Massive 1,100+ year old Maya site discovered in Georgia's mountains

National Architecture & Design | Examiner.com ^ | December 21, 2011 | Richard Thornton

[LucyT]

Archaeological zone 9UN367 at Track Rock Gap, near Georgia’s highest mountain, Brasstown Bald, is a half mile (800 m) square and rises 700 feet (213 m) in elevation up a steep mountainside.

Visible are at least 154 stone masonry walls for agricultural terraces, plus evidence of a sophisticated irrigation system and ruins of several other stone structures. Much more may be hidden underground.

It is possibly the site of the fabled city of Yupaha, which Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto failed to find in 1540, and certainly one of the most important archaeological discoveries in recent times.

[bigheadfred]

I’m still trying to figure out “exactly” what I am

Why not just go with "AMERICAN"? Don't worry. You'll fit right in.

[pabianice]

A personal note from the author:

I am astounded by the interest in this article. Normally, I am followed by a modest cadre of progressive archaeologists and Native Americans. For unknown reasons, I was not able to comment on my article, but I would like to respond to some of the comments, since it is obvious that several readers are reading the comments rather than the article. The situation is getting out of hand, with numerous web sites on the internet debating comments to this article as if they were the article. Being a writer for the Examiner, I must stay in the realm of journalism and not get into pre-adolescent cat fights and personal attacks that have become commonplace in the world of blogs and social networking.

Let it suffice to say that since the simultaneous passing of several absolute giants of Southeastern archaeology in 1979, the profession has increasing stagnated, become cult-like and lost its desire to gain new knowledge. I personally heard one of the archaeologists state at a Society of Georgia Archaeology meeting, "We have learned all there is to know about the Southeastern Indians. It is time to move on to other things." Yes, it IS time for them move out of the way.

=======================================================

In a nutshell, this is what has happened to anthropology. It has devolved into a petty, snarling mob of idealogues who spend most of their time stabbing each other in the back so better to win their particular arguments. The appearance of the loathsome "feminist anthropology" in the 70s was the beginning, in which men are excluded from the science by feminist harpies. What a shame.

[Smokin' Joe]

Maybe they will find page 2 of that Mayan calendar everyone is talking about, the one that ends in 2012 ...

Just send them a charitable donation, they'll send another calendar...

[null and void]

¡Sí! El Indio is a mortal insult to a Mexican, even (or perhaps especially) if he is of Amerind ancestry.

And if you really want to tweek them tell them that as a person of Germanic ancestry, you really love their music.

Ooom pa, ooom pa, ooom pa pa pa...

[Flag_This]

"The Maya and Aztecs had a thing for gold."

They were complete pikers compared to the Inca.

[dog breath]

I thought you brought up a good point about how cultural influences travel even faster then people. The networks of trails and roads that the Native people created across the country are an interesting testament to the importance of trade. Many highways follow those paths for to all people trade is important, along those Indian trails come thoughts with bits of soapstone, copper and obsidian. I think the extent of the traffic in goods and ideas was not fully realized by the Europeans. In the museum at the Hopewell National Historic Park in Ohio they display goods traded across the continent.

[Flag_This]

"Around the year 800 AD the flourishing Maya civilization of Central America suddenly began a rapid collapse. A series of catastrophic volcanic eruptions were followed by two long periods of extreme drought conditions and unending wars between city states."

The very first paragraph is complete crap.

There was no sudden collapse of the Mayan civilization. Their civilization seemed to have arisen in the southern highlands of Guatemala and then spread northwards. Over time, different city states rose and then fell (for many different reasons). El Mirador was abandoned around 150 A.D. Ceren, in El Salvador, was destroyed by a volcanic eruption around 600 A.D. Tikal and Copan fell around the mid 800's. Chichen Itza was a major regional power in 1000 A.D. Mayapan was thriving until the 1400's.

Nothing against Georgia, but I don't see the Maya hiking there for a fresh start.

[handmade]

Definately less boring- look at all the traditions to play with. LOL

[Jay Redhawk]

It may be time to summon the ghost of Andrew Jackson.

[BenLurkin]

I always suspected that the mound builders such as Cahokia represented a cultural diffusion from the pyramid builders of Meso-America (or vice versa)

[Forward the Light Brigade]

I am a mix—a mutt—Irish, English, French-Canadian, German and Italian, with just a touch of Native American (Arapaho) for spice. In short—I am an American—been here since 1720.

[Theoria]

'Deal with the Cherokee and Creek and the tribes known to have lived in what is now the US when the settlers began arriving. '

Migration is a funny thing. The Chreokee, though famous for being in GA and NC. Like all groups, were migrants from some where else[Great Lakes].

[americanophile]

very interesting

[Will88]

The Chreokee, though famous for being in GA and NC. Like all groups, were migrants from some where else[Great Lakes].

Everyone in the world is descended from migrants. But concerning the questions in this article, the descendents of the settlers and founders of the US should only deal with those native groups with legitimate claims from the time the settlers arrived, and not with a bunch of La Raza late comers who are mostly trying to justify very recent illegal entry into the US.

[Theoria]

No, I understand. Any sign of weakness to a group called ‘the race’ is a recipe for disaster.

[muawiyah]

It's got a couple of openings. What you do is put gold bearing soil (or black sands, or pulverized clay sometimes) in the ball, seal it up, and a couple of guys push it around the rest of the day breaking the gold particles out of their matrix which might be quartz, iron pyrite, magnetite, clay, garbage, whatever has been identified to be gold bearing soil or "deposits".

Once you've got it broken up you run it through a water sluice so that the gold particles can drop to the bottom with the lighter stuff being washed away.

Somebody said you have to place the sluice at a 21 degree angle but I don't know.

[little jeremiah]

In between yugas there is always great geological devastation; about 200 years long. Flooding would defninitely be in the mix. And rising waters, evidenced by large stone structures underneath the sea now being found. I must check the link you sent me! I’m tried of reading about horrible world affairs.

[JoeProBono]

You ain't heavy - you're my brother - Yo

[muawiyah]

The intro was garbled ~ I do recall they've determined that a Bermuda High that lasted for several centuries started just about the time the Maya moved away/starved/suffered a very severe reproductive bottleneck/etc. That created an immense drought in much of the Yucatan.

When there's a Bermuda High off the coast the Washington DC area becomes unsufferable. you end up with HIGH HUMIDITY and NO RAIN. I remember the Summer of 1975 ~ UNREAL!!!

[muawiyah]

Cahokia may well have been initiated by Chinese adventurers ~ in the late 1300s or there abouts. Most of the structure dates from the 1500s.