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The Maya had a great history of body modification and arguably so did the Olmec and other major groups. [1] Indeed, ritual practices that included many forms of body modification is key in the list of tenets that are cultural traits shared that make Mesoamerica a "culture area", an idea proposed by anthropologist Paul Kirchhoff. [2]
Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the skull of a human being is deformed intentionally. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying pressure.
To the ancient Maya, body modification was a reflection of a cultural, and individual identity. [11] Through different modifications, the body could be experienced individually, used as a symbol, or as a political statement. Beauty was also used to outwardly show and perform social and moral values. [12]
Abacus – The Aztec and Maya of Mesoamerica performed arithmetic operations using an abacus. It served as a more accurate and faster alternative to a written solution or relying on memory. Archaeologists have recorded the Mesoamerican abacus, or Nepohualtzintzin, as being present in Mesoamerica from at least between 900 and 1000 CE. [1]
Ichcahuipilli armor was a lightweight, multifunctional garment worn on the torso of the warrior, designed to provide blunt-force trauma protection against clubs and batons, slash protection from obsidian macuahuitl, and projectile protection from arrows and atlatl darts. [3]
Bloodletting was the ritualized practice of self-cutting or piercing of an individual's body that served a number of ideological and cultural functions within ancient Mesoamerican societies, in particular the Maya. When performed by ruling elites, the act of bloodletting was crucial to the maintenance of sociocultural and political structure.
Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. [1] In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (e.g., common ear piercing in many societies), and religious rites of passage (e.g., circumcision in a number of cultures), as well as the modern primitive movement.
The children, found near the ancient ruins of the Toltec capital of Tula, had been decapitated. The remains have been dated to AD 950 to 1150. The remains have been dated to AD 950 to 1150. "To try and explain why there are 24 bodies grouped in the same place, well, the only way is to think that there was a human sacrifice", archaeologist Luis ...