No one wants to send a poor country gravel but look for appropriate rich country outrage now that a road crew has bulldozed a Mayan pyramid to make some.
Belizean police say they are investigating the construction company that has destroyed most of one of the largest Mayan pyramids in that country - to make gravel to dump on village roads. They are only investigating now? It seems odd that the company will face a real penalty, since archaeologists and a local TV station watched them demolish the 60-foot-tall main temple at Nohmul ("great mound") - which means it was no secret in advance - one of the tallest structures in northern Belize, along the Mexican border in the Yucatan Peninsula.
The pre-Colombian site is about 2,500 years old and consists of twin ceremonial clusters surrounded by 10 plazas and connected by a raised causeway. Mayans used stone tools to quarry the rock and build the complex by hand. An estimated 40,000 people are believed to have lived there between 500 and 250 BC.
Road crews tear down Mayan pyramid to make gravel by Michael Winter, USA TODAY
