Leila photography

If we go by land, it will take two or three days at the end of the road from Karmelita to Millado: long heat and rain, mud and mosquitoes. Novices in the jungle in our team (that is, Christian Ziegler and Claudio contreras, biologists turned photographers) may not step on deadly spears, or do some stupid urban things to anger jaguars, or wake up army ants living in the last large subtropical rainforest in Central America.

From this story.

The Ark of Biodiversity can be found in Mirrado. Here is a turkey with thorns. A black orchid. Wild orchids. A blunt rattan snake. A Rosita Chicksport butterfly. A wild animal living in the shadow of Mirrado: the banded gecko. Katie disguised herself well as Moss and Moss. Katie. Katie. Mantis. A coffee snake. Tarantula. A tree frog with red eyes. Butterflies Huang Fengying with a white nose. A big grasshopper. (Christian Ziegler) Photo Gallery

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Royal archaeologist R.D.Hansen, one of the largest pyramids in the world, said, "All this was abandoned 2000 years ago." In 2009, a student found a gypsum board with heroes written on it in Boboluu, which many people thought was a sacred text influenced by the Spanish priest who translated the book. The discovery shown with Richard Hansen proves that it was thousands of years earlier than the Spanish. Please see the full-scale portrait of Maya God in Mirrado Basin (PDF) (spread by Pedro Velasco /5W infographic). (Christian Ziegler) 1979, archaeologist Richard Hansen found some fragments of jars in the Jaguar Paw Temple, which proved that the Maya developed a complex society earlier than previously thought 1000 years. Fragments of civilization: jade carved in hieroglyphics. The tip of obsidian weapons. (R.D. Hanson) A statuette in Mirrado, 800-900. (R.D. Hansen) Bowls found in residential buildings. Maya vase. (La Ruxiang belongs to Maya Conservation Foundation) A replica depicting a woman sitting on a pottery throne of American tiger skin. For the ancient Mayans, plates engraved with bird patterns were considered to have mythical significance. The complexity of Mirrado residents is not only reflected in their art, but also in the accuracy of their calendars. They import exotic products such as shells from the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. Judging from the evidence, they developed terraced agriculture and fed about 200,000 residents. Logging and cattle resentment threaten the Mirrado Basin. Hansen said: "For me, except eco-tourism, any use of this forest is equivalent to treating the Grand Canyon as a garbage dump." Night falls on the Pyramid of Ladanta "When the Mayans left, they left everything in the same place," Hansen said. He thinks that many residents of Elmira have destroyed their ecosystem by cutting down too many forests, so they gave up the city. (Christian Ziegler) Photography Hall

Kindly speaking, Izamna, the highest creator of ancient Maya, once loved one of our pilots named Guillermo Lozano, and now he is putting his chestnut striped Bell helicopter in the air. It was a Sunday morning in northern Guatemala in late June of 10. Followed by archaeologist Richard Hansen, who is the head and chief investigator of the Mirrado Basin Project. Flying north for about half an hour is the Mirrado Basin itself, a 2,475-square-mile jungle. Similarly, he is a versatile scientist, who can attract audiences at fund-raisers in Hollywood and bargain with mules dragging a bag of special pre-classical Mayan mortars in perfect Spanish.

"To do this, you have to be a person from all walks of life or an absolute * * *," Hansen said. When we sat together that night, the long wooden benches and benches in the restaurant, an open barn-like structure, a translucent plastic roof and a special drain drained rainwater into a 25,000-gallon reservoir. Hansen is wearing a brown hat, a dirty beige cotton shirt and a pair of dirty beige cotton trousers. Light-colored cloth makes it easier to see which exotic insects may try to attach to meat. I immediately regretted choosing dark gray pants. )

During the Mirrado field research season from May to September, there were as many as 350 people in the camp, including scientists from about 52 universities and institutions. Archaeological work can be carried out all year round, but Hansen raises funds in the remaining months (the goal is to maintain a minimum budget of about $2.5 million per year) and prepares publications (now as many as 177). He also teaches in university of idaho, where he is an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and a senior scientist in the Central American Institute.

"If I spend every five minutes chasing money, I will get 50 more publications," he said with a sigh.

At present, there are only a team of skeleton workers, guards hired by Hansen to resist the robbers, and Dominga Sobenis, the chef of the camp, a short, well-built Mayan woman who put the dinner made of fried chicken and black beans on a steel plate on a pile of firewood. Fresh tomatoes have boarded the helicopter, as well as canned milk and tea, brewed with the leaves of aromatic fruit trees growing in Ramon forest.

That afternoon, Christian amused himself by shouting "snake" at my sacrifice! "Hansen took a brown stick, pretended to grope in horror and showed us around the camp. Tents, magazines, projection tables, well-equipped research buildings (adjacent to the dining room) and the rooms where we hide things are connected by a path covered with roots. Hansen lives in a bungalow, which is also his office. In some modern shamanism, it can surf the Internet.

