May 11
JohnArt, Maya, Mesoamerica, North America
Guatemala.Discovery of an extraordinary offering of a jadeite mosaic miniature ceremonial head underscores the importance and political power at the beginning of Early Classic of the ancient Maya city Tak’alik Ab’aj
Tak’alik Ab’aj is an ancient pre-Hispanic city situated in El Asintal, Department of Retalhuleu at the pacific piedmont of Guatemala*. This important long distance trade and cosmopolitan cultural center is transcendent because of its long history which endured 1700 years (800 B.C. – 900 A.D). At its beginnings Tak’alik Ab’aj interacted and participated with the Olmec culture, and at its surmise, was one of the protagonists in the development of the early Maya culture. This particularity in addition to the extraordinary production of sculpture programs during these two important cultural periods, make Tak’alik Ab’aj unique in the history of Mesoamerica.
http://guatemala-times.com/archeology/takalik-abaj/1555-mysterious-mayan-ceremonial-head-found-at-takaalik-abaaj-.html
May 11
JohnMaya, Mesoamerica, North America, Tech
Laser beams penetrating thick canopy detect thousands of new structures, show Maya adept at ‘building green’
A flyover of Belize’s thick jungles has revolutionized archaeology worldwide and vividly illustrated the complex urban centers developed by one of the most-studied ancient civilizations — the Maya.
University of Central Florida researchers led a NASA-funded research project in April 2009 that collected the equivalent of 25 years worth of data in four days.
Aboard a Cessna 337, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) equipment bounced laser beams to sensors on the ground, penetrating the thick tree canopy and producing images of the ancient settlement and environmental modifications made by the inhabitants of the Maya city of Caracol within 200 square kilometers (77 square miles).
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/uocf-str051110.php
May 03
JohnArt, Maya, Mesoamerica, North America
MEXICO CITY.- Six giant figureheads at Chakanbakan Archaeological Zone, Quintana Roo, considered the greatest and among the earliest in the area, will be restored by specialists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
Created more than 2,300 years ago, these sculptures remind the Olmeca style, which represented deities with jaguar faces, revealing the adoption by Maya of elements from earliest cultures.
Intervention to figureheads made out of stucco, clay and stone is coordinated by Gerardo Calderon and conducted by specialists from the INAH National Coordination of Cultural Heritage Conservation (CNCPC).
“A team of restorers will begin an integral cleaning in May 2010, followed by plastering and reintegration of small missing parts, as well as consolidation”, informed archaeologist Fernando Cortes, in charge of the archaeological zone.
He added that during conservation work, restorers will take samples of the black pigment used to emphasize the face features, to determine its origin and restore it, since sun, rain, wind and time have damaged it.
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=37796
Apr 21
JohnArt, Maya, Mesoamerica, North America, Teotihuacan
Through his findings of ancient art and architecture in Veracruz, Mexico, a Mexican archaeologist defined the importance of an earlier period in history at a lecture Monday.
Arturo Pascual, the director of the Institute of Aesthetic Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, presented his work titled “El Tajin: In search of the origins of a civilization,” a compilation of findings from a Cacahuatal phase site in El Tajin, Veracruz that was excavated under his direction.
http://thedailycougar.com/2010/04/14/study-gives-insight-to-mayan-culture/
Apr 15
JohnMaya, Mesoamerica, North America
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — They were illiterate farmers, builders and servants, but Maya commoners found a way to record their own history – by burying it within their homes. A new study of the objects embedded in the floors of homes occupied more than 1,000 years ago in central Belize begins to decode their story.
The study, from University of Illinois anthropology professor Lisa J. Lucero, appears in the Journal of Social Archaeology.
Maya in the Classic period (A.D. 250-900) regularly “terminated” their homes, razing the walls, burning the floors and placing artifacts and (sometimes) human remains on top before burning them again.
Evidence suggests these rituals occurred every 40 or 50 years and likely marked important dates in the Maya calendar. After termination, the family built a new home on the old foundation, using broken and whole vessels, colorful fragments, animal bones and rocks to mark important areas and to provide ballast for a new plaster floor.
