VOA科学技术2023--Mexico Discovers Another Ancient Mayan City

Mexico Discovers Another Ancient Mayan City

Mexico's human history agency says another ancient Mayan city has been discovered in forests in the southern part of the country.

The country's anthropology¹ organization INAH announced the discovery recently.

INAH said the newly discovered city includes large pyramid-like buildings, stone columns and other structures placed in circles.

The agency named the city Ocomtun - meaning "stone column" in the Yucatec Maya language. It would have been an important center between 1750 and 1000 years ago.

The ancient city is in the Balamku ecological² reserve on the country's Yucatan Peninsula. It was discovered during a search of a largely unexplored area that is larger than the country of Luxembourg. The search took place between March and June using aerial³ laser mapping (LiDAR) technology.

The Mayan civilization was known for its complex mathematical calendars. Mayans controlled a large area in southeast Mexico and other parts of Central America. Political collapse⁴ ended the culture hundreds of years before the arrival of Spanish ships.

The last Maya center fell in a military campaign more than three hundred years ago.

The Ocomtun site has a central area on high ground surrounded by wet areas. Lead researcher Ivan Sprajc said in a statement that it includes several pyramid-like structures up to 15 meters tall.

The city also had an area for playing a kind of game with a ball.

Ancient ball games were widespread throughout the Mayan area. They involved passing a rubber ball representing the sun across a court without the use of hands. Players then tried to get the ball through a small stone hoop⁵. The game is believed to have had an important religious purpose.

Sprajc said his team had also found central altars, which may have been designed for community religious events, in an area closer to the La Riguena river. Still, more research is needed to understand the cultures that once lived there.

The site probably declined⁶ around one thousand years ago judging from materials taken from buildings, Sprajc said.

Words in This Story

anthropology – n. the study of human societies and cultures

pyramid –n. a large, triangular⁷ structure made of stone or earth

column – n. a long post made of stone that is used as a support in a building

ecological – adj. describes a science that deals with the relationships between living things and their environment (ecology)

calendar –n. a document that shows the days, weeks and months of a year

hoop – n. a ring that a ball must go through in order to score points

 

altar – n. a raised place on which gifts are offered in some religions

1 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

2 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

3 aerial   

adj.飞机（航空）的，空中的；n.天线

参考例句：

• An aerial photograph of the field shows clearly where the buildings were.这一场地的空中照片清晰地显示出这些建筑物的位置。
• Aerial pollution is a problem that should be solved quickly.空气污染是一个亟待解决的问题。

4 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

5 hoop   

n.（篮球）篮圈，篮

参考例句：

• The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
• The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。

6 declined   

v.辞谢，谢绝（邀请等）( decline的过去式和过去分词 )；（道路、物体等）下倾；（太阳）落下；（在品格、价值上）降低

参考例句：

• We asked her to come to our party, but she declined. 我们请她来参加我们的晚会，但是她谢绝了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He declined to charge his memory with so many details. 他不愿在脑中记这么多细枝末节。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。