Friday, February 18, 2011

The Founding of a Maya City

Archaeologist Takeshi Inomata has a great account at the NY Times of recent excavations at Ceibal in the Mayan lowlands. Ceibal was a major center in the Classic Period (AD150 to 950), but the goal of the recent dig has been to investigate its origins. They now think that rather than growing from a village, the city was founded as a major ceremonial and political center around 1000 BC. The stone axes below were buried under the central plaza when the first floor was laid.

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