LARGEST AND OLDEST MAYA TEMPLE DISCOVERED

LIDAR has uncovered a site called Aguada Fenix in Tabasco, Mexico dated to 1000-800 BCE. It stand 8-10 meters high with nine causeways leading to it. It is larger then the pyramid of Giza. Jade axes and other artifacts have been found. There are no sculptures of elites at the site and the structures there may have been built largely by migratory peoples.

CNN has the report here with photos;
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/world/biggest-oldest-mayan-temple-aguada-fnix-archeology-scn/index.html

Lead archaeologist Takeshi Inomata, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona uncovered the site using LIDAR after seeing a map published in 2011 covering a large area of Tabasco and Chiapas. Dr. Inomata could see sites below the jungle canopy, and using LIDAR from the information on this map has found 27 previously unknown sites. These sites had construction styles never seen before.

Dr. Inomata and his team began studying Ceibal to understand the relationship between the earlier Olmec culture and the Maya. Ceibal had many Olmec style artifacts. So the team spread out from Ceibal. And they found the 2011 map which made the job much easier.

And they are uncovering rectangular platforms that are low, and some two-thirds of a mile long. These newly discovered 27 sites are also contemporaneous with Ceibal at 1000-800 BCE. The amount of labor involved in building these structures is staggering. And they were built with mobile populations in massive communal enterprises.

A NY Times report in 2019 talks of the early work by Dr. Inomata in the area using the free map they used to locate the new sites.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/science/archaeology-lidar-maya.html

The new huge pyramid at Aguada Fenix was built of earth and clay. It is a quarter-mile wide and nine-tenths of a mile long. Besides the nine large causeways, there is a series of reservoirs linked to the structure.

The Guardian has that report here;
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/03/maya-structure-discovered-mexico-lidar-aguada-fenix

Phys.org has a video here;
https://phys.org/news/2020-06-largest-oldest-maya-monument-importance.html

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