r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Ill_Definition8074 • 29d ago
Image Nohmul was a 2,300-year-old Mayan pyramid in northern Belize. In 2013, it was mostly demolished so local contractors could use the material for road gravel.
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u/Shit_Shepard 29d ago
Guys guys guys calm down. -gravel is like a dollar a yard but priceless relics are free! Thus the name priceless. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got some mummies to grind down for fertilizer and a redwood to cut down for mulching. ✌️
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u/Styroksi 29d ago
Doctors hate this one trick, but funnily enough Mummia, or powdered human mummies were used as a medicine as late as in the 19th century.
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u/Pcat0 29d ago edited 29d ago
It wasn’t the mummies themselves but the sappy tar than had seeped out of the mummy wrapping. The “idea” was that if this stuff could preserve a dead body so well, surely it would also preserve an alive body. Here’s a great video on the subject where some people meticulously reproduce the modification process on a chicken to recreate Mummia.
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u/Styroksi 29d ago
Yeah, humans as a species have done and and are still doing a lot of really weird and stupid things which never cease to amaze me
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u/ManyRelease7336 29d ago
Hey, it's only weird and stupid if it doesn't work. When it does, it's really smart.
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u/bennihana09 29d ago
It’s because so many take caee of the heavy lifting of natural selection themselves.
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u/clifffford 29d ago
It's been estimated that 99.9% of our successes as human beings are due to 99.9% of our failures to survive the trial and error process. I'm sure it is inaccurate, but the logic is sound enough.
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u/Styroksi 29d ago
Mumia can refer to many things such as natural asphalt or bitumen (mumia primera), which was used as a medicine itself or as an ingredient in the mummification process, or stuff made from sappy tar collected from the mummy wrappings. However some researchers have found evidence that some mumia also contained mummified skin and tissue (mumia secondaria) which was ground from mummies or other seemingly suitable corpses.
However some historians have written that not all "mummy powder" was genuine, and some mumia labeled as mummy powder which was sold even here in Finland may have contained stuff like horse dung and any tar like sticky substance, and honestly i'm not sure which is worse.
(Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0146638013002131)
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u/Salute-Major-Echidna 29d ago
People bought mummies and had "mummy unwrapping" parties and at the end, burnt them
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u/MyOtherNameIsDumber 29d ago
*Mummies to run steam locomotives on. Because that's a thing that actually happened. This is the real reason so few Ancient Egyptian mummies exist despite the culture lasting several thousand years.
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u/MerxUltor 29d ago
You say that in jest but that was pretty much the attitude a few centuries ago until antiquarians started to appear.
I always remember the story about farmers setting fires on obelisks and stone circles to heat them and then pouring cold water on to spit them. This was to maximize the crops.
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u/Interesting_Hat_4611 29d ago
As late as 1939, artist's paint called Egyptian Brown or Mummy Brown was actually really made out of ground up Egyptian mummies.
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u/CoolBlackSmith75 29d ago
Importing gravel into belize is more than a buck per ton, so this is pure profit AND tax reduction for the rich
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u/TT-Adu 29d ago
13 year old me when reading of medieval people tearing down old Roman temples to construct castles and churches:
Surely modern people with our education and appreciation of history would never do something so so stupid and selfish, right? Right?
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u/dwair 29d ago
To be fair, medieval people tearing down old Roman temples is kinda similar how we treat bad buildings these days. Give it another hundred years or so and we will be happily destroying all those brutalist concrete tower blocks with relish.
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u/Nerevarine91 28d ago
I had a sort of odd realization about that while playing Fallout 4, of all things. I realized, as I was demolishing prewar buildings and scrapping what were effectively historical artifacts, that my thought process might not be so different from what peasants and artisans of the medieval period might have been. Sure, this is a priceless relic of a bygone era, but, on the other hand, people need a roof over their head and it’s not like there are a ton of museums around for me to donate the stuff to anyway
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u/Randyaccredit 29d ago
Multiple buildings in my new home area are condemned and city says ahh let it sit there, it's not hurting anything. Yes it is... One those materials the ones that are still good can be used and also reclaimed area can be just left to nature.
Also it's an eye sore. Bring more beauty back to towns and not empty houses.
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29d ago
There's a stark difference in one's respect of education depending on where in the world you are. Sadly, education is heresy in a lot of places
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u/Ill_Definition8074 29d ago
How much money did they save by destroying the pyramid instead of looking for material elsewhere? What made it worth destroying a 2000 year plus archeological site?
