The Mayan monument of Aguada Fénix, built about 3 thousand years ago in south-eastern Mexico, is at the center of new research from the University of Arizona: it could be the oldest monumental structure known so far of the Mayan civilization (and therefore the oldest monumental site in Central America), dated between 1050 and 700 BC
The discovery, published in Science Advances, is by the US research group led by Takeshi Inomata, who together with his archaeological collaborators used LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveys and stratigraphic excavations to reconstruct the shape of the site, identifying platforms, raised squares, channels and ritual deposits arranged according to an accurate astronomical alignment. The set of main structures draws a cross, in which each arm embodies a direction of the cosmos and translates into architecture a true symbolic map of the universe.
Aguada Fénix is located in the federal state of Tabasco, in south-eastern Mexico, on the border with Guatemala. This is an area known as the “Mayan Plains”, one of the main epicenters for the development of this ancient Mesoamerican culture. The site was occupied starting from 1200 BC. C. approximately, with the construction of the main monuments which took place between 1050 and 700 BC. C., in the period that archaeologists define as “Preclassic” (2000 BC – approximately 250 AD), a key moment in the development of the Maya civilization.
The complex, one of the largest known so far, consists of a set of causeways and sunken roads, canals, dams and structures with a rigid orientation approximately north-south and east-west, which converge in one point, giving rise to a cruciform structure, whose center must have been the catalyst point of the cult life of Aguada Fénix. In fact, it was most likely a sanctuary, used by the inhabitants of the area for community religious functions.
What is truly astonishing about the complex is not only the way in which the structures are arranged, but also the fact that such a large complex was built in a period of Mayan history in which there were probably no rigid hierarchical divisions in society yet. An assumption now widely questioned in world archaeology, namely the fact that a community could carry out a great work only if directed by an elite, has therefore undergone a further denial.
The archaeological research campaign was conducted between 2020 and 2024, and used different techniques. In addition to the normal archaeological excavation with a stratigraphic method, carried out in the central point of the sanctuary, the scholars also used LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to identify structures and complexes swallowed by the jungle or buried underground.
The excavation was concentrated in the central point of the cruciform structure. In fact, the builders of the complex created a cross-shaped pit here, where the two main axes of the sanctuary converged, with a north-south and east-west orientation. This latter axis appears to be aligned with the sunrise on February 24 and October 17, with a time interval of 130 days, exactly half of the 260 days of the Mesoamerican ritual calendar. Even more surprising is what archaeologists found at the bottom of the central pit.
In the northern section there was a blue pigment based on azurite, in the eastern section a green pigment based on malachite and in the southern section a yellow pigment based on goethite. According to the research group, this would be the oldest known attestation so far of American directional colors, a chromatic symbolism shared by many other Native American cultures, in which a color is associated with each cardinal point. The missing color, in the western sector, was probably made with some perishable substance, produced from shells such as Macrostrombus costatus and of the genre Spondylusand it would perhaps be red. Using colors to highlight different directions, the ancient builders of Aguada Fénix created on earth a representation of the universe as they knew and perceived it. In addition to the pigments, archaeologists found several materials, such as ceramics and jade ornaments, associated with the functions that took place in the center of the sanctuary.
According to Inomata, the builders of Aguada Fénix did not have a complex hierarchical social organization comparable to that of the contemporary cities of the Olmecs, another Mesoamerican people who had reached an advanced level of development at the time, but nevertheless they created an enormous monumental complex. Considering the astronomical and cosmological symbolism of the sanctuary, it is likely that the complex was built under the direction of respected religious figures, but without the authority that would later characterize the elites of later Maya cities.
