From: Gregory Alan Bolcer (gbolcer@endtech.com)
Date: Fri Sep 08 2000 - 16:32:27 PDT
Actually, on our trip throught he Yucatan, we attempted to cross
over the border at Paxban to drive to Tikal but all the roads
were out at the time so we never made it. We did visit two dozen
sites off the beaten track 100 miles from any tourists. For $.15 you
got an all day ticket to wander 200 mile reserves just touching on
complex after complex of ancient Mayan ruins.
One thing that deserves to be commented on, however. There are
plenty of ruins that are known but not uncovered. Rather than
excavating more than they could possibly study with the tools
and technologies available, an abundance of sites were marked for future
study. This included everything from scheduling an excavating 2-5 years
when they had the money to keeping it sealed for 50 years so that
the next generation of archeologists could share in the discovery--sort
of like a time capsule from the past.
Some of these "earlier" expeditions purposely left them
untouched rather than overlooking or underestimating them.
Greg
Rohit Khare wrote:
> "No one has found anything like this since the turn of the last century,"
> Dr. Arthur A. Demarest, an archaeologist at Vanderbilt University in
> Nashville and leader of the discovery team, said yesterday in describing the
> palace, which dates from the eighth century A.D. "What is most incredible
> about this site is that most of the palace is buried virtually intact."
> Dr. Demarest said that in size and preservation the palace, at Cancuén,
> rivaled the buildings at the central acropolis in Tikal, one of the grandest
> seats of Mayan power in Guatemala. Earlier expeditions had either overlooked
> or underestimated the size and grandeur of the palace and the city around
> it, a prosperous center of commerce and crafts at the head of navigation on
> the Pasión River.
>
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