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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...
The Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan and the Pyramids in the background, Cairo, Egypt. Source: AlexAnton / Adobe Stock

10 Must See Ancient Cities to Add to Your Bucket List

Everyone ought to have a bucket list and for passionate history buffs, that list invariably includes visiting ancient cities. While reading about them in history books, or in news reports about...
Mayan sculpture. Deciphering the story of Maya warrior Siyah K’ak’ at Tikal. Source: Marco Govel / Adobe Stock

Siyah Kʼakʼ, Warlord of Teotihuacan and his Conquest of Tikal

The pre-Colombian cities, monuments, and pyramids, found deep within the jungles and valleys of Mesoamerica are still shrouded in mystery. While academics are still trying to piece together the...
A view of the Tikal jungle landscape from Temple IV. It was in this dense forested area that LIDAR amazing found the Teotihuacan replicas hidden from archaeologists working at the famous site for more than 60 years.  Source: JuanLuis / Adobe Stock

Precise Teotihuacan Replicas Found With LiDAR at Maya City of Tikal

High-tech scanning around the ancient Maya city of Tikal in northern Guatemala has revealed the presence of some previously undiscovered ruins, dating back to the early first millennium AD. Using...
Maya Cities Had Unique Neotropical Forest Parks Says New Study

Maya Cities Had Unique Neotropical Forest Parks Says New Study

The Maya civilization was renowned for its progress in the fields of art, architecture, mathematics, astronomy, and the calendar systems. Part of their highly developed architecture is missing even...
LiDAR Tech Unearths “Supertantalizing” Hidden Tikal Architecture

LiDAR Tech Unearths “Supertantalizing” Hidden Tikal Architecture

Back in 2016, a group of scholars and researchers from the Foundation of Maya Cultural and Natural Heritage (PACUNAM) set out to study the rainforests of Guatemala using LiDAR remote-sensing...
Teotihuacan, Mexico

Uncovering Ancient Pyramid Science at Teotihuacan, Where Men Become Gods

Teotihuacan’s Lost Kings , a television special, took an hour long look at the great city, its inhabitants, and the excavation of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, (also known as the Feathered Serpent...
2,000-Year-Old Maya Water Purification System Would Still Work Today

2,000-Year-Old Maya Water Purification System Would Still Work Today

The Maya were able to build a spectacular civilization in one of the World’s most inhospitable environments. How they were able to survive and flourish has always been something of a mystery. Now,...
The ancient Maya may have abandoned Tikal after its water became toxic. Source: Ingo Bartussek /Adobe Stock

The Ancient Maya Poisoned Tikal’s Drinking Water

Reservoirs in the heart of an ancient Maya city were so polluted with mercury and algae that the water likely was undrinkable. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati found toxic levels of...
What happened to the Maya? This mysterious civilization dominated parts of Central America for over a 1000 years, but then, seemingly fell quite dramatically.     Source: PeekCC / Adobe stock

What Happened to the Maya?

The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization that was located in Central America. The beginnings of the Maya civilization have been dated to the 2 nd millennium BC. Around the 9 th century...
Vandals carved graffiti into a famous Maya temple, the Tikal Temple II pyramid in Guatemala. Source: Simon Dannhauer /Adobe Stock

Vandals Have Carved Initials on a World-Famous Maya Temple

A shocking case of vandalism has been revealed in Guatemala. Two men, believed to be tourists, etched some graffiti on one of the most remarkable Maya temples in all of Central America. They were...
Architecture Karnak Temple Luxor Travel Egypt (CC0)

Questing the Most Impressive Ancient Religious Temples in the World

What is the largest temple ever built on earth and do these man-made structures reveal secrets relating to the cosmos? To begin the quest for the largest religious temple, one needs to establish what...
Structure I, one of the two pyramids at Calakmul.

Calakmul: Ancient Mayan City of the Two Pyramids and Three Stones

Calakmul is truly a lost ancient Mayan city. It is situated deep in the dense jungles of the Petén Basin of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Soon after it was abandoned, the impressive city was reclaimed...
Royal Maya Burial at El Zotz Ruins in Guatemala

Archaeologists discover Royal Maya Burial at El Zotz Ruins in Guatemala

Archaeologists with the University of Southern California (USC) have discovered a burial chamber in the Five Temples section of El Zotz, an ancient Maya city lying in ruins in Guatemala’s Maya...
The immolation of the hero twins, known from the Popul Vuh and other narratives, may have been re-enacted in the fifth-century AD Maya city of Tikal. The twins in this image were drawn from an ancient Maya ceramic piece.

Sacrifice of Maya boy and man may have reenacted birth of sun and moon

About 1,600 years ago in the Maya site of Tikal, a boy and a man were sacrificed in an elaborate ritual. A new study suggests they were sacrificed and burned to re-enact the legend of the twin heroes...
The central acropolis at Tikal

New study says great Maya city of Tikal literally dried up

There are many mysteries in the history of this planet. One of them is why some civilizations, including the Maya of Central America, collapsed. If ancient people had no writing system or left no...
Massive Maya Frieze

Archaeologists Discover Massive Maya Frieze Found in Guatemala

Archaeologists have discovered a giant Maya frieze in the buried city of Holmul in the Peten region of Guatemala. It depicts a mythological setting with a ruler sitting atop the head of a Maya...
Tikal - Corn and Mayan Population

New analysis towards ancient Mayan population estimation

Mayans were an advanced civilization that thrived for many centuries going back as far as 800 BC according to new studies . Their advancement spanned sciences, religions, writing system, calendar and...