Portal:Mesoamerica/Did you know/archive

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The monthly Portal:Mesoamerica Did you know? section ran from May 2012 to September 2017. Since then, the section has been randomly generated.

September 2017

... that sap of the maguey
plant?

... that the
Ka'Kabish archaeological site in Belize has revealed evidence of a Maya city
?

... that
K'inich Yo'nal Ahk I, ajaw of Piedras Negras, erected many stelae
that became prototypes for monuments raised by his successors?

August 2017

... that during the Spanish conquest of El Salvador, the Spanish town of San Salvador was destroyed by natives within a year of being founded by Gonzalo de Alvarado?"

... that star wars took place in Mexico 1,500 years ago?

... that El Temblor in Guatemala is the site of a ruined ancient Maya city that has not yet been excavated by archaeologists, but has been badly damaged by looters?

July 2017

... that
K'inich Yat Ahk II (name glyph pictured), the last ruler of Piedras Negras, defeated the rival state of Pomona before his capture by K'inich Tatbu Skull IV of Yaxchilan
?

... that the
Petexbatún region of Guatemala
?

... that the Maya archaeological site of Tres Islas in Guatemala has an alignment of monuments that imitates an architectural group at Uaxactun that served as an astronomical observatory?

June 2017

... that Jaina Island, a Maya necropolis, contains over 20,000 burials, with every one excavated having one or more ceramic figurines (example pictured)?

... that conquistador Pedro de Portocarrero founded the first Spanish colonial town within the territory of the modern Mexican state of Chiapas?

... that fragments of ancient Maya books have been recovered from the ruins of Guaytán in Guatemala?

May 2017

... that
K'inich Yat Ahk II (name glyph pictured), the last ruler of Piedras Negras, defeated the rival state of Pomona before his capture by K'inich Tatbu Skull IV of Yaxchilan
?

... that the Lenca fortress in southern Honduras, successfully resisted the Spanish conquistadores
for months?

... that the Maya site of Altar de Sacrificios in Guatemala was one of the first places to be settled in the Maya lowlands?

April 2017

... that the Maya archaeological site of La Corona (sculpture pictured) is the enigmatic and long-sought "Site Q"?"

... that the name of the endangered
Zapotec word
meaning "people of the sea", but that the Huave call themselves Ikoots and their language ombeayiiüts, "our language"?"

... that the 2003 book Aztecs
?"

March 2017

... that twin pyramid complex, an architectural arrangement characteristic of Tikal
?

... that Mayanist scholar and archaeologist Sylvanus Griswold Morley was also an American secret agent in World War I?

... that
Yo'nal Ahk III
, is considered one of the finest examples of niche stelae?

February 2017

... that the reign of
Ha' K'in Xook (name glyph pictured), who ruled the Maya city of Piedras Negras from 767–780 AD, seems to have been relatively free from war
?

... that the
Acala Maya were hunted by the Spanish after they killed two Dominican
friars in 1559, and within 165 years they had disappeared completely?

... that the ancient Maya lightning god Yopaat helped with the rebirth of the maize god by breaking the shell of a turtle with his thunderbolt?

January 2017

... that the Classic Maya archaeological site of Yaxchilan, on the Mexican border with Guatemala, is known for its preserved sculpted lintels (example pictured) detailing the dynastic history of the city?

... that during the Spanish conquest of Chiapas, frequent changes in colonial administration left the early conquistadores vulnerable to native rebellion?

... that the town of Maria de Estrada
?

December 2016

... that some experts believe a
Olmec writing system
?

... that active/stative alignment, but has no adjectives
?

... that the large pre-Columbian Maya city of Cihuatán, in central El Salvador, was destroyed by a massive fire within 150 years of being founded?

November 2016

... that the Dresden Codex (pictured) is the earliest known book written in the Americas?

... that the 16th-century
K'iche Maya hero Tecun Uman during the Spanish conquest of Guatemala
?

... that the
K'iche' kingdom of Q'umarkaj in Central America was conquered when the Kaqchikel people allied with a Spanish force
?

October 2016

... that most ancient Maya graffiti (example pictured) was probably produced by the Maya elite in their own dwellings, with some later additions by squatters?

... that the small
K'atepan in Guatemala is said to have been the home of the Tojolabal Maya
, a group now found in neighbouring Mexico?

... that the
Manche Ch'ol, a Maya people encountered by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés
in 1525, were nearly extinct by 1770?

