Tag: Mayas

Fiery Pool: The Maya, the Mythic Sea and the Turtle

After a successful stay at the Peabody Essex Museum, ‘Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea’ opens this weekend at Forth Worth’s Kimbell Art Museum. The exhibition offers a new interpretation of the ancient culture, beyond the traditional view of the Maya as a land-based civilisation.

Expect supernatural crocodiles breathing forth rain; cosmic battles taking place between mythic beasts and deities; and art works adorned with shark teeth, stingray spines, sea creatures and waterfowl all part of the new and vivid picture the exhibition paints of the Maya world view: the Maya did not just navigate river and streams, they navigated the cosmos.

They had this fundamental notion of the Maya world as a giant turtle, floating on the primordial sea. Not an everyday day turtle, floating in the pond this is the cosmic turtle on which all of us float, explains Stephen Houston, Professor at Brown University, who organized the exhibition together with Daniel Finamore, Curator at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM).

Also presentaround 3100BC were:

Newgrange & Skara Brae
Otzi the Iceman
The Minoans
Egypt’s first mastabas
Stonehenge earth bank &ditch
Cuneiform

13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahaw 8 Kumk’u (August 11, 3114 BC*), is the mythicaldate is recorded throughout the entire Maya area as the beginning of the current creation, when -as described inthePopol Vuh creation myth- themaker let made the earth appear where there before was only the calm sea and the great expanse of the sky.

However, it must be noted, according to ‘accepted history’ (and wikipedia) the first clear Maya settlements weren’t established until approximately 1800 BC on the Pacific Coast – and the oldest discoveries of Maya occupation discovered so far (at Cuello, Belize) have been carbon dated to around 2600BC.

Fast forward to the Classical period (300-900AD) -whenthe civilization reached its peak – and ‘Maya’ ment hundreds of cities across Mexico and Central America andtheir territoryreached as far as the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The Maya practised a complex religion and used a refined pictorial writing system composed of more than 800 glyphs.

While today 90% of these glyphs are understood (an introduction on ancientscripts.com),it was only in the late eighties that the glyph for ‘sea’ was identified. Until then, the importance of the sea in Maya culture had not been fully understood. The identification of this glyph, translated literally as ‘fiery pool’, brought to attention how important the oceanic, inland and atmospheric waters were for the Maya’s existence resulting in the exhibition ‘Fiery Pool’ and its companion book.

Click the images to see a larger version.

In 1986, the Kimbell Art Museums landmark exhibition The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art shed new light on the importance of dynastic lineage and blood sacrifice to the Maya, commented Eric Lee, director of the Kimbell Art Museum.

This exhibition is the next important chapter in Maya research, and I am thrilled that the Kimbell Art Museum will showcase it.The museum has dedicated part of its website to the exhibition, find it at kimbellart.org/mayaand try their (addicting) Glyphs game.

Over 90 works, focusing on the sea as a defining feature of the spiritual realm, offer insights into the culture of the ancient Maya. The artefacts, displayed in four sections,reflect the broad range of media used by Maya artists: massive, carved stone monuments and delicate hieroglyphs, painted pottery vessels, sculpted human and animal figurines, and an assortment of precious goods crafted from jade, gold and turquoise.

Water and Cosmos

Surrounded by the sea in all directions, the ancient Maya viewed their world as inextricably tied to water, an idea that is explored in the first section of the exhibition, Water and Cosmos. More than a necessity to sustain life, water was the vital medium from which the world emerged, gods arose and ancestors communicated.

A limestone panel from Cancuen, Guatemala, is an exceptional example of Maya sculpture, depicting a ruler known as Tajchanahk, TorchSkyTurtle, seated on a water-lily throne in the royal court while simultaneously inhabiting the watery realm. For the Maya, the realms of earth, sea, sky and cosmos may have been perceived as flowing into each other rather than as distinct territories of being.

Creatures of the Fiery Pool

The world of the Maya brims with animal life animated, realistic and supernatural all at once. The objects in the second section, Creatures of the Fiery Pool, portray a wide array of fish, frogs, birds and mythic beasts inhabiting the sea and conveying spiritual concepts.

An effigy of a Caribbean spiny lobster is the only known Maya representation of the creature, excavated in 2007 from Lamanai, one of the oldest sites in Belize. It dates from the turbulent early colonial period, when traditional Maya life was disturbed by the incursion of Spanish soldiers and missionaries.

Navigating the Cosmos

The section Navigating the Cosmos explores water as a source of material wealth and spiritual power. All bodies of water rivers, cenotes and the sea were united, and connected the land of the living to the underworld.

A magnificent head of a deity with characteristics of the Sun God is one of the most exquisite works discovered in the Maya world. It was found in the tomb of an elderly man, likely cradled in his arm upon burial at the sacred site of Altun Ha. Weighing nearly ten pounds, the sculpture was created from a single piece of jadeite, the colour of which was directly associated with the sea.

Birth to Rebirth

The final section of the exhibition, Birth to Rebirth, addresses the cyclical motion of the cosmos as the Maya pictured it. The sun rose in the morning from the Caribbean in the east, bearing the features of a shark as it began to traverse the sky. Cosmic crocodiles exhaled storms and battled with gods of the underworld.

