An extended period of turmoil in the prehistoric Maya city of Mayapan, in the Yucatan region of Mexico, was marked by population declines, political rivalries and civil conflict. Between 1441 and 1461 CE the strife reached an unfortunate crescendo — the complete institutional collapse and abandonment of the city. This all occurred during a protracted…
Georgia State University anthropologist Dr. Jeffrey Glover grew up in metro Atlanta, but speaking to him, it sounds like his heart is in Quintana Roo. This part of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula has been the home base for an expansive research project spanning more than 10 years. His research there with Dr. Dominique Rissolo, a maritime…
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Four children in Mexico were buried in the years after the Spanish Conquest with rituals and grave offerings that suggest that pre-Hispanic customs lived on for some time after the Aztec empire fell. The four infant burials date from 1521 to 1620 [Credit: DSA INAH] The National Institute of Anthropology and History said Monday the…
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For the ancient Mayans, corn was the vital plant par excellence. The Popol Vuh, their sacred text, told that the gods created humans out of its dough, after first attempting to make them from mud and wood. Only those made from corn dough survived; only they had the power to worship the gods, thank them…
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In 2001, a group of archaeologists led by William Saturno discovered a partially concealed Maya city in the jungle of El Peten, in Guatemala. The place known as San Bartolo stood out for its pyramid built in successive phases, one on top of the other. They called it Las Pinturas (“the paintings” in Spanish) after…
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The long-held consensus that the more populated and “civilized” a society, the more complex their communication may be more nuanced than previously thought. Late Classic limestone stela from Tonina, Chiapas [Credit: Haupt & Binder] After systematically analyzing written and otherwise recorded evidence of shared information in prehispanic Mesoamerica over 3,000 years, two archaeologists say governance…
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For more than a century written language was seen by anthropologists and other social scientists as a definitional feature of societal complexity or “advancement” (a term that is tinged with colonialism and racism). But in a new study in the Palace at Palenque [Credit: Linda M. Nicholas, Field Museum] “The development of writing was thought…
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The ancient Maya had stone temples and palaces in the rainforest of Central America, along with dynastic records of royal leaders carved in stone, but they lacked a basic commodity essential to daily life: salt. The sources of salt are mainly along the coast, including salt flats on the Yucatan coast and brine-boiling along the…
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Many believe climate change and environmental degradation caused the Maya civilization to fall—but a new survey shows that some Maya kingdoms had sustainable agricultural practices and high food yields for centuries. The research team surveyed a small area in the Western Maya Lowlands situated at today’s border between Mexico and Guatemala, shown in context here…
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A wooden canoe used by the ancient Maya and believed to be over 1,000 years old has turned up in southern Mexico, officials said on Friday, part of archaeological work accompanying the construction of a major new tourist train. A wooden canoe used by the ancient Maya and believed to be over a thousand years…
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