Ancient World Review

The Lost Secrets Of Maya Technology (Updated)

During the years 250-900 AD, a chaotic period that saw the decline and fall of the western Roman Empire and the beginning of the Dark Ages in Europe, an advanced civilization completely unknown to the Romans entered its golden age in the rain forests of MesoAmerica on the other side of the world, only to collapse mysteriously by the end of the millennium.

This was the classical civilization of the Maya. Their secrets would remain hidden in the jungles until Spanish conquistadors subjugated the Yucatan Peninsula in the 16th Century. Since then, the Mayan ruins have been explored and their hieroglyphs translated, revealing an enigmatic, bloody and sophisticated culture that may have been the most technologically advanced society on the planet at the time.

 "More than 1,000 years before Europeans landed on the shores of the Americas, the Maya developed a science-based civilization in the almost total isolation of the tropical lands of the Yucatan Peninsula," according to James A. O'Kon, author of The Lost Secrets Of Maya Technology (New Page Books, 2012). "The mystery of the Maya and the origins of their advanced science and technology have always intrigued me and initiated my quest for answers to their riddles."

O'Kon is an interesting character, a professional engineer who "synergistically applied field exploration, research, forensic engineering and 3D virtual reconstruction of Maya projects to discover lost Maya technological achievements." He argues persuasively that the engineering and scientific feats of the Maya rivaled any of the accomplishments of the more well-known civilizations in the Mediterranean world.

The Maya developed a written language, mathematics (including the number zero), an elaborate astronomical system, huge cities that included some of the highest buildings ever constructed at the time, the blast furnace, water systems, underground reservoirs and an extensive network of paved roads, among other things, all without the benefit of metal tools.

Related: An interview with James O'Kon (2017).

This lack of metal tools means that the Maya are generally considered to be a Neolithic culture, but O'Kon disputes the current "three-age system" (Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age) popular with mainstream archaeology, precisely because the Maya clearly meet all of the criteria for an advanced civilization. He suggests calling them "technolithic," meaning "a technologically advanced culture that did not have metal tools," (p. 88) presenting evidence that the Maya compensated for their lack of metals by designing tools made of jadeite and obsidian.

The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology discusses subjects like the rise and fall of the classical Mayan civilization and their mathematics and astronomy, but its main focus is on their technology. O'Kon goes into considerable detail about the techniques they used in the manufacture of cement, multistory buildings, arches, vaults, water collection and storage systems, water filtration, roads, long-span bridges and things like Maya boat construction and the "man-powered tumpline," a "load-carrying mechanism that powered the Maya economy." (p. 274)

O'Kon sees the collapse of the Classical Period as a result of the breakdown of Maya technology in the face of radical environmental changes. He surveys the evidence that climatic conditions, especially prolonged drought and the effects of tropical volcanic eruptions, led to the abandonment of Maya cities which could no longer support their populations.

This is a fascinating and unique book, well-written and accessible to the general reader. I'd recommend it highly for anyone interested in one of the most exotic and spectacular civilizations in the ancient world.

Laser Scans Reveal Details Of Maya Acropolises

Labna, a relatively small Maya site in the Puuc Hills, Yucatan Peninsula, was one of the sites included in this Lidar survey.

"By shooting billions of lasers at the ground, scientists have uncovered evidence of a sophisticated civilization left by the ancient Maya who lived in the northern Yucatán Peninsula in what is now Mexico, a new study finds." Source: Live Science.

"The laser survey revealed that in a region of the hilly northern Yucatán, known as the Puuc (pronounced 'Pook'), the Maya built remarkable structures, including artificial reservoirs, more than 1,200 ovens, a handful of terraces for farming and nearly 8,000 platforms where houses were built. The ancient Maya also quarried the rock there, the laser scan revealed."

Various Maya sites in the Puuc region (I believe that "Ruta Puuc" means the Puuc Route or Road or something like that). I'm not sure how many of these sites were included in this recent Lidar survey.

Note: "...the Maya in the Puuc built four large acropolises dating to the Middle Formative period (700 B.C. to 450 B.C.) and civic centers dating to A.D. 600 to 750, during the Late Classic. While these structures were already documented, an analysis of the laser data revealed that these Puuc communities had a distinct city layout that isn't seen in other Maya regions."

Copy Of Famous Aztec Structure Discovered In Maya City

The Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala.