An elaborate ceramic incense burner from Palenque (where they had an ingenious water system), Mexico, portrays a deity central to a creation myth. Water-curls on his cheeks and ear ornaments, which link him to the rain god (Chahk), speak of his connection to the watery world. A shark serves as his headdress, topped by a toothy crocodile. From this censer, ritual smoke curled through the city of Palenque, suffusing it with scent and mystery.

‘Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea’ at the Kimbell Art Museum runs from Sunday August 29 until the end of the year and is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, available at the museum.

On October 10th, the museum invites everybody to experience the rich culture of the ancient Maya at ‘10.10.10, Celebracion de los Mayas’, a free family festival with Maya-inspired art activities, film and live music. Admission to the exhibition will be free that day.

Taking your kids to see ‘Fiery Pool’? You want to download (and print) the exhibition discovery kit from the PEM website.

The exhibition ends January 2, 2011. ‘Fiery Pool’ will then travel toSaint Louis, where it opens at the Art Museum February 13th.

Maya Pool the Size of a Football Field Discovered in Uxul, Mexico

The German-Mexican excavation team exposes the floor of the Maya pool, covered in ceramic shards. These would have sealed the reservoir. - Image copyright Institute for Ancient American Studies, University of Bonn Archaeologists digging at the ancient Maya city of Uxul, Mexico, havelocated an artificial lake the size of a football field. The two metres deep pool its floor a mosaic of ceramic shards was constructed about 1,500 years ago.

Uxul is located on the Mexican Yucatn Peninsula, near the Guatamalan border and only twentysix kilometres southwest of Unesco World Heritage Site Calakmul. German and Mexican archaeologists started systematically excavating and mapping its ruins in 2009.

In doing so, we stumbled upon two square water reservoirs, each about 100 metres by 100 metres, says Dr Iken Paap from the University of Bonn.

Massive pools for storing drinking water called ‘aguadas’ are well known from other Maya cities. What makes these newly discovered reservoirs and exceptional find, is that the Uxul peoples seem to have devised an ingenious and previously unkown way to seal their water storage systems.

We’ve carried out atrial excavation, right in the middle of one of the reservoirs, explains Nicolaus Seefeld.We found that the floor, at two metres deep, was almost completely covered with ceramic shards probably pottery fragments. If it is like this throughout the entire aguada, we don’t know yet.

Click the map to see a larger version. The two artificial lakes are marked in blue on this map of Uxul’s ruins. Both measure about 100×100 metres (a football field is about 90 by 120 metres.) – Image copyright Institute for Ancient American Studies, University of Bonn.

If so, the pools are an extraordinary find not at least because of the sheer amount of pottery needed; each of the Uxul aguadascould contain approximately ten Olympic swimming pools.

It is possible future excavations will reveal additional reservoirs. The aguadas needed to store enough water for Uxul’smore than2,000 residents to make it through the three-month dry season.

The German-Mexican excavation team alsofound Uxul’s first intact graves.

From these, and new research on the water provisions and vegetation history, we expect to gain new insights into the inhabitants of this Maya city, says Bonn University’s Dr Nikolai Grube.

All burials found so far were destroyed by grave robbers in search for pottery or jade.

Analysis of the different layers at Uxul shows it was populated throughout the different periods of Maya civilization. We excavated more than three meters deep, revealinga sequence of layersranging from the late Preclassic to the late Classic or Postclassic period,” tells Dr Paap.Inscriptionshave revealedthat around 630 AD, the city of Uxul was annexedto the kingdom of Calakmul.

The name ‘Uxul’, meaning’at the end’, was given to the city by explorers Karl Ruppert and John Denison when they tired and ill after a long expedition through the Yucan Peninsula’s rainforest discovered the ruins in 1934. Not much has changed since the thirties; Uxul is still at the end of the world, far away from modern roads and cities (photographs from the 2010 excavation season seem to confirm this).

To reach the ruins, it takes travelling 120km of jungle paths through the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, explains Dr Iken.

A thousand years ago, Uxul wasn’t isolated at all. Excellently positioned between the great Mayan cities of El Mirador in the South and Clakmul, the city was trading as far as modern-day southern Guatemalaand the highlands of central Mexico.

Underwater Archaeology: Diving the Maya Underworld

Videographer Marty O'Farrell captures divers taking a core sample from the bottom of pool 6. Steering clear of crocodiles and navigating around massive submerged trees, a team of divers started mapping some of the 25 freshwater pools of Cara Blanca, Belize, which were of importance to the ancient Maya civilisation.

So far, the divers found fossilized animal remains, bits of pottery and in the largest pool explored an enormous underwater cave.

The underwater archaeology project, led by University of Illinois anthropology professor Lisa Lucero, was the first of what the professor hopes will be a series of dives into the pools of the southern Maya lowlands in central Belize.

The divers so far have explored eight of the 25 known pools of Cara Blanca, with the volunteer divers returning this summer to assess whether archaeological excavation is even possible at the bottom of the pools, some of which are more than 60 meters deep.

They could have been making offerings to the rain god and other supernatural forces to bring an end to the drought

“We don’t know if it’s going to be feasible to conduct archaeology 200 feet below the surface,” Lucero said. “But they are going to try.”

