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Title: 1,100-year-old Mayan ruins found in North Georgia
Source:
Raw Story
URL Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/ ... -georgia/#.Tvj-AZIaH80.twitter
Published: Dec 29, 2011
Author: David Ferguson
Post Date: 2011-12-29 22:09:38 by A K A Stone
Keywords: None
Views: 3280
Comments: 8
Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city in the mountains of North Georgia believed to be at least 1,100 years old. According to Richard Thornton at Examiner.com, the ruins are reportedly what remains of a city built by Mayans fleeing wars, volcanic eruptions, droughts and famine. In 1999, University of Georgia archeologist Mark Williams led an expedition to investigate the Kenimer Mound, a large, five-sided pyramid built in approximately 900 A.D. in the foothills of Georgia’s tallest mountain, Brasstown Bald. Many local residents has assumed for years that the pyramid was just another wooded hill, but in fact it was a structure built on an existing hill in a method common to Mayans living in Central America as well as to Southeastern Native American tribes. Speculation has abounded for years as to what could have happened to the people who lived in the great Meso-American societies of the first century. Some historians believed that they simply died out in plagues and food shortages, but others have long speculated about the possibility of mass migration to other regions. When evidence began to turn up of Mayan connections to the Georgia site, South African archeologist Johannes Loubser brought teams to the site who took soil samples and analyzed pottery shards which dated the site and indicated that it had been inhabited for many decades approximately 1000 years ago. The people who settled there were known as Itza Maya, a word that carried over into the Cherokee language of the region. The city that is being uncovered there is believed to have been called Yupaha, which Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto searched for unsuccessfully in 1540. So far, archeologists have unearthed “at least 154 stone masonry walls for agricultural terraces, plus evidence of a sophisticated irrigation system and ruins of several other stone structures.” Much more may still be hidden underground. The find is particularly relevant in that it establishes specific links between the culture of Southeastern Native Americans and ancient Mayans. According to Thornton, it may be the “most important archeological discovery in recent times.” UPDATE: Raw Story contacted another UGA Scientist, Dr. B. T. Thomas of the Department of Environmental Science, who indicated that, while it is unlikely that the Mayan people migrated en masse from Central America to settle in what is now the United States, he refused to characterize Thornton’s conclusions as “wrong,” stating that it is entirely possible that some Mayans and their descendants migrated north, bringing Mayan building and agricultural techniques to the Southeastern U.S. as they integrated with the existing indigenous people there.
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#2. To: A K A Stone (#0)
It amazes me that entire population centers could be covered over in just 1000 years.
7 Comments If you’re been reading the left-wing Drudge Retort lately, you may have been jolted out of your armchair by a bit of exciting news: ancient Mayan ruins have been discovered in the mountains of North Georgia! According to the report, picked up from a fly-by-night Web pub called the Examiner, a small group of archeologists led by University of Georgia scholar Mark Williams discovered the 1,100-year-old city “on the southeast side of Brasstown Bald in the Nacoochee Valley.” Only, the report “is not true,” according to Williams, reached by email. “I have been driven crazy by this.” The original story was written by one Richard Thornton — who claims that “like most Georgia and South Carolina Creeks, I carry a trace of Maya DNA,” and that his ancestors came to North America fleeing “volcanic eruptions, wars, and drought” — and it has certainly caught fire across the Twitter/blogosphere thanks to the general obsession with the 2012 Mayan prophecies. (Even the venerable Washington Post interrupted its regularly-scheduled news rapportage to alert readers that “a second brick found at a Mayan ruin also contained the Dec. 21, 2012, date.”) But, as Williams says, “The Maya connection to legitimate Georgia archaeology is a wild and unsubstantiated guess on the part of the Thornton fellow. No archaeologists will defend this flight of fancy.” Too bad for holiday cocktail-party conversation, the news of Mayan ruins among us appears to be bunk. - Andrew M. Goldstein [Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the story had been picked up by the far more famous right-wing Drudge Report and poked a little fun at the conspiracy-friendly nature of that site. We regret the error.] This was so interesting I dug a little and found this. blogs.artinfo.com/artinth...ent-mayan-ruins-have-not- been-found-in-georgia-duh/
Aw shucks! It was such an interesting story too.
Now I've got to go back and see the studies that linked the Anasazi culture to the Mayans.
One day on the front page of a newspaper we read “Global Warming Is Real!” and the increase in temperature has now become a catalyst to our ecological tipping point. Would we change our current exploitation of resources? Would we consider our agrarian practices? Would we change the way we build our cities? Or stop polluting our waters? Would we be shocked to turn the page and see the date of AD900?
#7. To: Fred Mertz (#6)
Thanks for the link. I love this stuff.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestThe city that is being uncovered there is believed to have been called Yupaha, which Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto searched for unsuccessfully in 1540. So far, archeologists have unearthed “at least 154 stone masonry walls for agricultural terraces, plus evidence of a sophisticated irrigation system and ruins of several other stone structures.” Much more may still be hidden underground.
#3. To: We The People, A K A Stone, Fred Mertz (#2)
Ancient Mayan Ruins Have NOT Been Found in Georgia (Duh)
#4. To: harrowup (#3)
#5. To: Fred Mertz (#4)
It was such an interesting story too.
#6. To: harrowup (#5)
Conclusion
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