"A pyramid and courtyard unearthed in the Maya city of Tikal may have once been an embassy of sorts for visitors or ambassadors from the megapolis of Teotihuacan, more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) away." Source: Live Science.

Note: The pyramid and courtyard are relatively new discoveries. They were detected by a Lidar survey in 2019.

"The apparently peaceful outpost [Tikal] may have represented a period of cooperation between Tikal, in what is today Guatemala, and Teotihucan, which is near modern-day Mexico City. A century or so after the structure was built, invaders — quite possibly from Teotihuacan — would take over Tikal. 

"The enclosed courtyard and stair-step pyramid look like a miniature version of a structure called La Ciudadela, or The Citadel, in Teotihuacan. That citadel contained a temple known as the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent and a 38-acre (15.2 hectare) courtyard large enough to accommodate 100,000 people. The smaller version in the Maya city of Tikal not only has the same layout, but it also has the same orientation and is full of artifacts with links to Teotihuacan, including a Teotihuacan-style grave."

Video from 2013.

Mega Eruption Wiped Out Maya Region In 431 AD

Video from 2014. According to new research, the eruption occurred in 431 AD, earlier than previously believed.

"A new scientific study of an ice core sample from Greenland has demonstrated how the Central-American Ilopango mega-eruption wiped out an entire Maya area, 1,590 years ago. Oxford University archaeologist and lead author of the new research paper, Dr Victoria Smith, told Ars Technica that her radiocarbon analysis confirmed El Salvador's Ilopango mega-eruption occurred in 431 AD. She said the resulting ejection was '50 times bigger' than the May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens mega-eruption in southwestern Washington, USA, which was one of the greatest volcanic explosions ever recorded in the Americas." Source: Ancient Origins (2020).

Video from 2013. Only decent aerial views of the lake I could find. Note the old date for the eruption.

Several (older) sources describe the Ilapongo eruption as the cause of a Maya "dark age," a 100-year decline in productivity which appears to have occurred in the region starting around 540 AD, but if the revised dating from this new research is correct, that theory is probably obsolete along with several others:

"It was hypothesized that this eruption caused the extreme weather events of 535–536 in Europe and Asia, but this is unlikely given the research published in 2020 that dates the eruption to 431 AD." (Wikipedia)

Ilapongo eruption covered at 2:02. Again, the date is probably wrong.

The eruption was disastrous but there seems to be some confusion in the sources I've seen about just how bad it was. Ancient Origins describes it as a "Maya Armageddon," but the Ars Technica article mentioned above says that it "affected only a small region." According to the original paper, the eruption only had a major impact on people living around 50 miles from the volcano. That's pretty bad, but for those outside of this zone the impact wasn't bad enough to have caused the whole Mayan society in the area to collapse:

"A few hundred kilometers away, in the lowlands of Guatemala and Belize, people must have noticed the centimeter or so of ash that coated their homes, temples, streets, and fields, but the Maya heartland was spared [the eruption’s] worst impacts. The Maya expansion of the Classic Period carried on despite the devastation around Ilopango. However, we don’t yet have enough evidence to say how the local disaster affected the wider trade networks of which Chalchuapa was a part or how all those aerosols in the stratosphere affected the world’s climate in the years after the eruption." (Ars Technica)

Scientists Identify Contents Of Ancient Maya Drug Containers

Most sources associate this plant with the Aztecs, but it seems that it was also used by the Maya.

"Scientists have identified the presence of a non-tobacco plant in ancient Maya drug containers for the first time. The researchers detected Mexican marigold (Tagetes lucida) in residues taken from 14 miniature Maya ceramic vessels. The vessels also contain chemical traces present in two types of dried and cured tobacco." Source: Science Daily.

"Originally buried more than 1,000 years ago on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, the vessels also contain chemical traces present in two types of dried and cured tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum and N. rustica. The research team, led by anthropology postdoc Mario Zimmermann, thinks the Mexican marigold was mixed with the tobacco to make smoking more enjoyable."

Note: Tagetes lucida, also known as Mexican Tarragon, Aztec Marigold, sweet mace, etc., was used for incense and as a herbal remedy; and it sounds like it had psychotropic properties. (The Vaults of Erowid site describes it as having "visionary potential".) According to Wikipedia, "It has been reported that the Huichol of Mexico use the plant as an entheogen by smoking Tagetes lucida with Nicotiana rustica, and that Tagetes lucida is occasionally smoked alone as an hallucinogen."