After three weeks of surveying(see this slideshowon the University’s website), Maya structures have been found near two of the eight pools.

“The pools with the most substantial and most obvious settlement at the edge also turn out to be the deepest that we know,” Lucero said.

No vessels other than water jars were found in the structures built near the pools.

The use of these pools at the end of the Late Classic period (roughly 800-900AD) corresponds to an enduring drought that deforested parts of Central America and some believe ultimately drove the Maya from the area.

University of Illinois anthropology professor Lisa Lucero, who led the expedition, surveys Pool 1, the deepest of the pools her team explored. The need for fresh water could have drawn the Maya to the pools.

“They could have been making offerings to the rain god and other supernatural forces to bring an end to the drought,” Lucero said.

The chemistry of the water in each of the pools is distinct and the water in Pool 1, containing the submerged cave and a Maya structure at its edge, held the freshest water of the pools surveyed.

Yet the water contained a lot of soluble minerals,problematic for anyone who used it as their primary water supply. Those who drank the water over an extended period would have been at risk of developing kidney stones,Lucero explained.

The divers also extracted core samples of the sediment at the bottoms of two of the pools. Analysis of the soil, debris and pollen in the cores isexpected to offer insight into the pool’s natural history and their surrounding region.

The Maya believed that all land was covered bywater in ancient times.An understanding possibly inspired byfossils, which served as proof that land was once covered by the sea.

‘The surface of the earth had not appeared. There was only the calm sea and the great expanse of the sky,‘ reads the Popol Vuh creation myth.

It is only when the gods ordered the water to retire, and land emerged, that the actual era began.

Thus, tothe Mayans, openings in the earth, including caves and water-filled sinkholes called cenotes from the Maya word for ‘well’represented portals to the underworld, and they often left offerings there.

Ceremonial artefacts of the Maya have been found in pools and lakes in Mexico, but not yet in Belize.

Maya Royal Tomb Found Beneath El Diablo Pyramid

Mayan Treasure from the burial beneath the El Diablo pyramid, Guatamale - Image credit Arturo Godoy Archaeologists excavating in the Guatamalanjunglehave discovered a royal tomb, filled with colourful 1,600-year-old Mayan artefacts, beneath the El Diablo pyramid. The well preserved tombis packed with carvings, ceramics, textiles, and the bones of six children, possibly the remains of a human sacrifice.

The archaeological team, led by Stephen Houston, professor of anthropology at Brown University, uncovered the tomb beneath the El Diablo pyramid in the city of El Zots, Guatamalain May. Last week, the discovery of the tomb, dated to between 350 and 400AD, was made public.

Houston said the first pointer to the discovery was something odd in the deposit the team was digging, at a small temple built in front of a sprawling structure dedicated to the sun god, an emblem of Maya rulership.

When we sunk a pit into the small chamber of the temple, we hit almost immediately a series of caches – blood-red bowls containing human fingers and teeth, all wrapped in some kind of organic substance that left an impression in the plaster. We then dug through layer after layer of flat stones, alternating with mud, which probably is what kept the tomb so intact and airtight.

The tomb itself is about 6 feet high, 12 feet long, and four feet wide. I can lie down comfortably in it, Houston said, although I wouldnt want to stay there.

Then, on May 29th 2010, Houston was with a worker who came to a final earthen layer.

I told him to remove it, and then, a flat stone. Wed been using a small stick to probe for cavities. And, on this try, the stick went in, and in, and in. After chipping away at the stone, I saw nothing but a small hole leading into darkness.

They lowered a bare light bulb into the hole, and suddenly Houston saw an explosion of color in all directions – reds, greens, yellows. It was a royal tomb filled with organics Houston says hed never seen before: pieces of wood, textiles, thin layers of painted stucco and cord.

When we opened the tomb, I poked my head in and there was still, to my astonishment, a smell of putrification and a chill that went to my bones, the dig’s director said. The chamber had been so well sealed, for over 1600 years, that no air and little water had entered.

artefact from the discovery of mayan royal tomb at el diablo pyramid, el zotz The tomb itself is about 6 feet high, 12 feet long, and four feet wide. I can lie down comfortably in it, Houston said, although I wouldnt want to stay there.

It appears the tomb held an adult male, who was between 50 and 60 he died from natural causes, but the team’s bone analyst, Andrew Scherer, assistant professor of anthropology at Brown, has not yet confirmed the finding.

And who was this man buried with such a wealth? Though the findings are still very new, the group believes the tomb is likely from aruler they only know about from hieroglyphic texts.

These items are artistic riches, extraordinarily preserved from a key time in Maya history, said Houston. From the tombs position, time, richness, and repeated constructions atop the tomb, we believe this is very likely the founder of a dynasty.

According to Houston, the tomb shows that the ruler is going into the tomb as a ritual dancer: He has all the attributes of this role, including many small bells of Spondylus shell with, probably, dog canines as clappers. There is a chance too, that his body, which rested on a raised bier that collapsed to the floor, had an elaborate headdress with small glyphs on them. One of his hands may have held a sacrificial blade.

The blade was probably used for cutting and grinding through bone or some other hard material, and its surface seems to be covered with red organic residue. Though the substance still needs to be tested, it doesnt take too much imagination to think that this is blood, Houston said.

