Festivals sparked first Maya cities

摘要

The great Central American jungle civilisation of the Maya is renowned for its stepped pyramids, temples and great urban plazas, where human sacrifice may have been routine. But a surprising story is emerging from detailed examination of archaeological remains. One of the Maya's oldest known great cities, at Ceibal in Guatemala, began as a multicultural love-in. The first great pyramid builders of Central America, it turns out, were mostly travellers: hunters and gatherers of no fixed abode, who began meeting for ad hoc ceremonies and rituals in the jungle about 3000 years ago.