Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – In the summer of 2020, an international research team led by a University of Arizona archaeologist announced the discovery of the largest known monumental structure in the Maya region. This impressive monument, located at Aguada Fénix in Tabasco near Mexico’s southeastern border, measures nearly a mile long and a quarter-mile wide, stands between 30 and 50 feet tall, and dates back to around 1,000 B.C.
Over the past five years since this initial finding, Regents Professor Takeshi Inomata and Fred A. Reicker Distinguished Professor Daniela Triadan have continued their work at Aguada Fénix and its surroundings. Their research has identified nearly 500 similar but smaller sites scattered across southeastern Mexico.
Most recently, Inomata’s team uncovered compelling evidence that Aguada Fénix functioned as a cosmogram—a symbolic representation of the universe’s order commonly found at other Maya sites. This discovery suggests that Aguada Fénix could be one of the most significant ceremonial centers in the Maya area. The latest excavations revealed a cruciform (cross-shaped) pit containing ceremonial artifacts that offer unprecedented insights into early Maya rituals.
According to Inomata, the study provides additional evidence challenging the traditional view that Mesoamerican cultures developed slowly by constructing progressively larger settlements, like Tikal in Guatemala and Teotihuacan in central Mexico—both known for their iconic pyramid monuments. Remarkably, Aguada Fénix predates the peak periods of these cities by almost a thousand years and is comparable in size, if not larger, than any of them.
“What we are finding is that there was a ‘big bang’ of construction at the beginning of 1,000 B.C., which really nobody knew about,” said Inomata, a researcher in the School of Anthropology, in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. “Huge planning and construction really happened at the very beginning.”
In 2017, Inomata and his colleagues discovered initial evidence of Aguada Fénix using lidar technology. Lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging, involves emitting lasers from an aircraft flying above the area. These lasers penetrate jungle and forest cover to generate detailed 3D maps of humanmade structures hidden beneath the vegetation. Credit: Takeshi Inomata/University of Arizona
In 2017, Inomata and his team identified the first signs of Aguada Fénix using lidar technology—an advanced method that stands for light detection and ranging. Lidar involves emitting lasers from an aircraft to penetrate dense jungle or forest, generating detailed 3D maps that reveal human-made structures hidden beneath the vegetation.
The researchers had previously applied lidar in 2015 at Ceibal, a Maya site in nearby Guatemala, where they uncovered early constructions. According to Inomata, Aguada Fénix shares a similar layout with Ceibal.
The team uncovered jade axes and ornaments that were probably deposited during subsequent visits to the site, following the initial offerings made by builders to the cruciform cache before it was filled in. This suggests that the site continued to hold significance even after its primary use, with later visitors leaving additional items as part of ongoing ritual activity. Credit: Takeshi Inomata/University of Arizona
One notable feature at Aguada Fénix is the alignment of its monument’s centerline with the sunrise on October 17 and February 24. This interval spans approximately 130 days, which likely represents half of the traditional Mesoamerican ritual calendar’s 260-day cycle. This alignment mirrors those found at other Maya sites known for ceremonial caches, suggesting to researchers that similar findings might be present at Aguada Fénix—a site now located on rural ranchland in eastern Tabasco.
To determine the age of these features, the team used radiocarbon dating on both a cruciform pit and subsequent construction layers above it. They also examined ceramic sherds found onsite to help establish a timeline for these activities.
Among their earliest significant discoveries were several jade axes recognized as ceremonial objects from previous archaeological work.
“That told us that this was really an important ritual place,” Inomata said.
During the continued excavation of the cruciform, the team uncovered jade ornaments carved in the shapes of a crocodile, a bird, and what is believed to be a woman in childbirth. At the base of the pit, they discovered a smaller cruciform structure. Here, they found mineral pigments—small piles of blue, green, and yellowish soil—carefully arranged to align with the cardinal directions.
“We’ve known that there are specific colors associated with specific directions, and that’s important for all Mesoamerican people, even the Native American people in North America,” Inomata said.
“But we never had actual pigment placed in this way. This is the first case that we’ve found those pigments associated with each specific direction. So that was very exciting.”
Monumental achievements without a single ruler
Researchers believe that the builders intentionally arranged pigments and other materials as offerings before covering them with sand and soil. Radiocarbon dating places this cache between 900 and 845 B.C. Evidence suggests that people later returned to the site for additional rituals, leaving behind jade objects.
The study also uncovered a complex network of raised causeways and sunken corridors, which allowed Aguada Fénix’s builders to access and move through the site efficiently. Additionally, they constructed canals and a dam to redirect water from a nearby lagoon. These causeways, corridors, and canals were aligned with the orientation of Aguada Fénix toward the sun, extending up to six miles from the main plateau.
Cruciform cache found in the E Group Plaza.
(A) Locations of the excavation units in the E Group on the Main Plateau. (B) Cruciform cache viewed from the east. (C) Axe-shaped clay objects found at the bottom of the large cruciform pit (Cache NR10). (D) Pigments and shells found at the bottom of the small cruciform pit (Cache NR11). Credit: Science Advances. https://doi.org/aea2037
Unlike sites such as Tikal in Guatemala—where power was centralized under a single king—the research team has not found evidence that Aguada Fénix followed this model. Instead, Inomata proposes that leadership at Aguada Fénix may have been more collective or intellectual in nature, possibly led by individuals who specialized in astronomical observations and oversaw design and planning for the settlement.
“These leaders didn’t have power to force other people,” Inomata added. “Most probably came willingly, because this idea of building a cosmogram was really important to them, and so they worked together.”
Xanti S. Ceballos Pesina, a doctoral student in anthropology and study co-author, helped excavate a smaller complex at Aguada Fénix. Having visited many Maya sites in Mexico, Ceballos was amazed by the vastness of Aguada Fénix revealed in Inomata’s lidar map and how it remained undiscovered for so long.
Greenstone objects found in Caches NR6-9.
(A) Cache NR6. The large incised object probably depicts a crocodile. (B) Cache NR8. It contained five greenstone axes and an ornament arranged in a flower-petal form but probably had more objects before it was cut by Cache NR9. (C) All objects found in Cache NR7. The cache contained 18 stone objects placed in a cruciform pattern. (D) Front and side view of a thin jade plaque found in the central part of Cache NR9. It may have been used as a plaque hanging from a belt or as a pendant. It probably represents a female in a birthing position. It appears to have broken when the upper right notch was being made. (E) Two sides of the jade objects, each with two transverse perforations, found in Cache NR9. They may have been used together as a headband or necklace. (F) Side view of the first object from the left in (E). (G) Side view of the third object from the left in (E). (H) Pectoral probably representing a bird found in the central part of Cache NR9. Credit: Science Advances. https://doi.org/aea2037
“I think it’s very cool that new technologies are helping to discover these new types of architectural arrangements,” Ceballos said. “And when you see it on the map, it’s very impressive that in the Middle Preclassic Period, people with no centralized organization or power were coming together to perform rituals and to build this massive construction.”
Inomata said the findings from Aguada Fénix have clear implications about how modern society can evolve.
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“People have this idea that certain things happened in the past—that there were kings, and kings built the pyramids, and so in modern times, you need powerful people to achieve big things,” he said.
“But once you see the actual data from the past, it was not like that. So, we don’t need really big social inequality to achieve important things.”
The study was published in the journal Science Advances
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
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