Scientists using an aerial remote-sensing method have discovered the largest and oldest-known structure built by the ancient Maya civilization — a colossal rectangular elevated platform built between 1,000 and 800 BC in Mexico’s Tabasco state.
The structure, unlike the soaring Maya pyramids at cities like Tikal in Guatemala and Palenque in Mexico erected some 1,500 years later, was not built of stone but rather of clay and earth, and likely was used for mass rituals, researchers said on June 3.
Located at a site called Aguada Fenix near the Guatemalan border, the structure measured nearly 400m wide and 1,400m long and stood 10m to 15m high. In total volume, it exceeded ancient Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza built 1,500 years earlier.
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
There were no signs of sculptures depicting high-status individuals, suggesting Maya culture at this early stage was more communal and only later developed social inequality and a hierarchical society led by royalty, the researchers said. “Because it is so large horizontally, if you walk on it, it just looks like natural landscape,” said University of Arizona archaeologist Takeshi Inomata, who led the research published in the journal Nature. “But its form comes out nicely in lidar.”
Lidar, short for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote-sensing technique that employs a pulsed laser and other data obtained flying over a site to generate three-dimensional information about the shape of surface characteristics. Nine large causeways and a series of reservoirs were linked to the structure. Some parts of the rural Aguada Fenix site today are covered with cattle ranches. Other parts are wooded.
“It is probable that many people from surrounding areas gathered for special occasions, possibly tied to calendrical cycles,” Inomata said. “The rituals probably involved processions along the causeways and within the rectangular plaza. The people also deposited symbolic objects such as jade axes in the center of the plateau.”
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
(Reuters)
科學家日前利用空中遙測技術，發現馬雅古文明迄今所知最大規模、最古老的建築結構。該遺址是一座巨大的長方形高台，位在墨西哥的塔巴斯戈州，建造於西元前一千年到前八百年間。
研究人員六月三日表示，該遺址迥異於馬雅文明一千五百多年後於瓜地馬拉的提卡爾和墨西哥的帕倫克等城市建造的高聳金字塔，並非由巨石堆砌而成，而是用黏土和泥土建成，可能是用來舉行大型祭祀活動。
此建築座落於一處稱為「阿瓜達芬尼克斯」的遺址，靠近瓜地馬拉的邊界，長一千四百公尺、寬幾乎達四百公尺，高度約為十到十五公尺。從總體積來看，此結構超過古埃及早一千五百年（即西元前兩千五百年）建造的吉薩大金字塔。
研究人員指出，這處遺址並未出現刻畫身居高位的個人雕塑，意味著馬雅文化在這個早期階段較為偏向「共治」，直到稍晚才發展出社會不平等的現象，以及由王室主導的階級制社會。美國亞利桑那大學的考古學家豬俁健是研究主持人，他表示：「因為這個結構和地面平行，規模又如此巨大，當人走在上面時，感覺就像是走在自然形成的地理景觀上。」豬俁健進一步補充說：「不過，透過光學雷達，遺址的結構就清楚地展現出來。」這份研究日前刊登於《自然》期刊。
「光達」是「光線檢測與測距」的簡稱，是一種運用脈衝雷射的遙測技術，配合受測地點上空獲得的其它資料，產生地貌特徵的3D資訊。這次發現的大型結構，與九條大型堤道和一系列蓄水設施相連。地處鄉間的阿瓜達芬尼克斯遺址，今日部分地區被養牛的牧場覆蓋，其它部分則被繁茂的樹林遮蔽。
豬俁健表示：「許多來自周圍地區的人，可能會在特殊場合在此聚會，或許和曆法的週期有關。」他進一步推測：「這些儀式可能包括沿著堤道、在矩形廣場內列隊遊行。這些人也會在高台中央放置玉斧這類具有象徵性的物品。」
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