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<< Our Photo Pages >> El Mirador - Ancient Village or Settlement in Guatemala

Submitted by bat400 on Tuesday, 04 September 2012  Page Views: 22255

Multi-periodSite Name: El Mirador
Country: Guatemala
NOTE: This site is 1.012 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
 Nearest Village: Carmelita, Guatemala
Latitude: 17.752980N  Longitude: 89.91303W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
1 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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I have visited· I would like to visit

john_op_stap visited on 16th Apr 2004 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 1 It seems more work has been done since I was there. Worth the two day walk getting there though. Hope they can keep excavating, and finally find the evidence that , imho, at one point Maya and Olmec shared one general culture and were not distinct populations...

Andy B have visited here

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap : El Mirador - 16/04/04 Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient City in Pete'n Guatemala.
El Mirador "the Lookout" was one of the largest city states of the Mayan world. Covering ten square miles it had an estimated maximum population of 80,000. The polity was at its height from 300BC to 100AD, although evidence from excavations indicate the area was occupied much earlier and was only abandoned at around 900 AD.

Portions of the giantic site have been excavated, but the archaeologists with active yearly digs re-bury their finds at the end of each season to deter looters. The result is a site covered by a thick jungle forest. Three large pyramids tower over 120 feet. The tallest is Danta Pyramid at 230-250 feet tall.
Part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, in the Mirador Basin National Monument. El Mirador is currently inaccessible except by helicopter or a 5 day minimum hiking or horseback expedition. Expeditions can be mounted from the village of Carmeltia, a 50 mile bus ride from the regional capitol of Flores.
Note: the location given is roughly at the center of the large rectangle of public buildings. Google maps show the tops of several pyramids towering above the surrounding forest.

Note: Talking Turkey. Earliest use of turkey as imported domestic animal by the Maya. See comment.
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El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by Creative Commons : El Mirador temple. Creative Commons image by Geoff Gallice Original here (Vote or comment on this photo)

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by Andy B (Vote or comment on this photo)

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by Andy B : Archaeological work in progress, El Mirador, Creative Commons image by Geoff Gallice Original here (Vote or comment on this photo)

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap : El Mirador - 16/04/04 Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap : El Mirador - 16/04/04 Site in Guatemala - El Mirador Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap : El Mirador - 16/04/04 Site in Guatemala - El Mirador Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by Andy B : El Mirador temple. Creative Commons image by Geoff Gallice Original here

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by Andy B

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap : El Mirador - 16/04/04 La Danta Site in Guatemala - El Mirador Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap : El Mirador - 16/04/04 drainage tile, found al over the place Site in Guatemala - El Mirador, drainage tiles, found all over the place Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap : El Mirador - 16/04/04 Site in Guatemala - El Mirador Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

El Mirador
El Mirador submitted by john_op_stap : El Mirador - 16/04/04 Site in Guatemala - El Mirador Image copyright: john_op_stap (John Schelstraete), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API.

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Earliest Use of Mexican Turkeys by Ancient Maya by bat400 on Tuesday, 04 September 2012
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A new University of Florida study shows the turkey, one of the most widely consumed birds worldwide, was domesticated more than 1,000 years earlier than previously believed.



Researchers say discovery of the bones from an ancient Mayan archaeological site in Guatemala provides evidence of domestication, usually a significant mark of civilization, and the earliest evidence of the Mexican turkey in the Maya world. The study appears online in PLoS ONE.

The discovery of the turkey bones is significant because the Maya did not use a lot of domesticated animals. While they cultivated domesticated plants, most of their animal protein came mostly from wild resources, said lead author Erin Thornton (a research associate, Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus and Trent University Archaeological Research Centre.)

"We might have gotten the timing of the introduction of this species to the ancient Maya wrong by a significant chunk of time," Thornton said. "The species originates from central Mexico, outside the Maya cultural area. This is the species the Europeans brought back with them to Europe -- all domestic turkeys originated from Mexico."

Using archaeological evidence, comparisons of bone structure and ancient DNA analysis, scientists determined the turkey fossils belonged to the non-local species Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo, which is native to central and northern Mexico. The Mexican turkey is the ancestor of all domestic turkeys consumed in the world today and Mesoamerica's only indigenous domesticated animal. The discovery of the bones south of the turkey's natural range shows animal exchange occurred from northern Mesoamerica to the Maya cultural region during the Late Preclassic period from 300 B.C. to A.D. 100.

