Excavation of Ancient Lost City Yields New Finds
Excavation of Ancient Lost City Yields New Finds
Archaeologists are revealing the site’s artifacts, with help from the President of Honduras.
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Honduran President President Juan Orlando Hernández, in white, confers with archeologist Chris Fisher, right, at the site of an ancient city in the Mosquitia region of Honduras.
Photograph by Dave Yoder, National Geographic
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Douglas Preston
PUBLISHED Wed Jan 13 11:58:28 EST 2016
Excavation of a “lost city” in eastern Honduras has begun with a flourish, with President Juan Orlando Hernández personally removing the first stone sculpture from the site Tuesday. The artifact is one of dozens from a cache found in February of last year among ruins of a Pre-Columbian city deep in the jungle of La Mosquitia. The artifacts were left untouched under military protection at the undisclosed location. Now, a joint Honduran-American archaeological team has returned to the site to excavate the artifacts and further explore the region.
The vessel personally removed yesterday by President Hernández is a spectacular vessel carved in basalt. The rim of the jar depicts two animal figures, one of which might possibly represent the head of a vulture, common to that area. The vessel is one of fifty-two stone sculptures, discovered on the February expedition, which had been deposited at the base of an earthen pyramid in the central part of the city about five to eight hundred years ago, and apparently left untouched ever since. Only the very tops of the sculptures could be seen protruding from the ground.
In just the first few days of excavation this month, the team, led by archaeologist Chris Fisher of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, has found a dozen more objects, bringing the total to sixty-four. The artifacts are mostly stone jars and “metates,” which are presumed to be thrones or seats of power. Many of the objects are elaborately decorated with animal heads and geometric patterns. One of the metates is incised with a series of designs that archaeologists say seem to resemble those found in a Maya “sky band,” an abstract depiction of the night sky. This could be a significant find, helping scientists to understand the connection between the largely unknown and unnamed culture of prehistoric Mosquitia and its powerful Maya neighbors to the west and north.
The excavation is being conducted under a grant from the National Geographic Society, and with the support of the Honduran government and the Honduran Institute for History and Anthropology (IHAH), and its director, Virgilio Paredes Trapero.
More:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160113-honudran-lost-city-archaeology/
Anthropology:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12292500
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Bookmarking for later. I just started reading the book: 1491 by Charles C Mann and he discusses the vast ruins all over the southern half of the Americas in the introduction of the book, which fascinates me having had a desire to become an archaeologist in my younger years.
You post such good information, I really do appreciate it.
