Photo: Ancient Maya Marketplace Found

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Chris Jensen, then a graduate student at Brigham Young University, collects soil samples at Chunchucmil, an ancient Maya city.

An analysis of phosphorus in the soil shows that the site once supported a bustling food market, poking holes in prevailing theories that the Maya elite controlled and distributed food supplies.

Photograph by Mark A. Philbrick/BYU, courtesy Richard Terry

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