So far, it seems likely that there are six children in the tomb, some with whole bodies and probably two solely with skulls. The children – ranging in age from 1to 5 – were “probably sacrificed”in honour of the ruler.

We still have a great deal of work to do, Houston said. Remember, weve only been out of the field for a few weeks and were still catching our breath after a very difficult, technical excavation. Royal tombs are hugely dense with information and require years of study to understand. No other deposits come close.

The ancient Maya kingdom of El Zotz is located within a day’s walk (about 20kms) from Tikal, the capital of one of the largest and most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya.Yet, El Zotzflourished in the midst of the 1st millennium AD- after Tikal was defeated by Caracol (Belize) and Calakmul (Mexico).It is likely thatEl Zotz allied with Tikal’s enemies and that relations between the two cities were hostile. According to a textfound atTikal, in the 8th century AD,El Zotz wasengaged in battle against Tikal, and the last known hieroglyphic inscription to refer to El Zotz describes the city as being the target of an attack by Tikal.

Earliest Known Mesoamerican Pyramid Tomb Discovered in Mexico

Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered a tomb inside a pyramid belonging to a king or high priest who died as many as 2,700 years ago. Three other bodies a woman also of high social status, a baby and young male adult were also found in the tomb inside the pyramid in the Chiapa de Corzo archaeological site in Chiapas district in southern Mexico.

It is the earliest evidence of a Mesoamerican pyramid used as a tomb, rather than as a temple.

The remains of the man, thought to be aged about 50 years and decorated in precious stones, were found with the body of a one-year old child lying on his chest. Nearby were the remains of a younger male adult about 20-years-old.

Human Sacrifices?

The team of anthropologists and archaeologists, led by Professor Bruce Bachand, from Brigham Young University’s department of anthropology, believe that the younger male and the baby were human sacrifices. Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta, the project’s co-director from the National Institute of Anthropology and History Chiapa, said that the lack of precious material associated with these two bodies suggests that it was a sacrificial death. The 20-year-old male’s body was set in an unconventional position, suggesting it had been thrown into the burial chamber.

“The significance of this discovery is twofold: the location of this tomb on top of the pyramid and the unparralleled rarity, splendor and intricacy of the associated objects.”

The remains of a fourth person were found outside the central tomb chamber a woman, who would also have been an important member of her society, judging by the precious stones, bracelets, anklets and necklaces embellishing her body.

The tell-tale signs of these two VIPs are that the bodies are coated with red pigment and are decorated with carved jade stones. The teeth are inlaid with white jade or sea shells. Obsidian, a naturally occurring green-black mineral similar to glass, was used in the eyes of white stucco masks, while the female was also decorated with amber, pearls and pyrite.

Professor Bachand said: “The significance of this discovery is twofold: the location of this tomb on top of the pyramid and the unparralleled rarity, splendor and intricacy of the associated objects.It’s the most elaborate tomb I know of for this time period that actually contained bodies. The so-called La Venta tombs did not. Thus, we can now learn something about the occupants from their bones.” He believes it is a possibility that other pyramids at Chiapa de Corzo may also contain tombs.

Indigenous Zoque Culture

Several different cultures lived in the region 2,700 years ago some of which would have interacted with each other, making it difficult to establish which culture the four individuals in the pyramid tomb represent although the team believe they are Zoque, an indigenous culture still living in Mexico today.

The discovery was made last month by the team of experts inside Mound 11, as the pyramid in question is known. Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta said: The main aim was to test the interior of Mound 11. We wanted to know when it was first constructed and to understand how it grew over time.

Mesoamerican pyramids were often built in layers much like onions or Russian dolls: a new outer layer would be built over an old pyramid and this process continued over many centuries. The team set out in January this year to excavate Mound 11 from top to soil. The tomb was found between the fourth and fifth ‘layers’ of the structure.

The reason for choosing Mound 11 was that, apart from being one of the largest remaining pyramids at Chiapa de Corzo, together with Mound 12 it forms an interesting architectural formation well-known in Mesoamerican archaeology as the ‘E-Group’ formation. E-Group complexes are associated with astronomy and ceremony in Maya culture. The current project aimed to compare this E-Group complex with another similar complex of pyramids at nearby La Venta, an archaeological site of the Olmec people in the Mexican state of Tabasco.

The Disappearing Pyramids of Chiapa de Corzo

There are more than 60 pyramids at Chiapa de Corzo, although about 30 per cent of them have been destroyed since the 1950s by local businesses. This was another factor that added some urgency to the excavation.

Mesoamerican pyramids were built primarily as temples which makes them fundamentally different to Egyptian pyramids, whose main function was a royal tomb where the mummified remains of ancient Egypt’s elite were preserved. In Mesoamerica, the pyramids were built as temples and were used for astronomy and ceremonies.

The pyramid at Palenque is an unusual exception and Mound 11 also seems to be bucking the trend. Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta explained that its function would have changed with time and, having been used as a tomb early on, layers of stone would have been added to the structure and it would have been converted into a temple.

Complex Society

Very little information is available about what Chiapa de Corzo would have been like in 700 BC. Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta told me: The huge construction tells us this was a complex society and an important community. It occupied a geographically strategic path to the coast and would have had commercial and cultural interaction with central Mexico and Guatamala (as shown by the presence of jade in the pyramid).

