Over at National Geographic, there’s a fascinating article detailing the recent discovery of one of South America’s most pervasive mysteries: The fabled ‘White City’ or ‘City of the Monkey God’, which was said to have been kept intact during the Spanish conquest due to its remote and inhospitable location in the remote valley of La Mosquitia, deep in the Honduran rainforest. the ‘monkey god’ is a reference to the tale of a giant buried statue of a monkey god, as was told by natives to American explorer Theodore ‘Ted’ Morde in 1940; Morde’s alleged discovery of the mythical city was never confirmed –he refused to reveal its location, and later committed suicide in 1954.
But now thanks to modern LIDAR technology, an international expedition has managed to pinpoint a highly advanced urban center that is over a thousand years old;
Christopher Fisher, a Mesoamerican archaeologist on the team from Colorado State University, said the pristine, unlooted condition of the site was “incredibly rare.” He speculated that the cache, found at the base of the pyramid, may have been an offering.
“The undisturbed context is unique,” Fisher said. “This is a powerful ritual display, to take wealth objects like this out of circulation.”
The tops of 52 artifacts were peeking from the earth. Many more evidently lie below ground, with possible burials. They include stone ceremonial seats (called metates) and finely carved vessels decorated with snakes, zoomorphic figures, and vultures.
The most striking of the objects found so far was a stone head of a ‘were-jaguar’, which would seem to indicate that the inhabitants practiced some form of shamanic religion –possibly involving the use of psychedelic substances, which would trigger in the shaman the illusion of shape-shifting into a jaguar.
But more than solving once and for all the legend of the ‘White City’, the archeologists are now convinced this urban center is in fact part of a previously unknown civilization which thrived in the Mosquitia valley around 1000-1400 AD. Therefore, many more ‘lost cities’ are bound to be found –that is, if they’re not razed first by the illegal deforestation of the forest.
Here’s hoping the Honduran government manages to secure this incredible discovery, so that archeologists can continue finding more remnants of this previously unknown civilization. Maybe one day they’ll unearth the monkey god statue after all –or at least a couple of crystal skulls…
[LINK] Exclusive: Lost City Discovered in the Honduran Rainforest
__________________________________
You might also like:
- Enter the Jaguar (part of the Darklore anthology)
- Lost City Found in Cambodian Jungle
- Ancient Maya City Discovered in Mexico
- Angkor Revealed through Laser Pulses
