Using high-resolution LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), researchers have identified a previously unknown causeway in the Petén Basin of the Yucatán. The stone-paved road, dubbed the 'Jaguar-Tail' path due to its unique curling architecture, connects several outlying farming hamlets to a central ceremonial platform built atop a natural sinkhole.
The alignment of the causeway and the platform suggests they were used for 'Blood-Moon' festivals—rituals performed during lunar eclipses. The Maya believed these events were moments of celestial rebirth, and the causeway served as a symbolic bridge for the community to process into the sacred center to perform dances and offerings meant to 'protect' the moon.
Excavations at the terminus of the causeway revealed hundreds of small ceramic jaguar figurines and obsidian blades, likely used in ritual sacrifices during the height of the festival. This mapping project demonstrates how the Maya integrated their surrounding landscape into complex, multi-site festival circuits that reinforced social bonds across different social strata.