US EditionMassive 3,000-year-old Maya site in Mexico depicts the cosmos and the 'order of the universe,' study claims
Aguada Fénix, dating to around 1000 B.C.E., is a vast Maya cosmogram with ritual caches and causeways, built without social hierarchy, requiring over 10 million person-days to construct.
- An international team led by archaeologists at the University of Arizona discovered the largest monumental construction known in the Maya area, a nearly mile-long monument called Aguada Fénix, dating back to 1,000 B.C.
- The Aguada Fénix monument aligns with the rising sun on specific dates, likely representing the Mesoamerican ritual calendar, and excavations uncovered ceremonial artifacts arranged by color and direction, suggesting it was a cosmograma model depicting the order of the universe.
- The discovery challenges beliefs that Mesoamerican cultures grew gradually, as Aguada Fénix predates major cities like Tikal and Teotihuacan by nearly a thousand years while being as large or larger.
26 Articles
26 Articles
Cosmic Map of the Universe Found in Oldest Maya Site Rewrites Civilization’s Origins
Cruciform cache viewed from the east. Credit: Takeshi Inomata / CC BY 4.0 A monumental discovery in southern Mexico is challenging long-held beliefs about the early Maya civilization. Archaeologists uncovered what they interpret as a symbolic cosmic map of the universe at Aguada Fénix, the oldest known Maya site, pushing back assumptions about social order and architectural complexity in Mesoamerica. Led by Takeshi Inomata of the University of A…
Aguada Fénix, the oldest known monument of the Mayan culture, is much larger than previously thought. In addition, the structures discovered indicate that they were built in certain directions and in alignment with the Mayan calendar.
By Katie Hunt, CNN. Detected from an airplane using remote sensing equipment, a vast, ancient Mayan complex lay hidden from view for millennia by jungle and fields before being revealed to the public in 2020. Five years later, archaeologists are uncovering more secrets of the monumental structure. The artificial earthen plateau, with its interconnected causeways, canals, and corridors, was built in southeastern Mexico 3,050 years ago and used fo…
By Katie Hunt, CNN. Detected from an airplane using remote sensing equipment, a vast, ancient Mayan complex lay hidden from view for millennia by jungle and fields before being revealed to the public in 2020. Five years later, archaeologists are uncovering more secrets of the monumental structure. The artificial earthen plateau, with its interconnected causeways, canals, and corridors, was built in southeastern Mexico 3,050 years ago and used fo…
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