Archaeologists Unearth New Clues about the Origins of the Ancient Maya Civilization

Thousands of years ago, the Maya civilization flourished in Central America. Known for its art, architecture and mathematical and astronomical achievements, it became one of the most influential cultures in the Americas. Yet while its influence is unquestionable, researchers know relatively little about its origins. Now, archaeologists may have unearthed new clues when it comes to the Maya.

Within Guatemala is an ancient Maya site, named Ceibal. The largest city in the Pasión River region, it hosted about 1,118 structures per square mile in its core. It reached its peak population around 200 B.C. before declining. While extraordinary in and of itself, the site doesn't just tell the history of the Maya. It also may reveal the answers to some questions that have puzzled researchers for years.

There are two theories when it comes to the origins of the Maya civilization. Some believe that it developed almost entirely on its own in the jungles of what is now Guatemala and southern Mexico. Others believe that the Maya civilization actually developed as the result of direct influences from a much older civilization, called the Olmec civilization, and its center of La Venta.

During their excavations at Ceibal, though, researchers found that the city actually predates the growth of La Venta as a major center by as much as 200 years. This suggests that, in fact, the Maya civilization developed independently of the Olmec.

Yet this finding doesn't mean that the Maya are older than the Olmec. The Olmec actually had another center prior to La Venta. In addition, it doesn't mean that the Maya developed entirely independently; it's possible that travel or trade could have occurred and influenced the younger civilization. What it does mean, though, is that both Ceibal and La Venta probably participated in a broader cultural shift that took place around 1,150 and 800 B.C.

There are striking similarities between the two centers. Archaeologists have found evidence of similar ritual practices as well as the presence of similar architecture--pyramids that would come to be the hallmark of Mesoamerican civilization. Yet researchers don't believe it's as simple as one site mimicking the other. Instead, they believe that it's possible that both the Maya site and the Olmec site were parts of a more geographically far-reaching cultural shift occurring at the time.

"Basically, there was a major social change happening form the southern Maya lowlands to possibly the coast of Chiapas and the southern Gulf Coast, and this site of Ceibal was a part of that broader social change," said Takeshi Inomata, one of lead archaeologists, in a news release. "The emergence of a new form of society-with new architecture, with new rituals-became really the important basis for all later Mesoamerican civilizations."

The details of these new historic findings are published in the journal Science.