Non-elite people during that time would have had earth burials in cemeteries, laid out in a straight position, with pots and a plate often placed above the head.

DNA and C14 tests need to be carried out see if the four individuals were local or not. These tests and analyses will take some time it could take a year for the results to become available.

Experts from Brigham Young University, The National Institute of Anthropology and History Chiapa and the Nationaly Autonomous University of Mexico are working on the project, which is funded by National Geographic.

LiDAR Survey Uncovers Ancient Maya City of Caracol

data gathered by a lidar suvey over caracol Using NASA laser technology, researchers have discovered thousands of new structures and illustrated the complex urban centres built at the ancient Maya city of Caracol, Belize. The equivalent of 25 years worth of data (if gathered through machete-wielding means) was gathered in only four days using a technique of emitting laser beams from a plane to penetrate the thick canopy that covers the site.

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) equipment brought aboard a small Cessna 337 bounced laser beams to sensors on the ground, penetrating the thick tree canopy to see ‘beyond the rainforest’, allowing for the detecting of many previously unknown features.

Until now, exploring large sites and the nature of landscape modifications by the ancient Maya civilisation was a challenging and time consuming mission. Most of the features archaeologists are looking for are hidden within heavily forested and hilly terrain and are difficult to record. 25 years of excavations hard work of removing the trees by research scientists and students alike have resulted in the mapping of some 23 square kilometres of the Caracol site.

Airborne LiDAR makes research significantly easier, and faster. The laser survey produced images of the ancient settlement and its surroundings and covered a 200 square kilometre radius in just four days. It took about 24 hours of flight time for the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping to capture the images and then three weeks for remote sensing experts from the University of Florida to analyse the data.

It is very exciting, said Arlen Chase, Anthropology Professor at the University of Central Florida, in a statement. The images not only reveal topography and built features, but also demonstrate the integration of residential groups, monumental architecture, roadways and agricultural terraces, vividly illustrating a complete communication, transportation and subsistence system.

The results of the LiDAR mapping are indeed astonishing: 11 new causeways, 5 new termini, tens of thousands of agricultural terraces and many hidden caves were located. The survey data was also used to confirm the previous estimates for the size of the settlement and population. The Maya city of Caracol was spread out over 177 square kilometres, with at least 115,000 residents by 650 AD.

Researchers are hoping that now Caracol’s entire landscape can be seen in 3D, it will will offer new understanding of how the Maya were able to build such a huge empire and clues to what may have caused its destruction.

Technology is becoming more and more important in archaeology, allowing for non-invasive research and more thorough surveying.

X-ray analysis can tell us which metal alloys were used to create certain weapons, making it easier to decipher the time and date of manufacture. CT-scans, Isotope analysis and DNA analysis can teach us about ancient human remains, including their medical history and their lineage, and scientists have now even unlocked the Neanderthal genome. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) allows archaeologists to detect and map archaeological remains without putting a shovel into the ground and robot explorers are send down pyramid shafts too narrow for man to access, let alone excavate.

Our favourite technological innovation, which is used more and more frequently in archaeology and history research, is 3D modelling. These projects utilise data gathered by surveying projects such as those of the Great Sphinx, the catacombs in Rome, ancient skulls and the landscape around Stonehenge (a LiDAR survey as well), or even data crowd-sourced from Flickr. The digitalisation of our heritage keeps information (at least dimensional and textural information) safe for the future. It also allows for easy access to whoever needs or desires it, be they archaeologists using specialised gear such as VR-systems to ‘dig virtually’, or members of the public who want to explore history in a virtual environment such as our King Tut & Stonehenge Virtual or Giza 3D, which will hopefully be released soon by the Giza Archives Project and Dassault Systemes.

Mayan Plumbers or Hydraulic Engineers at Palenque?

This is a depiction of Piedras Bolas aqueduct functioning as a fountain. This illustrates one plausible explanation of how the feature used water pressure. Due to destruction of the aqueduct, exact details of the its use are unknown. Note that during the monsoon, excess runoff flows over the freature while the buried conduit continues to function. A water feature excavated in the Maya city of Palenque, in Chiapas, southern Mexico, is the earliest known example of engineered water pressure in the New World, according to a collaboration between an archaeologist and a hydrologist from Penn State University. The spring-fed conduit has a restricted opening that would cause the water to exit forcefully, under pressure, to a height of 6 metres. How the Maya used the pressurized water is, however, still unknown. Such water pressure systems were previously thought to have entered Mexico with the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.

“Water pressure systems were previously thought to have entered the New World with the arrival of the Spanish,” the researchers said in a recent issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science. “Yet, archaeological data, seasonal climate conditions, geomorphic setting and simple hydraulic theory clearly show that the Maya of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico, had empirical knowledge of closed channel water pressure predating the arrival of Europeans.”

The area of Palenque was first occupied about the year 100 but grew to its largest during the Classic Maya period 250 to 600. The city was abandoned around 800. More than 50 springs have been recorded at the Palenque site, and aside from these springs, the site can expect more than 2000mm of rainfall annually. For comparison, on average, London receives just below 650 millimetres per annum. No wonder the Maya citys central district was named Lakam Ha, meaning Big Water.

