Life In The Ancient Mayan Empire Was Unbelievably Strange

Life In The Ancient Mayan Empire Was Unbelievably Strange

Shannon Quinn - February 21, 2023

Life In The Ancient Mayan Empire Was Unbelievably Strange
Sacbe road, Site of Labna, State of Yucatan, Mexico. Credit: Shutterstock

The Mayans Built Impressive Roads

Modern drivers are no strangers to potholes and crumbling infrastructure. It may make you all at once amazed and disappointed to know that ancient Mayan roads still exist in the rainforest today. These were so simple dirt paths, as one might expect when one imagines an ancient civilization. The roads were massive. In fact, the term Mayan Highway might be a more apt term. These roads were 130 feet wide. That’s about the width of a modern 10 lane highway! They were also 15 feet high, about the height of a single story house. About 110 miles of these elevated highways have been found so far. That’s greater than the distance between New York City and Philadelphia. What is perhaps most impressive is the age of these structures. The roads and the other buildings and infrastructure they are related to date to about 1,000 BC.

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