7000-years-old remains found; Mexican archaeologists believe these belong to ancient Mayan Civilization

Mayan Civilization
Mayan Civilization Pixabay

Maya civilization dominated Mexico and Central America in ancient days, including the lands comprising modern-day Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. On Tuesday, August 7 officials announce that Mexican archaeologists have found sets of human remains and they believe these belong to the early ancestors of this civilization.

CBC reported, at the Mexico City news conference archaeologist announced three human remains were discovered at the Puyil cave in the Tacotalpa municipality of Tabasco state, located in southern Mexico. Among those three, while one is supposed to be 7,000-years-old, rest two skeletons are estimated to be about 4,000-years-old.

Archaeologist Alberto Martos said that the excavation team believe that the cave from where the skeletons were discovered was used by different groups. He also added, "Clearly it wasn't a domestic cave. In prehistoric times it was probably used for rituals and cemeteries so as to dispose of the remains of people."

Now, these ancient findings are up for exhibition in the capital's Anthropology Museum, where people can see these remains as well as other artefacts that were found in the region. However, there are some experts who believe that ancient Mayan people had a strong connection to the extraterrestrials, as it is visible on their architecture and other ancient discoveries.

This civilization dominated the region for some 2000 years but very mysteriously these people abandoned their cities. Smithsonian.com reported that the ancient Mayan people might have faced deforestation and climate change issues that pressurised them to abandon the cities.

A study, which was done by Arizona State University that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stated that the researchers have found evidence of severe reductions in rainfall as well as deforestation in the ancient Mayan regions. Another study published by researchers from Columbia University and elsewhere in Geophysical Research Letters also included a computer-generated model of deforestation in the Yucatan and tried to understand how this has affected the rainfall.

B.L. Turner, the lead author of the ASU study said that the sudden collapse is absolutely interesting because it happened at a time in "which developed a sophisticated understanding of their environment, built and sustained intensive production and water systems and withstood at least two long-term episodes of aridity."

CBC
This article was first published on August 12, 2018
Related topics : Archaeology
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