Maya Culture "ahead of it's time"

24/Sep/2006 Filed in: Society/Social Systems

Elaborate ritual objects and carved masks have been uncovered in the ancient ruins of a city in Guatemala.

Exploration of the 2,000-year-old site has caused archaeologists to question the established chronology of the enigmatic Maya civilisation. The city, Cival, thrived in what is generally considered the “pre-classic” period – but it bore the hallmarks of the more advanced “classic” period.

The excavations were supported by the National Geographic Society.

The ancient city of Cival, in Guatemala’s Peten region, was first mapped by the explorer Ian Graham in 1984. Since 2001, it has been the focus of an exhaustive excavation, led by Francisco Estrada-Belli, of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, US.

His team’s discoveries have included two monumental carved masks, 120 pieces of polished jade, a ceremonial centre that spanned 800m (2,600ft) and an inscribed stone slab dating to 300 BC.