Maya royals recorded their history in writing and in imagery carved on monuments, Lucero said. “But the commoners had their own way of recording their own history, not only their history as a family but also their place in the cosmos,” she said.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-04/uoia-cmh041410.php
Apr 12
JohnMesoamerica, North America, Tarascan
FORT COLLINS – A Colorado State University archaeologist and his team have discovered the ruins of an ancient urban center in the heart of the Purépecha Empire in Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, located in the central Mexican state of Michoacán.
At the time of European contact, the Purépecha Empire – sometimes called the Tarascan Empire – controlled much of western Mexico with a mutually fortified frontier shared with their rivals, the Aztecs to the east.
The settlement may be as large as 5 square kilometers and dates to A.D. 1000-1520. Initial results suggest the peak occupation of the newly discovered urban center occurred just prior to the formation of the Purépecha Empire, further indicating that results from the study may yield new clues regarding the empire’s formation.
http://www.news.colostate.edu/Release/5139
http://resilientworld.com/?p=7
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-mexico13-2010apr13,0,1360313.story
Apr 02
JohnMaya, Mesoamerica, North America, Teotihuacan
MEXICO CITY.- Iconographic studies of Teotihuacan murals confirm the extension of the lineage of a ruler of the ancient city of Tikal, Guatemala, already revealed by epigraphists of the Maya area.
The aforementioned investigation sums up to interpretations of Stele 31 of Tikal that relate to the dynastic line of Atlatl-Cauac (“Dart-thrower Owl”), possible ruler of Teotihuacan between 374 and 439 AD, and whose son, Yax Nuun Ayiin I, was seignior of Tikal. The emblem of this lineage would be represented by the image of a bird with a shield, observed in Teotihuacan murals, declared Dr. Raul Garcia Chavez, researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_new=37184&int_sec=2
Apr 01
JohnAncient Astronomy, Mesoamerica, North America
MEXICO CITY.- Interest in deciphering the sky, practiced during Prehispanic ages, is been retaken in 21st century at the Noche de Observacion Astronomica en Sitios Arqueologicos (Night of Astronomical Observation at Archaeological Sites), which first event took place in Tamtoc, San Luis Potosi in March 20th 2010.
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=37104
Mar 20
JohnBooks, Maya, Mesoamerica, North America
Literary critics, cultural scholars and aficionados of the Mayans, the only fully literate people of the pre-Columbian Americas, have lined up to call the first fully illustrated survey of two millennia of Mayan texts assembled by UB faculty member Dennis Tedlock “stunning,” “astounding,” “groundbreaking” and “literally breathtaking.”
http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/2010_03_10/tedlock_book
Mar 20
JohnMaya, Mesoamerica, North America
Very old artworks provide a fascinating glimpse of ancient life, but not without limitations: They typically portray the lifestyles of the rich and famous (rulers, royals, generals, and priests), abandoning the masses to the mists of history.
That’s why the recent discovery of a 1,300-year-old mural at Calakmul, Mexico, is so significant. It is the only known pre-Columbian artwork depicting ordinary Maya engaged in everyday activities, rather than serving the wealthy.
http://www.livescience.com/history/ancient-mayan-murals-100306.html
Mar 20
JohnMaya, Mesoamerica
MEXICO CITY.- Specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) explore in Tenosique, Tabasco, an archaeological site of Maya affiliation dedicated exclusively to manufacture weapons and tools.
San Claudio “was occupied from 200 BC to 900 AD by Maya workers at the service of other community of higher hierarchy”, informed archaeologist Jose Luis Romero Rivera, director of the excavation project at the site.
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=36818
Mar 20
JohnMaya, Mesoamerica, North America
An archaeologist reports the ingredients of ”Maya Blue” pigment beloved by Central America’s ancients may have been widely mined, not traded as previously suggested.
In the Journal of Archeological Science report, Leslie Cecil of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, reports on “palygorskite” minerals, the chief ingredient in the bright and long-lasting pigment, found at the archaeological site of Ixlú in the Petén region of Guatemala.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/03/archaeologists-maya-blue-recipe-moved-around/1
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