Posted on 08/16/2014 9:23:35 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Sprajc and his team found the massive remains as they further explored the area around Chactun, a large Maya city discovered by the Slovenian archaeologist in 2013.
No other site has so far been located in this area, which extends over some 1800 square miles, between the so-called Rio Bec and Chenes regions, both known for their characteristic architectural styles fashioned during the Late and Terminal Classic periods, around 600 - 1000 A.D.
One of the cities featured an extraordinary facade with an entrance representing the open jaws of an earth monster.
The site was actually visited in the 1970s by the American archaeologist Eric Von Euw, who documented the facade and other stone monuments with yet unpublished drawings.
However, the exact location of the city, referred to as Lagunita by Von Euw, remained lost. All the attempts at relocating it failed.
"The information about Lagunita were vague and totally useless," Sprajc told Discovery News.
"In the jungle you can be as little as 600 feet from a large site and do not even suspect it might be there; small mounds are all over the place, but they give you no idea about where an urban center might be," he added.
Laguinita was identified only after the archaeologists compared the newly found facade and monuments with Von Euw's drawings.
The monster-mouth facade turned to be one of the best preserved examples of this type of doorways, which are common in the Late-Terminal Classic Rio Bec architectural style, in the nearby region to the south.
"It represents a Maya earth deity related with fertility. These doorways symbolize the entrance to a cave and, in general, to the watery underworld, place of mythological origin of maize and abode of ancestors," Sprajc said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.discovery.com ...
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Good thing that city is abandoned. Otherwise the inhabitants would be heading to the Texas border just like all of their descendants.
I might consider moving there with the way things are going here.
A modest fixer-upper. Just needs a little paint and some sweeping and you can move right in.
Great article.
Thanks for posting.
Very interesting.
Just where I left it. Why didn’t I look sooner?
This Old Old House
NOT my fault!
I’m not in the habit of losing cities.
This Old City! Norm will have ‘er fixed up in no time.
Yea,but I’ve always questioned those reports, you know...pilots, they’re the ones that claim to see UFO’s and such. My guess...oxygen deprivation.
There are many many undiscovered sites all over the Peten of northern Guatemala. I never had the opportunity to fly over the area, but climbed to the top of many pyramids, that the jungle had taken over, and from the top could see many other pyramids over the jungle canopy relatively nearby and some miles away. That whole jungle region is growing on top of a huge ancient metropolis. FWIW, I was fascinated with the region and spent many months exploring in the mid 80’s as a younger and adventurous youth. The jungle is so thick that there could be a monster pyramid a few hundred yards away and from the ground you’d never know it. Absolutely incredible place to visit for those of such a mindset.
Thanks Thanks BenLurkin and a fool in paradise. Digest ping? Yeah, why not?
Took a bus from Belize City to Tikal a number of years ago. Really a neat trip.
Aren’t there a number of places around the world where current primitive cultures know for traditional drug use sit atop more advanced, mostly forgotten cultures. Coincidence?
Them Mayans were very careless. Always losing cities.
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