A cross-shaped pit found at the Aguada Fénix site in Mexico after excavation.
Inside the pit were pigments of blue azurite to the north, green malachite to the east and yellow ochre to the south, as well as marine shells interspersed with axe-shaped clay offerings to the west, says Inomata, a researcher at the University of Arizona. Later the team realized that the cross-shaped pit was aligned with giant canals that extended toward the four cardinal directions.
The cross and the canals, Inomata says, form a cosmogram—a monumental map of the universe etched into the landscape. Cosmograms were used by Mesoamerican civilizations to represent their understanding and cultural relationship with the cosmos. Inomata says that his and his colleagues’ findings, published on Wednesday in Science Advances, challenge long-held assumptions about the social order of the ancient Maya and the reasons behind their architectural achievements.
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Researchers Takeshi Inomata and Melina García Hernández excavate the cross-shaped pit with pigments marking the four cardinal directions.
Aguada Fénix covers a nearly nine-by-7.5-kilometer area, making it one of the largest ancient constructions in all of Mesoamerica. After its discovery in 2017, the team found that the site dated from between 1000 and 800 B.C.E., long before Maya hierarchies had developed. “The question was ‘Why was it built?’” Inomata says.
The researchers also documented a network of canals and a dam that extended westward from the main plateau; these features were likely designed to channel water from a nearby lake. Though the hydraulic system appears unfinished, its monumental scale suggests an extraordinary level of coordination for its construction, Inomata says.
Pigments of blue azurite, green malachite and yellow ochre respectively mark north, east and south, and marine shells and axe-shaped clay offerings mark west.
Like Inomata and Chinchilla, Stuart proposes that the underground offerings placed around the pit “work as a metaphorical planting, activating the space, which amounted to a cosmic stage,” perhaps for communal gatherings and performances.
For Inomata, the new evidence is a reminder that social hierarchies are not always necessary when a goal serves the common good, such as by allowing for collective ritual. “This is a remarkable achievement of the [Maya] people who still live there,” he says.
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