Divers recover several hundred artefacts from sacred Mayan lake in Guatemala
Fragment of a face-shaped ceramic censer, evidence of religious rituals in the form of ceramic vessels - in total, Polish archaeologists discovered several hundred artefacts during underwater research in the lake Petén Itzá near the ancient Mayan capital Nojpetén in Guatemala.
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Credit: Mateusz Popek |
"We have discovered more than 500 artefacts near the ancient Mayan capital, including objects sunk during religious rituals", says the Polish team leader, archaeologist from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Magdalena Krzemień.
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Credit: Mateusz Popek |
Krzemień believes that the discovery was made exactly in the place where the vessels had been originally deposited. They were partially buried under the bottom, so even the currents could not move them.
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Credit: Mateusz Popek |
A bit further was a partly destroyed fragment of a censer shaped like a human head. The project leader says that very similar items have been discovered in onshore Maya temples. "During some of the ceremonies the censers were deliberately broken. That was probably the case here", she adds.
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Credit: Mateusz Popek |
Water reservoirs were also perceived as places closely related to Chaak - a rain god, responsible for rainfall, and consequently also crops. "That is why a large number of various kinds of sacrificial gifts ended up in water reservoirs over the centuries", adds the project leader.
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Credit: Mateusz Popek |
The Maya resisted the conquistadors for a very long time. Nojpetén - the last independent fortress of the Maya - was captured in 1697 after a great battle. The Spaniards attacked the island on ships, from which they shot their weapons at the Maya.
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Credit: Mateusz Popek |
A little further north, in the area of the El Hospital island, archaeologists discovered of a large shell from the Caribbean Sea on the bottom, which indicates that the Maya had contacts with the inhabitants of the Caribbean Coast.
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Credit: Mateusz Popek |
The project leader emphasizes that all artefacts were located on the surface of the lake bed - they did not even have to be excavated. "Considering the number of objects we discovered on the surface, we would probably find even more during excavations. Therefore, we plan to continue our research", concludes Krzemień.
Author: Szymon Zdziebłowski | Source: PAP - Science in Poland [February 01, 2019]
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