[Aztlan] More on Ancient Nicaragua

[michael ruggeri]

Max and Kevin,

More on Ancient Nicaragua,

Mike Ruggeri

Ancient Nicaraguan society found
By Richard Black
BBC science correspondent


Archaeologists have discovered what they describe as a previously  
unknown ancient civilisation in Central America.

The site, near the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, dates from before the  
Mayan era, and relics include what appears to be a centre for mass  
production of ceremonial columns.

Researchers have been working on the site at El Cascal de Flor de  
Pino, near the town of Kukra Hill for six years.

They've found evidence of an ancient town and several outlying  
villages, which developed around 2,700 years ago and lasted for a  
thousand years.

There are monuments, petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pottery, and  
most remarkably, an area where many huge columns were formed out of  
rock - columns which may have been used at burial sites.

Extends range

"The pottery is similar to pre-classical pottery found at sites of  
similar age in Belize," Dr Ermengol Gassiot, of the Universitat  
Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain, told BBC News Online.

"And the columns resemble those found at Mexican sites where they had  
ritual uses.

"The society had political centres. Kukra Hill, we believe, was a  
small town, and at least three villages lay around it and were  
dependent on it."

The newly discovered civilisation is similar to the societies that  
preceded the Mayan civilisation further to the north.

Independent experts say this shows that the process that led to the  
founding of the Mayan cities, such as Tikal, Palenque, or Copan (in  
Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras respectively) covered a much larger  
geographical region than archaeologists have supposed up to now.

Time before

Much research remains to be done at El Cascal de Flor de Pino but it  
promises to reveal a vast amount about the various societies and  
customs which were eventually assimilated into the great culture of  
the Mayas.

Commenting on the discovery, Jeremy Sabloff, Williams Director of the  
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology,  
US, said: "This site sounds very exciting and full of potential.

"We're learning lots now about the pre-classical era - the groups  
which came before the Maya - and this discovery greatly extends the  
range of these pre-classical civilisations."

In addition to researchers from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona  
(UAB), the Kukra Hill archaeological team includes members from the  
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN-Managua), and the  
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC).




Ancient civilisation discovered in the Nicaraguan jungle
« on: May 16, 2003, 09:22:00 PM »

www.uab.es/actualitat/not...ua0503.htm

A team of archaeologists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona  
(UAB), the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN- 
Managua), and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientà ficas  
(CSIC) have found strong archaeological evidence for the existence of  
a previously unknown prehistoric civilisation in the jungle on the  
Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. The find, which includes the discovery  
of petroglyphs and unusual centres of monolith production and  
distribution, could extend the geographical limits of the process  
that gave rise to the cities of the Mayan civilisation. However, this  
newly discovered civilisation disappeared suddenly some 1,600 years ago.

In November 2002, a team of researchers from the Department of Social  
Anthropology and Prehistory of the UAB and the UNAN-Managua announced  
the discovery of the archaeological site, El Cascal de Flor de Pino,  
in the town of Kukra Hill, in Nicaragua. The find provided evidence  
of the existence of an ancient, previously unknown civilisation. The  
latest data obtained by the scientists during their campaign this  
April, and the result of six years'' continuous research in the  
tropical rainforests of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, in  
collaboration with the CSIC, have confirmed the existence of this  
civilisation. The scientists have located a significant number of  
archaeological sites that arose when the area was populated between  
1,500 BC and the period of the European conquest.

The new data show how the way of life of the indigenous population  
changed over time. The most significant aspect is the identification  
of the existence of a complex society that inhabited the area for 10  
centuries, between 750 B.C. and approximately 400 A.D. and which  
later disappeared, leaving no trace of continuity.

Among the most significant finds are:

·       the discovery of a settlement with monumental architecture  
and an evident urban structure that led to the political  
centralisation in the area of the population over the period. This  
settlement may well have a necropolis associated with it;
·       the discovery of settlements of small dependent village  
communities;
·       the discovery of rock paintings (pertoglyphs) associated  
with the sites of this period;
·       the discovery of spedrug spammered monolith production and  
distribution centres. These monoliths appear to have been used for  
construction and landmarks, probably during the same period.

The newly discovered civilisation is similar to the societies that  
preceded the Mayan civilisation further to the north, during the Pre- 
classical Period. This fact shows that in its origin, the process  
(political centralisation) that led to the founding of the Mayan  
cities, such as Tikal, Palenque, or Copan (in Guatemala, Mexico, and  
Honduras respectively) covered a much larger geographical region than  
archaeologists have supposed up to now.

Over 2,500 years ago there was intense contact and exchange between  
the peoples of the Atlantic side of Central America, a fact that  
coincides with the appearance of centralised political structures and  
societies with an unequal distribution of wealth. However, this  
process of regional "globalisation" stopped abruptly during the fifth  
century A.D. To the north, the prehistoric peoples developed towards  
the classical Mayan societies. By contrast, in the Nicaraguan jungle,  
current evidence suggests the abandonment and burning of known  
settlements, along with the definitive disappearance of this society  
and the appearance of significantly different ways of life.

Throughout April, the research team excavated the prehistoric village  
of Karoline and one of the settlement platforms of El Cascal de Flor  
de Pino, with accompanying prospections in adjacent areas. This forms  
part of the work that has been carried out every year by the UNAN- 
Managua and the UAB since 1998, and the CSIC, since its incorporation  
in 2002. The research undertaken has also been given financial  
support of the Ministry Of Education, Culture, and Sport and the  
Spanish Agency for International Co-operation, with the framework of  
Joint Spanish-Latin American Research Projects and Aid for  
Archaeological Excavation Abroad. It has also been supported by the  
Universidad de las Regiones de la Costa Caribe de Nicaragua  
(URACCAN), the Consejo Autónomo de la Region Autónomo del  
Atlántico Sur (South Atlantic Autonomous Regional Council), the  
municipal authorities of Kukra Hill, Bluefields, and Pearl Lagoon,  
and the Kukra Development Corporation.