September 2016

... that the small Maya archaeological site of Cerro Quiac (pictured), the most important Maya ceremonial site in the Guatemalan municipality of Cantel, was once used as an artillery emplacement?

... that two life-size stucco jaguars were excavated at the pre-Columbian Maya city of Chutixtiox in Guatemala?

... that although the Huastec civilization was an offshoot of the Maya, it is not considered a part of the Maya civilization?

August 2016

... that, in the late 8th and early 9th centuries, the Maya city of Sacul was one of the few kingdoms in the southeastern Petén region to use its own Emblem Glyph (pictured)?

... that the Spanish believed that the fierce Chinamita Maya were cannibals?

... that the Balsas River valley is regarded as one of the earliest maize growing sites in Mexico, dating from around 9,200 years ago?

July 2016

... that the ancient city of Tikal (pictured) in Guatemala was one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya civilization?

... that Tikal Temple IV, a Maya pyramid in Guatemala, was one of the tallest structures in the pre-Columbian New World?

... that the Central Acropolis of the ancient Maya city of Tikal, built during the Late Preclassic period, served as a residence for Tikal's royal families?

June 2016

... that Wajxaklajun (pictured) is unusual among Classic-period highland Maya cities in its use of stelae?

... that excavations in the Valley of Mexico
?

... that the Spanish conquest of Guatemala was a prolonged conflict against the Maya that lasted nearly two hundred years?

May 2016

... that Olmec statue of a young lord raising the axis mundi
under supernatural protection, was found near the peak on an extinct volcano?

... that German
epigrapher Nikolai Grube co-presented workshops teaching Maya hieroglyphs to native Maya in Mexico and Guatemala
?

... that three ancient
armadillo, were uncovered at Chojolom in the Guatemalan Highlands
after a period of heavy rain?

April 2016

... that the large ritual E-Group complex northeast of the ancient acropolis in the Maya city of El Chal (stela pictured) in Guatemala was once the city centre?

... that the Olmec
paintings?

... that the Aztec
palace?

March 2016

... that the exuberant "Smiling Faces" figurines (pictured) from the Remojadas archaeological site are likely related to the local cult of the dead?

... that the earliest known Maya city in the Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica dates to around 750 BC?

... that the
Manche Ch'ol, a Maya people encountered by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés
in 1525, were nearly extinct by 1770?

February 2016

... that at the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Kaqchikel Maya city of Iximche (pictured) was the second most important city in the Guatemalan Highlands?

... that Xaltocan, an island in Mexico, means "sandy ground of spiders" in Nahuatl?

... although the Olmec culture, it did realize a greater level of cultural complexity with its sophisticated calendrics and writing system
.

January 2016

... that the Maya rulers
?

...that the Museo Regional del Sureste de Petén in Guatemala was built to offset damage from a highway construction project?

...that the archaeological cave of Juxtlahuaca contains Mesoamerica's earliest sophisticated painted art, as well as its only known example of non-Maya deep cave art?

December 2015

...that the Maya city of La Blanca in northern Guatemala features an unusually well built palace complex (pictured) for such a small city?

...that the Classic Veracruz culture of pre-Columbian Mexico was obsessed with human sacrifice as part of the Mesoamerican ballgame?

...that the
P'urhépecha language isolate of Mexico is one of only two Mesoamerican languages not to have a phonemic glottal stop and that it has more than 160 affixes, 13 tenses and 6 modes
?

November 2015

... that the Lost World (pictured) at the ancient Maya city of Tikal was the first architectural complex to be built at the city?

... that the early Maya farming village of Cuello in Belize has a mass grave containing 26 sacrificed war captives?

... that the Madrid Codex, one of only three surviving pre-Columbian Maya books, contains almanacs and horoscopes that were used to assist Maya priests in their ceremonies?

October 2015

... that naturalistic in Mesoamerica
?

... that the
Classic Period Maya archaeological site of Quiriguá in Guatemala has what is possibly the largest free-standing worked monolith (pictured) in the New World
?

... that judging from sculptures discovered in the ancient Maya city of Río Azul, it is believed that the local elite was sacrificed after a takeover by Tikal?

September 2015

...that the archaeological cave of Juxtlahuaca contains Mesoamerica's earliest sophisticated painted art (pictured), as well as its only known example of non-Maya deep cave art?

...that on the festival celebrated in the month of Aztecs sacrificed, flayed and ritually cannibalized a young man who had been impersonating the god Tezcatlipoca
for an entire year?

