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An Affiliate of the Miami Science Museum
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Maya Updates: Don’t miss this blog site. It carries some of the
latest archaeological news from the Maya world.
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SPECIAL NEWS: Maya Women, Weavers, and Their Stories
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News Flash!
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- In a yet-to-be disclosed site in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexican archaeologists have a discovered a maze of stone temples in underground caves. Some of the discoveries are still submerged in water and contain human bones. For the ancient Maya, caves were a portal to Xibalba, the underworld where rituals and the mythical ballgame took place.
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NASA Satellite Imaging to Map Zapotec Culture
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Photograph by Ileana Oroza
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Bill Middleton, acting chair of the Department of Material Culture Sciences and professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Rochester Institute of Technology, will use satellite imagery from NASA to map the extent of the Zapotec culture in Mexico’s State of Oaxaca.
“They had the first writing system, the first state society, the first cities. And they controlled a fairly large territory at their Zenith—250 B.C. to 750 A.D.,” says Middleton in an article in a NASA publication. (Complete article can be seen at http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/news-archive/dyk_0007.html or http://www.rit.edu/news/?r=46164)
The Zapotec built their capital Monte Alban atop a mountain, which was flattened to build their magnificent city. Other important Zapotec sites are located in the Valley of Oaxaca and can be easily visited.
The technology will help Prof. Middleton also determine the geological changes this area of Mexico has gone through. “It used to be wetter than it is now,” says Middleton about the semi arid State of Oaxaca.
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Underground River System - Possibly World’s Longest
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A diver in the extensive underground cave system in the Yucatan. (Courtesy of Hidden Worlds Cenotes)
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Two divers exploring the Yucatan region near the Caribbean beach resort of Playa del Carmen have recently identified what is possibly the longest underground river in the world. The waterway is said to extend for 95 miles and connects two cave systems.
British diver Stephen Bogaerts and fellow diver Robbie Schmittner from Germany, spent four years exploring the area looking for a connection between Sac Actun and Nohoch Nah Chich, the Yucatan's second and third longest cave systems.
They recently made the final connection of the systems and according to Gene Melton, chair of the National Speleological Society's Cave Diving Section, the connection caps 20 years of mapping in this Yucatan labyrinth. The divers believe that the river may connect to two other major systems, which would add an additional 125 miles to its length.
From www.visitmexico.com
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Report from INAH
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Three skeletons found in subterranean caves near Tulum, Mexico, are more than 10,000 years old, said INAH archaeologist Carmen Rojas Sandoval. The remains, which were examined in laboratories in Britain, the United States and Mexico, were people between 10,000 and 14,500 years ago.
The remains, found in 2002, were examined by laboratories in Britain, the United States and Mexico, all of which confirmed the remains were people between 10,000 and 14,500 years ago, said Rojas. The caves were flooded in the last thaw of the Pleistocene ice age, the INAH statement said.
Archaeological finds showed the region was probably used as a refuge and a graveyard, said the Institute. The archaeologists also found campfire remains.
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