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More than 80 different theories or variations of theories attempting to explain the Classic Maya collapse have been identified. [10] From climate change to deforestation to lack of action by Maya kings, there is no universally accepted collapse theory, although drought has gained momentum in the first quarter of the 21st century as the leading explanation, as more scientific studies are conducted.
By extension, the sacrifice of a human life was the ultimate offering of blood to the gods, and the most important Maya rituals culminated in human sacrifice. Generally only high status prisoners of war were sacrificed, with lower status captives being used for labour.
The "Preclassic collapse" refers to the systematic decline and abandoning of the major Preclassic cities such as El Mirador around 100 AD. [6] A number of theories have been proposed to explain this collapse, but there is as little consensus here as there is for the causes of the more famous collapse leading to the Postclassic period.
Researchers studying sediment in Belize's Blue Hole have found that the weather may actually have been what caused the collapse of the Mayan civilization. Theories as to why a civilization as ...
The Maya even had a term for it: “och-i k’ak’ t-u-muk-il, ‘the fire entered his/her tomb,’” the researchers wrote. However, there were no scorch marks in the chamber where the bones ...
Boys were younger than 6 when they were sacrificed. The team behind the new study was able to extract and sequence ancient DNA from 64 out of around 100 individuals, whose remains were found ...
The relevance of modern Dark Rift observations to pre-Columbian and traditional Maya beliefs is strongly debated, and academic archaeologists reject all theories regarding extraterrestrial contact, but it is clear that the promotion of Mayanism through interest in 2012 is contributing to the evolution of religious syncretism in contemporary ...
This may support the theory that war was fought by and for elites; that is, the Maya and non-Maya nobility. This may be because of the long distances that had to be traveled between cities. One estimate puts about 500-1000 men on the battlefield on each side of the conflict at maximum based on estimates about the logistics of the journey, such ...