Ball games have been played in Mesoamerica since the earliest of times. The most popular of these ball games was called Tlachtli. Archeologists have discovered three thousand year old figurines of ball players wearing knee pads, gloves, and other equipment known to be used in Tlachtli ball games. The oldest ball courts arc found in […]
Earthenware “talks” to archaeologists: each fragment brings in data that helps reconstructing the history of Prehispanic society. This aspect is discussed at the exhibition Hablar con barro (Earthenware Talks), presented at Aguascalientes Regional Museum. A hundred and twenty ceramic artifacts, some of them 4,000 years old, provide elements to date occupation periods in a given […]
During the fifteenth century the cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco rose side by side. Both towns were built around their great temples. The Aztec’s considered these two temples to be the most important in their entire empire. Each of the great temples (cues) sat on top of pyramids that were the highest points in each […]
Motecuhzoma (Montezuma) I ruled from 1440 to 1468. He was solely focused on the expansion of the Aztec Empire. Following his death, the Aztecs were probably ruled for three decades by weak and ineffective leaders. Then, in 1502 Motecuhzoma II came to power. Under his leadership the practice of human sacrifice expanded. He ruled between […]
No event held more significance for the average Maya than the birth of a child. Child birth was considered a sign of good fortune and a measure of wealth. Children were given a childhood name by a priest and a nickname by the family. Masculine names always started with the prefix Ah, and female name […]
The Mayans had an elaborate calendrical system, no longer in use, which obviously evolved in complete isolation from those of the old world. This system ended with the fall of the Mayan civilization. Most of the remaining knowledge of it was destroyed by the Spanish during the conquest. It was not until very recently, during […]
Epigraphers await 2012 with trepidation. There will be ill-founded claims, bad Hollywood movies (one now in production), silly reportage, and much distortion of what 2012 meant for the ancient Maya. Every imaginable anxiety will apply to this key event in the Maya calendar. If we are candid, too, there will be renewed interest in our […]
Some of the Central American rainforest’s hidden treasures are being revealed by the Maya, more than a millennium after their passing. A study of the giant trees and beautiful flowers depicted in Maya art has identified which they held sacred. Created during the Maya Classic Period, the depictions are so accurate they could help researchers […]
There are few Prehispanic sites in Mexico where the natural environment is as singular as the archaeological monuments, and such is the case of Muyil, an ancient Maya city located 20 minutes away from Tulum and 1 and half hours away from Cancun. This is one of the 20 archaeological sites found in the Sian […]
As detailed in the accompanying downloadable PDF presentation, only a few fragments of Mesoamerican prophecy survive to enlighten us, and few of these are Maya. All we have are splinters, tatters, a tiny fraction of what was once a vast and substantial literature. The ancient prophecies we have pretty much reduce to two categories: Stone […]
