Classic

LEFT The head of the Maya maize god, recently discovered at Palenque.

Maya maize god head uncovered in Mexico

The team believe that the head of the youthful god, depicted with delicate features, was ‘originally conceived as a beheaded figure’.

The Past

Pre-Columbian Americas Quiz

What name is given to the now-submerged geographical feature which allowed early humans to gain access to the Americas?

In 1951, Quest for the Lost City was published in the United States. Reviewed in The New York Times as ‘a sort of overland Kon-Tiki’ – in reference to Thor Heyerdahl’s recent Pacific Ocean adventure – the book was an…

A Maya Universe in Stone

A Maya Universe in Stone delves deeply into the imagery, inscriptions, and political and social contexts of several ancient Maya carved limestone lintels made in the late 8th century AD, likely in Guatemala’s Department of Peten. Eminent epigrapher and archaeologist…

OPPOSITE Numerous societies rose at different times and places in the central Andes. Various traditions can be traced from one to another, with human style figures that took on animal attributes proving to be a popular theme. Here we see an example from 100 BC AD 650, showing a mythical being who adopted the traits of several animals and was associated with a group known as the Nasca.

Peru: a journey in time

The Incas dominate perceptions of Peru’s past, but their empire did not appear out of nowhere. Instead, it drew on traditions and concepts that developed across the central Andes for thousands of years, as Cecilia Pardo and Jago Cooper told Matthew Symonds.

ABOVE LiDAR examination at the Maya site of Tikal revealed the existence of a previously unknown complex that mirrors the Ciudadela at Teotihuacan.

Teotihuacan complex found in Maya city

Archaeologists exploring the Ciudadela at Tikal have discovered six phases of construction, mostly dating to the Early Classic period (c.AD 300-550).

The Past

Volcanic eruption influenced Maya construction

It is believed that the pyramid’s creation was connected to the TBJ eruption as volcanoes and mountains were sacred to the Maya. The structure may have served some kind of religious function, perhaps it was even intended to guard against future eruptions.

Acanceh, 1907

In 1906, local inhabitants were dismantling a structure at the site in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula for building materials when they uncovered a 13m- long wall emblazoned with brightly painted reliefs, thought to date to around AD 600-700.

ABOVE The door to the sweat bath is positioned between the amphibian goddess’ legs, which are covered with iguanas and toads.

Secrets of a Maya sweat bath

Recent research on an intriguing assemblage of artefacts excavated from a Classic Maya sweat bath in Guatemala is revealing new details about ritual activity at the unusual structure. This sweat bath at Xultun, named Los Sapos (‘the toads’), was explored…

Opposite Recent excavations at Huaca El Pueblo have revealed three elite Moche tombs. This one contained a male who appears to have been a high ranking warrior. The pots are characteristic of the middle Moche style, while the metalwork represents various items of regalia and a fine burial mask.

Return to Huaca El Pueblo: discovering Peruvian pyramid tombs

Recent excavations at Huaca El Pueblo, a mud-brick pyramid erected by the Moche, have revealed three remarkable burials dating to the 4th century AD. As well as providing a poignant glimpse of these individuals’ lives, the rites that consigned them to the earth offer clues to help solve the enduring mystery of the nature of Moche civilisation. Scott McKinney reports.

Photo: Proyecto Sacbe Yaxuna Coba / Cultural Heritage Engineering Initiative and PSYC

World News: Mexico, Australia, Ethiopia

On the Maya road The first LiDAR study of the longest road in the Maya area has shed new light on settlement in Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. The 100km- long Sacbe 1 was built in the 7th century AD and connected…

Above The spectacular pyramids at Tikal rising above the Guatemalan rainforest. For centuries, such dense foliage has kept the Maya secrets well, but an extensive LiDAR survey has revealed just how much lies shrouded under the canopy.

Mapping the Maya: the lost wonders of a jungle civilisation

The deeds of royal dynasties presiding over Maya city-states in northern Guatemala can still be followed on ornate inscriptions raised in their name. But just how large were their dominions? Recent survey work has revealed that the Maya were far more populous and sophisticated than previously suspected. Tom Garrison told Matthew Symonds how follow-up fieldwork is revolutionising our knowledge of Maya state power.

Modernising Maudslay’s Maya casts

These monumental carvings are just two of the many the adventurous Alfred Maudslay recorded on his travels around Mesoamerican sites in the 1880s and 1890s.

Palace of the Maya Time Lords: discovering two Royal Tombs at El Perú-Waka’

Excavations at the Maya city of Waka’ in Guatemala revealed a stone gallery buried within the palace acropolis. Inside its rooms were relics that told the extraordinary story of its construction, destruction, and reuse as a chamber for subterranean fire rituals. David Freidel, Griselda Pérez Robles, and Juan Carlos Pérez followed these clues to find an ancient Maya royal burial.

Left Fortifications, including walls and ramparts, were built on the hillsides around Holmul and other Maya cities. below left At El Palmar, the survey identified many structures outside the previously investigated area (in the red box). They show a city that is some 40 times bigger than thought before.

Lost sites in the jungle: mapping the Maya civilisation

As cities, ceremonial centres, watchtowers, and irrigation systems emerge from the Guatemalan forest, a new LiDAR survey shows that there is more to the Maya than meets the eye.

CALAKMUL

Alice Stevens ventures deep into the Mexican jungle where, surrounded by the echoing screech of howler monkeys, Calakmul rises above the canopy, and takes a stand as the most impressive Mayan temple remaining today.

Main image Huaca de la Luna, at the foot of Cerro Bianco (White Mountain) as seen from the platform of Huaca del Sol.

Huacas de Moche: revealing death and ritual in the shadow of the pyramids

Blood-sacrifice and ritual extravaganzas could not save the Moche civilisation, but that did not stop them trying. Jorge Meneses tells CWA about the latest discoveries in the heart of the Moche capital, evidence of the grim public displays so intrinsic to this mighty empire.