... that at some Maya cities, the earliest production of stone stelae coincided with the establishment of dynastic rule?

August 2015

... that a new Maya calendrical cycle
?

...that the Tlaxcaltec forces led by Xicotencatl II "The Younger" had nearly defeated the army of Hernán Cortés when he was ordered to ally with them instead?

... that the private Miraflores Museum in Guatemala City has three mounds from the ancient Maya city of Kaminaljuyu in its grounds?

July 2015

...that the conical
Teuchitlan tradition were unique in Mesoamerica
?

...that the hieroglyphic inscriptions at the Early Classic Maya city of Bejucal in northern Guatemala were all made within a narrow 40 year period?

...that the causes and extent of Olmec influences on Mesoamerican cultures are still being debated long after they were first raised at a conference in Tuxtla Gutiérrez in 1942?

June 2015

...that the icons and faces incised into pantheon

...that hieroglyphic panels describing the ritual sacrifice of a bound captive who is rolled into a ball
and thrown to his death?

...that butterfly motifs in the textiles of Oaxaca reflect pre-Christian spiritual beliefs among the Mazatec people?

May 2015

... that Maya eccentrics
(pictured) were often buried under monuments and buildings?

...that the Latin, was returned to Mexico by Pope John Paul II after more than four centuries of changing hands in Europe
?

...that the language of the
ethnic group of Maya called Itza, who once ruled over Chichen Itza
, is almost extinct even though there's still an estimated population of 30,000 of them?

April 2015

... that Calakmul (pictured) was one of the largest and most powerful Maya cities?

... that the unusual Mexican ball game of pelota mixteca is thought to be a development of real tennis?

... that despite its name, there is speculation that Temple VI at the Maya city of Tikal was not a temple?

March 2015

... that the archaeological site of Topoxte (pictured) has the best surviving example of Postclassic Maya architecture in the Petén region of Guatemala?

... that the Aztec wooden slit drum
?

... that the Maya city of Ixkun in Guatemala erected one of the tallest stone stelae in the entire Petén Basin?

February 2015

... that the Maya city of Balamku in Mexico features an almost intact 16.8-metre (55 ft) long decorated frieze (pictured) first uncovered by looters?

... that the
stelae
and altars?

... that Mexican feather work
was prized by both Aztec and European rulers?

January 2015

... that the use of speech scrolls (example pictured) developed independently in European and Mesoamerican art?

... that the authenticity of the supposedly
Grolier Codex is disputed, even though it uses pre-Columbian paper
?

... that the
Aztecs built the first version of the aqueduct that carried water from springs at Chapultepec in Mexico City
?

December 2014

... that the Tzeltal people (Tzeltal child pictured) of the Mexican state of Chiapas are descended from the Maya?

... that artefacts of the poorly understood Aztecs
?

... that the ancient Maya architectural complex of Tazumal, in El Salvador, contained some of the earliest known metal artefacts from Mesoamerica?

November 2014

... that Aztec sun stone
(pictured)?

... that the Classic Period Maya site of El Zotz, in Guatemala, takes its name from the enormous quantity of bats that live in a cave under the ruins?

... that the Maya archaeological site Baking Pot, in Belize, covered a 9-square-kilometre (3.5 sq mi) area?

October 2014

... that Toniná in Mexico (pyramid pictured) was one of the last of the Classic Period Maya cities to fall into ruin?

... that the island city of Nojpetén was the capital of the last surviving Maya kingdom when the Spanish stormed it in 1697?

... that Temple III at the Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala was the last pyramid ever built there?

September 2014

... that Aztec
belief?

... that archaeologists at the Olmec site have not only found the earliest rubber balls yet discovered and the earliest wooden artifacts in Mexico, but also the skeletons, femurs
, and crania of human infants?

... that the Maya people who were famed among their Spanish colonial
neighbours for their warlike nature?

August 2014

... that the
Spanish conquistador Gonzalo de Alvarado y Chávez
after a siege that lasted several months?

... that despite being banned by Spanish colonial authorities in Mexico, the making of amate, or bark paper, never disappeared?

... that the Kejache, a Maya people with a former territory straddling the modern border of Mexico and Guatemala, may have been descended from the inhabitants of the great Maya city of Calakmul?

July 2014

...that after the
Aztec Coatlicue statue (pictured) was discovered, it was buried again to prevent it becoming the object of a cult
?

... that human sacrifice among the pre-Columbian Maya was performed in a number of ways, including decapitation, heart extraction, shooting with bow and arrows and disembowelment?