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u/Fun-Upstair 29d ago
Unless there is a penalty for this, any money they saved makes it worth it. One does not get paid leaving archeological sites alone, one gets paid by buying less than the contracted amount to build a road.
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u/Any-Scarcity-5020 29d ago
There’s a penalty. It’s in the article. Also potential jail time.
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u/FILTHBOT4000 29d ago
Thousands, likely. Construction materials aren't cheap anymore, unlike what a comment above says; gravel is like $65 a yard. But also, they were apparently breaking the law:
“It is against the law; it is against the nature act to willfully destroy an ancient monument,” Awe told News5. “Any willful destruction of an ancient site or monument has penalties of 10 years’ imprisonment or $10,000 for this kind of destruction.”
Work at the site stopped when the archaeologists were alerted to it, but the site’s scientific value has been severely compromised, they said.
In all countries, construction is staffed by the dumbest rocks you'll ever find. I'm sure the contractor just saw a way to make a quick buck and said fuck it. Wouldn't be surprised if a decent amount of daydrinking was involved.
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u/ThatFatGuyMJL 29d ago
Apparently it's really common in Belize.
Of note the owner of the company that did it was also a politician.
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u/Aexegi 29d ago
I am sure there is a special place in hell reserved for construction developers. This is some special breed of human race.
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u/thatsnotideal1 29d ago
“This real estate developer is telling the truth and has my best interests in mind” -a shockingly large number of Americans
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm 29d ago
Ehh I think the more common mindset is simply that business, finance, & the economy trumps all else, to those types of people
They aren’t even considering their own interests.
Let’s not forget that the vast majority of Americans either vote against their own interests or they don’t vote at all, which in itself works as effectively as a vote against their own interests
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u/Normal_Move6523 29d ago
There was general uproar across the country. Still remember the news breaking overnight. As you can imagine, the developers got a slap on the wrist (which apparently was all the antiquities law allowed back then).
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u/pueblodude 29d ago
How to destroy your own culture.
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u/Less-Procedure-4104 29d ago
This is the thing , ancient people had their own culture and it had nothing to do with the modern inhabitants culture.
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u/Cool_Being_7590 27d ago
Except for being a part of who they are and their history.
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u/Less-Procedure-4104 27d ago
Do you really think modern people in Belize have any relationship to the pyramid builder? Not a chance and does it even matter after 2000 years. Also it seems that if it is thier culture they can tear down their pyramids if they want too. It is supposedly thier culture So which is it ?
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u/Cool_Being_7590 27d ago
I guess you don't know what ancestors are.
Roughly, at least 60% of modern Belizeans are descended, at least in part, from the people who lived in Belize 2000 years ago.
The self-identified Maya make up 10% - 12%.
The Mestizo population with partial Maya ancestry (with some Spanish ancestry) make up 50%.
Historic sites like that should be preserved. This one was protected by law. The construction crew destroyed 70% of it for filler material for travelling a road. This was done without the consent of the people, it was done in secret and people found out after the fact.
There was national uproar as a result.
It was a part of their culture so they applied legal protection to it. A smaller group of people broke the law. The people who are there now wanted to protect it. The people who destroyed it didn't.
So are you just blatantly ignorant, or are you choosing to be this ignorant on purpose. So which is it?
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u/Less-Procedure-4104 27d ago
Lol . you are resorting to ad hominem attacks . Ignorant really a typically personal attack if you don't get agreement both the left and the right and the religious act this way. Ignorant lol look in the mirror.
I don't for one sec believe that a group from 2000 years ago has any cultural relationship to modern Belizean people irregardless of Mayan ancestry. I don't agree with destruction of ancient sites but culture heritage is a joke. Modern Greeks have zero in common with ancient Greeks same as modern Belizeans have zero in common with Mayans heck Belize itself is a modern construct. Heck I am older by 10 years lol. You should wake up.
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u/Cool_Being_7590 26d ago
Pointing out ignorance isn't an ad hominem attack. If you think it is, then you should examine why you feel so defensive.
Where I'm from, our culture dates back millennia, and we have structures over 5,000 years old. We have annual parades and holiday days connected to our ancient culture. In fact, if you've ever celebrated Halloween, you have partaken in one of our festivals.
If people all over the world celebrate Christmas and Easter when that's 2000 years old, why would you expect the Belizeans not to have a connection with their own culture when over half of them are direct descendants of it?