"This research has consequences for understanding Maya subsistence because they would have had access to a controlled, managed resource," Thornton said. "The turkey bones came from right within the ceremonial precinct of the site, so these are probably the remains of some sort of elite sacrifice, meal or feast."

The bones were recovered from the El Mirador archaeological site, one of the largest and most developed Preclassic locations found in the Maya lowlands. The site contains massive temple complexes, some of the largest Maya architecture ever constructed.

"Plant and animal domestication suggests a much more complex relationship between humans and the environment -- you're intentionally modifying it and controlling it," Thornton said.

Researchers assumed turkey bones previously recovered from Maya sites belonged to the native ocellated turkey, Meleagris ocellata. The new evidence means researchers may need to re-examine previously recovered bones, said Florida State University anthropology professor emeritus Mary Pohl.

Florida Museum researchers hope a new two-year, $185,000-grant from the National Science Foundation will help answer some of the questions the study has raised about the history of turkey rearing and domestication in Mesoamerica.

"The turkeys were brought in, they weren't local, but we don't know if they were brought in and then killed shortly after, used as a trade item or bred on-site after an even earlier introduction," Thornton said. "The El Mirador study is really just a tantalizing piece of the puzzle and we still have a lot left to learn and explore."



Thanks to coldrum for the link. For more, see http://www.sciencedaily.com.
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Global Heritage Fund naming 2012 'Year of the Maya' - Celebrating at El Mirador by bat400 on Monday, 23 January 2012
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Celebrating Year of the Maya with tour of Latin America's ruins

The ancient long count calendar of the Maya, a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished across Mexico and Central America from 2000 BC to the time of the Spanish Conquistadores, states that 21 December, 2012, marks the end of the 13th Maya Calendar, a 144,000-day cycle or "b'ak'tun" since the mythical Maya day of creation 5,200 years ago.

Though popularly interpreted as signifying the "end of the world as we know it," scholars stress that the end of the "b'ak'tun" does not mean apocalypse.

While few Maya people still follow the long count calendar, the Global Heritage Fund is celebrating the event by naming 2012 "The Year of the Maya," with members of the Fund greeting the winter solstice on top of La Danta pyramid at the El Mirador site in Guatemala.

"Experiencing the Winter Solstice on the summit of La Danta is thought to be one of the greatest opportunities to experience the end of the 13th Maya calendar and dawn of a new age," said Jeff Morgan, Executive Director of the Global Heritage Fund.

But their celebrations have a serious side: the Global Heritage Fund is highlighting the dangers to Mayan sites such as El Mirador, which are threatened by looting and deforestation, and hoping to secure the investment to turn these neglected spots into thriving and sustainable tourist destinations.

Thanks to Jackdaw1 for the link to this cnn.com travel article. For photos and descriptions of El Mirador and other sites, hit the link.
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A Massive Early Maya Center and a Race Against Time by davidmorgan on Tuesday, 05 July 2011
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This immense early Maya center is revealing a wondrous cultural treasure to the world, but it is in danger of disappearing before our eyes.
A Massive Early Maya Center and a Race Against Time

Shrouded mostly in jungle overgrowth, the ancient pyramidal structure known as "La Danta" is arguably among the largest pyramidal structures in the world. It marks the cultural centerpiece of what this early (beginning around the 6th century B.C.E.) Maya city has to offer to the world. In a very literal sense, it also represents only the tip of the iceberg -- most of the rest of this ancient city lies unseen, hidden by the green canopy of the Mirador Basin in the far northern Petén Region of Guatemala. In time it will disappear, even from the grasp of its protective jungle shroud, if nothing is done about it.

Called "El Mirador" today (spanish for "the look-out", but anciently known as the Kan Kingdom), the city had its beginnings in the 6th century B.C.E. but flourished from the 3rd to the 1st century B.C.E., the civic center of the city covering approximately 10 square miles with several thousand structures and a peak population estimated at perhaps more than one hundred thousand people. This makes it one of the earliest and largest ancient Maya centers in Mesoamerica. Only a fraction of the site has been excavated.

Discovered in 1926, El Mirador was first photographed from the air in 1930 and mapped in 1962 by Ian Graham. The first full-scale investigations and excavations began in 1978 under the direction of Bruce Dahlin of the Catholic University of America and Ray T. Matheny of Brigham Young University. During these excavations, archaeologists determined that many of the site's sophisticated Classic-period style structures were dated considerably before the Classic time period of the other better-known monumental centers of the Maya, such as Tikal and Uaxactún. They had discovered a massive Pre-Classic Maya city that rivaled other Classic period centers in architecture and easily exceeded the size and scope of most other Maya settlements. In fact, it was gigantic, but shrouded in secrecy by the jungle and virtually inaccessible to most travelers but the hardiest of explorers and scientists.

