Mesoamerican Archaeology

[michaelruggeri]

Listeros,

Mexican archaeologists have discovered a maze of stone temples in underground caves containing human bones and some of it underwater. There are 11 sacred temples in all and human bones of possible sacrificees. The excavations in the Yucatan have been ongoing for five months and stone carvings and pottery were left with the dead. The artifacts date to 700-850 AD.

Reuters has the story here;

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080815/sc_ ... B3h9xFeQoB

Here is a tiny URL;

http://tinyurl.com/5pxkdn



Mike Ruggeri's Maya World
http://tinyurl.com/ypkq2v

Mike Ruggeri's Maya Archaeology News and Links
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin- ... gerisMaya/

[michaelruggeri]

Listeros,

INAH has posted a follow up story on the just discovered underground maze of temples found in the Yucatan. According to chief archaeologist Guillermo de Anda Alanis, this may be the place the Maya believed was the entrance to Xibalba. Some of the shafts leading to the temples are 30 to 40 meters long. An underground sacbe has also been discovered there 100 meters long and well cemented running east to west and ends at a stalactite column that looks like a Ceiba tree.


INAH has the story here;
http://dti.inah.gob.mx/index.php?option ... Itemid=150

A Tiny URL;

http://tinyurl.com/5b3u8t



Mike Ruggeri's Maya World
http://tinyurl.com/ypkq2v

Mike Ruggeri's Maya Archaeology News and Links
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin- ... gerisMaya/

[Minimalist]

The discussion reminded me of this story from NAtional Geo in 2003.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0 ... ltext.html


I think they later made a film about it showing people diving into these "sinkholes" for want of a better word.

[michaelruggeri]

Listeros,

The earliest evidence of tar used as waterproofing material was found at the Olmec site of El Manati in Veracruz. The material is dated at 1500 BCE. Sand and vegetal elements were mixed in to harden it.

El Manati is being shown to have been a great commercial port as demonstrated by the diversity of earthenware materials found there and the styles reveal Maya, Teotihuacan, Totonac, Tuxtec and Remojadas trade.

INAH has the story here;
http://dti.inah.gob.mx/index.php?option ... Itemid=150

Here is a tiny URL;
http://tinyurl.com/5fxq8x

Mike Ruggeri


Mike Ruggeri's The Olmec World
http://tinyurl.com/2ybvek

[michaelruggeri]

Listeros,

(note) Erik Boot had a post on this a few weeks ago in Spanish. Here is an English translation of the story.

A lot of discoveries are taking place at the Olmec site of El Manati. Among them is the discovery of 37 wooden busts and 2 have been radio-carbon dated at 1200 BCE. It appears there were floods or a drought that led to these large offerings to the gods. All of the wooden busts were ritually buried and wrapped in vegetal fiber mats.

This is the earliest evidence of funeral wrapping in Mexico and it helped to preserve the wood.

Child sacrifices were also found there. Rubber balls, knives and wooden staffs have also been uncovered at El Manati.

INAH has the story in English here;
http://dti.inah.gob.mx/index.php?option ... Itemid=150

Here is a tiny URL;
http://tinyurl.com/6mefq3

Mike Ruggeri



Mike Ruggeri's The Ancient Americas Breaking News
http://web.mac.com/michaelruggeri

Erik Boot's Ancient Mesoamerican News Updates
http://ancient-mesoamerica-news-updates.blogspot.com/