Guatemalan sites yield Maya insights.Excavations at three sites in Guatemala's Peten rain forest have revealed previously unknown facets of both the early and later stages of ancient Maya civilization This article is about the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. For a discussion of the modern Maya, see Maya peoples. For other meanings of the word Maya, see Maya. The Maya civilization . Work at one extensive site, called Cival, indicates that during its heyday, from 500 B.C. to A.D. 100, the city housed perhaps 10,000 people and was ruled by kings who lived in an elaborate ceremonial center, says Francisco Estrada-Belli of Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tenn.; coeducational; chartered 1872 as Central Univ. of Methodist Episcopal Church, founded and renamed 1873, opened 1875 through a gift from Cornelius Vanderbilt. Until 1914 it operated under the auspices of the Methodist Church. in Nashville. Artifacts from Cival's main plaza include two huge stucco masks that portray Maya gods. A cache of jade pieces probably served as an offering to the gods. An inscribed in·scribe tr.v. in·scribed, in·scrib·ing, in·scribes 1. a. To write, print, carve, or engrave (words or letters) on or in a surface. b. To mark or engrave (a surface) with words or letters. stone slab shows a striding figure wearing a chest plate decorated with symbols of kingship. Estrada-Belli asserts that the finds support his hypothesis that Maya of the Preclassic period, which ran from about 2000 B.C. to A.D. 250, achieved cultural feats comparable to those of the ensuing Classic-Maya era. At the Classic-era site of Waka, researchers exploring the main palace found a chamber containing the remains of an apparent female ruler, suggesting that queens as well as kings reigned over the city. Pottery near the woman's body dates to between A.D. 650 and 750. A war helmet in the chamber resembles helmets usually associated with male Maya rulers This article or section has multiple issues: * Its neutrality is disputed. * It may need to be to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. * It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. , says David Freidel of Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University, at Dallas, Tex.; United Methodist; coeducational; chartered 1911. The school's facilities include laboratories for electron microscopy and stable isotopes, a museum of paleontology, and a graduate research center. in Dallas. Finally, images and writing on an altar stone
In Roman Catholic Churches, an altar stone is a solid piece of natural stone, consecrated by a bishop. discovered at Cancuen indicate that, around A.D. 790, the city's king expanded his power through regional alliances and clever politics. At that time, most Classic-era Maya kingdoms were in decline or collapsing, according to Vanderbilt's Arthur Demarest, who directs the Cancuen project. The three research groups announced the findings separately through press releases.--B.B. |
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