LostWorlds.org | News: Mesoamerican Archaeology

Tomb Raiders Threaten Mayan City's History

2008-05-08T18:59:00.001-04:00

At the famed Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, you can sit in the cafe, have a slice of basil pesto quiche, and gaze up at stunning evidence of the looting of the ancient world. The dining room is dominated by an 8-foot-tall carved limestone monument, or stela, of a Mayan king. "He's shown in all his regalia, with an elaborate headdress, various ornaments hanging from his belt and jade

Aztec Offerings Found in Bottom of Mexico Lake

2008-05-08T18:30:00.002-04:00

Artifacts of wood sit in a bucket in an archaeological site in the crater of the extinct Nevado de Toluca volcano. Archaeologists have found wooden lightning bolts that Aztecs offered to their rain god Tlaloc at the lake. Credit: Marco Ugarte/AP MEXICO CITY — Archaeologists diving into a lake in the crater of a snowcapped volcano found wooden scepters shaped like lightning bolts

Aztec Math Decoded, Reveals Woes of Ancient Tax Time

2008-05-01T22:37:00.002-04:00

Brian Handwerk for National Geographic News April 3, 2008 Today's tax codes are complicated, but the ancient Aztecs likely shared your pain. To measure tracts of taxable land, Aztec mathematicians had to develop their own specialized arithmetic, which has only now been decoded. By reading Aztec records from the city-state of

Ancient Seeds Sow Debate Over Sunflower-Farming Origins

2008-05-01T22:23:00.002-04:00

Scott Norris for National Geographic News April 28, 2008 Sunflowers were grown as a domesticated crop in Mexico more than 2,000 years ago, according to a new study. The new findings run counter to a theory that sunflower farming began in what is now the U.S. East and then trickled south into Mexico. Plant remains discovered in a dry cave suggest that farmers in Mexico were

Ancient Maya Tomb Found: Upright Skeleton, Unusual Location

2008-04-30T12:13:00.002-04:00

Kelly Hearn for National Geographic News Archaeologists working in Honduras have discovered an entombed human skeleton of an elite member of the ancient Maya Empire that may help unravel some longstanding mysteries of the vanished culture. The remains, seated in an upright position in an unusual tomb and flanked by shells, pottery,

Maya Suspension Bridge

2008-04-30T10:42:00.002-04:00

James O'Kon spotted a bridge that wasn't there; now he is using technology to reconstruct the pre-Columbian road By John Dunn James O'Kon is using modern technology and forensic engineering techniques to uncover the mysteries of a vanished Mayan civilization. It began with a pile of rocks in the middle of the Usumacinta River deep in the rain forest between Mexico and Guatemala-the site

Scientists Help Restore Aging Artworks

2008-04-22T15:13:00.003-04:00

Restoring “The Storming of the Teocalli by Cortez and His Troops" HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — When white masquerades as yellow and green might actually be blue, a call goes out to Henry DePhillips. DePhillips, a Trinity College chemistry professor, is among a cadre of specialists using cutting-edge science to solve the color mysteries of paintings and other cultural treasures often several

SKULLDUGGERY?

2008-04-22T14:53:00.002-04:00

Skull for scandal Temples, human sacrifices and a mysterious crystal skull draw visitors to Nim Li Punit, Lubaantun Robert Crew

Archaeological bookends in Copán Valley

2008-04-22T14:20:00.002-04:00

Archaeological team en route to Yaxchilan By Alvin Powell Harvard News Office COPÁN RUINAS, Honduras - A short drive from the main Maya ruins at Copán, a forested hillside holds a cluster of mounds that Peabody Museum archaeologists believe date from near the end of the great Maya civilization that once dominated the region. On [April 17, 2007], Peabody Museum director and Bowditch

Mexico finds bones suggesting Toltec child sacrifice

2008-04-16T12:15:00.002-04:00

By Monica Medel TULA, Mexico (Reuters) - The grisly find of the buried bones of 24 pre-Hispanic Mexican children may be the first evidence that the ancient Toltec civilization sacrificed children, an archeologist studying the remains said on Monday. The bones, dating from 950 AD to 1150 AD and dug up at the Toltecs' former capital Tula, north of present day Mexico City, indicated the

Earliest Mixtec Cremations Found; Show Elite Ate Dog

2008-04-14T13:55:00.002-04:00

Willie Drye for National Geographic News April 9, 2008 An ancient burial site in Mexico contains evidence that Mixtec Indians conducted funerary rituals involving cremation as far back as 3,000 years ago. The find represents the earliest known hints that Mixtecs used this burial practice, which was later reserved for Mixtec kings and

New Maya Website Reveals Temples Through Time

2008-04-09T13:13:00.002-04:00

This web site provides some 250 19th and early 20th century drawings, prints, and photographs, most rare or previously unpublished, revealing how these Maya sites were imaged by early explorers and scholars. There are also over 1000 recent photographs with descriptive captions, many recording information not previously available in print or on the web. These may be opened side-by-side,

Ancient pyramid found in central Mexico City

2008-01-04T09:25:00.000-05:00

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Archeologists have discovered the ruins of an 800-year-old Aztec pyramid in the heart of the Mexican capital that could show the ancient city is at least a century older than previously thought. Mexican archeologists found the ruins, which are about 36 feet (11 metres) high, in the central Tlatelolco area, once a major religious and political centre for the Aztec elite.