We strolled to the old helicopter landing area, where a camp was set up for tourists. Every year, about 2,000 to 3,000 tourists travel long distances from Karmelita or arrive by helicopter from Flores. Rangers stationed in this area are feeding an orphan spider monkey oil corn; Dozens of beautiful rainbow turkeys found only in Yucatan Peninsula are pecking at grass. Among the 184 bird species recorded so far in this basin, the short-tailed leopard is the most photogenic one, and it is also a key stopover for many migratory birds flying in the eastern United States. When a pair of brown birds shouted, the turkeys scrambled to hide under the tree. Their Jay Dahl found a raptor overhead, probably a gorgeous eagle.

"This basin is a closed and complete cultural and natural system, which is unique in the world," Hansen said. There is also a veritable biodiversity ark, which contains about 300 species of trees (many of which are decorated with orchids) and more than 200 species of animals (many of which are endangered or threatened), from tapirs and crocodiles to five of the six native cats in Guatemala. In the past few years, researchers have discovered two kinds of birds in Guatemala for the first time, namely crested oriole and Caribbean pigeon, and nine previously unknown moths. Efforts to protect the ancient ruins of this basin go hand in hand with the protection of a living treasure in the world.

1979, Hansen came to the Milrado basin for graduate study. For more than a century, scientists have been studying the famous Mayan ruins in Central America, such as palenque and Copan. El Mirador (Spanish for lookout) has not yet been discovered. 1885, engineer Claudio Urrutia investigated some places in the basin. He noticed the existence of reinas Grande, but it was not until 1926 that Mirrado was officially reported. In another 36 years, Ian Graham, an archaeologist at Harvard University, will map and explore a part of this area, partly revealing the extraordinary scale of this city.

The most puzzling thing is the age of the site. The memorial buildings arranged in the order of what was found in Millado have always been associated with the classic period of Mayan history, from 250 AD to around 900 AD. Pre-classical architecture from 2000 BC to AD 150 was considered less complicated (presumably so was its political and economic system). In the past 40 years, the only known pre-classical structure is a truncated pyramid nearly 9 yards high, which was excavated by Carnegie expedition in Uaxactun, about 12 miles north of Tikal in the 1920s. When the late William Coe of the University of Pennsylvania started digging in Tikal in 1956, he was puzzled by the complexity of the early strata. In an article written by 1963 for Adventure magazine, he pointed out that "things have not become simpler" or "shaped".

1967 Graham wrote his own research report. Later, he found a collection of Mayan hieroglyphs in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. He speculated that the ruins he visited in Mirrado were in poor condition, which might be due to a poor mortar, rather than a pure ancient building. Donald Foces (now a professor at Brigham Young University) noticed when studying the pottery collected by Graham's colleague Joyce Marcus in Rado, Elmir in 1970 that most of the pottery was monochromatic red, black or cream, with odd Canel style, and the blank was thick and the edges turned outwards, which clearly showed that the surrounding relics could be traced back to the late pre-classical period (300 BC to AD/kloc- However, can such a magnificent public building really be built 700 to 1000 years before the peak of the classical period? Scholars believe that at that time, the Mayans already had professional knowledge in organization, art and technology, and were able to accomplish such a feat. Hansen joined the research team led by his thesis consultant, Ray Martini of Brigham Young University and Bruce Darling of Catholic University. "Hansen is a real enterprise," Martini told me later. "I am proud of him." Hansen, 26, grew up in a Mormon family in Idaho, the eldest of three brothers. When he was 6 years old, he found an archaeologist on Rupert's father's potato farm. He intended to be a lawyer, but his undergraduate degree was postponed because his right leg was broken in a skiing accident. Since law school only needs good grades and exam results, he thinks that the fastest way to get these grades is his Spanish major and his favorite archaeology major. After getting his degree, he postponed his law school study so that he could take part in a two-year excavation work in northern Tel Aviv. This experience buried lawyers and gave birth to archaeologists. His wife Jody is a scientific illustrator, and her tenacious work of dragging a bucket of sand left his first impression. When they came back from Israel, Martini invited Hansen to help with a newly funded project in Elmira.

So Hansen found himself digging a room in Building 34 of Jaguar Claw Temple in March of 1979. This temple is one of the most deeply studied places in Mirrado, and it is also a part of the Tigray complex in the west of the city. Hansen knew it was probably in the classical period, but when he cleaned the room, he came to the original gypsum floor, where pieces of cans had not been disturbed for a hundred years. "When the Mayans left, they left everything where they were," he said. "We found a stone fragment around the tool." These pottery wares have a strange Canel-style color and a sallow feeling, and the strange Canel style makes the history of the temple date back to the second century BC. Hansen stared at them in disbelief.

