Richard Thornton, an architect and design examiner who claims to be trained in Mesoamerican architecture, argues that there is a Maya site in the mountains of Georgia. In this article he presents the supposed evidence for it. However, we are not really presented with any substantial evidence, just statements like that the ruins “consisted of fort-like circular structures, walls, Indian mounds veneered in stone, walls, terrace retaining walls or just piles of stones”. It could just as well be Inca ruins for all I care. At the site there is a hill that has been sculpted into a five-sided (pentagonal) pyramidal mound and Thornton argues that pentagonal structures of clay are common in the Maya area. This is simply not true and he does not provide any examples of these Maya structures.
Now, Thornton’s main “evidence” is that the area was called Itsate on early maps. He says that “Itsate is what the Itza Mayas called themselves. Also, among all indigenous peoples of the Americas, only the Itza Mayas and the ancestors of the Creek Indians in Georgia built five-side earthen pyramids as their principal mounds.” No, only one group of Maya called themselves Itza and they for sure did not build five-sided earthen pyramids. Is the Castillo at Chichen Itza five-sided and built out of dirt or clay?
Further, the basis for the ethnonym Aj Itza (Itza people) is Itz-(h)a or itz-water where itz refers to soul or essence. The Itza probably originated around the Peten-lakes and eventually ended up at Chichen Itza and some of them returned or stayed around the lakes where the last Maya kingdom was conquered in 1697. Sure, the Itza Maya moved around, but it is bizarre to believe they went all the way to Georgia to escape the collapse, to an area very different from where they originated. They had to penetrate huge territories of hostile states and would not have survived in the first place. Thornton seems to conflate the Maya with Mesoamerica in general.
I suspect we are dealing with a person who tries to cash in on the 2012 phenomenon because he has written a book on the immigration of Mesoamerican refugees to North America (note that the entire Maya area is located in North America). This book will be published in “early January 2012, and is entitled, “Itsapa . . . the Itza Mayas in North America.”” I fear that he will make connections between Itsapa and Izapa (the favored site for the galactic alignment theory that says that the Long Count ends one year from now). Another reason why I believe Thornton is associated with 2012 is that he makes a reference to Hunab-ku at the end of the article. Hunab-ku is the Colonial period Yucatec Maya name for the Christian God. It is the result of Christian mission that created Maya reducido, a language adapted to Christian beliefs. Hence, this is not their ancient supreme deity. However, it figures quite a bit in New Age beliefs regarding 2012.