Experts Find 41 Saltworks Used by Mayans

[icymist]

Experts Find 41 Saltworks Used by Mayans

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Underwater archaeologists have discovered 41 new seaside salt production works used by the ancient Mayans in Central America.

The discovery at Punta Ycacos Lagoon in what is now Belize provides evidence of extensive salt production to serve the large Mayan cities on the interior of the Yucatan Peninsula, reports researcher Heather McKillop of Louisiana State University.

Her findings are reported in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Four salt works had previously been known in that area. The discovery of 41 new works, along with the remains of wooden buildings from the era of A.D. 600 to 900, indicates salt was mass-produced and stored before shipment upriver, she reported.

(More)
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SALTY_MAYANS?SITE=WABEJ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Roland99]

1. Cool

I wonder how much influence extraterrestrials had in that. ;)


(I've been reading Chariots of the Gods this week...saw it out at my dad's and my interest was piqued.)

[Bo]

2. Mayans served as the middlemen between

Aztec and Inca cultures.

[sybylla]

3. Mayans actually predate the Aztec culture

and by the time the Aztecs were flourishing, the Mayan state had dissolved into scattered "clans" in a kind of Mayan Dark Age. They were still Mayan, but they were essentially a people without a country or an organized government. Only one or two post-classic Mayan cities are known to have had any economic impact in the area between the Incas and the Aztecs. Though it is thought that the Aztecs borrowed heavily from the Mayan culture as they developed.