August 11, 2003
Fahsen - Dos Pilas FAMSI report

Reports Submitted to FAMSI - Federico Fahsen - Rescuing the Origins of Dos Pilas Dynasty: A Salvage of Hieroglyphic Stairway #2, Structure L5-49

"This wide trade and transport route begins as a navigable waterway at Cancuén and flows northward, then west, then northwest to connect most of the greatest kingdoms of the west. Each major center is located at critical portages, junctures of tributaries, or other loci whose importance can be explained in terms of the river system. Tres Islas, Altar de Sacrificios, and Yaxchilán are placed at junctures with other river systems or land routes. Ceibal is located where the Pasión turns west and the trade route divides, going westward to Altar de Sacrificios, Yaxchilán, Piedras Negras, and past Palenque to the Gulf of México, or going eastward by land to the great centers of the Central Petén. From the Late Preclassic, if not earlier, this great system of river and land routes functioned as the true Maya highway of the western and central Petén."

Posted by Dave at August 11, 2003 01:00 AM