Mayan collapse

Summary: Mysterious ruins may help explain Mayan collapseBy Dan Vergano USA TODAY Ringing two abandoned pyramids are nine palaces frozen in time that may help unravel the mystery of the ancient Maya reports an archaeological team Hidden in the hilly jungle the ancient site of Kiuic KIE yuk was one　 of dozens of ancient Maya centers abandoned in the Puuc region of Mexico s Yucatan about 10 centuries ago The latest discoveries from the site may capture the moment of departure The people just walked away and left everything in place says archaeologist George Bey of Millsaps College in Jackson Miss co director of the Labna Kiuic Regional Archaeological Project Until now we had little evidence from the actual moment of abandonment it s a frozen moment in time The ancient or classic Maya were part of a Central American civilization best known for stepped pyramids beautiful carvings and murals and the widespread abandonment of cities around 900 A D in southern Mexico Guatemala Belize and El Salvador They headed for the northern Yucatan where Spanish conquistadors met their descendants in the 1500s 6 million modern Maya still live in Central America today Past work by the team led by Bey and Tomas Gallareta of Mexico s National Institute of Archaeology and History shows the Maya had inhabited the Puuc region since 500 B C So why they headed for the coast with their brethren is just part of the mystery of the Maya collapse New clues may come from Kiuic where the archaeologists explored two pyramids and most intriguingly plantation palaces on the ridges ringing the center Of particular interest a hilltop complex nicknamed Stairway to Heaven by Gallareta that s Escalera al Cieloa for Spanish speaking Led Zeppelin fans because of a long staircase leading from Kiuic to a central plaza nearly a mile away Both the pyramids and the palaces look like latter day additions to Kiuic built in the 9th century just as Maya centers farther south were being abandoned The influx of wealth at Kiuic may spring from immigration Bey says as Maya headed north One　 pyramid was built atop what was originally a palace allowing the rulers of Kiuic to simultaneously celebrate their forebears and move to fancier digs in the hills When the team started exploring the hilltop palaces five vaulted homes to the south of the hilltop plaza and four to the north the archaeologists found tools stone knives and axes corn grinder stones called metates muh TAH taze and pots still sitting in place It was completely unexpected Bey says It looks like they just turned the metates on their sides and left things waiting for them to come back Their finds look very interesting and promising says archaeologist Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona who is not part of the project If it indeed represents rapid abandonment it provides important implications about the social circumstance at that time and promises detailed data on the way people lived Inomata is part of a team exploring Aguateca an abandoned Maya center in Guatemala renowned for its preservation I should add that the identification of rapid abandonment is not easy There are other types of deposits particularly ritual deposits that result in very similar kinds of artifact assemblages Inomata cautions by email Bey and colleagues presented some of their findings earlier this year at the Society for American Archaeology meeting in Atlanta The team hopes to publish its results and dig further at Kiuic to prove their finding of rapid abandonment there I think you could compare it to Pompeii where people locked their doors and fled taking some things but leaving others Bey says So far what drove people to leave the site remains a mystery as it is for the rest of the ancient Maya The onl　y sign of warfare is a collection of spear points found in the central plaza of Kiuic There are signs that construction halted there a stucco floored plaza sits half complete for example Drought seems more likely that would halt construction Bey says Having climbed the Stairway to Heaven a few times Bey can answer one　 minor mystery however Why weren t the palace sites looted as so many other Maya sites have been The hills are a good climb he says People just didn t bother to climb the hills to search the rooms Mysterious ruins may help explain Mayan collapseBy Dan Vergano USA TODAY Ringing two abandoned pyramids are nine palaces frozen in time that may help unravel the mystery of the ancient Maya reports an archaeological team Hidden in the hilly jungle the ancient site of Kiuic KIE yuk was one　 of dozens of ancient Maya centers abandoned in the Puuc region of Mexico s Yucatan about 10 centuries ago The latest discoveries from the site may capture the moment of departure The people just walked away and left everything in place says archaeologist George Bey of Millsaps College in Jackson Miss co director of the Labna Kiuic Regional Archaeological Project Until now we had little evidence from the actual moment of abandonment it s a frozen moment in time The ancient or classic Maya were part of a Central American civilization best known for stepped pyramids beautiful carvings and murals and the widespread abandonment of cities around 900 A D in southern Mexico Guatemala Belize and El Salvador They headed for the northern Yucatan where Spanish conquistadors met their descendants in the 1500s 6 million modern Maya still live in Central America today Past work by the team led by Bey and Tomas Gallareta of Mexico s National Institute of Archaeology and History shows the Maya had inhabited the Puuc region since 500 B C So why they headed for the coast with their brethren is just part of the mystery of the Maya collapse New clues may come from Kiuic where the archaeologists explored two pyramids and most intriguingly plantation palaces on the ridges ringing the center Of particular interest a hilltop complex nicknamed Stairway to Heaven by Gallareta that s Escalera al Cieloa for Spanish speaking Led Zeppelin fans because of a long staircase leading from Kiuic to a central plaza nearly a mile away Both the pyramids and the palaces look like latter day additions to Kiuic built in the 9th century just as Maya centers farther south were being abandoned The influx of wealth at Kiuic may spring from immigration Bey says as Maya headed north One　 pyramid was built atop what was originally a palace allowing the rulers of Kiuic to simultaneously celebrate their forebears and move to fancier digs in the hills When the team started exploring the hilltop palaces five vaulted homes to the south of the hilltop plaza and four to the north the archaeologists found tools stone knives and axes corn grinder stones called metates muh TAH taze and pots still sitting in place It was completely unexpected Bey says It looks like they just turned the metates on their sides and left things waiting for them to come back Their finds look very interesting and promising says archaeologist Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona who is not part of the project If it indeed represents rapid abandonment it provides important implications about the social circumstance at that time and promises detailed data on the way people lived Inomata is part of a team exploring Aguateca an abandoned Maya center in Guatemala renowned for its preservation I should add that the identification of rapid abandonment is not easy There are other types of deposits particularly ritual deposits that result in very similar kinds of artifact assemblages Inomata cautions by email Bey and colleagues presented some of their findings earlier this year at the Society for American Archaeology meeting in Atlanta The team hopes to publish its results and dig further at Kiuic to prove their finding of rapid abandonment there I think you could compare it to Pompeii where people locked their doors and fled taking some things but leaving others Bey says So far what drove people to leave the site remains a mystery as it is for the rest of the ancient Maya The onl　y sign of warfare is a collection of spear points found in the central plaza of Kiuic There are signs that construction halted there a stucco floored plaza sits half complete for example Drought seems more likely that would halt construction Bey says Having climbed the Stairway to Heaven a few times Bey can answer one　 minor mystery however Why weren t the palace sites looted as so many other Maya sites have been The hills are a good climb he says People just didn t bother to climb the hills to search the rooms

Image Dimensions: 490 x 324