... that the cotton plantations
?

June 2014

... that Olmec-style sculpture outside of the Gulf of Mexico
coast?

...that at the time of the
Aztec
empire in size and population?

... that the royal
Kan Ek', first recorded in the ninth century, was the name given to all of the Itza kings of central Petén
?

May 2014

... that art historian
Olmec
statuette, "among the great works of sculpture of all ages"?

... that the final version of the 33-metre-high (108 ft) Temple 33 at the ancient Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala was completely destroyed by archaeologists in 1965?

...that from around 900 to 1500 the Mixtec people wrote using pictorial representations and symbols?

April 2014

... that it is not known how the Paris Codex (pages pictured), one of only three surviving pre-Columbian Maya books, came to be in the collection of the Bibliothèque Imperiale in Paris in the 19th century?

... that
Yohl Ik'nal, queen of the Classic Period Maya city of Palenque in Mexico
, was the first known female Mayan ruler?

... that in Maya mythology, wayob were the powerful spirit forms of lords, priests and gods?

March 2014

... that the Double-headed serpent (pictured) may have been given to Hernán Cortés when he invaded the Aztecs?

... that Huitzilopochtli
?

... that K'iche' Maya of Guatemala
, was said to carry the sun across the sky in his jaws?

February 2014

... that the Maya archaeological site of Xlapak (pictured) in Mexico features well-preserved examples of the ostentatious Puuc style of architecure?

... that the cult of feathered serpent deity, was the first Mesoamerican
religion to transcend earlier linguistic and ethnic divisions?

... that Jasaw Chan K'awiil I
to honour his wife, Lady Kalajuun Une' Mo'?

January 2014

... that the Mesoamerican sculptures known as chacmools (example pictured) held receptacles to receive sacrificed human hearts?

... that the Yalain have been proposed as one of the three most important Maya polities in the Petén Basin of Guatemala during the Postclassic period (c. 1000–1697)?

... that looters at the Maya archaeological site of Holtun in Guatemala uncovered a series of large stucco masks flanking the main stairway of the principal pyramid?

December 2013

... that the main temple at the Plaza of the Seven Temples (pictured) in the Maya city of Tikal, in modern Guatemala, was decorated with a skull and crossbones?

... that the Regional Museum of Anthropology and History of Chiapas in Tuxtla Gutiérrez sponsors an annual event for children from low income areas of the city?

... that the Maya archaeological site of Tamarindito was relatively unscathed by looters during the Guatemalan Civil War due to the presence of guerrilla fighters?

November 2013

... that a
local Catholic Church
?

... that the Maya city of Dzibanche in southeastern Mexico was the early capital of the Kan dynasty, which later ruled from Calakmul?

... that the whereabouts of the original
Robert Carmack
in 1973?

October 2013

... that at the inauguration of the sixth
Aztec Templo Mayor in 1487 (scale model pictured), thousands of prisoners of war were ritually sacrificed
, bathing the steps of the pyramid in blood?

... that in 1697 the culmination of the Spanish conquest of Petén resulted in the defeat of the last independent native kingdom in the Americas?

... that Juan Pedro Laporte was described in an obituary as the father of Guatemalan archaeology?

September 2013

... that the ruins of the Maya city of Mixco Viejo (pictured) in Guatemala received their name because they were believed to be the remains of another city entirely?

... that according to
Spanish Conquest
?

... that the Nahua artists in the 1530s, is one of the earliest maps of what is now Guatemala
?

August 2013

... that the Terminal Classic Puuc Maya site of Sayil (pictured), in Mexico, is known for its terraced palace that gives the impression of a three-story building?

... that the origin of the
K'iche' Maya patron deity Jacawitz has been traced back to a historical event at the city of Seibal
?

... that the powerful Early Classic Mesoamerican city of Balberta, in Guatemala, abruptly collapsed around AD 400?

July 2013

... that Jasaw Chan K'awiil I
who died in AD 734?

... that K'iche' Maya
?

... that the Lacandon Jungle is the last in North America large enough to support jaguars?

June 2013

... that Temple V (pictured) of the Classic Period Maya archaeological site of Tikal, in Guatemala, was the first pyramid to be discovered at the site?

... that the Maya site of El Puente in Honduras was founded by the great city of Copán to control the crossroads of two trade routes?

... that the important Mesoamerican archaeological site of Cara Sucia in El Salvador was severely damaged by looters after the Land Reform Programme of 1980?

