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about Mayans from El Mirado hills  By Dr. Raymond T. MathenyDr.
Raymond T. Matheny is a professor of archaeology at Brigham
Young University. / February 25, 1981  In the center of the
flat, rain-soaked Peten Forest in northern Guatemala, five miles
from the Mexican border, the horizon is broken by a cluster of
hills. The native Guatemalan chicle workers call the area El
Mirador -- The Lookout -- where their ancestors, the proud
Mayans, once lived.  Skip to next paragraph  But the hills of El
Mirador are man-made -- pyramids, platforms, public buildings,
and homes -- that have been buried under rock, soil, and trees
from 1 ,500 years. A team of archaeologists from Brigham Young
and Catholic Universities is carefully digging through this time
capsule, hoping that the "hills" of El Mirador yield clues to
puzzling questions that have baffled scientists for years about
the Mayan civilization: What caused the collapsed and sudden
disappearance of this