The Cradle of Maya Civilization
The Cradle of Maya Civilization
The Mayan culture extended to parts of what is now Mexico, Honduras, and El Salvador, and most of Guatemala and Belize. The legacy of the Mayan culture its origin has been found in the cities of Nakbe, El Mirador, San Bartolo in northern of Petén, Guatemala.
The Maya flourished thanks to a deep understanding of their geographic setting, and surprising adaptations to the environmental conditions that surrounded them. They conceived the world as a quadrangular space that was ordered and measured at the time of creation. The gods created the face of the earth, u wach ulew, as a propitious place for human life.
In the words of the Popol Vuh:
"All then was measured and staked out into four divisions, doubling over and stretching the measuring cords of the womb of sky and the womb of earth. Thus were established the four corners, the four sides"
The Mirador Basin Project is the most important project of archaeological research in Guatemala, now. Dr. Richard Hansen is the director of projects. Lectures Mapping the Mirador Basin: Exploration and New Technology in the Cradle of Maya Civilization in Universidad Francisco Marroquin de Guatemala.
CNN Features Mirador - The forgotten city of Mirador