May 2013

... that the South Ball Court of El Tajín, Mexico, has a panel (pictured) showing a ballplayer being beheaded?

... that the monuments of the ancient Maya city of Seibal in Guatemala display an unusual mix of Maya and foreign elements?

... that a Maya ruler of Ixlu, a small ancient city in Guatemala, claimed to be the lord of the major Maya city of Tikal?

April 2013

... that the royal dynasty at the great Maya city of Copán (fragment pictured) in Honduras was founded by a warrior sent from the distant city of Tikal?

... that the Late Classic Maya archaeological site of La Muerta, in northern Guatemala, is distinguished by its unusual subterranean labyrinth?

... that the small mountain-top
Aztec temple of El Tepozteco in Mexico, dedicated to the god of pulque, an alcoholic beverage, attracted pilgrims from as far away as Guatemala
?

March 2013

... that the canals and chinampas of Xochimilco (pictured), a World Heritage Site in Mexico City, are in danger of disappearing within 50 years?

... that the oldest pre-Hispanic tomb in the Americas has been found in Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico?

... that the small Maya city of Itzan in the Petén region of Guatemala featured an unusually large quantity of sculpted monuments?

February 2013

... that the
pre-Columbian Zapotec storm god Cocijo
(pictured) was said to have created the world from his breath?

... that the history of the ancient Maya city of Dos Pilas has been reconstructed in more detail than almost any other Maya site?

...that cigarettes and grants prayers for revenge
?

January 2013

... that Aztec god of fire, was one of the nine Lords of the Night even though he was a solar deity
?

... that the triadic pyramid complex was an early Maya architectural form based on the Maya creation myth?

... that the Classic Period Mesoamerican archaeological site of Bilbao on the Pacific coastal plain of Guatemala, features a significant amount of sculpture with ballgame imagery?

December 2012

... that the innovative design of the
pre-Columbian twin pyramid of Tenayuca (pictured) in Mexico was later used as a model for the temples of the Aztecs
?

... that in 1968 American archaeologist A. Ledyard Smith received the Order of the Quetzal from the Guatemalan government for his services to the cultural heritage of the country?

... that the Classic Period Maya city of Motul de San José in Guatemala made tribute payments of high quality ceramics after its military defeat?

November 2012

... that at the P'urhépecha
kingdom that it was time to go to war?

...that the
stela
?

... that some modern
St. James
?

October 2012

... that women who wish to participate in the Danza de los Voladores (pictured) in Papantla must ritually ask forgiveness for being a woman?

... that the
pre-Columbian ruins of Teopanzolco in Mexico are said to have been rediscovered during the Mexican Revolution
when an artillery emplacement shook loose some dirt from the stonework?

... that
Q'umarkaj, in Guatemala, is archaeologically and ethnohistorically the best known of the Late Postclassic highland Maya
capitals?

September 2012

... that the early
Popocatepetl
volcano erupted around 150 AD?

... that the Mesoamerican archaeological site of Quelepa in eastern El Salvador was distinguished by its unusual ramped pyramids?

... that
temple
?

August 2012

... that potbelly sculpture (pictured) is a crude non-Maya sculptural style distributed along the Pacific slope of southern Mesoamerica and dating to the Preclassic Period?

... that the Maya archaeological site of El Tintal, in the northern Petén region of Guatemala, includes a triadic-style pyramid estimated to be 30 metres (98 ft) tall?

... that the pre-Columbian ruins of bas-reliefs representing ball-players
?

July 2012

... that Huitzilopochtli
?

... that the important Early Classic Mesoamerican city of Montana, in Guatemala, was a colony founded by the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan, in Mexico?

... that for most of its history, Ixtonton was the most important Maya city in the upper Mopan Valley of Guatemala?

June 2012

... that the worshippers of Aztec god of renewal, wore the flayed skins of their sacrificial
victims?

... that the Classic Period Maya city of Ixtutz in the Maya Mountains of Guatemala was lost for more than a century after its discovery in 1852?

... that despite using designs centuries old, much of the art of the Huichol indigenous people in western Mexico is made with commercially produced beads and yarn?

May 2012

...that the 1300 identified Mesoamerican ballcourts used for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame (see drawing) were all built in the same basic shape despite a span of 2700 years?

... that in ancient Mesoamerica, mirrors were fashioned from stone and were regarded as portals to a supernatural realm?

... that in Mesoamerican folklore, it is believed that a dog carries the newly deceased across a body of water into the afterlife?

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