Given the huge amount of press the media has devoted to warnings of global warming, it can be hard to imagine Earth enshrined in ice, but that’s exactly what the world looked like 35,000 years ago. Given a different configuration of continents than the ones with which we are familiar today, that ice provided intercontinental bridges between them. 

One of the most impactful, in terms of migratory dispersion of humanity, was the land bridge connecting the continents of Asia and North America when the most recent ice age melted, lowering sea levels. Recent DNA studies reveal surprising migratory evidence that proves the Bering Strait provided a bridge to North America.

Nearly half of all Mayas can trace their ancestry to migrants arriving from what is now South America around 5,600 years ago. This route brought nomads from Asia to South America for a very important reason: Maize. A 2022 study just published as a result of an active Belize dig, reveals just how important this crop was. In fact, Maya origin myths insist that gods created human beings out of corn. 

One Belize scientist helps reveal new information

Jaime Awe, a native Belizean teaching anthropology at Northern Arizona University states, “Without corn, there would have been no Mayas.” Today’s descendants remain a strong, unified ethnolinguistic group related to “at least 7 million Indigenous peoples in Central America,” adds Awe.

He bases much of his recent findings on analyses of remains just excavated from rock shelters along the slopes of Belize’s Bladen Nature Reserve. There, 85 skeletons buried in shallow graves were found beneath dirt floors. After extracting high-quality ancient DNA (“the oldest human DNA from a tropical rainforest site”), scientists radiocarbon dated remains and directly tied them to peoples who speak Chibchan languages. 

According to a recent post in Nature Communications, living Maya inherited half of their DNA from people settling in South America and a half from ancient hunter-gatherers. This new information shines a bright light on genetic ancestral relationships, but what of the cultural heritage these ancient people left behind?

Life as they knew it

Prior to 2500 BC, hunting and foraging bands wandered the continent, eventually becoming agrarian societies inhabiting small villages. Over the millennia, subsets of Maya people spoke many languages driven by what anthropologists call dispersion, settling so far apart, that over time new languages rooted in old tongues were born.

By AD 250, the Maya civilization had exploded in terms of institutions, advances, and innovations. This was known as the classic period, and it lasted nearly 700 years. There wasn’t an aspect of society that didn’t enjoy expansive growth. 

From sophisticated agricultural irrigation methods to slash-and-burn crop regeneration practices, a renaissance of brilliance triggered a metamorphosis of Maya society. From art and architecture to astronomy and astrology, a powerful priesthood arose.

In concert with the observation and recording of phases of the moon, sun, planets, and stars, sophisticated calendrical and mathematical practices were chiseled in stone for posterity. These carved stelae remain today, a permanent record of these advances. 

Which areas of Belize offer the most insights into Mayan history? 

While space prohibits detailed descriptions of every one of Belize’s spectacular Maya ruins, these four deserve your attention because they represent varying periods and advancements that showcase the spectacular advancements made by Mayans. 

• The Cuello site near Orange Walk date back to around 2500 BC. Found among treasures by archeologists over time were the oldest pottery unearthed in Central America. From jars and bowls to ritual items, these artifacts were discovered amid tiers of buildings circling a small plaza, architecturally shaping a typical Maya city of that era. 

But not everything scientists found originated there. Remnants of travel and commerce in the form of shells, jade and hematite prove that people in this settlement were actively trading with other cities by 1500 BC. 

•Cerros, located on Chetumal Bay, may have been one of these trading partners. This site was so highly developed over time, that it became a premier trade and ceremonial center, home to palatial temples, living quarters, and commercial enterprises. Even in ruin, the architecture is stunning. 

Every structure was artfully constructed of cut stone, cemented with stucco, and beautifully painted and decorated with sacred art that depicted people, art, and especially gods. Sophisticated geometric patterns are some of the most remarkable.

• Altun Ha, northwest of present-day Belize City, became another major epicenter of Maya life as early as 200 BC. Built as an homage to the Kinich Ahau, the society’s sun god whose head was found in a tomb, Altún Ha became a thriving metropolis inhabited by up to 10,000 people. 

While this site’s premier building was its temple, buildings circling two plazas created a complicated city that managed to function and survive to the 13th or 14th century. Speculation that this was a major religious center seems logical, according to archaeologists who were instrumental in finding and excavating this remarkable area.

• Xunantunich (“Lady of the Rock”) is thought to have been first occupied circa 300 B.C. but it provides archaeological evidence of a Maya presence beginning around A.D. 150. What sets this city apart from Belize’s 900 Mayan ruins is the fact that it’s also the site of one of the tallest man-made structure in the nation. 

Amid buildings showcasing distinct architectural features like buildings with raised platforms constructed atop existing structures stands Xunantunich’s “El Castillo,” which, at 128 feet, towers over the landscape.

A legacy that has no equal

Speculation about the disappearance of these highly enlightened people continues to be debated by historians, anthropologists, and scholars of other disciplines, but there is growing evidence that proves “the center of Maya civilization was, in fact, Belize,” says Jamie Awe. The list of innovations that can be credited to these Mesoamericans even includes hieroglyphic writing usually attributed only to ancient Egyptians. 

Early adopters of ecological measures that helped rainforests and jungles thrive, engineering feats included the construction of massive underground reservoirs for rainwater storage and a ruling class structure that brought order and stability. Like the configuration of the U.S., the Mayans developed a highly structured governmental model made up of independent states, each with its own residential, commercial and ceremonial centers. 

While scholars offer no definitive reason for the collapse of this society, they agree that the decline began around AD 900 when citizens began to abandon cities en mass. DNA analyses conclude that northern Maya “were integrated into the Toltec society by A.D. 1200,” notes Awe but the early 16th C. Spanish Conquest was the acknowledged death knell for Maya society. Gone but certainly not forgotten, the Maya left an indelible imprint on this continent and especially on Belize where their mysteries are still being unearthed every day. 

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