers believe Cival was  
one of the largest Maya cities of the time. In its prime - between  
150 BC and AD 100 - it had a buzzing population of around 10,000. But  
it was not just the city's size that made it remarkable.




We thought the pre-classic Maya were a relatively simple society -  
and they were not
Prof Francisco Estrada-Belli, Vanderbilt University
As the archaeologists learn more about life in the city of Cival,  
they are finding it does not sit comfortably with existing notions of  
Mayan civilisation.
Strictly speaking, Cival flourished in the pre-classic period, which  
stretches from 2000 BC to AD 240. But it was more advanced than pre- 
classic societies were thought to be.
It had kings, complex iconography, grand palaces, writing and  
polychrome ceramics: all the hallmarks of the later - and apparently  
more civilised - classic period.
"It is pretty clear that 'pre-classic' is a misnomer," said Professor  
Estrada-Belli. "It's very interesting when we reverse some existing  
ideas. We thought the pre-classic Maya were a relatively simple  
society - and they were not."
"There was a whole civilization during the pre-classic time we are  
just beginning to recover," he added.

Professor Fred Valdez, a Maya expert from the University of Texas,  
Austin, is in strong agreement. "These finds show that Maya  
civilisation advanced earlier than folks have previously thought," he  
told BBC News Online. "Classic and pre-classic are unfortunate terms  
in relation to when civilisation was reached.
"There are a significant number of cultural changes that occurred  
between the two periods - so I don't think the two terms will stop  
being used - but it needs to be cleared up about when we think Maya  
society became civilised."
He added: "It needs to be recognised that civilisation was not  
confined to classic Maya societies. This research has provided a  
great support to that argument."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/3693671.stm

Published: 2004/05/08 01:23:12 GMT

© BBC MMVI




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