In 2003, Richard Hansen of Idaho State University began large-scale investigations, including conservation and stabilization efforts, utilizing a global force of scientists and other experts from a consortium of 52 universities and research institutions. As of today, studies and efforts under his coordination have produced hundreds of scientific reports and presentations and have raised El Mirador's profile as one of the world's great cultural treasures and Guatemala's leading candidate for a UNESCO World Heritage designation.

According to officials familiar with the site and its environment, however, time may be running out on saving this ancient city, most of which remains unexplored and unseen by human eye. Large-scale clearing and destruction of the surrounding environment by a ranching industry financed in part by drug trafficking, slash-and-burn clearing for agricultural purposes, logging, and extensive looting of El Mirador and surrounding archaeological sites have all combined to place El Mirador on the list of sites endangered for extinction. Hansen has been at the forefront in championing and marshaling the resources to reverse this trend and to stabilize and conserve the site for future generations. Thus far, he and the organization he has founded, the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies (FARES), have been the recipient of over $5,000,000 in funds over the past 5 years from the California-based Global Heritage Fund (GHF), a non-profit organization dedicated to community-based initiatives to conserve and develop important archaeological sites in developing countries.

"Today, thanks to contributions from GHF, FARES, and PACUNAM (Foundation for Cultural and Natural Patrimony), a new 880,000 Mirador Archae

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Re: Mirador by Aluta on Tuesday, 27 October 2009
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CNN News footage of Mirador--the largest pyramid and a frieze depicting the Mayan Creation story, here.
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Guatemala Mayan city may have ended in pyramid battle by bat400 on Wednesday, 07 October 2009
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One of Guatemala's greatest ancient Mayan cities may have died out in a bloody battle atop a huge pyramid between a royal family and invaders from hundreds of miles away, archaeologists say. Researchers are carrying out DNA tests on blood samples from hundreds of spear tips and arrowheads dug up with bone fragments and smashed pottery at the summit of the El Tigre pyramid in the Mayan city of El Mirador, buried beneath jungle vegetation 8 km from Guatemala's border with Mexico.

Many of the excavated blades are made of obsidian which the archaeologists have traced to a source hundreds of miles away in the Mexican highlands. They believe the spears belonged to warriors from Teotihuacan, an ancient civilization near Mexico City and an ally of Tikal, which was an enemy city of El Mirador.

"We've found over 200 of the obsidian tips alone, as well as flint ones, indicating there was a tremendous battle," said excavation leader Richard Hansen, a senior scientist in Idaho State University's anthropology department who is pushing the pyramid battle theory.
"It looks like this was the final point of defense for a small group of inhabitants," told Reuters.

El Mirador is one of the biggest ancient cities in the Western Hemisphere and is thought to have been home to between 100,000 and 200,000 people at its height. Historians believe it was built up from around 850 BC and flourished for hundreds of years before it was mysteriously abandoned in 150 AD.



For more, see Reuters.
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Mayan Creation Story Revealed in Stucco Frieze by bat400 on Monday, 16 March 2009
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Archaeologists have unearthed a pair of monumental stucco panels in Guatemala that appear to depict one of the New World's oldest-known creation stories, going back thousands of years to what experts call "the cradle of Maya civilization." The discovery suggests that the saga, known as the Popol Vuh, was a centerpiece of Maya beliefs for well more than a millennium and stands as one of the world's enduring religious stories.

The 26-foot-long (8-meter-long) El Mirador panels were made of carved and modeled lime plaster, and lined a water collection system in a part of the city known as the Central Acropolis. They date back to the Late Preclassic period of Maya culture, which goes from about 300 B.C. to the early 1st century A.D., according to an account of the find from Idaho State University.

The amazing thing about the panels is that they show a pair of swimmers, framed by cosmic monsters including an undulating serpent and an old-man deity with outstretched wings. Idaho State University's Richard Hansen, president of the Idaho-based FARES Foundation, said the swimmers appear to represent the fabled Hero Twins.

"One of the swimmers has a decapitated head on his flanks, which is likely the decapitated head of his father, who was known in Maya mythology as Hun Hunahpu," Hansen is quoted as saying in the university's account. The other swimmer wears a jaguar headdress, which would typically be associated with Xbalanque ("Young Jaguar Sun.").