California Approves Prayer In School -- As Long As It's In Praise Of Aztec Gods

"The Department of Education in California – where else? – has approved a 900-page Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum designed to 'decolonize' America. The program aims to right the supposed wrongs of the imperial Christianity that swept the Americas clean of their indigenous religions. The curriculum’s core promise is that it will help root out Christianity, and the capitalism and racism that apparently came with it." Source: RT.

"To empower children as forces for ending such white colonialist hangovers, pupils are being instructed to pray in chants each day to Aztec gods that formerly sacrificed (and sometimes ate parts of) children and their parents. The curriculum instructs the pupils to invoke these gods to empower themselves as 'social warriors'."

Comment: This case reveals the hypocrisy and complete absurdity of the "decolonization" project currently playing out in schools around the country. If you're against colonization, imperialism, wars of conquest, slavery, etc., etc., then why would you pick the Aztecs of all people to hold up as a model of an indigenous culture to be celebrated? The Aztec Empire was a slave state and the ruling Mexica forged their empire through the bloody conquest of surrounding tribes:

"From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of dense population and the rise of city-states. The Mexica were late-comers to the Valley of Mexico, and founded the city-state of Tenochtitlan on unpromising islets in Lake Texcoco, later becoming the dominant power of the Aztec Triple Alliance or Aztec Empire. It was a tributary empire that expanded its political hegemony far beyond the Valley of Mexico, conquering other city states throughout Mesoamerica in the late post-classic period." (Wikipedia)

The Spanish were invaders and conquerors, true, but the Aztecs were no different. And the Aztecs were far more brutal and aggressive, waging war to expand their empire and capture prisoners to be sacrificed, sometimes by the thousands, to their bloodthirsty gods. The Aztec empire was a militaristic society. Boys were trained to be warriors starting at the age of 15. The Aztecs waged war "to provide economic growth through expansion and the expectation of the commoners to have a chance of moving up in society through successful warfare. The first action of a ruler elect was always to stage a military campaign which served the dual purpose of showing his ability as a warrior and thus make it clear to subject polities that his rule would be as tough on any rebellious conduct as that of his predecessor, and to provide abundant captives for his coronation ceremony." (Wikipedia)

The Aztecs created so many enemies that many of their neighbors formed an alliance with the Spanish conquistadors to defeat them. According to Wikipedia, the war against the Aztecs "was not solely a contest between a small contingent of Spaniards defeating the Aztec Empire but rather the creation of a coalition of Spanish invaders with tributaries to the Aztecs, and most especially the Aztecs' indigenous enemies and rivals."

This proposed ethnic studies program covers a lot of cultures besides the Aztecs (inaccurately, I'm sure), but the idea that little grade school kids could end up chanting incantations to the Aztec gods is hilariously absurd, especially if they're also being taught that the Aztecs were the innocent victims of foreign invaders. I really doubt if the kids trapped in these indoctrination centers will learn the true history of the Spanish conquest or hear anything about the other side of the colonization and subsequent history of Mexico, a perspective which can be found, for example, in the book Blood-Drenched Altars: A Catholic Commentary on the History of Mexico. This program isn't designed to teach real history, though. It's purpose is to"help students see themselves as "active agents in the interethnic bridge-building process we call American life," according to the Latin Post (March 12, 2021). That's code for the destruction of white, Christian, western civilization.

Stunning Eagle Sculpture Uncovered At Sacred Aztec Temple In Mexico

The Templo Mayor Aztec temple in Mexico City. (The obnoxious intro music doesn't last very long.)

"A striking 600-year-old Aztec sculpture depicting a golden eagle has been uncovered in an ancient temple in Mexico, archaeologists with Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced Monday (Jan. 25)." Source: Live Science.

"The eagle, which measures 41.7 inches by 27.6 inches (106 by 70 centimeters), is the largest bas-relief sculpture ever found at the temple.

"The eagle was carved into the floor of a structure at the foot of Templo Mayor — the iconic pyramid-shaped temple that was built at the heart of the ancient Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán and is now in modern-day Mexico City."

Did The Maya Really Sacrifice Their Ballgame Players?

