Abstract
THE significance of the study paper reported here is the fact that the origins of Maya civilisation are pushed much further back into the past. Radiocarbon dating of the earliest and latest states of the Mayan ‘city’ centre of Seibal indicate an origin as early as 900 BC, declining by about 1000 AD. This discovery narrows the interval between the beginning of lowland Maya occupation and the Olmec centres on the Gulf of Mexico, allowing for the coexistence of quite different cultures in relatively close geographical proximity.
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References
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BERGER, R., DE ATLEY, S., PROTSCH, R. et al. Radiocarbon chronology for Seibal, Guatemala. Nature 252, 472–473 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252472a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/252472a0
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