Construction Workers In Belize Destroy Ancient Mayan Pyramid For Road [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Construction Workers In Belize Destroy Ancient Mayan Pyramid For Road
May 14, 2013



Police in Belize are investigating a construction company that has essentially destroyed one of the region’s most important historical structures. A 2,300-year-old Mayan structure located at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was one of the largest pyramids in the Caribbean nation before it was leveled by a company seeking out gravel to dump on village roads.

Using backhoes and bulldozers, construction workers dug into the structure to extract crushed rock, according to authorities looking into the matter on Monday. Archaeologists, horrified by what was found, said there was no way the workers could have mistaken the ancient ruins for a hill, as they had claimed.

Jaime Awe, head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, said the destruction was detected late last week.

“It’s a feeling of Incredible disbelief because of the ignorance and the insensitivity … they were using this for road fill,” Awe said in a statement picked up by Mail Online. “It’s like being punched in the stomach, it’s just so horrendous.”

The pyramid also sat in the middle of a privately-owned sugar cane field, and while it lacked the even stone sides seen in better-preserved pyramids, the mistake should not have occurred, Awe said. “These guys knew that this was an ancient structure. It’s just bloody laziness.”

After digging deep into the mound, the workers left an isolated core of limestone cobbles, exposing a narrow Mayan chamber dangling above a hollowed-out section.

More:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112846078/ancient-mayan-pyramid-destroyed-construction-workers-belize-051413/