Update - Aztec Ritual Depost and possible "tomb"

As noted 2.5 years ago, Mexican archaeologists found a carved slab which they believed covered the tomb of Aztec emperor Ahuizotl. This has not immediately turned out to be the case, as shown in today's presentation of the materials to the press. The researchers still believe they are near such a tomb.

Electronic Atlas of Maya Sites: Now on Google Earth

Database of locations and rough size/scale of over 6000 Maya archaeological sites. And now, they have a kmz version for Google Earth.

http://mayagis.smv.org/

Weird Archaeology 101: Neat Video on the Acambaro Figurines

A classic of weird pseudoarchaeology.

From the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Enjoy.

Google Streetview Archaeological Sites - Pompeii, Stonehenge, Amongst Others

Stonehenge

Pompeii

This isn't in the park at Teotihuacan, but you can see the major pyramids

Cahokia

Poverty Point

Moundville, AL

El Mirador - Destroyed by Teotihuacanos?

Press reports coming from the El Mirador project are intriguing, to say the least. This will complicate the arguments over the relationships between Teotihuacan and Tikal, and El Mirador and Calakmul.

"Many of the excavated blades are made of obsidian which the archaeologists have traced to a source hundreds of miles away in the Mexican highlands. They believe the spears belonged to warriors from Teotihuacan, an ancient civilization near Mexico City and an ally of Tikal, which was an enemy city of El Mirador.

"We've found over 200 of the obsidian tips alone, as well as flint ones, indicating there was a tremendous battle," said excavation leader Richard Hansen, a senior scientist in Idaho State University's anthropology department who is pushing the pyramid battle theory."

...

"Hansen's archaeologists found graffiti they believe was left by Teotihuacan fighters who smashed up carved Maya monoliths and left crudely etched skull drawings, known as Tlalocs, on the rock as proof of their victory.

"The Tlaloc is the war god image of the highland Mexicans (and we found it) crudely pecked on these monuments, suggesting that perhaps a hostile event had taken place here," Hansen said."

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-42207620090903?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

Immigrants and Abandonment at Kiuic

UPDATE: August 2010 - USA Today returned for a multimedia exploration of Kiuic

Friends and colleagues from the past have made news this weekend with their work at Kiuic, Yucatan, and its Terminal Classic florescence and abandonment. Some choice bits

"Both the pyramids and the palaces look like latter-day additions to Kiuic, built in the 9th century, just as Maya centers farther south were being abandoned. "The influx of wealth ... may spring from immigration," Bey says, as Maya headed north."

...

"the archaeologists found tools, stone knives and axes, corn-grinder stones called metates ... and pots still sitting in place. "It was completely unexpected," Bey says. "It looks like they just turned the metates on their sides and left things waiting for them to come back.""

...

"The only sign of warfare is a collection of spear points found in the central plaza of Kiuic. There are signs that construction halted there — a stucco-floored plaza sits half-complete, for example. "Drought seems more likely, that would halt construction," Bey says."

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2009-09-19-mayan-collapse_N.htm

Tarascan Elite Island Site Includes Conquest-Era Chapel

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090513-mexico-ritual-island.html

The little note about the colonial chapel is obviously of interest to me. I do not know why they're claiming it to be specifically within the first twenty years of the Conquest (so, about 1540), but I'm interested to find out.

Aztec Burials from Spanish Conquest w. elements of Spanish Culture

A recently excavated mass grave in Mexico City dates to roughly the time of the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iPF6IUn8CskP1_rkiUjuU-UZ3mXgD9690QB02

Some elements in particular are of note

"The men also were carefully buried Christian-style, lying on their backs with arms crossed over their chests, though many appear to have been wrapped up in large maguey cactus leaves, rather than placed in European coffins.

The mass grave contained evidence of an Aztec-like ritual in which offerings such as incense and animals were set alight in an incense burner, but Spanish elements including buttons and a bit of glass also were present."

This mix of goods and especially practices suggests a number of possibilities, though speculating further based on the limited information here is not the best course of action.

Update: More details (in Spanish)

Xibalba Update: INAH Article

INAH, Mexico's National Institute for Anthropology and History, has released an English-language short release on the cave complex discussed in my previous post. It's a lot more interesting than I thought, with not just one building within the caves, but several.