Ancients knew chocolate was good

2007-11-13T13:10:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Residents of Central America were enjoying chocolate drinks more than 3,000 years ago, a half millennium earlier than previously thought, new research shows. People were drinking chocolate in Central America more than 3,000 years ago, scientists say. Archaeologists led by John Henderson of Cornell University studied the remains of pottery used in the lower Ulua Valley in

New Book: "Blood and Celebration: Aztec Beliefs"

2007-10-11T11:29:00.000-04:00

New Book: Ancient Maya Traders of Ambergris Caye

2007-10-10T15:46:00.000-04:00

Book Description Archaeologists are unsure exactly when the Maya inhabited the coastal areas of Belize, but ample evidence exists to support an extensive maritime trade network along the coast by A.D. 600 This volume focuses on the maritime trade network sites on Ambergris Caye, Belize where excavations have revealed remnants of very small villages, or camps, along the Caribbean

Pollution said destroying pre-Aztec ruins

2007-05-25T10:51:00.000-04:00

Architecture famous for reliefs depicting ancient Mesoamerican ball gameMEXICO CITY - Oil refineries and power stations pumping acid air pollutants along Mexico's Gulf coast threaten to erase carved stone murals at the pre-Aztec ruined city of El Tajin, a scientist said on Sunday.Air pollution specialist Humberto Bravo said acid levels in the air around El Tajin, in oil producing Veracruz state,

Ancient Mexicans Took Sacrifice Victims From Afar

2007-04-16T20:59:00.000-04:00

11/04/2007 23:56 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Ancient Mexicans brought human sacrifice victims from hundreds of miles (km) away over centuries to sanctify a pyramid in the oldest city in North America, an archaeologist said on Wednesday. DNA tests on the skeletons of more than 50 victims discovered in 2004 in the Pyramid of the Moon at the Teotihuacan ruins revealed they were from far away Mayan,

New theory: Rats spread fatal illness

2007-01-08T19:48:00.000-05:00

Mexicans have long been taught to blame diseases brought by the Spaniards for wiping out most of their Indian ancestors. But recent research suggests things may not be that simple. While the initial big die-offs are still blamed on the Conquistadors who started arriving in 1519, even more virulent epidemics in 1545 and 1576 may have been caused by a native blood-hemorrhaging fever spread by rats

Ancient Observatories

2006-11-26T16:27:00.000-05:00

http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/ancientObservatories/

New Mexico's Chaco Canyon: A Place of Kings and Palaces?

2006-11-26T16:21:00.000-05:00

BOULDER, Colo., June 5 (AScribe Newswire) -- Kings living in palaces may have ruled New Mexico's Chaco Canyon a thousand years ago, causing Pueblo people to reject the brawny, top-down politics in the centuries that followed, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder archaeologist. University of Colorado Museum anthropology Curator Steve Lekson, who has studied Chaco Canyon for

Ancient Rock Art Depicts Exploding Star

2006-11-26T16:17:00.000-05:00

By Ker Than Staff Writer, Space.com A rock carving discovered in Arizona might depict an ancient star explosion seen by Native Americans a thousand years ago, scientists announced today. If confirmed, the rock carving, or “petroglyph” would be the only known record in the Americas of the well-known supernova of the year 1006. The carving was discovered in White Tanks Regional Park just outside

Tattooed mummy with jewelry found in Peru

2006-11-26T16:04:00.000-05:00

Associated Press WASHINGTON - A female mummy with complex tattoos on her arms has been found in a ceremonial burial site in Peru, the National Geographic Society reported Tuesday. The mummy was accompanied by ceremonial items including jewelry and weapons, and the remains of a teenage girl who had been sacrificed, archaeologists reported. The burial was at a site called El Brujo on

Celestial Find at Ancient Andes Site

2006-11-26T16:01:00.000-05:00

The discovery in Peru of a 4,200-year-old temple and observatory pushes back estimates of the rise of an advanced culture in the Americas. By Thomas H. Maugh II Times Staff Writer May 14, 2006 Archeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the oldest known celestial observatory in the Americas — a 4,200-year-old structure marking the summer and winter solstices that

'Brazilian Stonehenge' discovered

2006-11-26T15:57:00.000-05:00

Brazilian archaeologists have found an ancient stone structure in a remote corner of the Amazon that may cast new light on the region's past. The site, thought to be an observatory or place of worship, pre-dates European colonisation and is said to suggest a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy. Its appearance is being compared to the English site of Stonehenge. It was traditionally