Hector Escobedo, Guatemala's vice minister of culture, said the find "suggests that the antiquity of the Popol Vuh as an authentic creation story extends far into the Preclassic eras." The find also adds to the importance attached to the Mirador Basin as a center of ancient Maya culture.

Hansen has been doing research for years in the remote Mirador Basin, which is at the center of a major forest conservation program established by the Guatemalan government. Recently, he called the site "arguably the greatest archaeological find in the Western Hemisphere."

This story has been widely reported but this report from MSNBC's Cosmic Log appears to have the most information and the best photos. See their link for more.
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    About the Popul Vuh and this discovery by bat400 on Monday, 16 March 2009
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    For Megalithic Portal readers unfamiliar with it, the Popul Vuh is a Roman alphabet version of the Mayan creation story, authored by members of several noble families that had once ruled the Quiche' kingdom in what is now Guatemala. The literal translation is "Council Book". The people who recorded the text appear to be translating a then existent hieroglyphic book and describing how they sat in council and used the text for divining or presented the story in public recitation.

    The Popul Vuh tells how the gods created the world and peopled it. The act of this creation is contemporary to a story involving several generations of heroic brothers. The Heroes attempt to defeat a family of titanic monsters and the Lords of the Underworld, Xibalba, which appears to have been sort of a combination of a feared afterlife location and a place of ultimate trial. The two main heroes are a pair of twins, Hunahpu and Xbanlanque. The bulk of the Popul Vuh follows their journeys. A following section of the text places the Hero Twins into the genealogy of Quiche’ royalty.

    The contact era Popul Vuh story is considered to be part of ancient Mayan religion and legend because of artifacts, both pottery and wall paintings, from the pre-contact periods that depict iconography that matches some of the events described in the seventeenth century text. Xbanlanque (“Young Jaguar Sun”) and his twin Huanahpu travel to Xibalba in part to collect the head of their father and bring it back to reanimate him. Such a reanimation scene has been found in painted ceramics predating Popul Vuh, one of the chief “re-animators” having spotted jaguar skin. Other ceramic decoration and relief panels in various parts of the Mayan world show scenes that mirror Popul Vuh stories, including twin figures taunting howler monkeys (the Twins half brothers were so transformed), ball players with squash vines in place of their heads (Hunahpu’s head is replaced with a squash so he can stay in a ball game), and a furry jaguar man summoning animals to him (as Xbanlanque does in Popul Vuh). There are many other examples.

    In one part of the story the brothers seem to have been backed into a corner by the Lords of Xibalba with no way to win against them. The twins are killed when they jump into a roasting pit. Their bones are ground to pieces and thrown into a river. However, Hunahpu and Xbanlanque had already discovered through a diviner that this is how their enemies would dispose of their bodies. They reanimate as catfish and later take human form. The underwater adventure depicted in the Mirador panels (with a figure in Jaguar headdress and another carrying a severed head) may have a connection to this story.

    Aspects of the Popul Vuh remain part of the contemporary knowledge of Quiche’ "Daykeepers" who perform divinatory consultations in association with births, marriages, and illness. Existing Mayan books from the late Classical period appear to serve a dual function similar to what is presented in the Popul Vuh: telling a historic or legendary story, and giving accounts of cycles in astronomic and earthly events that could be used to foretell future events or guide actions.

    Around 1700 Dominican friar, Francisco Ximenez, a parish priest, appears to have borrowed the Quiche'-Roman alphabet text and copied it, with the Quiche text on the left side and a Spanish translation on the right side of the pages. Versions published in German and French appeared in Europe in the mid 1800's. The original Quiche'-Spanish text now resides at the Newberry Library, Chicago. There are several modern translations into English, the most rigorous have made use of consultations with modern native Quiche' "Daykeepers", historic studies of the Quiche' language, and reference to pre-contact archaeological materials.

    Ref: Dennis Tedlock's Popol Vuh: the Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings, revised translation, 1996, Simon &

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    Re: Mayan Creation Story Revealed in Stucco Frieze by davidmorgan on Monday, 16 March 2009
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    Wow! Late Preclassic stucco panels! Sounds fascinating. I hope they're in good condition. If they're anything like Balamkú, they'll be wonderful.
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      Re: Mayan Creation Story Revealed in Stucco Frieze by bat400 on Monday, 16 March 2009
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      Click on the links. The stucco panels shown in the photographs look pristine.
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      Re: Mayan Creation Story Revealed in Stucco Frieze by davidmorgan on Tuesday, 17 March 2009
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      Thanks. They look very nice.
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