There has been a new and unusual discovery at the El Pilar Maya site located at the Belize- Guatemala border. According to an article from "Popular Archaeology" a structure never observed before was found at the site last year. Archaeologist Anabel Ford from the University of California says that "We discovered a completely new component of the greater site that does not meet with any traditional expectations. It shares nothing in common with Classic Maya centers: no clear open plaza, no cardinal structure orientation, and curiously no evident relationship to the major Classic site of El Pilar." Belizean Archaeologist Melissa Badillo told us via email that the structure is referred to as a "Citadel" or fortress as we would describe it. It sits on a hill just about 600 meters away from the center of El Pilar. Badillo adds quote "This building formation is not at all typical with the usual Maya structures that we see. Atop the Citadel are four buildings which appear to be about 3-4 meters tall."
Now when was this structure built and how are we just "discovering" it? Well Badillo says that the date of construction can only be known after excavations are done and it will require extensive examination of the site. As to how it has just been found, researchers and archaeologists are using more modern equipment known as LiDAR - it is a remote sensing technology used to examine the surface of the earth. You can see an example of this method in this picture. They used this method to locate the structure.
Badillo told us that "leading up to this discovery has been years of investigations which have focused primarily on the settlement patterns at El Pilar. She says that Dr. Ford will be in Belize later this summer to carry out planned excavations at El Pilar under permit from the Institute of Archaeology. Preliminary results of her research will be presented at the Belize Archaeology and Anthropology Symposium on June 30 to July 3, 2015.
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