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Lost Maya Metropolis Hidden By Thick Jungle Uncovered by Laser Mapping and a Lucky Google Search

New laser technology unveils Valeriana, a sprawling Maya metropolis hidden for centuries

The Mayans mastered water management. What can we learn from them?

Study looks at water reservoirs that were in use for over 1,000 years

Archaeologists find the secret ingredient of Maya lime plasters

It's more than a history mystery. This might pave the way to creating new construction materials.

Lost, 2000-year-old Mayan civilization in Guatemala rediscovered with the help of lasers

Many ancient mysteries are hiding in the jungle. New technologies could unravel them.

Archaeologists find earliest evidence of Maya divination calendar

It’s one of the many achievements of a culture that also developed a writing system and built pyramids and observatories

Unstable climate led to the abandonment of Mayapan and a partial collapse of the Mayan Empire

Climate can make or break empires.

Archaeologists find 1,000-year-old Mayan canoe in underwater cave in Mexico

It's the most well preserved pre-Hispanic boat ever found.

Ancient Maya ruins digitized by laser aerial survey

These look like renderings from a video game. Only they're real!

Ancient 2,500-year-old mural depicts exchange of salt as a commodity

It's a finding well worth its salt.

Largest and oldest Maya monument forces archaeologists to rethink how the civilization evolved

There's more than one hot item in the state of Tabasco.

The Maya had a larger environmental footprint than initially thought

As the Maya empire thrived, its environmental footprint also grew.

Did the Maya civilization really use chocolate as currency? New study suggests so

I say we bring back this currency.

Scientists find over 60,000 new Maya structures (thanks to LIDAR)

The map extends over thousands of square miles.

Chocolate files: from the early days to today's dark pleasure

Chocolate is… who am I kidding — we all know what chocolate is. It’s sweet, delicious pleasure. But chocolate, this seemingly simple product has a rich and complex history which stems for almost 4,000 years. Before it took the beloved form we know today, chocolate had medicinal and ritualistic uses. The Early Mesoamerican days The Aztecs […]

How ancient water management by the Chaco or Maya can help modern strategies in the face of climate change

Water management policy needs to adapt to constantly shifting environmental conditions, else we risk repeating the downfall of the Maya.

Mayans may have been better at math and astronomy than we thought

Anthropologists have shown that Mayan tablets of math and astronomy have been greatly underestimated.

Doomsday part 3: The magnetic poles are shifting!

Something really bad is going to happen, and the Earth’s rotation will shift, rotating the other way, which will cause a magnetic pole reversal, which is going to rain all sorts of havoc on terrestrial life. As the poles shift, there will be a massive continental drift, with landmasses plunging in towards each other, bringing […]

Doomsday part 2: Nibiru (Planet X) is coming

It’s December 21, 2012. Nibiru, or Planet X as some call it, is going to collide or just barely miss a collision with planet Earth, and the consequences will be devastating. The idea was first started in 1995 by Nancy Lieder, founder of the website ZetaTalk. She describes herself as a contactee with the ability […]

Doomsday part 1: The Maya calendar predicts the end of the world

Doomsday is upon us, fellow ZME Readers! December 2012, particularly 21 December 2012 marks the conclusion of a b’ak’tun—a time period in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar which was used in Central America, most notably associated with the Maya (even though it was the Olmec people that actually invented it). In 1966, Michael D. Coe, […]

2,500 year-old Mayan chocolate suggests it was used a as condiment, not just as a beverage

Anthropologists believe cacao beans and pods were mainly used in pre-Hispanic cultures as a beverage, a practice which can be traced traced as far as some 3,500 years ago . The resulting beverage would have been reserved for the Mayan elite. Now, a recent archeological find shows  traces of 2,500-year-old chocolate on a plate in Mexico’s […]

Newly discovered Mayan sun god temple is covered with magnificent masks

Deep in the dense Guatemalan jungle, archaeologists have come across a veritable jewel of their trade. An 1600-year old Mayan temple, almost in mint condition, going by the of name Temple of the Night Sun, beautifully or frighting decorated, as you prefer, with giant masks of the Maya sun god. The find was made at the El Zotz […]

First evidence of tobacco consumption in Mayan culture found

Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient urn dated from the Mayan classical period, which after a thorough chemical analysis was found to contain traces of nicotine. Though it has been documented in Mayan texts and folklore that tobacco use was a common part of the local community, this is the first hard evidence supporting the fact that Mayans […]

Amazing 2700 year old "cat triad" carving found in Mexico

Archeologists unearthed from Mexico’s underground a spectacular Olmec-style stone carving depicting three sitting felines, dated from 700 B.C. Dubbed the “Triad of Felines” by the archeologists who first discovered the monolith, the carving was found just 60 miles from Mexico City in Chalcatzingo, a famous archeological site known for its numerous Olmec culture artifacts found […]

Early American culture defeated by natural calamities

In almost every belief there’s an apocalypse, hanging above the believers’ head like the sword of Damocles. But as far as we know so far, such an apocalypse is yet to come; this is where Mike Moseley, a distinguished professor of anthropology at the University of Florida steps in, claiming that actually, the earliest American […]