I realized at that time that the whole evolutionary model of Maya economy, culture and social history was wrong. It is wrong to think that the Mayans gradually became complicated. I thought, my god, I am the only person in the world who knows this at this moment.

In the morning, tropical storm Richard has weakened, but the sky is still gloomy. Hansen was surprised to hear a helicopter flying through the clouds. "You made it! Welcome to visit! When three Californians hurried off the rotor, he began to cry: Andre La Fleur, an official of a land trust in Santa Cruz; A travel consultant named Randy Debon; Joanna Miller is a member of the board of directors of the Walter Disney Family Museum, which was established in memory of her famous grandfather. They have breakfast with us in the restaurant, eating eggs, tortillas, beans and French fries. Chef Dominguez threw some stale tortillas into the forest, called "Pancho! Pancho! " A call, a white nose Huang Fengying appeared, alert and lovely, with stripes on its tall tail. He looks like a slender raccoon.

Andre, Joanna and Randy were invited by the Global Heritage Fund, a conservation organization in Palo Alto, and one of several foundations that funded Hansen's work in the basin, including pacuna of the Mayan heritage of culture and nature and FARES of Hansen's own foundation. The members of the fare committee include actor mel gibson, who donated millions of dollars to the cause and hired Hansen as his consultant for the 2006 Maya Chase film Apocalypse.

We took two Kawasaki ATVs and drove eastward on a dirt road. Mirrado covers an area of 65,438+04 square miles, which is three times the size of downtown Los Angeles. For many years, Hansen walked 10 to 12 miles every day to see different places. These ATVs were donated by a famous Central American brewer's family. His knee, now 58 years old, is very grateful. We flew to Danta, the pyramid group that we circled in flight.

The road climbed over a wall that may be 60 feet high, which surrounded a part of the western part of the city. Hansen said that it was built in the late pre-classical period and then walked along one of the elevated causeways to Ladanta, a mile east. We parked the car and started uphill.

Hansen excavated, mapped and explored 565,438+0 ancient cities in Mirrado Basin. He said: "This is the first national society in the Western Hemisphere, earlier than anyone suspected 1000." . Not only the memorial buildings of Rada Danta, but also the buildings in the twin cities of Nakbe and Dintar are very complicated. The achievements of Mayans in pre-classical times are reflected in their leap from clan and emirate to a complex society with class hierarchy and cohesive ideology; Reflected in the advanced technology, they can mine huge limestone blocks without metal tools and transport them to the construction site without wheels; How do they collect rainwater from the roof and store it in reservoirs and reservoirs? How do they predict the time in the calendar and keep their civilization records in the history of stone tablets that are still mysterious, but the images and inscriptions on these stone tablets have not been deciphered by scholars (different from the inscriptions that have been deciphered in classical times); How do they build their homes with columns, stones and plaster? Decorate teeth with jade and reddish brown hematite inlays; Import foreign articles such as obsidian, basalt and granite; Wrap the baby skull and change the shape of the skull; Decorate yourself with shells from the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, as if civilization had been endowed with the same aesthetic quality. In written language, it refers to the specialization of labor or religious and social control.

In order to feed the rapidly growing population, they divided the land into terraced fields, borrowed soil from swamps and planted corn, beans, pumpkins, cocoa, gourds and other crops. "It was the swamp that brought them here," Hansen said. In his view, it was the destruction of swamps and nutrient-rich silt that led to the massive collapse of society between 100 and 200 years. He believes that the reason for the death of the swamp and the paralysis of the farm is that the demand for firewood needed by the Mayans to make lime putty led to deforestation in the surrounding areas, and a large amount of clay flowed into the swamp. They paint everything, from major temples like Ladanta to their squares and floors. As time goes on, they get thicker and thicker, which is Hansen's luxury. Because of the temptation of conspicuous consumption, they finally returned to the inland, in calakmul, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, which was a powerful city-state and competitor in the 6th and 7th centuries. Hansen said: "Mirrado is called the Kingdom of Kan in the First Classic, which means' snake'-King calakmul calls himself King Kan, not calakmul's original name is King Qi Knab." Hansen said that this is a high forest platform, which is composed of cut stones and rockfill. It is about 980 feet wide and 2,000 feet long, covering nearly 45 acres.

"We calculated that we spent 65,438+05 million working days in Ladanta." "Each stone needs 65,438+02 people to carry, and each stone weighs about 65,438+0,000 pounds ... We dug 9 quarries at a distance of 600 to 700 meters."

Soon we boarded another platform. It is about 33 feet high and covers an area of about 4 acres. This road leads to a set of steps and climbs to the third step, an 86-foot-high platform, which is the trinity foundation of an impressive central pyramid, flanked by two smaller pyramids. This is an awesome sight, and its dizzying stairs split the west in two.

