Mayan pyramid demolished for road fill

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg Bernhardt
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Pyramid
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
5 replies · 8K views
Messages
19,975
Reaction score
11,071
Sad sad sad

A Mayan pyramid that has stood for 2,300 years in Belize has been reduced to rubble, apparently to make fill for roads.
Local media in the Central American country of 334,000 people report the temple at the Noh Mul site in northern Belize was largely torn down by backhoes and bulldozers last week.
"This is one of the worst that I have seen in my entire 25 years of archaeology in Belize," John Morris, an archaeologist with the country's Institute of Archaeology, told local channel 7NewsBelize. "We can't salvage what has happened out here -- it is an incredible display of ignorance."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/world/americas/belize-mayan-pyramid-destroyed
 
Physics news on Phys.org
The company that did this should be shut down and the owners thrown in jail, along with a fine so hefty that no one else will feel tempted to do such a thing again.
 
Shocking! To destroy this temple was a crime. Too bad any punishment would not bring it back!
 
Probably was abandoned and with no upkeep it would have eroded and fallen down on its own anyways in another 2500 years.
 
I couldn't believe it when I saw this. This is an important part of human history...and now it's going to be used as filler in road construction. Apparently this has happened several times in Belize, despite these ruins being protected by the government. I guess Noh Mul was the largest one that has been destroyed yet though.

If there's a silver lining to it though, it has allowed archaeologists a glimpse into the construction of the pyramid. Hardly compensation, but it's an opportunity to examine the construction methods more closely, if nothing else.

Pretty sad though.