The Tombs of El Mirador

Before he became Mel Gibson's lead consultant on the movie Apocalypto, Richard Hansen spent decades exploring the ruins of the ancient Maya. Now, he excavates a tomb at the city of El Mirador.

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[Victor Martinez]

the Native cultures and peoples of America are part of a world wide civilization that flourished and spread throughout the globe and they knew of each other existence and had contact among themselves it is no accident Man spread to every corner of the world. every where you go man was there already. it is only in modern times that one group of people the" Europeans" claims supremacy over all others and conquers and murders all those other groups who don't share their racial profile

[asianthor]

Obviuosly, but what I'm saying is that what is consider Guatemala and Mexico today each claim's their Mayan history as their own even though back then the Maya or the Olmec's had no country but terratory. Of course mexico has mayan ruins but they(mexican's) identify themselves more Aztec's than Mayan. I'm not talking out of my ass I know my Mayan history. Just recently(8 yr's ago) a site was discovered in Honduras were a site possibly is even older than Nakbe(1800bc) in Guatemala.

[Richard Kocksworthy]

Comparing Tiwanaku and Pumapunku even though they are close to each other, is a mistake. The level of "stonework" as you call it in the two sites is so far apart technically speaking that it is like comparing the sun to the moon. Also it is impossible to "date" Pumapunku as you cannot use radioactive carbon dating on stone, and all the artifacts made from wood etc are long gone about 15000-17000 years ago.

[Carlo-andre lo]

funny how they paint this civilizations as humans with stick and stones... poor minded people who believe in so much BULLSHIT!

[Gloria Neiswender]

DIOS SALVE MI PATRIA GUATEMALA.!!!

[MegaGohan16]

I am so proud of my culture...I went to Tikal this year...is amazing !!! I love my country. I can't wait to go to El Mirador.

[Patrick Vercoutere]

Tengo una expedicion ya confirmado desde FLORES al mirador , saliendo el 19 de diciembre 2012 por cinco dias / cuatro noches . Si tienes interes , no dudas en escribirme patrickvercoutere (at) gmail.com

I have a confirmed expedition to the MIRADOR from FLORES , leaving on the 19th dic.2012 for five days/four nights . If you are interested , pleae write patrick (at) gmail.com or call 53085106 . We are going to celebrate 13baktun from LA DANTA ! (JUST HAD DR. RICHARD HANSEN in XELA !!!)

[Gina Castillo]

shut up everyone knows who the mayans are the are still in mexico and central america,and the chicanos..i hate it when whites say we dont know who the mayan were

[nil1230]

the spanish just obliterated everything..culture..

[MyPeopleWakeUp]

You do know there are many writing systems between the Olmec and the Maya that are formative Maya script, right? You do know that the calendar is credited to the Olmec, right? As well as many other things. Just the thing, when you have no anthropology/History knowledgeable people commenting, this misunderstanding happens and other half-educated people vote thumbs up.

[rayochapin]

Right, at he end though, all you, me and the scholars have is big speculations, there are a lot of thing buried out there that hold a lot of secrets. We will never know. :D . Have a nice day bro.

[MrSkyHarbor]

I grant you that scholars DO speculate somewhat and that NONE of us were THERE. But the pre-Inca site of Pumapunku was a part of the Tiwanaku city state near Lake Titicaca in what is now Bolivia. It is not ANYWHERE NEAR as old as you claim. In fact, their impressive structures are all dated well into the AD time frame. Their stonework is astonishing, but is quite human in origin. How do we KNOW? By radioactive dating and by carefully comparing the cultures which came before and after.