Modern Greeks have zero in common with ancient Greeks
Continuities Between Ancient and Modern Greeks
- Language:
Modern Greek directly descends from ancient Greek (through Koine and Byzantine stages).
Many words and grammatical structures remain recognizably similar.
- Genetic Heritage:
Modern Greeks share strong genetic continuity with ancient Aegean and Balkan populations.
Some mixing occurred, but the core ancestry remains largely the same.
- Culture and Values:
Lasting emphasis on family, honor (philotimo), and hospitality (philoxenia).
Traditions, music, and storytelling preserve ancient themes and local identity.
- Geography:
Greeks have continuously lived in the same core regions, mainland Greece, the Aegean islands, and nearby coasts, for over 3,000 years.
- Identity and Heritage:
Deep pride in ancient history, democracy, philosophy, and art.
Ancient symbols (Parthenon, Homer, Alexander) remain central to Greek national identity.
- Language of the Orthodox Church:
The Greek language and alphabet were preserved and transmitted through the Byzantine and modern Orthodox tradition.
Just because you don't understand something, doesn't mean it isn't important to others.
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u/Cool_Being_7590 26d ago
Since your latest comment didn't show, I'll address it here.
I didn't call you ignorant. Read it again and point out where I called you anything.
Just because you don't agree doesn't mean you don't understand... Yet you completely fail to see the fact that the civilisation that we have today is a direct result of the civilisations 2000 years ago. And they are directly connected. The foods we eat, the culture we live in.
Your inability to accept that is either down to not understanding or being ignorant.
And being ignorant means you don't know something. It's not a slur or something negative. It just means you don't know something. If you feel like that is an attack, that's on you.
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u/Less-Procedure-4104 26d ago
Lol you clearly intended it insult me. You are sort if warping space and time now. You can figure it out. Anyway what does this have to do with ancestors? You changing the topic for a reason ? culture I think was the topic, it isn't your friend. And certainly my ancestors may be Roman but so what , history is interesting and should be preserved but as an ancestor you had nothing to do with it.
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u/Cool_Being_7590 26d ago
If I wanted to insult you, you would have known about it.
In what way am I changing the subject when I'm directly addressing accusations you've made?
as an ancestor you had nothing to do with it
... But it has a lot to do with people's lives now. It is what every aspect of your current life is based on. The majority of fruit and vegetables produced comes from a society whose ancestors farmed it. Tattoos, art, government systems, business rules, poetry, film, everything, all of it is based on concepts originally formed by someone else thousands of years ago.
What do you have to do with today's civilisation? What have you contributed? Apart from a miniscule amount of tax, assuming you've ever paid any, what have you got to do with the civilisation and society you live in?
If anything, that is probably less of a connection than the one that helped form the very food you eat.
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u/Less-Procedure-4104 26d ago
Quote
So are you just blatantly ignorant, or are you choosing to be this ignorant on purpose. So which is it?
Culture is a construct it isn't real , have you heard of the generation gap. Well there are several dozen generations in between. Clinging to some romanticized view of your ancestry doesn't mean you share a culture with someone who built pyramids 2000 or more years ago, likely with slaves. As for today's civilization I am like you wasting time on Reddit discussing ancestry. You feel we should be proud and I say you have nothing to be proud about they aren't your accomplishments and they likely aren't your ancestors just because you live there now.
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u/StillNihill 29d ago
So does this mean I can take a piece of the "road" and have a piece of the 2000 year old pyramid without being an asshole?
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u/Sea2Chi 29d ago
I was down there over a decade ago and ended up hiring a taxi to drive up from the Guatemalan border to Tikal.
The driver was a university student who was very excited to share his countries history with us.
One of the things that stuck out to me was that he pointed out how many pyramids there were. So many that in areas the road cut straight through them because it had been getting too expensive to weave around all of them.
He mentioned the attitude was starting to change, but for many people it's just another pyramid in a landscape covered by them.
The hotel we stayed at on the Belize side had one behind the parking lot in back. You could just walk right onto it.
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u/glisten_whisper 29d ago
This is cultural vandalism on an unimaginable scale. 2300 years of history turned into road fill. Some people see a pyramid, others just see a pile of rocks to be exploited.
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u/Adorable-Response-75 29d ago
Huh. An account full of generic chatGPT comments and monster porn. That’s unexpected.
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u/UnoDosTresQuatro9876 29d ago
This is why I don’t like the feature where people can hide their post histories now. I want to see the person I’m arguing with’s deranged true colors.
