The Pre-Columbian Society of Washington, D.C. (PCSWDC), is an educational organization dedicated to furthering knowledge and understanding of the peoples of the Americas before the time of Columbus. Founded in 1993, the Society provides a forum for the exchange of information regarding these pre-Columbian cultures between academic professionals and interested members of the public.
Early Formal Ceremonial Complexes and Olmec-Maya Interaction
Takeshi Inomata, PhD, University of Arizona
The October 1, 2021, meeting will be held virtually using the Zoom platform. This meeting is free and open to the public. You must be preregistered to attend. To access the the Zoom registration, click here.
The origins of Maya civilization and its relationship with Olmec civilization have long been debated. We began our research in southeastern Mexico in 2017 to examine these questions. We identified the site of Aguada Fénix, with a rectangular artificial plateau measuring 1,400 m in length and dating to 1,050-750 BC. This is the largest and oldest monumental construction in the Maya area. This find encouraged us to expand our study of similar formal ceremonial complexes by analyzing lidar data. By examining low-resolution lidar obtained by the Mexican government, we covered an area of 85,000 km2, including the Olmec region and the western Maya lowlands. The identifications of many complexes, most of which were not known to archaeologists before our research, transform our understanding of the emergence of Mesoamerican civilizations.
Takeshi Inomata is a professor at the School of Anthropology, University of Arizona. He has been examining social changes in the Maya area. He has directed archaeological projects at Aguateca and Ceibal, Guatemala, and has recently started new investigations in Tabasco, Mexico..
