Like many of the conquistadors, Pedro de Alvarado came from one of the poorest regions of Spain called Extremadura. Little is known about him prior to his departure at age 25. Pedro’s peers considered him fearless, ambitious, as well as cruel. His braveiy and his brutality are well documented. Alvarado was fair-haired and very handsome. […]
Every effort was made by the Spanish conquistadors to eradicate all signs of Mayan culture. They were helped by the Franciscan and Dominican friars who destroy all signs of Mayan religious beliefs. The friars destroyed temples, shrines, and banned all ceremonial costumes. All native religions were banned, and instruction in Catholicism was mandatory. In addition, […]
It is believed that all Mayan ceremonial centers were connected by a series of roads. However, the exact extent of the ancient system of roadways will probably never be known because much of it has been destroyed by centuries of vegetation growth and modernization. These “white roads” were constructed out of large stones which were […]
The wall that surrounded the Prehispanic city of Chichen Itza, built near 900 AD to serve as defensive barrier, is object of investigation and restoring tasks with the aim of recovering its prior appearance and determine its relation with the Great Game Court. Conservation work at the wall that surrounds the 6-hectares area where most […]
Rachel Kaufman, National Geographic News, June 28, 2010. Ancient civilizations in much of Mexico and Central America were making different grades of rubber 3,000 years before Charles Goodyear “stabilized” the stuff in the mid-19th century, new research suggests. The Aztec, Olmec, and Maya of Mesoamerica are known to have made rubber using natural latex—a milky, […]
January, 08, 2010. INAH. The search of adequate conservation of Bonampak mural paintings, located in Chiapas, turned out into the discovery of a crypt under the second room of Templo de las Pinturas (Temple of the Paintings) with rests of a man accompanied with jadeite ornaments and ceramic objects that could be more than 1,300 years […]
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 […]
Recent explorations conducted by experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) point out that Plan de Ayutla Archaeological Site, in Chiapas, could have been the political center where the lineage that founded Bonampak originated,more than 1,400 years ago. This hypothesis is based on interpretation of inscriptions at different monuments.
Dan Vergano, september 22, 2009, USA TODAY. Ringing two abandoned pyramids are nine palaces “frozen in time” that may help unravel the mystery of the ancient Maya, reports an archaeological team. Hidden in the hilly jungle, the ancient site of Kiuic (KIE-yuk) was one of dozens of ancient Maya centers abandoned in the Puuc region […]
EL MIRADOR, Guatemala, September 3 (Reuters), by Sarah Grainger, editing by Catherine Bremer and Kieran Murray. One of Guatemala’s greatest ancient Mayan cities may have died out in a bloody battle atop a huge pyramid between a royal family and invaders from hundreds of miles away, archeologists say. Researchers are carrying out DNA tests on […]
