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Terrence Kaufman has argued that Nahuatl is an unlikely candidate because Proto-Nahuan did not enter Mesoamerica until around the time of the fall of Teotihuacan (c. 600 AD), and that Totonac or Mixe–Zoque are likely candidates because many Mesoamerican languages have borrowed from these two languages during the Classic period. [14]
Mayan languages tend to have a rich set of grammatical voices. Proto-Mayan had at least one passive construction as well as an antipassive rule for downplaying the importance of the agent in relation to the patient. Modern Kʼicheʼ has two antipassives: one which ascribes focus to the object and another that emphasizes the verbal action. [76]
The present day and colonial Maya term for the Milky Way is also Sacbe. The fulfilment of one's destiny is considered the fulfilment of their "road." Seeing that movement, roads, and the cosmos are important to Mayan mythos, the conflation of Sacbe with the Milky Way suggests a ceremonial importance of Sacbe. [6]
Although the Maya did not actually write alphabetically, nevertheless he recorded a glossary of Maya sounds and related symbols, which was long dismissed as nonsense (for instance, by leading Mayanist J. E. S. Thompson in his 1950 book Maya Hieroglyphic Writing) [21] but eventually became a key resource in deciphering the Maya script.
In the highland Maya archaeological sites of Abaj Takalik and Kaminaljuyú writing has been found dating to Izapa culture. It is likely that in this area in late Pre-Classic times an ancient form of a Mixe–Zoquean language was spoken, and the inscriptions found here may be in such a language rather than a Maya one. Some glyphs in this scripts ...
The Mayan calendar’s 819-day cycle has confounded scholars for decades, but new research shows how it matches up to planetary cycles over a 45-year span ... the one that baffled scholars the ...
Maya armies of the Contact period were highly disciplined, and warriors participated in regular training exercises and drills; every able-bodied adult male was available for military service. Maya states did not maintain standing armies; warriors were mustered by local officials who reported back to appointed warleaders.
For these reasons, the researchers believe that the walls were instead a way to help the inhabitants of the region get around, essentially an ancient Mayan “Google Maps,” they said.