New high-resolution LiDAR scans of the Maya Mountains in southern Belize have revealed a sprawling, previously unknown industrial complex focused on the extraction of high-grade raw hematite. The site, dating to the Late Classic period, features extensive terraced mining benches and a series of fortified hilltop administrative buildings designed to oversee the production of the red mineral used in ritual pigments and paints.
The mapping shows a dedicated paved causeway (sacbe) connecting the mine directly to a lowland river port, suggesting a highly organized export economy. This find suggests that the Maya elite exerted direct control over the supply chains of prestige materials, maintaining specialized outposts in rugged, high-altitude terrain that were once thought to be sparsely populated or abandoned during the 9th century.