1,100-year-old Mayan ruins found in North Georgia

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city in the mountains of North Georgia believed to be at least 1,100 years old. According to Richard Thornton at Examiner.com, the ruins are reportedly what remains of a city built by Mayans fleeing wars, volcanic eruptions, droughts and famine.

In 1999, University of Georgia archeologist Mark Williams led an expedition to investigate the Kenimer Mound, a large, five-sided pyramid built in approximately 900 A.D. in the foothills of Georgia’s tallest mountain, Brasstown Bald. Many local residents has assumed for years that the pyramid was just another wooded hill, but in fact it was a structure built on an existing hill in a method common to Mayans living in Central America as well as to Southeastern Native American tribes.

Raw Story

A couple of things I found interesting here.. first a five sided pyramid. That's not something I think I have seen before. Not saying they don't exist, just never seen one before.

Second is that this is a great example of how so much can be lost over time.. 100s of years without inhabitants and the city is lost to knowledge except through myth or legend.

So that's where the Mayans went? They became what is now the Native Americans.

Originally posted by starwarsisreal
So that's where the Mayans went? They became what is now the Native Americans.

Well, partly, anyway... They married into existing populations, from what I can deduce.

It doesn't look so much to me like a 5 sided pyramid as it does a typical hill.

Following this Link, I looked at the map that the South African professor made.

See if you are as impressed(less than) as I was.

Here's the archaeological report:
(and it's by Mark Williams)

(if that doesn't work, google for Kenimer Mound and select the PDF. Although the story reports he "didn't know who made it", HIS reports clearly show "Woodlands culture" being identified.)

Reports on it also come from here:
findarticles.com...

The story goes on to say the determination it was Mayan comes from a group of non-scholar/non-archaeologists who haven't studied Mayan ruins. Worse, it says "archaeologists and anthropologists don't know what happened to the Mayans"... when, in fact we DO know what happened to them. They're still there but were absorbed into other cultures.

So... I'm saying "no foundation" (and the fact that the story is in the tabloid paper, Examiner, doesn't help its accuracy.)

Makes me wonder if these "blended tribes" were or at least influenced the mound builders at different sites.

I live near and have visited the HUGE Cahokia Mounds site many times and find this very interesting.


eta: AHH. Thanks Byrd. Very helpful, as usual. NVM my above comments.^^

There is so much that we are unaware about, even in our own back yard.

Great find OP

Originally posted by Byrd
Here's the archaeological report:
(and it's by Mark Williams)

(if that doesn't work, google for Kenimer Mound and select the PDF. Although the story reports he "didn't know who made it", HIS reports clearly show "Woodlands culture" being identified.)

Reports on it also come from here:
findarticles.com...

The story goes on to say the determination it was Mayan comes from a group of non-scholar/non-archaeologists who haven't studied Mayan ruins. Worse, it says "archaeologists and anthropologists don't know what happened to the Mayans"... when, in fact we DO know what happened to them. They're still there but were absorbed into other cultures.

So... I'm saying "no foundation" (and the fact that the story is in the tabloid paper, Examiner, doesn't help its accuracy.)

Thank you for the link. I agree, after reading the report, that the story I posted in the OP appears to be contrived. Still an interesting archaeological site, but yeah, the following quote from the comments section of the examiner article says it all:

I am the archaeologist Mark Williams mentioned in this article. This is total and complete bunk. There is no evidence of Maya in Georgia. Move along now.

I'm pretty sure if it had been Mayans in North Georgia the Cherokee would have known about it. Bear in mind that there was a culture in that are before the Cherokee arrived who were mound builders. Whether they were related to the Mississippian (cahokia) or Ohioan mound building cultures or not is open to speculation.
Frankly I;m disappointed with Rawstory - they used to be a reliable alt-news source at one time, now they're the Sun. what gives?

I have stood atop the mounds at Etowah many times and thought they were Mayan, or at least that they were influenced by the Mayans- huge big flat lands for the villiages with pyramid shaped mounds at the end- and a big, deep trench built to protect the entire place. It LOOKS Mayan. Then I remember somewhere in all that hearing that they had found evidence of trade- like feathers and beads from South America. They weren't so stupid they couldn't get up the gulf coast.

Yea I dont think so, I think the Mayans moved and integreted Westward and or stayed put more so than boated across the Gulf of Mexico. Theres a bit too much of a resemblance to the Aztecs imo. I dont doubt that tribes moved around at all though. The shosone for example are in several parts of the US on all sides. Im not entirely sure if that was due to colonization, warring or just seasonal migration pre colony or what but I do know, they have ties with the comanche, which are/were in West Texas neighbored by Apache, Jumano and Chijuajuan tribes.

I guess the question would be there is whether the Mayans would boat across the gulf in mass, or by a good number and settle inland to set up shop? Nah.. I'll go with no over the article. Doesnt seem likely. Great find on the mounds though. Im sure there are more out there.

Originally posted by hadriana
I have stood atop the mounds at Etowah many times and thought they were Mayan, or at least that they were influenced by the Mayans- huge big flat lands for the villiages with pyramid shaped mounds at the end- and a big, deep trench built to protect the entire place. It LOOKS Mayan. Then I remember somewhere in all that hearing that they had found evidence of trade- like feathers and beads from South America. They weren't so stupid they couldn't get up the gulf coast.