Kirk French Penn State University The feature PB-A1, first identified in 1999 during a mapping survey of the area, while similar to the aqueducts that flow beneath the plazas of the city, was also unlike them. In 2006, Kirk French, lecturer in anthropology, returned to Palenque with Christopher Duffy, professor of civil and environmental engineering, to examine the unusual water feature.

It is a spring-fed passage located on steep terrain, dropping about 6 metres from the entrance of the tunnel to the outlet about 60 metres downhill. The cross section of the feature decreases from about 3 square metres near the spring to about 0.15 square metres where water emerges form a small opening. The combination of gravity on water flowing through the Piedras Bolas Aqueduct and the sudden restriction of the conduit causes the water to flow out of the opening forcefully, under pressure. At the outlet, the pressure exerted could have moved the water upwards of 6 metres.

The Piedras Bolas Aqueduct is partially collapsed so very little water currently flows from the outlet. French and Duffy used simple hydraulic models to determine the potential water pressure achievable from the Aqueduct. They also found that the aqueduct would hold about 65,000 litres of water if the outlet were controlled to store the water.

The experience the Maya at Palenque had in constructing aqueducts for diversion of water and preservation of urban space may have led to the creation of useful water pressure.

“Under natural conditions it would have been difficult for the Maya to see examples of water pressure in their world,” said Christopher Duffy. “They were apparently using engineering without knowing the tools around it. This does look like a feature that controls nature.”

Underground water features such as aqueducts are not unusual at Palenque. Build on a narrow escarpment, surrounded by steep hills, inhabitants were unable to spread out. In order to increase the areas of liveable terrain, the Palenquenes constructed a large number of subterranean aqueducts, routing the pre-existing streams beneath plazas as well as bridges, damns, drains and pools. These spring-fed streams combined with the downpours during the six-month rainy season also presented a flooding hazard that the aqueducts would have at least partially controlled.

Map of the Maya city of Palenque in Mexico, the area around the Piedras Bolas aqueduct highlighted. Image credit Ed Barnhart “They were creating urban space,” said Kirk French. “There are streams in the area every 300 feet or so across the whole escarpment. There is very little land to build on. The experience the Maya at Palenque had in constructing aqueducts for diversion of water and preservation of urban space may have led to the creation of useful water pressure.”

One potential use for the artificially engineered water pressure would have been a fountain. The researchers modelled the aqueduct with a fountain as the outlet and found that even during flood conditions, water would flow in the aqueduct, supplying the fountain, and above ground in the channel running off the slope.

Another possibility could be to use the pressure to lift water onto the adjacent residential area for use as wastewater disposal.

AWiL Video Series – The History of Astronomy & the Secrets of Stonehenge

Astronomy rarely leaves today’s headlines, be it the latest shuttle exploring the limits of our galaxy, or feverish paranoia over the Maya Doomsday Prophecy. Man has always been obsessed by the stars, and since our humble beginnings we’ve always gazed up at night, asking the same questions those tens of thousands of years ago have.

We caught up with famed astronomer Paul Murdin at a special Ancient World in London event a month back, as he gave a talk about his book Secrets of the Universe. And as Paul describes, astronomical observations have been made for longer than we may think. The Ishango Bone is at first an unremarkable-looking baboon bone from the Congo. Yet the notches along its length may signify one of man’s first forays into astronomy. “It’s thought that the length of the scratches represents the phases of the moon,” says Paul. “As the moon gets bigger, the scratches get larger, until the full moon, and then the scratches get smaller.

“Maybe the owner was a woman who for some reason was keeping track of her menstrual cycle. But this person was making astronomical observations 25,000 years ago.”

“The stars are the common heritage of mankind, and we all have a right to enjoy them.”

Myths and legends have always been wrapped round the stars as a way for man to ascribe his own beliefs. In Roman legend, the Milky Way, our own galaxy, was created when milk from the goddess Juno’s breast spurted into the sky after wet-nursing her husband Jupiter’s son Hercules. There may have been a myriad great discoveries and theories since, but it’s certainly a colourful way of seeing things.

Stonehenge is one of the world’s most mysterious astronomical landmarks. Created up to 5,000 years ago, its stone circle has captivated everyone from ancient Celts to modern Druids. Today most experts see it as a monument to the sun, aligned with the sunrises and sunsets at certain points of the year. That’s why Druids still worship inside the circle at each equinox and solstice – see our AWiL video on Spring Equinox at Stonehenge. You don’t have to leave your home to witness a Stonehenge Summer Solstice – just log on to Stonehenge Virtual to explore the stone circle.

Yet archaeoastronomer (click here for a short guide to archaeoastronomy)Simon Banton says there are plenty of alignments and correspondences to suggest Stonehenge was first used as a lunar calendar:”There is some evidence to suggest that Stonehenge alignments were originally lunar. It’s not quite exactly on the solar alignment. The terminals of (its) ditches seem to be remodelled to try and coax it in that direction.”

Stonehenge will no doubt remain an enigma. But it does hark to an age when man was more in tune with the stars and the seasons than today. Thanks to today’s cities and their accompanying light pollution we barely get a good look at the night sky nowadays, and it’s something Paul feels is a great shame: “I would hope that everybody somewhere got the chance to go to a place that was darkish, and to be told about the stars in the sky,” he says. “The stars are the common heritage of mankind, and we all have a right to enjoy them.”

