Mayan pyramid reduced to rubble

[Myriel RAouine]

The following article was shared with me by Vaishali. I ENVISION each person who uses this road now being ENLIGHTENED with LOVE from the PAST!

MAY EVERYTHING TURN OUT FOR THE BEST,

Sonja Myriel

CNN) -- 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."

 

The institute's director, Jaime Awe, called the destruction "one of the worse set of blows I have felt philosophically and professionally."

 

"What happened there is both deplorable and unforgivable," Awetold News5 in Belize.

 

Though the pyramid was grown over with trees and brush, there could be no mistaking what it was, Morris said.

 

"There is no way that one can say that they did not know. Even for you guys as laypeople can look and you'll see the building," 7NewsBelize quoted Morris as saying.

 

History and travel in Belize

 

The pyramid was the center of a settlement of about 40,000 people and 81 buildings over 12 square miles, according to 7NewsBelize. It stood about 65 feet tall and was built around 250 B.C. with hand-cut limestone bricks, archaeologists said.

 

The limestone is quality material used to upgrade local roads, and it's prized by contractors, local opposition legislator John Bricenotold CTV3 News.

 

"The Mayas use good material to build their temples, and these temples are close to (the village of) Douglas so that means that they have to use less diesel, less wear and tear; they can do more trips per day, and at the end of the day they can make more money," CTV3 quotes Briceno as saying.

 

And there was plenty of the material in Noh Mul.

 

The mound sits on private land, and archaeologists said they would ask police to take action against both the landowner and contractor, according to reports.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/14/world/americas/belize-mayan-pyram...