There is a well known and documented trade route from Central America/South America, but it's into New Mexico. One of the routes is called "two parrots" because of the parrot petroglyphs. There was a nice brisk trade in feathers.

However, this was to the Pueblo Indians and it was not with the Mayans.

The "flat area with a mound" is actually a feature of the Mound Builders (Caddoans) and is rather different than the Mayan architecture. The Caddoan mounds are fire temples -- had the Mayans come, there was certainly enough stone in the area to replicate their buildings. They'd have built in stone.

Caddoan/Mound cultures also have a distinctive pottery (very different from Mayan) and cultural symbols (none of which are shared by the Mayans.)

But it's pretty cool that you visited Etowah! I'd love to go there, myself!

May i interject a Hoagland ism here and mention the five sided pyramid on Mars?
....just sayin.........................

reply to post by rogerstigers


Well dang a fake report...got me all excited. In the 1960-70's there was a 'whisper' going on in 'Mayanology' about the possibility that the Maya might have set up colonies or influenced other areas around the Gulf of Mexico - this was partially driven by the evidence from the trade and the movement of items made by Mayans being found elsewhere.

No such colonies, settlements by Mayan traders, etc however were found.....The Maya remain to this day in the general region of their classical civilization

It would be folly to put limits on the extent of yet to be found ruins. In the last 10 years most of the 'expert' assertions have been thrown out due to modern tech. When people claim to be experts they surely dont know.


But the Examiner label spells fraud in most every case.

With 17 inches of space dust every hundred years that compresses into a few inches of earth and the mere fact that there is soil pressure and constant erosion moving astronomical totals of earth every year, its important not to rule out anything. The key to the future is going to be newer generations of GPR. We wouldnt know there were 4 story stone buildings buried underground in front of the Sphinx if they didnt use it. Its very likely we have uncovered less than half of whats out there.

Originally posted by Shadowalker
It would be folly to put limits on the extent of yet to be found ruins. In the last 10 years most of the 'expert' assertions have been thrown out due to modern tech. When people claim to be experts they surely dont know.


But the Examiner label spells fraud in most every case.

With 17 inches of space dust every hundred years that compresses into a few inches of earth and the mere fact that there is soil pressure and constant erosion moving astronomical totals of earth every year, its important not to rule out anything. The key to the future is going to be newer generations of GPR. We wouldnt know there were 4 story stone buildings buried underground in front of the Sphinx if they didnt use it. Its very likely we have uncovered less than half of whats out there.

We have excavated much less than 1% of the land surface and perhaps 1+% has been surveyed properly - so there is a lot to do.

We wouldnt know there were 4 story stone buildings buried underground in front of the Sphinx if they didnt use it

I presume you are using this as an example of what might be found - but I would point out that the Sphinx sits on 'virgin' limestone. If there is anything under there it was put there by tunneling

These ruins are not too far from TN's Madison, where the crop circles have shown up in the past five years. Apparently the crop circles were near a lake that flooded ancient Indian lands.

Originally posted by butcherguy
It doesn't look so much to me like a 5 sided pyramid as it does a typical hill.

Following this Link, I looked at the map that the South African professor made.

See if you are as impressed(less than) as I was.

I suggest you spend some time investigating the many sites of Mayan ruins in Mexico. Many were nothing but "hills" until the dirt was removed. It is remarkable how they could have been naturally covered in such a short period of time, about a thousand years. Frankly, I don't think it could happen naturally, For example, why haven't other structures disappeared under falling dust within that same perioid of time? Actually, we know that the fairly recently found civilization in Greece (or Turkey?) was intentionally buried. Maybe others. Perhaps that topic has been secretly avoided by those that study the ancients?

I wonder about giant UFO dump "trucks" covering up some of the early ruins for a reason?

well I read the original article and I saw five sided Mayan pyramid

the Mayans didn't build five sided pyramids,nobody did as far as I know?

is there a five sided pyramid anywhere? and I'm not talking something like Yona Goni which everyone calls a pyramid but isn't one .

seems pretty plausible to me. IF an indian society were to migrate into North America on foot. they would have to come in through Central America or the Bering Strait, who's climate and terrain are harsh & difficult to say the least.

So, knowing that the Maya were inhabiting Central America for a good 2,500 - 3,000 years, you have to accept either that:

1 the indians of North America came to North America via Central America, and thus must have either been Mayan, or at least must have been in close contact with the Mayan by virtue of them traveling through Mayan land.

or

2 the indians of North America came from the Bering Strait and thus modern day Russia.

if you were a common sense human, you'd have to be pretty nuts to want to travel blindly into the tundra of the Bering Strait. Look up a picture of that ice and snow hell hole and tell me you would walk onward with no idea what lays ahead, like these people would have been doing in a migration.

then think of the lush jungles and mountains of Central America. this is much more "livable" to a human. It would be an adventure to travel through such thick resources and find new places to see, which are all much more coherent with human life than the Bering Strait.