READMOREABOUTANCIENTASTRONOMY:

HD Video: Episode 10 – Archaeoastronomy

Click here to view the transcript of this video.

We have many more Ancient World in London videos right here at Heritage Key, from the bloody rebellion of Boudicca to the magic of Hadrian’s Wall – you can even explore Stonehenge for yourself in Stonehenge Virtual. The Ancient World in London is much more than the videos – you can take part in our latest bloggers’ challenge, come along to an event or join the debate on the many issues raised throughout the three months.

Unlock the Wonders of the Universe and Star in an AWiL Video!

Want to star in an Ancient World in London video, and learn about the stars at the same time? Then join Heritage Key and famed astronomy writer Paul Murdin at a cool London restaurant this Wednesday at 6:30pm, as the Secrets of the Universe author gives a special presentation on how ancient civilisations and British astronomers have discovered the cosmos.

The talk, entitled ‘Unlocking the Wonders of Astronomy’, will show how man’s obsession with the heavens has endured for thousands of years, from the first cities of Sumer to the technological breakthroughs of today’s most powerful nations. The presentation will be held at Cicada, a hip restaurant in the heart of the City of London.

Paul is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, former president of the European Astronomical Society and Visiting Professor at John Moores University, Liverpool, and he currently works at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. He has written numerous popular and scholarly books on astronomy and is a regular commentator for the BBC and CNN. In 1988 he received the OBE for his contributions to astronomy and his efforts to make it accessible to everyone. Secrets of the Universe: How we Discovered the Cosmos, published by Thames and Hudson, is a stunning journey through astronomy including over 500 special illustrations.

The presentation therefore promises to be a mouth-watering combination of fascinating insights and spectacular images, as he brings millennia of human endeavour to a wholly modern audience. We’ll even be filming the event, so come along and be a part of our Ancient World in London series. You might even be our next big star!

So join us on an evening of discovery as we unlock the secrets of the stars with the nation’s top astronomy writer. Don’t forget: this event is just one of dozens of real-world, virtual and online events we have running throughout Ancient World in London. Check out our excellent video series to see what you can be a part of this Wednesday, and keep up-to-date with us on YouTube, Twitter, Flickr,Facebook and iTunes. You can even discover ancient stargazing from your desk with our breathtakingly beautiful Stonehenge Virtual.

Christmas TV Guide: Our Pick of This Year’s Best Ancient World Telly

No Christmas would be the same without many a wasted hour spent buried in the couch wiped-out on a bellyful of turkey and stuffing, or nursing a hangover after a Herculean nights mulled wine consumption flicking the channels in a dozy haze. It’s a Christmas tradition (although we can’t guarentee that it dates back as far as some other ancient seasonal rituals)

This year you can spare yourself all those awful festive films and Christmas music videos youve seen a million times, by keeping Heritage Keys handy guide to ancient world-themed Christmas TV close at hand.

All the old-school three-hours plus historical epics are being dusted down again for the season of good will among them many of the biggest ancient world blockbusters of all time as well as a raft of comedy and family-orientated ancient world-related movies, and even a few interesting-sounding documentaries.

Our listings are UK-centric, but we’re pretty sure international readers will be able to track down plenty of the below highlights in their countries too seasonal staples many of them no matter where you come from.

We Wish You an Epic Christmas: Ancient World Screen Classics

Christmas TV Viewing Schedule:

Mon Dec 21
12.05pm The Ten Commandments (Channel 4)
Tue Dec 22
10pm Sex in the Ancient World (History)
Christmas Eve
11.30am and 9pm Ben Hur (Sky Movies Classics)
Christmas Day
8.35am The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Sky Action/Thriller)
11.15am and 9pm Spartacus (Sky Movies Classics)
7pm Herod: Behind the Myth (History, Christmas Day)
10.10pm Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark (Sky Movies Modern Greats)
11.15pm Gladiator (ITV1)
2.05am One Million Years BC (ITV1)
Boxing Day
9pm Decoded: Dan Browns Lost Symbol (Channel 4)
10pm The Real Da Vinci Code (Channel 4)
10.05pm Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (Sky Movies Modern Greats)
Sun Dec 27
8pm 2012: The Final Prophecy (National Geographic)
10.10pm Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (Sky Movies Modern Greats)
11pm Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire (History)
Mon Dec 28
8pm Man on Earth (Channel 4)
12.35pm Carry on Cleo (ITV1)
Tue Dec 29
2pm Jason and the Argonauts (Channel 5)
Wed Dec 30
9pm The Turin Shroud: The New Evidence (Channel 4)
9pm Troy (Watch)
New Year’s Eve
6.45pm Meet the Spartans (Sky Movies Comedy)
9.05pm Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (Watch)
New Years Day
8pm Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Sky Movies Screen)

Im Spartacus. No, Im Spartacus. No you’re mistaken Im Spartacus, etc. So goes the suicidally heroic banter, roughly speaking, in the iconic climactic scene of Stanley Kubricks all-time great (Sky Movies Classics, Christmas Day, 11.15am and 9pm), as Kirk Douglass band of rebellious slaves all get a bit schizophrenic after defying an emperor.

