Archaeologist Richard Hansen has devoted his life to preserving Maya sites and artifacts. But some question whether his efforts will do more harm than good.
The heat was unbearable and the trees seemed to reach endlessly skyward. Suddenly, from out of the vegetation, the Jaguar Paw pyramid appeared.
There’s a lot at stake. One of the researchers’ goals is to rigorously test their theory that this perilous and isolated region — and not tourist-mobbed, heavily monetized sites like Chichen Itza in Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala — was the cradle of Maya civilization. Hansen believes that wastefulness and despoilment sped the collapse of the vast city-states likely controlled by El Mirador.
For more than 40 years, Richard Hansen has worked on the Mirador Basin Project, excavating and conserving remnants of an ancient Maya complex.Specialists like Hansen have faced many obstacles in years past: erratic funding, political upheavals, physical remoteness.
El Mirador consists of hundreds of structures dating from the Middle Preclassic and Late Preclassic periods . Two standouts are the pyramids of El Tigre and La Danta, the latter with a height of 236 feet and a volume greater than those of the pyramids of Egypt and the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán, Mexico, Hansen said.
An aerial view of the deforestation on the outskirts of the Mirador Basin. Illegal logging and “narco-cattle” ranching are some of the primary threats to the extraordinary archaeological sites in the area. As we flew over La Danta pyramid, we observed straight lines branching out in several directions and extending miles through the jungle. They are ancient roads, once used for moving exotic goods through sophisticated Maya trade networks.
Tourists who want to visit this area must first travel to the communities of Carmelita or Uaxactun, about 40 miles to the south. There they can hire a guide, a camp cook and a pack of mules to lead them to El Mirador. On average it is 2½ days of an exhausting walk.Tourists must contract with companies whose employees are used to cooking in a jungle setting.
“There are many dangers,” he said. “We know of the presence of drug traffickers who unload drugs on the roads and tracks to the west, but we can’t do anything.” Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University were among those who took part. As a young student, Hansen was in charge of the Tigre Complex in the western sector of the site, and discovered Preclassic ceramics on the floors of the main structures. Based on these discoveries, it was possible to determine the age of the site.
Scientists speculate that, gradually but relentlessly, the microclimate around El Mirador began to change, exacerbating drought and other problems that may have led to famine. It is thought that El Mirador civilization caved in between AD 100 and 200. Plundering the planet has consequences. He’s suspicious of proposals to bring more archaeological tourism to the area, including rumors of a scheme to construct a Disneyland-style mini train line serving what he fears would be a privately operated theme park.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
One on One - Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou HabibLebanon sent a search and rescue team to Türkiye less than 24 hours after the earthquakes. Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib says his country was also the first to respond to the needs of Syrians Watch the full show:
Read more »
No One Looks Cooler Than Zoë Kravitz in This One-Shoulder MinidressThe YSL Beauty ambassador put a spin on the LBD.
Read more »
Trevor Lawrence talks about the Jaguars’ turnaround, married lifeTrevor Lawrence led the Jaguars back into playoffs for the first time since 2017 and is continuing to build his marriage with his wife Marissa Mowry.
Read more »
Jaguars restructure deals of Jones, Kirk, Scherff to get under salary cap, reportThe Jaguars have begun to clean up their salary cap mess, restructuring the contracts of Christian Kirk, Zay Jones and Brandon Scherff, according to ESPN’s Field Yates.
Read more »
Jaguars’ Doug Pederson, Trent Baalke look to future at NFL CombineThe Jaguars finished Doug Pederson’s first season with a flourish. This week, they take the first steps toward starting Pederson’s second strong as coaches and scouts gathered in Indianapolis at the NFL Combine.
Read more »