For some reason, the discovery of a 3,000-year-old sprawling city at Aguada Fénix in Tabasco, Mexico, seems to startle some anthropologists. They don’t appear to be startled because it is “the oldest monumental construction ever found in the Maya area,” but rather because it was built at a time when there might have been “less social inequality” than that seen in the contemporaneous San Lorenzo Olmec site. In other words, the Aguada Fénix site doesn’t reflect a top-down reason for building; rather, it reflects a bottom-bottom cooperative venture of the local people. Neighbors seem to have decided by consensus to build. No hierarchy of rulers seems to have ordered the construction because the site holds no thrones or statues.
Now, of course, we don’t know for sure whether or not there were no demands from a king or high priest of sorts. According to Professor Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona’s School of Anthropology, “the extensive plateau and the large causeways suggest the monument was built for use by many people…we don’t see the evidence of the presence of powerful elites. We think that it’s more the result of communal work.”*
Why should an ancient community-building project surprise us?
I’m thinking of all those current buildings that dot communities around the world and serve as gathering places and, in the United States, especially those in sites where a uniform ethnicity initially prevailed. Having moved into an area, the people by consensus seem to have decided to build places of worship, clubs, and halls. In those structures lies some evidence that people build what is mutually beneficial or significant without orders “from above.” And as ethnicities merge to form second or third generation communities, such cooperative efforts seem to continue. Look, for example, at the many parks, firehouses, and playgrounds built and maintained by volunteers.
Now jump for a moment to any colonial organism, say prairie dogs. Even if there is a hierarchy, a pecking order, the community still has to work cooperatively to build and maintain tunnels. Then look around to any ancient place of residence built after humans moved out of caves and rock shelters. Organizing and building seem to be an integral part of social existence. There appears to be a drive to alter place for the perceived needs, desires, and camaraderie of the group as a whole.
In the discovery of the ancient site lies a reason for hope. In place after place spanning centuries of human habitation, there is evidence that humans naturally cooperate. True, there lies in the ruins of such places evidence that human cooperation can break down. The invasions of the Roman Empire certainly stand as testimony to the breakdowns. But after every breakdown, the building renews itself, thus the layers of Schliemann’s ancient Troy and other long-lost cities.
Ypres, Dresden, Hiroshima, and a number of revitalized cities stand as testimonies to hope. Cooperation resurfaces with or without dictatorial leaders marshalling a population into “service.” That’s definitely the good side of humanity.
*SciNews. 4 Jun 2020 Archaeologist Discover Largest and Oldest-Known Maya Monument. Online at http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/aguada-fenix-monument-08503.html
Accessed June 5, 2020
Inomata, T., Triadan, D., Vázquez López, V.A. et al. Monumental architecture at Aguada Fénix and the rise of Maya civilization. Nature (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2343-4
Now, of course, we don’t know for sure whether or not there were no demands from a king or high priest of sorts. According to Professor Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona’s School of Anthropology, “the extensive plateau and the large causeways suggest the monument was built for use by many people…we don’t see the evidence of the presence of powerful elites. We think that it’s more the result of communal work.”*
Why should an ancient community-building project surprise us?
I’m thinking of all those current buildings that dot communities around the world and serve as gathering places and, in the United States, especially those in sites where a uniform ethnicity initially prevailed. Having moved into an area, the people by consensus seem to have decided to build places of worship, clubs, and halls. In those structures lies some evidence that people build what is mutually beneficial or significant without orders “from above.” And as ethnicities merge to form second or third generation communities, such cooperative efforts seem to continue. Look, for example, at the many parks, firehouses, and playgrounds built and maintained by volunteers.
Now jump for a moment to any colonial organism, say prairie dogs. Even if there is a hierarchy, a pecking order, the community still has to work cooperatively to build and maintain tunnels. Then look around to any ancient place of residence built after humans moved out of caves and rock shelters. Organizing and building seem to be an integral part of social existence. There appears to be a drive to alter place for the perceived needs, desires, and camaraderie of the group as a whole.
In the discovery of the ancient site lies a reason for hope. In place after place spanning centuries of human habitation, there is evidence that humans naturally cooperate. True, there lies in the ruins of such places evidence that human cooperation can break down. The invasions of the Roman Empire certainly stand as testimony to the breakdowns. But after every breakdown, the building renews itself, thus the layers of Schliemann’s ancient Troy and other long-lost cities.
Ypres, Dresden, Hiroshima, and a number of revitalized cities stand as testimonies to hope. Cooperation resurfaces with or without dictatorial leaders marshalling a population into “service.” That’s definitely the good side of humanity.
*SciNews. 4 Jun 2020 Archaeologist Discover Largest and Oldest-Known Maya Monument. Online at http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/aguada-fenix-monument-08503.html
Accessed June 5, 2020
Inomata, T., Triadan, D., Vázquez López, V.A. et al. Monumental architecture at Aguada Fénix and the rise of Maya civilization. Nature (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2343-4
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