Wandering Wolf – Live Web Lecture
August 9, 2010
Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj is the head of the National Council of Maya Elders, and a 13th generation Quiche Maya Spiritual Leader. He is the most qualified individual to speak on the thoughts of modern-day Mayans regarding 2012.
He will be conducting a live presentation over the internet on August 15 (with replays on the days that follow). This is your chance to ask him questions. Tickets are $AUD10.
Mayan Demise: Not War or Starvation
August 9, 2009
War and famine are regularly provided as explanations for the demise of the ancient Mayan civilization. Now, a study of garbage pits by archaeologist Kitty Emery of the Florida Museum of Natural History shows that political unrest is the more likely cause.
The only time that hunting populations of large animals appear to have headed south, based on the garbage pits, is the earliest era, when the region was first colonized by the Maya, Emery says. “Pretty quickly, things stabilized and stayed that way, in what looks to have been a managed fashion, for a long time,” she says.
Studies of human remains led by Texas A&M’s Lori Wright have also shown scant evidence of dietary changes during the collapse period in Petexbatun, finding no evidence of the anemia of increased child mortality at two sites.
Symposium: Maya Calendars and Creation
January 31, 2009
Showing impeccable timing, considering all of the sensationalist coverage of 2012 recently, is next week’s Sixth Annual Tulane Maya Symposium. Held at Tulane University in New Orleans it features many academic researchers including Anthony Aveni & Barbara and Dennis Tedlock. Hopefully some of the presentations, such as Ends of Time: The Maya Mystery of Creation 2012 will be made available to those unable to make the conference. Read more here.
Mayan Underground Pyramids
January 11, 2009
A labyrinth containing stone temples and pyramids, within 14 caves—some of which are underwater—have been discovered on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.
This is an amazing discovery, and hopefully National Geographic will be providing more details in the near future. The article says:
According to Maya myth, the souls of the dead had to follow a dog with night vision on a horrific and watery path and endure myriad challenges before they could rest in the afterlife.
In one of the recently found caves, researchers discovered a nearly 300-foot (90-meter) concrete road that ends at a column standing in front of a body of water.
Mayan “Highway to Hell” Discovered
December 11, 2008
Mayan legend, as described in their sacred book named the Popul Vuh—”tells of a tortuous journey through oozing blood, bats, and spiders, that souls had to make in order to reach Xibalba, the underworld”.
In a cave recently found near Mérida, the capital of Yucatán State in Mexico, researchers have discovered a 90-meter paved road that ends at a column standing in front of a body of water. Within the same cave are walled off rooms, an altar and a submerged temple.
Did they build within the cave first, and the legend of Xibalba followed later? Or did the discovery of the cave validate the existing legend? These are questions puzzling researchers. But there is no doubt that these caves, currently full of water, were used for Mayan rituals.
Read more at IHT, and watch a video at National Geographic.
New Mayan Discoveries
June 30, 2008
Newly discovered cities of the Ancient Maya suggest that their civilization is much older than previously thought.
And the archaeologists are hopeful of finding evidence of even earlier cities, as they continue their search.
Over the last five years, Bey and his colleagues have started unearthing Maya cities in the Puuc region dating back to more than 800 B.C. “It is both the number of sites we are finding as well as that some of them produced large-scale monumental architecture — pyramids and an acropolis — while others have ball courts.” At Kiuic, Bey’s team has found a large platform that held at least two large ceremonial structures with ceramics. The cities dated back more than a millennium earlier than anyone had thought Maya cities existed in the region.
Meanwhile satellite images are helping uncover Mayan cities in Guatemala.
Incredible Fabric found in Ancient Maya Tomb
April 27, 2008
Fragments of fabric with thread counts of over 80 weft yarns per inch have been excavated from the tomb of an ancient Maya queen. The fabric rivals modern textiles in their complexity and quality, scientists say. Some have a higher thread count than today’s jeans. Just as amazing is how well the fabric has survived the humid climate.
Ceremony of 8,000 Sacred Drums
March 17, 2008
This week the Ceremony of 8,000 Sacred Drums happens in Mexico and around the world.
The Otomi people, who are descendants of the Mayan, Olmec and Toltecs of Mexico, have prophesized the healing of Mother Earth will begin when 8,000 sacred drums are played together. This inscription was found in a cave within an Otomi sacred ceremonial site. In 2004 The first modern ceremony was held in 2004 and the prophecy of healing began, and will continue every Spring Solstice until 2012.
Indian Leaders Meet in Palenque
March 11, 2008
Over 200 leaders from 71 American Indian nations of Canada, the United States & Mexico met at the ancient Mayan city of Palenque, hoping to create indigenous solutions to pollution and other ecological problems that are threatening our planet.
“Our Mother Earth is being polluted at an alarming rate, and our elders say that she is dying,” said Raymond Sensmeier, a Tlingit leader from Yakutat, Alaska. “The way the weather is around the world … a cleansing is needed.” Read more
Ancient Maya didn’t sacrifice virgin girls
March 6, 2008
The ancient Mayans didn’t sacrifice girls, they sacrificed boys, according to expert researchers.
Archaeologist Guillermo de Anda from the University of Yucatan pieced together the bones of 127 bodies discovered at the bottom of one of Chichen Itza’s sacred caves and found more than 80 per cent were likely boys between the ages of 3 and 11.
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