News Archaeology

Lasers reveal sites used as the Americas’ oldest known star calendars

Star-aligned ritual centers along Mexico’s Gulf Coast date to as early as 3,100 years ago

the Maya site Aguada Fénix as mapped by lasers, showing a rectangular ceremonial site oriented toward sunrise, surrounded by other structures and faint markings that may be roads

This laser-mapped, eastward-looking view of the Maya site Aguada Fénix includes a rectangular ceremonial center (top center) oriented toward sunrise at a particular time of year.

Takeshi Inomata

By Bruce Bower

Olmec and Maya people living along Mexico’s Gulf Coast as early as 3,100 years ago built star-aligned ceremonial centers to track important days of a 260-day calendar, a new study finds.