A Mayan pyramid in Belize has been turned into rubble to make gravel for roads. Archeologists say very little can be salvaged and that the Mayan temple was destroyed.

Local media in Belize report that the Mayan temple at the Noh Mul site was torn down last week by backhoes and bulldozers and reduced to rubble.

Although the pyramid was somewhat grown over with vines and foliage, it was unmistakable.

"There is no way that one can say that they did not know. Even for you guys as laypeople can look and you'll see the building," Morris said.

The director of Belize's Istitute of Archeology, Jaime Awe, told local news it was "one of the worse set of blows I have felt philosophically and professionally."

"What happened there is both deplorable and unforgivable," Awe said.

"This is one of the worst that I have seen in my entire 25 years of archaeology in Belize," John Morris, an archaeologist with the Institute told local news. "We can't salvage what has happened out here -- it is an incredible display of ignorance."

The pyramid was built in 250 B.C. from hand-cut limestone bricks and stood about 65 feet tall. It was the epicenter of a settlement of some 40,000 people and 81 buildings scattered over about 12 square miles.

As limestone is good road-building material, local contractors value it. And there was lots of limestone in the building.  "Like a huge palace or building or a huge temple, it would have had many rooms in there, multilayered rooms so you have rooms for people living, and you would also had several tombs in there of the people who lived in this area here."

Local opposition legislator John Briceno told news crews, "The Mayas use good material to build their temples, and these temples are close to (the village of) Douglas so that means that they have to use less diesel, less wear and tear; they can do more trips per day, and at the end of the day they can make more money,"

The mound is on private land, and the archeologists will seek to have both the contractors and the landowner held accountable. "It is against the law; it is against the nature act to willfully destroy an ancient monument," Awe said. "Any willful destruction of an ancient site or monument has penalties of 10 years' imprisonment or $10,000 for this kind of destruction."

Archeologists will try to sift through the rubble that is left for any artifacts in the un-explored temple-that will now never be explored. Its scientific value has been irrevocably damaged, they said.

"I'm hoping that there will be bits and pieces that we can acquire from any kind of work that we do there. But to say that we can try to preserve the building anymore; that is impossible," Moore said.

Instead, it will be a warning against actions like the one taken.

"It's a monument of ignorance, and unfortunately that's the way it is," Awe said. "Now we will probably have to look at this and say that it is a good example of what not to do."