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Sculpted head of Maya serpent warrior. Credit: INAH

Sculpted Maya Serpent Warrior Unearthed at Chichen Itza

Archaeologists digging at Mexico’s Chichen Itza were removing landfill from the Casa Colorada Complex when they made their remarkable discovery. Not only is this sculpted warrior wearing a feathered...
What was the true cause for the extinction of the dinosaurs? Source: Herschel Hoffmeyer / Adobe Stock

Pulverized Rock Dust Killed the Dinosaurs, New Study Says

As enduring as the mighty dinosaurs were, they couldn’t survive the catastrophic climate disaster set off by the crash of a large asteroid into the ocean off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in...
Caracol Collage, created by the author:  The Observatory in 2023; photo by author, Starry sky background compliments of Felix Mittermeier, Pixabay, To the upper left is the lithograph of El Caracol by Frederick Catherwood, 1844, To the upper right is the recreation of El Caracol at Chichén Itzá by artist J.S. Bolles, 1935, Flanking the Caracol are two heads of K’uk’ulkan, photos from Ruppert, Karl, The Caracol at Chichen Izta (sic) Yucatan, Mexico, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1935.

El Caracol Conundrum: Secrets of Chichén Itzá’s Famous Maya Observatory

Standing unique among ancient structures, Chichén Itzá’s enigmatic “Observatory”, El Caracol, may be the world’s most mysterious and distinctive stone monument. It was built by the Maya of the...
Atlantean sculpture that was found during construction of the path to the new section of Chichén Itzá. Source: INAH

Historic Atlantean Sculpture Unearthed at Chichén Itzá's New Zone

In an exciting revelation for the archaeological community in Mexico, an Atlantean sculpture has been discovered on the path that will lead to a new section of Chichén Itzá, known as Chichén Viejo...
Clockwise from top: Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal, iguana at Uxmal, Kabáh Arch, the Palace at Dzibilchaltún, all set over the rising sun captured at Yaxuna. (Image Deriv: Courtesy © Dr Jonathon Perrin)

Revisiting Stephens and Catherwood’s 19th-Century Maya Discoveries

Between 1839 and 1841 two intrepid explorers; John Lloyd Stephens, an American writer, diplomat, and traveler, teamed up with English artist and architect Frederick Catherwood to visit 44 Maya sites...
Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. Source:  IRStone / Adobe Stock.

Lost Treasures of Chichen Itza: Maya Marvels Revealed (Video)

In a world where Europe languished in the dark ages , the splendor of the Maya civilization reached its zenith. Their majestic temples soared high into the heavens, their intricate hieroglyphic...
Cenote in Yucatan, Mexico. Source: Angiolo / Adobe Stock.

Exploring the Dark Depths: Mystery of the “Evil” Maya Sinkhole (Video)

Deep in the Yucatan jungle , near the ancient city of Mayapán in Mexico's Yucatán peninsula lies a cenote, a natural sinkhole, that has long been shrouded in mystery and superstition. It is a place...
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...
: 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...
Main temple at Tulum with hieroglyphic stairway by Frederick Catherwood, from Views of Ancient Monuments (Public Domain)

Stephens And Catherwood: Adventurers Discovering the Ancient Maya

The astounding journeys of John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood to Central America in 1839 to 1842 introduced the ancient, unrecognized Maya civilization to the rest of the world. Their life-...
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...
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...
This dinosaur leg from 66 million years ago was cleanly severed from the dinosaur’s body by the Yucatan asteroid impact event. Nothing like this has ever been found before!		Source: (Video screenshot / BBC)

Fossilized Leg of Dinosaur Ripped Off by Catastrophic Asteroid Impact Found

Scientists now know that a massive Yucatan asteroid struck the earth 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period, ultimately causing most species of dinosaur to go extinct. It was the...
Mexican myths of Aluxes tell of small human-like creatures causing chaos wherever they go. Source: vladorlov / Adobe Stock

Aluxes: The Mischievous Little People of Maya Mythology

Every place has its own legends - some being truer than others. Around the globe, you can find many legends about small human-like creatures causing chaos wherever they go. Some of these creatures...
The remnants of the ancient Maya cacao groves in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Researcher Chris Balzotti climbs an ancient staircase discovered in a sinkhole near Coba, Mexico.		Source: Richard Terry / Brigham Young University

Chocolate Trail: Sacred Maya Cacao Groves Found In Mexico’s Yucatan

As divine gift, money and a source of power, cacao, the plant that feeds the present-day chocolate obsession, was even more precious to the ancient Maya of the northern Yucatan. While historians have...
The rare Maya canoe found in a Mexican cenote. Source: Oficina Península de Yucatán de la SAS-INAH

Rare 1000-Year-Old Maya Canoe Found in Yucatan Cenote

An ancient wooden Maya canoe, believed to have been used more than 1,000 years ago, has turned up in San Andres, in the Yucatan area of southern Mexico. Almost 5 feet (1.6 meters) in length, the...
The Seven Dolls figurines

Buried Power Of The Seven Dolls At Maya Dzibilchaltún

What makes Dzibilchaltún so perplexing, are the seven crudely made clay figurines found buried below the altar in what has become known as the Temple of the Seven Dolls. At its peak Dzibilchaltún,...
Hernan Cortes: The Conquistador Who Beat the Aztecs

Hernan Cortes: The Conquistador Who Beat the Aztecs

Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who lived between the 15th and 16th centuries AD. He is best remembered for his expedition against the Aztec Empire centered in Mexico. This was part of the...
Giant Face of Ucanha: Giant Sculpted Mayan Mask Found in Mexico

Giant Face of Ucanha: Huge Sculpted Mayan Mask Found in Mexico

In the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatán on the Yucatán Peninsula, an archaeological team digging at a lightly explored site near the tiny, picturesque village of Ucanha uncovered something...
Maya Drug Secrets Revealed in Ancient Plant Residues

Maya Drug Secrets Revealed in Ancient Plant Residues

For the first time ever, scientists have identified a non-tobacco plant in ancient Maya drug containers. The researchers say the plant residues suggest that the Maya found a way to make tobacco...
Ik-Kil cenote, Chichen Itza, Mexico

Sacred Cenotes: Portals to the Maya Underworld

The ancient Maya who populated the Yucatan Peninsula in the first millennium AD believed that there were three ways for the living to enter Xibalba, the world of the dead: through deep caves, through...
The Maya pyramid of Kukulcan at Chichen Itza in Mexico. 	Source: IRStone /Adobe Stock

Chichen Itza: Ancient Maya City Built Above A Gateway to the Underworld

Chichen Itza is an ancient Maya city located in the northern part of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The city is thought to have been founded around the 6th century AD. Nevertheless, it only rose to...
Octavio del Rio recording one of the bonfires in the Yucatan cenote, Aktun Ha. 	Source: Krzysztof Starnawski / INAH

Ancient Fires In Yucatán Cenote Dated To 10,000 Years Ago

The oldest charcoal remains ever discovered in Mexico have been found submerged in a Yucatán Peninsula cenote. New archaeological evidence from burnt charcoal samples has determined the earliest...
The Maya palace recently discovered in the Yucatan, Mexico. Source: INAH

Maya Palace Emerges from Yucatan Jungle

Researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have confirmed the finding of an impressive Maya palace in the Archaeological Zone of Kulubá, in Yucatán . The 55-meter (180...

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