If its greased-up warrior chaps, going at it mano-a-mano in mortal combat youre after, then youd best not miss Gladiator (ITV1, Christmas Day, 11.15pm) either a modern classic which sees Romes toughest general Maximus battle to avenge the death of his family, who have been slaughtered at the order of bonkers Emperor Commodus (one of our TopTen Roman Emperors in the Movies). Warning: contains Russell Crowe (in small pants).

Well give Troy (Watch, Wed Dec 30, 9pm) a nod as well, another decent contemporary swordsnsandals affair, featuring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom. One of the most famous scenes in Hollywood history crowns Ben Hur (Sky Movies Classics, Christmas Eve, 11.30am and 9pm), which sees Charlton Heston star as a Jewish nobleman sentenced to slavery returning to exact his revenge in a spectacular chariot race.

Jason and the Argonauts (Channel 5, Tue Dec 29, 2pm) is a Greek mythology-based fantasy from 1963, featuring all kinds of cool but extremely creepy stop-motion Hydras, Harpies and skeleton warriors, created by special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen. If you happen to have four hours spare, check out Biblical epic The Ten Commandments(Channel 4, Mon Dec 21, 12.05pm) too. Theres a mince pie in it for anyone who manages to stay awake the whole way through.

**Video: Spartacus Theatrical Trailer:**

Family, Funny and not-so Family Flicks

Do you like Indiana Jones? Do you really like Indiana Jones? Good in that case you can catch all four of the unorthodox archaeologists movie adventures to date over the holidays: Raiders of the Lost Ark (Sky Movies Modern Greats, Christmas Day, 10.10pm), The Temple of Doom (Sky Movies Modern Greats, Boxing Day, 10.05pm), The Last Crusade (Sky Movies Modern Greats, Sun Dec 27, 10.10pm) and even the new one Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Sky Movies Screen 1, New Years Day, 8pm) although its a bit pants so wed advise just taping Raiders and watching it again.

Elsewhere in family Christmas TV-land, Indys female equivalent gets her big, um, guns out in Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (Watch, Hogmanay, 9.05pm), and theres yet more archaeological action Dr Hawass definitely wouldnt approve of going on in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Sky Action/Thriller, Christmas Day, 8.35am).

Zack Snyders gore-fest 300 gets smuttily-spoofed in Meet the Spartans (Sky Movies Comedy, Hogmanay, 6.45pm). For an even bigger laugh and bear in mind that this one isnt even meant to be a comedy check out John Wayne in one of his lesser-known roles as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (Sky Movies Classics, Wed Dec 22, 7pm).

For a bawdy, camp giggle British-style, try Carry on Cleo (ITV1, Mon Dec 28, 12.35pm), or (dont worry, this ones on well after the kids have gone to bed) One Million Years BC (ITV1, Christmas Day, 2.05am) which stars iconic 70s lovely Raquel Welsh prancing about in prehistoric times with nothing but an animal skin covering her modesty, pretty much for that reason only. Ooh-er.

The Ancient World Unwrapped: Historical Documentaries

Youd best make the most of your Christmas – if the ancient Mayans are to be believed, youve only got two of them left before the world ends.

On the subject of ancient world naughtiness, find out all about the worlds first lads-mags in Sex in the Ancient World (History, Tue Dec 22, 10pm). Dont worry: its a documentary so you can chalk it up as research. Besides, youd best make the most of your Christmas, since if the ancient Mayans of South America are to be believed, youve only got two of them left before the world ends. 2012: The Final Prophecy (National Geographic, Sun Dec 27, 8pm) investigates the truth behind the outlandish theory that the world will fall to bits in two years, which as youll spot from the comments on this blog gets certain souls very excited indeed.

A collapsing world is incidentally the theme of Rome: Rise and Fall of and Empire (History, Sun Dec 27, 11pm), which looks at the first and last days of the civilization that brought you straight roads, a weird numbers system and throwing Christians to lions. Also straight-outta Rome, but from the days before things went a bit pear-shaped, comes Herod: Behind the Myth (History, Christmas Day, 7pm) a look at the remarkable engineering feats of a notorious king.

Tony Robinson examines ancient civilizations that took on climate-change and won including the Hauri of Peru, forefathers of the Inca in Man on Earth (Channel 4, Mon Dec 28, 8pm). Find out whether anyone knows what the circumpunct is when the Time Team man also takes the facts behind Dan Browns controversial best-seller to task on Boxing Day evening on Channel 4, in Decoded: Dan Browns Lost Symbol (Channel 4, Boxing Day, 9pm), followed immediately by The Real Da Vinci Code an hour later.

Another religious hoax may or may not be exposed in The Turin Shroud: The New Evidence (Channel 4, Wed Dec 30, 8pm), which sees Dr Raymond Rogers have a root around for the truth behind the famous relic written-off as a fake by some supposedly linked to Jesus Christ, whose birthday is fast-approaching.

A merry seasons viewing to one and all! To get your and yours really in the mood for some ancient viewing, you could try these recipes for the perfect Christmas dinner (ancient style). Oh, and if you’re still on the hunt for last-minute gifts, for youngsters here’s a few recommended toys, and for adults some great books. All of them of a you guessed it archaeological or ancient world theme.