Recent LiDAR-guided excavations in the Belizean jungle have uncovered a unique architectural complex featuring a circular pavement studded with black obsidian discs. The alignment of these discs corresponds exactly to the position of the sun during the summer solstice, leading archaeologists to identify the site as a staging ground for a forgotten Maya ceremony dubbed the "Festival of the Midnight Sun."
Unlike the well-known agricultural rites of the Classic period, this festival appears to have focused on astronomical precision and celestial navigation. The presence of hundreds of small, unworked jade pebbles scattered across the obsidian pavement suggests that worshippers left "stars" on the ground to mirror the sky, a ritual tradition that emphasizes the Maya elite's role as mediators between the terrestrial and cosmic realms.