Hidden Monuments and Cookie-Cutter 'Suburbs' Discovered in Ancient Izapa Kingdom
By Megan Gannon, Live Science Contributor | October 29, 2018 07:56am ET
Archaeologists have discovered once-hidden monuments and ancient cookie-cutter suburbs in southern Mexico's Izapa kingdom.
The kingdom, which flourished between 700 B.C. and 100 B.C., was mostly known for its capital, Izapa, where pyramids, plazas, ball courts and hundreds of elaborately carved monuments have been unearthed since the 1940s.
But now archaeologists have confirmed that Izapa wasn't a stand-alone city. It was surrounded by about 40 smaller towns. Each of these satellite settlements had a layout that copied the capital's, according to a new study using aerial observations.
"The consistency is remarkable," said study leader Robert Rosenswig, an archaeologist at SUNY Albany. "This is a tremendous amount of coordination within the kingdom." [Photos: Hidden Monuments Found at Ancient Site of Izapa Kingdom]
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