The beginning of this year was marked by two sensational archaeological discoveries at once. In Guatemala, the Mayan metropolis was found, and in Mexico, a settlement dating back to the later period of the Aztec domination. Their size impressed even experienced specialists. True, the lost cities have swallowed up the jungle for many centuries, but this is unlikely to stop scientists - they are full of enthusiasm and count on interesting finds.
Secrets of the Jungle
The Mayan civilization is one of those that constantly excite the imagination of ordinary people and scientists. This is due primarily to the fact that little has survived from the heritage of this once highly developed culture to this day. Most of the artifacts were mercilessly destroyed during the time of the conquistadors, who considered it their duty to erase the memory of what they considered barbaric tribes. However, were they really as backward as the Spaniards saw? It’s hard to believe when you look at their majestic palaces, temples and cities. Until now, enough of them have survived to amaze the imagination: Palenque, Tikal, Chitzen Itza and more than thirty settlements that attract a huge number of tourists and researchers.
A new find is a lost, nameless city that has been waiting for scientists in the jungles of Guatemala for centuries. More than 60,000 buildings - houses, palaces, roads, terraces and complex irrigation systems - have been discovered using LiDAR (optical locator) technology. The discovery literally stunned historians, writes National Geographic. They concluded that, apparently, the Mayan civilization was greatly underestimated by us. And in terms of its development, it may well be comparable with the culture of Ancient Greece or China.
What was unique about the Maya, who trace their ancestry to no less than 2000 BC? To begin with, we note that they did not have two things without which we cannot imagine progress - wheels and metal tools. However, the Indians did well without them. It is known that with the help of instruments made of volcanic glass, they could carry out complex surgical operations, the images of which have been preserved in frescoes. The Maya used complex irrigation schemes for irrigation, knew how to make cement long before the Romans, had extensive knowledge of astronomy, and created their own system of writing and time reckoning.
But where did this knowledge come from? The strange images in the tombs, in which we see people riding on devices similar to flying, baffle scientists. However, there is no information that the Maya had any contact with aliens. It is difficult to understand their origin - “thanks” to the superstitious Spanish conquistadors, who burned all written history. The so-called Mayan codes, written on strips of amatl (a unique paper made of amate, a plant of the ficus genus), have now survived only in four copies and have been deciphered only partially.
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From soap to comb
With the development of historical science, the idea of ancient people as barbarians crumbles to dust. If only because we still cannot comprehend many of their inventions (for example, the Antikythera mechanism), but we use others in everyday life, without even knowing how old the idea is. For example, water clocks (clepsydra), door locks, cosmetics, soaps and combs were invented by the Egyptians even before our era, and various versions of the calendars were invented by the Maya and Babylonians.
Shoes with heels came from the Parthian kingdom. The Greeks invented automatic sliding doors that worked with compressed air or water, and we owe the famous philosopher Plato to the mechanical alarm clock. His compatriot Hero of Alexandria invented the first vending machine (it was used to sell consecrated water in front of temples) and a mercury thermometer. We owe the ancient Chinese people paper (in the modern sense), typography, gunpowder, compass and porcelain.
Pacific Venice
However, in the history of the planet there are a huge number of blank spots. We still have a very limited idea of how many highly developed civilizations existed on Earth in reality. Apparently, many of them have sunk into oblivion without a trace, leaving no trace after themselves, like the legendary Atlantis. But there are plenty of mysteries.
In the 19th century, a small archipelago was discovered to the southeast of Pohnpei Island (Micronesia) in the Pacific Ocean, consisting of more than a hundred artificial islets connected by a system of canals and tunnels. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known among tourists as the “Venice of the Pacific”. But the local population calls the islands Nan Madol, which in an approximate translation from the native dialect sounds more than intriguing - “a place of intermediate spaces”. People believe that it is inhabited by spirits.
The landscapes here are really weird. A real ancient city with palaces, temples, tombs, swimming pools and residential buildings stands on coral reefs. It was built from huge (weighing up to 50 tons) basalt blocks. The islands are surrounded by a stone wall (it is assumed that at one time it reached 10 meters in height), consisting of basalt slabs laid one on top of the other. None of the existing sources found data about the construction period of this city. Radiocarbon dating helped establish the approximate age of 200 BC. However, who were the people who built the city, and where they disappeared, is unknown to science.
COMPETENTLY
Vadim Lakiza, Deputy Director for Research, Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences, Candidate of Historical Sciences, archaeologist
- From an archaeological point of view, Belarus has been studied only by 20%, so, as I think, we have a real chance of making interesting finds. Belarusian archaeologists have already thoroughly investigated all the more or less accessible places. The register of archaeological sites of the country includes several thousand archaeological monuments, about 2 thousand are included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values. Undoubtedly, there are many more interesting places that are hidden from human eyes underground. But a significant part of the territory is covered with forests. Excavations in such an area are problematic.
At the moment, the question arose about creating a detailed archaeological map of Belarus. A complete survey of the territory is necessary. A similar event was held in the late 1970s in Poland. The whole country was divided into conditional squares and explored. Of course, this required significant material costs and time (it took several years for research). But at the same time, the number of unique finds and archaeological sites has increased significantly. For example, in 1978 about 40 thousand objects of archeology were known, and in 2005 - more than 400 thousand.
CURIOUS
We owe to the ancient Maya the invention of chocolate. For centuries, they mixed ground and roasted cocoa beans with water, and then they added hot pepper to this mixture. As a result, a bitter, spicy, foamy, high-fat drink was obtained, which was drunk cold. The very word “chocolate” (or correctly “chocolatl”) literally means “bitter water”. In Europe, the cocoa drink has been known since the 1520s thanks to the conquistador Hernan Cortes. Subsequently, the Europeans invented their own version of the "chocolatl". By the early 17th century, it had become a hot and sweet dessert. Olga BABENINA
