An ancient Mayan city has been discovered in Guatemala. How crazy is it that ancient cities are hidden all over the world? From now and then, we get news about different discoveries made which mean a lot in the Archaeology field. For example, discoveries of cities like this one in the Mesoamerican region, can tell many things about the Mayan civilization that could lead to more useful information in future studies.
Let’s find out more about this Mayan city and what its constructions mean for the future.
Who were the Mayan?
The Mayan were a sedentary group located in the Mesoamerican region, but the Mayan presence was crucial in places like Belize and Guatemala, the later being an important place for this article.
These places have a rich history of more than 3,000 years where the Mayan civilizations lived as an agricultural society. They also had a very strong religious system since they worshipped the cosmos.
Mayan people becoming architects
Mayan civilizations were good at constructions because they built temples and places for ceremonial purposes, which we are still standing nowadays.
Some of the most known constructions were pyramids, palaces, the tikal or the chichen itza. What’s more, they built sculptures and important engineering water systems.
They were very intelligent and they could make the most of the land with resources they had.
New but ancient findings
Los Abuelos, Guatemala is the place where there have been recent remains of the Mayan constructions discoveries. Some of the categories previously mentioned are the ones archaeologists have found.
Pyramids, sculptures and engineering water systems were already known to be Mayan constructions and that’s why they’re ancient, they were built 3,000 years ago. However, they are new because they have never been aware of them throughout the many years of study.
Pyramids
Archaeologists found an impressive pyramid of 108 feet high with murals from the Preclassic period. There have been found temples too which shows how artistic and religious the Mayan people were.
Sculptures
Another finding was a sculpture of an ancestral couple which it is estimated to be from between the 500 and 300 B.C. This suggests the importance of worshipping their ancestors and the religious ritual activities in Los Abuelos.
Advanced water system for an ancient city
Last, but not least, a system of water canals was found which provides a lot of information about how well they organised water in the Mayan city. It also shows how much they knew about engineering.
Los Abuelos, Guatemala
Los Abuelos (The Grandparents) is a city in the north of Guatemala where archaeology findings are a common thing. Los Abuelos along with Uaxactun, Cambraya and Petnal, create a clear image of the organization in this area during the Preclassic and Classic periods.
Are these types of findings important for us?
Of course! Every finding, no matter the type, is paramount for us and future studies. Thanks to archaeologists’ work and their findings, we are able to know more about how life was back then and learn from their activities. It is important to have the past very present in present times.
Another important aspect is the fact that we can witness ancient constructions now which gives importance to places like Los Abuelos. Also, we are more conscious about the efforts they made and how intelligent they were at that time. We tend to think that past generations are less intelligent, but these discoveries show the opposite.
Nowadays we are surrounded by many technological advances and the Mayan civilizations made so many impressive constructions with little resources. That’s something to admire and take into account.