ps: Simonetta eres italiana y estudias en el centro de estudios mayas de la UNAM?

I agree with you. Ancient & rare languages (and cultures) throughout the world must be taught by parents to their children. These root languages contain knowledge & culture barely found in modern languages. My family are Hungarian (Magyar) which is considered one of the root languages along with Basque. As can be found in Mayan, the agglutinative Magyar language also contains thoughts, feelings, and ancient concepts. Not only is it similar to Sumerian but I have even read that there are connections to the South American languages (river & place names). Ancient culture is disappearing fast as children learn modern/western ways so time to save whats left of the living past is unfortunately limited. I hope linguists compare the ancient languages around the world to find their common root/s.

1830
SIR JOHN BOWRING, English traveler and writer, visited Hungary and published an anthology in English of the work of Hungarian writers and poets. „The Hungarian language goes far back. It developed in a very peculiar manner and its structure reaches back to times when most of the now spoken European languages did not even exist. It is a language which developed steadily and firmly in itself, and in which there are logic and mathematics with the adaptability and malleability of strength and chords. The Englishman should be proud that his language indicates an epic of human history. One can show forth its origin; and all layers can be distinguished in it, which gathered together during contacts with different nations. Whereas the Hungarian language is like a rubble-stone, consisting of only one piece, on which the storms of time left not a scratch. It’s not a calendar that adjusts to the changes of the ages. It needs no one, it doesn’t borrow, does no huckstering, and doesn’t give or take from anyone. This language is the oldest and most glorious monument of national sovereignty and mental independence. What scholars cannot solve, they ignore. In philology it’s the same way as in archeology. The floors of the old Egyptian temples, which were made out of only one rock, can’t be explained. No one knows where they came from, or from which mountain the wondrous mass was taken. How they were transported and lifted to the top of the temples. The genuineness of the Hungarian language is a phenomenon much more wondrous than this.”

When I visited Calakmul, it was a very clear day, and I *think* I was able to see El Mirador through binoculars from the top of Structure 1. But of course I have no way to be sure.

I doubt that the usual “shouting” method often used by workers when they locate their fellow workers some distance away and start cutting the forest from two directions is relevant across greater distances.

However, something visible from ground level that reaches great heights and is visible from great distances is smoke. The constructors at Bonampak may have used fire and smoke at Yaxchilan and on the hills to get a basic orientation. The same goes for Calakmul and El Mirador. Another example are causeways that connect preexisting sites. The Coba-Yaxuna causeway aligns with several locations along its 100 kms long trajectory. Straight brechas may have preexisted the causeway but to align even the original brechas with preexisting sites one would need something possible to see from greater distances (and in the northern Yucatan the topography is far flatter than at Calakmul and for sure at Bonampak).