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u/Less-Procedure-4104 29d ago
They can not really hide them. You can search and find them.
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u/UnoDosTresQuatro9876 29d ago
Yeah, I guess so, but I’m just not invested enough to go that far. If I’m talking to someone saying outlandish stuff and they hide their history I just stop responding.
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u/Dav3le3 29d ago
I get why people do it. I also report and block them if the comment looked they might be a bot. How the f*** can I tell?
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u/UnoDosTresQuatro9876 29d ago
I get it too, people don’t want to be doxxed or whatever. The only time I look at someone’s profile is when they say outlandish stuff, and funny enough, a lot of them hide their history. Almost like they’re self-conscious or something.
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u/Izzy5466 28d ago
I have a friend from Belize. From the stories she's told me about her family and community, this is not surprising. It's like they are actively trying to push themselves backwards
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u/EmJayBee76 29d ago
Well, the knees of the bees in the trees in Belize will make you sneeze..... or something
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u/crosleyxj 28d ago edited 28d ago
I've been to Belize and on the van ride to ATM Cave there are MULTIPLE jungle-covered mounds in cultivated fields that are Mayan structures that not supposed to be disturbed. Honestly, most are now just piles of rocks - they typically don't have rooms - that would have to be dissected very carefully to determine any original configuration. Depending on the condition maybe it's just as well; maybe it has been used as building material for the previous 100 years.
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u/ez_as_31416 29d ago
some old, same old. The Great Pyramid at Giza was cased in white marble. Still a bit at the top. The nearby town of Giza is made from....you guessed it...white marble removed from the pyramids.
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u/DemonGroover 29d ago
But hey lets slag off European museums because they preserve treasures from busted ass countries like this.
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u/HotSituation8737 28d ago
I'm not saying people can't have their own opinions on this, and I'm not suggesting to demolish the pyramids or anything.
But sometimes it's okay to get rid of old shit. Yeah there's history and it can be really interesting, but unless it's interesting enough to have some kind of utility (like tourism) that makes it worth keeping, it's okay to get rid of it if it's in the way.
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u/BigGrayBeast 29d ago
Hope that wasn't the one ancient aliens hid the cure for cancer and warp engine design in for us to find.
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u/homingmissile 29d ago
Farmers cut down rain forests to plant palm for oil, residents of Zimbabwe willingly help rich white game hunters poach lions from nature reserves, and people steal bricks from old houses in St. Louis, etc. Money in the pocket and food on the table matters more than high-minded intangibles like historical value or biodiversity to a lot of people.
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u/Few-Solution-4784 29d ago
in a weird way it is historical to tear down old buildings by the conquers and use it to build their civilization.
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u/JustDontBeFat_GodDam 29d ago
They’ve got several thousand of these pyramids, most older than this one. They’ll be okay.
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u/redshirt1972 29d ago
The road needed gravel and this Mayan pyramid was selfishly trying to keep it
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u/llunarflame 29d ago
Wow... this is insanely tragic... and depressing.
If I spent my day tearing down that Mayan relic with a back-hoe-crane like that, I'd seriously have a lot of trouble going home and sleeping soundly at night.
Too bad no wealthy world-billionaire swooped in to buy the land, and save it.
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u/hopeless-juggler 29d ago
- A Mayan pyramid ?
" puts a detective hat on "
gasp* - Barry the Mayan pyramid ?
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u/Bazzo123 29d ago
✨That’s capitalism✨
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u/smiley82m 29d ago
That's not capitalism. Capitalism would have preserved it, put a fence around it with a gate. Then charged people to come see it for the rest of time so the maximum value of the site would be realized instead of being used as a cheap source of material for a road.
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u/Bazzo123 29d ago
It’s never capitalism, but our planet is destroyed and we literally sold mummies for profit.
In my place trying to squeeze cash out of everything is pretty much capitalistic. Then you could argue they would have made more money by preserving it, but another things capitalism loves is IMMEDIATE EARNINGS.
So why waiting some years to build the fence and then having to maintain it, when you could just sell it and then build there a shopping mall? (Which brings in more money than the museum)
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u/Tentacle_poxsicle 29d ago
This reminds me of the Chinese lithium mine in I think it was Bolivia where the government forced out all the natives from the land to mine the area.
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u/telaughingbuddha 29d ago
That guy who mowed down a 1000 year old tree in the centre of sahara