Rolfe Schell at the gates of Tulum
"The great landscapes all belong to a tomorrow we have already lived."
Fernando Pessoa, Livro do Desassossego
I collect old books. There's no more fun for me than to forage through secondh...
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Cenote daydreams, Yucatan, Mexico
Recollections of stunning ruins, fantastic snorkelling,
exquisite food and friendly people.
The Yucatan is unlike any other region of Mexico. It has unique terrain, climate, cuisine and peop...
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The Books of Chilam Balam - part two
The Yucatecan Books of Chilam Balam, which comprise the Chumayel, Tizimin, Mani and others, are notoriously difficult to translate and interpret because of archaic or obsolete words in th...
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Primary sources of Maya history - part two
Four major cultural areas provide us with the most extensive documentation in Mesoamerica: the Valley of Mexico (Aztec), Northern Yucatan (Lowland Maya), Western Oaxaca (Mixtec), and Guatemala (Highlan...
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The Books Of Chilam Balam and the Trojan War Of Yucatan
In writing of the Persian Wars, Herodotus, our earliest Greek historian of note, declared that his purpose in writing of the attempts by the Persian kings Darius and Xerxes to invade Greece was to ensu...
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Primary sources of Maya history - part three
Decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphic system of writing represents perhaps the greatest breakthrough in unravelling the history of the ancient Maya. Estimates vary on the actual percentage of the glyph...
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Primary sources
The Maya, Aztecs, and other peoples of ancient Mexico had a very strong sense of their own history, which they went to great lengths to preserve. But in some ways, their concept of history differed rad...
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The Books of Chilam Balam - part one
The Books of Chilam Balam are indigenous Maya chronicles written in northern Yucatan during the century or so following the Spanish Conquest. The surviving texts we have are copies of the origin...
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Primary sources of Maya history - part one
The most extensive documentation for the native historical tradition in Mesoamerica comes from the Valley of Mexico and surrounding area. This is hardly surprising, for the main thrust of the Spanish C...
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Primary sources of Maya history - part five
Controversy is a fact of life. Complete agreement on any subject is hardly to be expected. The study of Maya hieroglyphs is no exception. In fact, scholarly differences of opinion can be just as viciou...
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Primary sources of Maya history - part four
In the last column we looked briefly at the history of the decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphic writing system and some of the modern myths about the ancient Maya propagated by certain popular writers...
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Chaya, the Maya miracle plant
Chaya plant
© Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization, 2009
Updated in October, 2009
"Here is a contribution of the unforgettable Maya Indians, whom we have abandoned," is the wistful introd...
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Mel Gibson's Apocalypto
It's unusual for me to write about anything other than Mexico as seen through the eyes of a humorist. But this month's article is different, because someone familiar with the culture around which Gibso...
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There's something about Mexico
A Maya myth, as recorded by Alfonso Villa R. in Quintana Roo and recently reported to me, tells us that God created a number of human couples, each with the racial characteristics of the group to which...
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The Maya civilization and cities - a resource page
Introduction
To the foreigner, the words 'Maya' and 'Mayan' conjure up images of archeological ruins and a lost society and culture. Currently, the word 'Chiapas' brings to mind rebellion, Sub Command...
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La Civilización Maya Conflicto Histórico Parte 1
No hay verdad en las palabras
de los extranjeros.
Chilam Balam de Chumayel
Las noticias nos llegan todos los días. Denuncias de movimientos del ejército mexicano en Chiapas; pronunciamie...
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The Maya Civilization, Historical Conflict Part 2
The Maya Civilization
Historical Conflict Part 2
(To Part 1)
"Just because of the crazy times, because of the crazy priests, is it that sadn...
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The Maya Civilization, Historical Conflict Part 1
There is no truth in the words
of foreigners.
Chilam Balam of Chumayel
The news arrives every day: accusations of menacing maneuvers by the Mexican army in Chiapas, proclam...
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La Civilización Maya: Conflicto Histórico, Parte 2
El libro del Chilam Balam de Chumayel es el más importante de los códices o manuscritos propiamente mayas que hasta hoy se conocen. Este libro recoge tradiciones orales de la historia maya; parte de ...
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La Civilizacion Maya
Por enésima vez, el carro se había atorado en el camino. ¡Carajo! La cosa estaba mucho peor de lo que habíamos imaginado. Abrí la puerta y me bajé para ver cómo sacarnos del agujero en que habí...
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A Day At Labná
For the thousandth time, the automobile was stuck in the road. Damn! Things were much worse than we'd imagined. I opened the car door and stepped down to see how to get us out from the hole in which we...
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The Maya Civilization, references
REFERENCES
De la Garza, Mercedes, y León-Portilla, Miguel,
Literatura Maya.
Compilación de textos: Popol Vuh, Memorial de Sololá, Libro de Chilam Balam de Chumayel, Rabinal A...
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La Civilizacion Maya , Referencias Y Sitios En La Red Mundial
REFERENCIAS
(
Sitios Redes)
De la Garza, Mercedes, y León-Portilla, Miguel,
Literatura Maya.
Compilación de textos: Popol Vuh, Memoria...
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The Maya Civilization, Maya Numerals And Calendar
Mayan Numeric System
Ancient Maya discovered two fundamental ideas in mathematics: positional value and the concept of zero. This feat was accomplished by only one other great culture of antiquity, th...
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