"You can't find the trinity pattern before 300 BC." Hansen said of the three pyramids. According to the dialogue with today's Mayan spiritual leaders, the researchers believe that the three-point structure represents a temple of heaven containing the fire of creation. The Mayans believed that the three stars of Orion (arni Tucker, Saif and riegel) were flints around the fire-a nebula called M42, which can be seen under Orion's belt.

Archaeology in Elmira is usually not to reveal the past, but to prevent it from collapsing: it took Hansen three years to stabilize the wall of Ladanta. He tried to find the best mortar mixture, including carefully selected clay, organic compounds, lime, crushed limestone and a gravel-like decomposed limestone called "Shaska". Archaeologists decided not to completely clear the trees in the temple like in Tikal, because they knew it was best to leave some shade to minimize the weak influence of the sun. Hansen and an engineer from Boeing Company designed a ventilated polycarbonate shack roof, which can filter ultraviolet rays and protect some of the most exquisite gypsum sculptures on the Jaguar Claw Temple from rain.

We walked around the bottom of the upper platform and climbed a cantilever wooden staircase. It climbed to the east of Ladanta in an almost vertical place and jumped into the jungle ground more than 230 feet.

"wow! Joanna said:

The scale of the summit is equivalent to a decent Ministry of the Interior. There are surveyor's posts embedded in limestone, fences to prevent you from falling off the east cliff, and a big tree with dense leaves, which looks like a toothpick with tassels from a distance and is inserted into a club sandwich. Ador-Río Azul National Park after Kangxi is a part of Maya Biosphere Reserve, located in northern Guatemala, with an area of 865,438+000 square miles of rainforest. Established in 1990, the reserve has lost nearly half of its forests in the past ten years. At the same time, the protection provided by national parks is marginal at best, covering only a small part of the northern basin on the Mexican border. Among the 5 1 ancient Mayan cities currently drawn, only three or four are included. Hansen said: "The boundary does not respect the hydrological, geological, geographical, plant or cultural boundaries of the basin." Only a small area is reserved in the park. We are trying to save the whole system.

Hansen and environmentalists from Guatemala and around the world hope that * * * can declare the whole basin a pathless wilderness. Hansen hopes that his ancient city can attract eco-tourism and provide a livelihood for Guatemalan locals, otherwise they may turn to robbery, poaching or unsustainable logging commitments; Although this industry brings short-term economic benefits, it will destroy the long-term integrity of the ecosystem because it will lead to the destruction of roads, pastures and habitats.

"We are trying to provide more for poor farmers than we do now," Hansen said. "Every country needs wood and wood products. But the problem here is that the potential economic benefits are far greater than the benefits that [logging] can produce. There is a model that will work, be more profitable economically, and have better protection effect than anywhere else now. This requires the right method. If the area is declared as a pathless wilderness, tourists will be obliged to go to local communities instead of flying or driving directly to these places. They will buy local handicrafts, sandwiches, soft drinks and beer, sleep in local small hotels, hire local guides, chefs, mules and rent local mountain bikes. Economic pies will spread in the community.

He supports the sustainable use of El Mirador forest, such as harvesting renewable plant products: allspice; Xate, a color-changing palm leaf used for flower arrangement; Bayal, used for wicker baskets; Gum.

Of course, he supports archaeology, which has invested millions of dollars in local communities in this area. Some of the guards Hansen hired were robbers. Most of the workers hired to help dig the ancient city attended literacy classes organized by the Mirrado Basin Project, which also provided computers and computer training for local schools, helped install water filters in villages, and trained local residents as tour guides. The future of the basin ultimately depends on local people and communities.

On my last night in Elmira, I stopped in the forest not far from Jaguarclaw Temple, where Hansen won his pottery epiphany. It is disturbing to think about how Maya with hundreds of thousands of people and the once classical capital were completely suppressed by time and rampant nature. The sun left in a hurry and darkness rose. That night, the turkey with arthropods climbed the tree and its wings struggled in the soft air. The red-eyed tree frog began to sing. Cura? ao birds make a fuss in the canopy. You can hear the cool sigh of an owl with glasses; Chanting; The voice of a toucan; Woodpeckers with strings are beating with portable hammers; The grunt of the spider monkey and the dreamy inhalation roar of the howler monkey seem to pass through the bass of the African lion and make a metal grinding sound on the lathe. What always surprises me here is that it is not bound by the past except what is secretly kept in genes. It leaves us with inaudible sounds. Imagine the dead in the notes between those notes, just like when the noise of the jungle disappears, the almost audible sound in the underground world echoes in the silent night until the noise of life rings again.

Chip Brown is a contributor to * * * magazine and the author of two non-fiction books. Photographer Christian Ziegler specializes in science and nature.