Archeologists Discover New Pyramid

[Earthnut]

Archeologists have discovered what may the largest pyramid by volume.

El Mirador was an immense metropolis during the height of the Maya Classic Period, around 500 BCE. It was larger than Downtown Los Angeles and there are still thousands of pyramids yet to be discovered.

The bonus is the joint discovery of a frieze of the "Popul Vuh," the Maya creation myth; the Maya cultural equivalent of the Book of Genesis. Surviving versions of this text are thought to be tainted by the Christian views of the Spanish monks who helped translate them.

The discovery of these large carvings of the "Popol Vuh" predate the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors by more than a millennium and any differences noted in this version could fundamentally alter our understanding of the ancient Maya worldview.

"By conserving this, we're blessing the lives of an entire nation," says Jeff Morgan of the World Heritage Fund.

[wolvesevolve]

hm! I know El Mirador is not a new site to archaeologists, though I was unaware that is was so unexplored and was so large (though I'm not really that knowledgeable on Mayan sites and prehistory), I'll need to read more! Thanks for posting the CNN story, it's so rare to see something like that on the usual news outlets! Really exciting to see such an old depiction of the Popul Vuh, I wonder how complete it is...