Particularly interesting is the presence of a sacbe. These white limestone raised roads radiate out between and within Maya settlements, and are particularly well-documented in western Yucatan. Roads are an important aspect of Maya thought, similar to the idea of one's path or journey having a lot more significance than literally where one will travel. The equivalent in Yukatek to "How's it going?" is "How's your road?," which come to think of it is a fairly similar sentiment. When one gets married, it is said "their road came to an end." While this is humorously close to the English colloquialism "End of the road, pal," it would be better understood as meaning that the married people began a new road together as a pair.

There has long been debate on whether the roads were primarily for ritual pilgrimages and processions, for transportation of goods and people, to demonstrate political allegiance, or some combination. The discovery of one inside a heavily sacralized cave complex will likely give some heft to arguments for ritual.

Subterranean Maya Temple Complex Suggested as Road to Xibalba

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1442474520080815?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

The image of the building constructed within the cavern is impressive. The article doesn't mention where specifically this is, other than in Mexico and the Yucatan peninsula. Apparently it dates to the Classic.

Aztec Death Whistle!

Ok, it's not just the "Whistle of Death," though that's getting the most attention for obvious reasons. Plus, it is actually an exceedingly creepy. But check out this story on replication of Aztec flutes, and then the video linked below for the actual sounds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVinnWp1Pck

The History of Crystal Skulls

Interesting article from Archaeology Magazine on the history of supposedly Mesoamerican crystal skulls (soon to be even more famous due to the Indiana Jones movie) and how they swirl around one antiquities dealer in the second half of the 19th century.

Update: The British Museum and Smithsonian skulls also have tool marks like those used about a century ago.

Maya hieroglyphic decipherment on NOVA, April 8

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mayacode/

The show appears to be a history of the decipherment. But regardless of that, there are a few neat aspects on the website, such as a translation of Piedras Negras Stela 3, with audio for the entire text. This is of course similar to the audio elements of the dictionaries at FAMSI, which are well worth checking out.

Aztec Measurements Deduced

Using a mix of history, mathematics, and survey, two researchers have uncovered smaller units of measure employed in Aztec surveys, that are not part of a vigesimal (20-base) scaling but are instead unique prime numbers.

Ritual Cache Found on Top of Mexico City Cathedral

The article says it is a "time capsule," but lets call it what it is: a magical protective cache. Placed on top of the Metropolitan Cathedral in 1791, the contents include:

- a small case of wax blessed by the Pope that served to protect against mishaps

- an engraving of Saint Barbara, a Roman Catholic martyr associated with lightning whose image served as "a religious lightening rod, to protect against damage," said archaeologist Xavier Cortes

- 23 medals, 5 coins, and five small crosses made of palm fronds - which it said were "for protection from the storms."

I have previously blogged about magical caches left in Anglo- and Anglo-American buildings.

Tenochtitlan/Tlatelolco Older than Previously Known

A pyramid uncovered in Tlatelolco dates to ca. 1100 - 1200 AD, the Early Postclassic. According to Aztec stories, the Mexica who settled the island had done so relatively recently. And Mexican history and archaeology has incorporated those stories for much of the 20th century. But this find suggests a significant settlement (with a 10 meter tall pyramid to either Tlaloc or Tezcatlipoca) up to three centuries before the Triple Alliance.

Tomb of Aztec Emperor Ahuizotl found

It's going to take a long time to pump it out, but ground penetrating radar appears to have detected chambers under the capstone marking the death of the Aztec Emperor Ahuizotl.

http://www.groundreport.com/article.php?articleID=2850694

He was in many ways the last great and terrible emperor of the Triple Alliance. This should rival the discoveries made within the Templo Mayor for archaeology of the political and religious elite of Aztec society.

Marketplace Detected at Maya City of Chunchucmil

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/535748/

Press release describing article in Latin American Antiquity on the methods and findings of soil chemistry exploration at Chunchucmil, Yucatan. In essence, high phosphorous readings, available in the field, allowed for the suggestion of a marketplace for selling food, surrounding a footpath in the Late Classic city. This is not the first phosphorous-based attempt to identify past activity areas, but it does sound significant.

At Ciudad Vieja, we combined several lines of evidence (remote sensing, excavation, ceramics, glass) to suggest a commercial food vendor, iron works, and possible market area also near a footpath in the early sixteenth-century town of San Salvador. Perhaps in the future this might be tested against chemical evidence.