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<< Text Pages >> Samabaj - Ancient Temple in Guatemala

Submitted by bat400 on Wednesday, 18 November 2009  Page Views: 9068

Multi-periodSite Name: Samabaj
Country: Guatemala
NOTE: This site is 11.132 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Ancient Temple
 Nearest Village: Santiago Atitlan
Latitude: 14.680000N  Longitude: 91.213W
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
1 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.
no data 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
2

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External Links:

Ancient Temple in Guatemala.
The first underwater archaeological ruins excavated in Guatemala, Samabaj was discovered in 1996 by Roberto Samayoa, a businessman and recreational diver, while exploring Lake Atitlan. Recently professional archeologists taken an interest, mapping the 4,300-square-foot (400-square-meter) area with sonar technology and excavating structures on a raised part of the lake bed.

This area, 50 feet below the lake's surface, is thought to have been an island until water levels rose. (Water levels in the volcanic lake have continued to fluctuate into modern times as well.) Pre-classical (ca. 250 AD) Mayan ceramics, ceremonial monuments and altars have been found.

The murky water and thick layers of sediment have impeded excavations. The exact location of the site is a closely guarded secret to protect it from looters. The location given is only approximate for the general area.

Note: Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in Guatemala lake.
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Nearby Images from Flickr
Guatémala
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florecitas-atitlan
P1180509
P1180510

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 24.2km ENE 75° Iximche' * Ancient Village or Settlement
 56.3km W 265° Tak'alik Ab'aj* Ancient Village or Settlement
 71.7km E 94° Kaminaljuyu* Ancient Village or Settlement
 74.1km E 97° Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (Guatemala City)* Museum
 78.6km NNW 338° Zaculeu* Ancient Village or Settlement
 100.9km NNW 336° Tecumanchu* Ancient Temple
 107.4km WNW 285° Izapa* Ancient Village or Settlement
 129.3km W 281° Ojo de Agua Carving
 146.5km NNW 331° Lagartero Ancient Village or Settlement
 171.1km NNW 346° Nuevo Ojo de Agua Cave Cave or Rock Shelter
 172.0km NNW 339° Chinkultic* Ancient Village or Settlement
 182.9km ESE 115° Casa Blanca Ancient Village or Settlement
 183.2km ESE 115° Tazumal* Ancient Village or Settlement
 188.6km NNW 330° Tenam Puente* Ancient Village or Settlement
 194.4km NE 40° Cancuen* Ancient Village or Settlement
 219.2km NNE 29° Aguateca* Ancient Village or Settlement
 219.5km ESE 116° San Andres* Ancient Village or Settlement
 219.6km NNE 26° Dos Pilas* Ancient Village or Settlement
 221.4km ESE 115° Joya de Ceren* Ancient Village or Settlement
 223.4km E 85° Copa'n* Ancient Village or Settlement
 225.9km N 4° Bonampak* Ancient Village or Settlement
 234.2km N 358° Plan de Ayutla* Ancient Village or Settlement
 238.1km NNE 31° Ceibal* Ancient Village or Settlement
 242.5km ENE 74° Quirigua* Ancient Village or Settlement
 248.3km N 6° Yaxchilan* Ancient Village or Settlement
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"Samabaj" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
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Video of suncken Mayan site by bat400 on Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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Sonia Medrano lectures on the site. The video may be found here, at University Francisco Marroquin.
This video is nearly an hour long, but shows video footage of the "hill top" structures including stele, small square foundations, and pottery.
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Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in Guatemala lake by bat400 on Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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Submitted by coldrum ---

Scuba divers are exploring the depths of a volcanic lake in Guatemala to find clues about an ancient sacred island where Mayan pilgrims flocked to worship before it was submerged by rising waters. Samabaj was discovered accidentally 12 years ago by a diver exploring picturesque Lake Atitlan, ringed by Mayan villages and popular with foreign tourists. "No one believed me, even when I told them all about it. They just said 'he's mad'," said Roberto Samayoa, a businessman and recreational diver who grew up near the lake where his grandmother told him legends of a sunken church.

In 1996, he found the site, with parts of buildings and huge ceremonial stones, known as stelae, clearly visible. He named it Samabaj, after himself, but only in the past year have professional archeologists taken an interest, mapping the 4,300-square-foot (400-square-meter) area with sonar technology and excavating structures on a raised part of the lake bed.

Researchers believe this area, 50 feet below the lake's surface, was once an island until a catastrophic event, like a volcanic eruption or landslide, raised water levels. The rising lake drowned the buildings around 250 A.D., before the height of the Mayan empire, and ceramics found intact there suggest the inhabitants left in a hurry.

"This was an extremely important place from a spiritual point of view," lead archaeologist Sonia Medrano told Reuters in an interview.

Medrano, whose work is funded by the U.S.-based Reinhart Foundation, says the island has ruins of small houses for about 150 people and is crammed with religious paraphernalia, leading researchers to believe Samabaj was a pilgrimage destination. Worshippers probably flocked there from the surrounding area, hiring boats from the shore to row them out to the island for prayer and contemplation, Medrano said.



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