|
NewsWeb Media Coverage
|
| |
|
|
Ancient
Nicaraguan Society Found
By Richard Black
BBC Science Correspondent
Archaeologists have discovered what they describe as a previously unknown
ancient civilisation in Central America. The site, near the Atlantic coast
of Nicaragua, dates from before the Mayan era, and relics include what
appears to be a centre for mass production of ceremonial columns.
Researchers have been working on the site at El Cascal de Flor de Pino,
near the town of Kukra Hill for six years. They've found evidence of an
ancient town and several outlying villages, which developed around 2,700
years ago and lasted for a thousand years.
There are monuments, petroglyphs (rock carvings) and pottery, and most
remarkably, an area where many huge columns were formed out of rock -
columns which may have been used at burial sites.
Extends range "The pottery is similar to pre-classical pottery found
at sites of similar age in Belize," Dr Ermengol Gassiot, of the
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain, told BBC News Online. "And
the columns resemble those found at Mexican sites where they had ritual
uses. "The society had political centres. Kukra Hill, we believe, was
a small town, and at least three villages lay around it and were dependent
on it." The newly discovered civilisation is similar to the societies
that preceded the Mayan civilisation further to the north.
|
|
Use your browser's BACK
function to return to NewsWeb List |
|
