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Panel 3 from Cancuen, Guatemala, representing Maya king T'ah 'ak' Cha'an. Source: CC BY-SA 2.5

Fake it Till You Make it: ‘Divine’ Maya Kings Exaggerated their Greatness

In the hieroglyphic records they left behind, the rulers of the Classic Period Maya city known as Tamarindito bragged about their exalted status as “divine lords” chosen by the gods to rule over...
Mankind Is Mesmerized By Millennia Of Moon Mysteries

Mankind Is Mesmerized By Millennia Of Moon Mysteries

Over millennia humankind has been mesmerized by the moon, speculating as to what exactly the moon is and only in early-2022 a team of astronomers suggest the moon may have “formed immediately, in a...
Historic photo of the Stone figures found in Oxkintok, plus photo of one stone figure, now in Natural History Museum in Merida. Source: Author provided

Examining Out-of-Place Stone Figures from the Forgotten City of Oxkintok

I’ve had an affinity for the Maya civilization for almost 30 years, and between working with native elders, vacations, and leading tour group visits to Mexico, I can vouch for the mystical nature of...
Looking over the jungle in Peten, Guatemala. Source: Adobe Stock / Xavier

New Discoveries At Guatemala's “Last” Maya City

Archaeologists have been digging at “the last” Maya city in Guatemala. Pre-Hispanic graves and artifacts have been found peppered with the shot from conquistadors’ rifles. The lush forests of...
: Images resulting from the Calakmul LiDAR survey performed in Mexico. Source: INAH

Astonishing Scale of Ancient Maya Metropolis Revealed by Laser Scans

Using a scanning and imaging technology with broad applications in the archaeological field, an international team of researchers discovered fresh and eye-opening details about a famous Maya...
Thousands of bone fragments litter the floor of the Maya Midnight Terror Cave in Belize. Representative image.

Child Sacrifice Victims at Maya ‘Midnight Terror Cave’ Gagged Before Slaughter

Archaeologists studying Belize’s “Midnight Terror Cave” have discovered mysterious blue fibers in the tooth plaque of sacrificed teenagers, which suggests the young sacrifice victims had been gagged...
Temple of the Great Jaguar at Tikal in Guatemala, where high levels of mercury have been found. Source: IBRESTER / Adobe Stock

Meta-Study Shows Ancient Maya were at High Risk of Mercury Poisoning

The Maya Empire dominated large swaths of Mesoamerica for more than 3,000 years. But despite their impressive record of survival, the Maya civilization did not live completely in harmony with their...
Maya pottery found in Guatemala depicting a man applying a ritual drug enema, from the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.			Source: Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Maya Drug Enema Study Receives Ig Nobel History Prize

Mesoamerican tribes have had a long history of administering liquids through the lower digestive tract in a procedure known today as an enema. Maya drug enemas included psychoactive substances,...
Aerial view of the elite platform and the 15 stemmed macroblades found in a cache at the Maya settlement in Belize. Source: ©2022 VOPA and Belize Institute of Archaeology, NICH / University of Illinois

Excavations at Maya Settlement in Belize Tell Story of Maya Golden Age

Representatives of the Belize Institute of Archaeology have been working with graduate students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on a series of excavations in Central America. During...
Fantasy image of a lost civilization underwater.	Source: Максим Горбанев/ Adobe Stock

Nine Civilizations That Met Mysterious (and Unfortunate) Ends

One of the most fascinating subjects to study throughout history is the rise and fall of various civilizations. While in some cases we have an understanding of the evolution and downfall of these...
Stone disc alluding to the young maize god corroborates the common religious base of Toniná and Palenque. Source: INAH

Stunning Stone Disk Shows Ancient Maya Enemies Worshipped Same Corn God

In the year 687, a terrible war broke out between the ancient Maya kingdoms of Lakamha’ and Po’p. From their capital cities of Palenque and Tonina respectively, they fought each other for an...
A Maya lord forbids an individual from touching a container of chocolate. (Public Domain)

Six Sexy Semi-Divine Superfoods Of Ancient South America

One need not search too long ago into South American history to identify a range of consumable drinks that would challenge and defeat, hands down, any of their modern derivatives - which are mostly...
This is one of the two rare huge Olmec reliefs from 900-400 BC found in the province of Tabasco, Mexico, which signal the transitional Mayanization of Olmec motifs, according to INAH archaeologists. Source: INAH

