Human Sacrifice?

[MormonMason]

I think you may have confused the Maya with the Teotihuacanos. There influence was absent prior to 385 AD and then became prominent for a time. The date 385 is significant because that was the time period when Teotihuacan placed one of their own as a king in the Maya country.

There is evidence of Maya culture in the lowlands long before 385 AD.

See "The Ancient Maya" by Robert J. Sharer.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. I'll take a look at Sharer et al again and see what they have to say.

It was customary for the Maya to build new structures on top of previous structures. Most of the classical structures were built over as many as three or more previous buildings.

I am well aware of this sort of building program among the Maya. Of course, the evidence shows that they were not the only ones who did this sort of thing. (I have seen evidence of the same kind of thing in Teotihuacan, where one structure revealed no less than three levels of construction, although I do not now recall which one that was). I have long maintained this fact as one of the primary problems making finding of Book of Mormon age cities difficult. Mesoamericans tended to build overtop earlier structures and cities. And, I think we both know that for many of these sites, requests for permission to excavate through the later remains to get to the earlier ones will not be taken lightly by the Mexican and Guatemalan authorities.

It is only recently that interest in preclassic Maya has surfaced. The Maya Meetings in Austin last year focused on this period with many reports on the Mayan presence in the lowlands. One of th talks was about the San Bartolo site in the Guatemala lowlands which dates to 400 BC to 200 AD.

So far as I recall, the latest excavation shows successive occupation going back to 800 BCE, with a belief that there may be earlier levels yet to be excavated. However, the last time I checked, the Guatemalan lowlands were not located in the heart of southern Mexico. One site I know of in the heart of southern Mexico, that shows early evidence of a Maya-type long-count calendar, was not written in typical Maya characters, the characters being more representative of Olmec influence.

But, as I said above, I will take a look at Sharer, et al, and see what they have to say. My previous cursory overview did not reveal much. But, then again, it was a cursory overview.