According to new research, the scenario described in this video may not be accurate.

"Imagine a crowd roaring as royalty take to the ball court, rubber ball in hand in a sport so spectacular, it symbolized good versus evil. The ballgame played by the Maya, Aztec and neighboring cultures is famous for its ubiquity in Mesoamerica before interloping Europeans shut it down. But many mysteries and misconceptions continue to dog people's understanding of the game." Source: Live Science (2019).

"For instance, did the game's winners or losers get sacrificed at the end of the game? And were the hoops on the ball courts treated like modern-day basketball nets?

"The answer to both questions is no; the players were most likely not sacrificed, and the ball wasn't meant to go through the hoop, although it likely happened from time to time, said Christophe Helmke, an associate professor at the Institute of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen."

Note: "The Mesoamerican ballgame was a sport with ritual associations played since 1400 BC by the pre-Columbian people of Ancient Mesoamerica. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a newer more modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the indigenous population." (Wikipedia)

This modern version of the game looks like a more restricted form of soccer. Some human sacrifices would probably liven it up.

Comment: I'm not sure how reliable this new research is. There does seem to be solid archaeological evidence for human sacrifice at these ball games:

"The association between human sacrifice and the ballgame appears rather late in the archaeological record, no earlier than the Classic era. The association was particularly strong within the Classic Veracruz and the Maya cultures, where the most explicit depictions of human sacrifice can be seen on the ballcourt panels — for example at El Tajín (850–1100 CE) and at Chichen Itza (900–1200 CE) — as well as on the well-known decapitated ballplayer stelae from the Classic Veracruz site of Aparicio (700–900 CE). The Postclassic Maya religious and quasi-historical narrative, the Popol Vuh, also links human sacrifice with the ballgame." (Wikipedia)

Ultimately the question seems to boil down to how you interpret the archaeological evidence:

"In addition to the association between the game and the gory Popol Vuh, this 'human sacrifice' myth [?] stems from artwork on some ball courts featuring skulls and bones. 'But the question is, 'Are those references to the underworld and that mythical event? Are they supposed to be taken literally?' I think it's an open question,' Helmke said." (Live Science)

Pre-Aztec Skeletons Found Arranged In Spiral Pattern (2018)

"Ten ancient skeletons have been unearthed in Mexico this week [Feb. 2018] including a baby of around one-month-old. Ritualistically deformed, in that their skull shapes and teeth had been altered, they were arranged in a spiral shape with interlocking arms - confirming that they were buried in some sort of ancient death ritual. Estimated to be over 2,400-years old, this occult discovery is creating a typhoon of ideas in the archeological world." Source: Ancient Origins (2018).

"According to a  BBC report, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), who are excavating the grounds of the Pontifical University of Mexico (UPM) in the borough of Tlalpan in southern Mexico City, discovered the skeletons under a building that once served as 'classrooms, chapel as well as dorm room for the priests.' Bone dating revealed the people once belonged to the Pre-Classical period in Mexico around 1600 BC, predating the rise of the Aztec Empire. The bodies had been 'buried with  cajetes and tecomates - earthenware bowls and pots of various sizes' and some of them grasped 'stones or ceramic spheres,' according to the  BBC."

Aztec Allies Ritually Disfigured Remains Of Captured Male & Female Spaniards

Spanish only, unfortunately. Video shows the ruins of Zultepec / Tecoaque (see below).

"New research suggests an Aztec-allied town ceremonially disfigured the bodies of captive Spaniards [both men and women] during one of the worst defeats in the Spanish Conquest of 1519-21, experts said Wednesday." Source: Archaeology News Network (2019).

"The heads of the captive Spanish women were strung up on skull racks alongside those of men. An analysis of the bones revealed the women were pregnant, and in pre-Hispanic practice that may have qualified them as 'warriors.' Another sacrificial offering included one woman’s body that was cut in half near the remains of a dismembered child of 3 or 4."

Note: "The National Institute of Anthropology and History said the offerings were excavated at the Zultepec-Tecoaque site just east of Mexico City. Zultepec was an Aztec-allied town that in 1520 captured a convoy of about 15 male Spaniards, 50 women and 10 children, 45 foot soldiers who included Cubans of African and indigenous descent, and about 350 allies from indigenous groups in what is now Mexico. All were apparently sacrificed over the space of months."