Two Huge Stone Olmec Reliefs Depict Rulers in Divine Trance Pose

Massive monuments and two carved limestone Olmec reliefs of local rulers have been recovered from the municipality of Tenosique in south-eastern Mexico. The rulers in this extremely rare Olmec relief...
The Temple of the Sun at Tonina Archaeological site, Chiapas. (Mauricio Marat / INAH)  Entrance to the newly discovered crypt  Temple of the Sun of Toniná, where the bodies of their rulers were cremated. Source: Mauricio Marat / INAH

Mesoamerican Ball Game Rubber Balls Were Made With Human Ashes

Archaeologists in Mexico have discussed the ritual significance of the Maya “Cave of Death”. It contained ingredients of rubber sporting balls laced with human ashes. The pre-Columbian Maya city of...
Central Mayapan showing the K’uk’ulkan and Round temples. Source: Bradley Russell / Nature

Drought-Induced Conflict Caused Collapse of 15th Century Maya Capital

An international assembly of scientists with impressive credentials in a diverse range of fields has completed an extensive study of climate change in the post-classical Maya Empire, which existed...
Research at the site of Vista Alegre, has uncovered evidence that this was once a bustling port used by the coastal Maya. Source: lunamarina / Adobe Stock

Massive Research Initiative Reveals Truth about Ancient Coastal Maya

An international team of archaeologists, anthropologists, and marine scientists has just published a landmark article in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology that details their research into...
The Palace of Palenque, Mexico, seen from the Temple of the Inscriptions. Source: Mauricio Marat/ INAH

A Red Palace for the Red Queen at Palenque, Mexico

Archaeologists and restorers working Mexico’s Palenque Palace have not only discovered a new entrance to the complex, but evidence that the roofs were painted red. Located within the Archaeological...
The first ever stylistic representation of the “young corn god” of the Maya, from the 7th century, recently discovered in a lost ritual pond in the vast remains of Palenque, Mexico.		Source: INAH

1300-Year-Old Severed Head Sculpture Located in the ‘Lost City’ of Maya

The first published European account of the lost city of Palenque is from 1567, by the Spaniard, Father Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada, who found this vast abandoned Maya city. The local Chol Maya called...
The ocellated turkey, or Meleagris ocellata, was seen as having sacred powers by the ancient Maya. Source: David Creswell / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Turkeys Were Worshipped by the Ancient Maya

At Thanksgiving and Christmas each year, millions of people around the world sit around the table to eat turkey. Located at the center of the table, turkey is so important that it has generated a...
Structure at Xiol, a Maya city located near Mérida, in the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico. Source: El Heraldo de México/Especial

Archaeologists Unlock the Secrets of the Maya “Spirit of Man” City

The ruins of an ancient Maya city, discovered by INAH archaeologists in 2018 in the central Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, have now been mostly restored. The site, called Xiol (“Spirit of Man” in Mayan...
Maya teeth were turned into jeweled teeth by skilled ancient dentists, but a recent study suggests that this also benefited oral hygiene!		Source: Gary Todd / CC0

Ancient Maya Tooth Bling Was Also Good for Oral Hygiene!

The Maya loved their bling and often decorated their teeth with gemstones. But maybe these weren’t all just for show. A new study conducted by the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the...
Grave with skeletal remains of a pre-Hispanic woman found at Palenque Archaeological Zone.  Source: INAH Chiapas

Archaeologists in Chiapas, Mexico Unearth Remains of Maya Noblewoman

The Chiapas branch of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has just reported a notable find in the heavily excavated Palenque Archaeological Zone in the southern part of the...
Composite of in-article images.

Nine of the Finest: A Run Down of Recent Top Stories

In the recent top stories; A sunken Maya city, Costa Rica’s stone spheres, Mungo Man makes it home, a Jewish-style Alexander the Great, all Roswell’s witnesses, Anglesey Druid slaughter, Jesus death...
Earliest Maya Calendar Fragment Found in Guatemala

Earliest Maya Calendar Fragment Found in Guatemala

A new study published in the journal Science Advances has announced the discovery of the earliest known use of the Maya calendar. This discovery of the glyph “7 Deer” on mural fragments from deep...

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