Researchers using high-resolution LiDAR and ground-penetrating radar have located a previously unknown Zapotec temple complex on a ridge overlooking the Mitla valley. The structure, dubbed the 'Temple of the Gilded Zenith,' dates to approximately 500 CE and features a massive central sun-altar surrounded by floors encrusted with thousands of green jade and obsidian fragments.
This discovery is significant as it represents the first known instance of such extensive jade floor-inlay in Zapotec architecture. The temple appears to have been perfectly aligned with the summer solstice, where sunlight would strike a polished hematite mirror at the center of the altar, projecting a beam across the jade floor to symbolize the growth of maize.