Mexico Holiday AAR

[Malthus]

Did you get chance to view any Olmec stuff?

Just a couple of those giant stone heads they had in the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City (which is, BTW, awesome and not to be missed if you happen to be there - though viewing the place takes much of a day!).

I understand that the Olmecs were sort of the progenitor culture for much of mesoamerica - by the Classic Maya era, they were already ancient history, but the Maya may well have inherited many of their cultural traits from them. 

[katmai]

Yeah they were from 1500-400BC. Some beautiful artwork in way of jade masks are the other thing noted for besides the large head statues.

Cool read all around Mal, glad to read it all.


And it's only you we don't like siege.

[Malthus]

Malthus went to Mejico?
But, but, mexicans hate jews....!

I don't think the locals in Chiapas care one way or the other about Jews.  Foreign tourists tend to be classified on a grid with relative wealth as the X axis and politeness as the Y axis ...

By the way, that picture in the mexican religious store, is that an alien?

I have no idea what that ... thing  ... is. Googling suggest that it may simply be a dried fish, though why they are selling it remains a mystery. 

That whole place was seriously wierd.

[Malthus]

Yeah they were from 1500-400BC. Some beautiful artwork in way of jade masks are the other thing noted for besides the large head statues.

Cool read all around Mal, glad to read it all.


And it's only you we don't like siege.

They also have those strange were-jaguar-baby sculptures of unknown meaning ... that's something the Maya did not pick up on.

Glad you enjoyed the read - Mexico is truly an awesome place for this sort of touristing about. There is tons to see, you could spend years and only cover the major sites. Apparently, Calakmul is an awesome site, as you would expect from being Tikal's nemesis, but hard to get to and so mostly unvisited.

[Valmy]

It is eh? Was it more Athens vs. Athens than Athens vs. Sparta then?

Are the Mayans aware New Age people in the United States thought their ancestors predicted the world would end a bit over two years ago?

[Malthus]

It is eh? Was it more Athens vs. Athens than Athens vs. Sparta then?

Never been there so I don't know ... it may be just random chance, ease of access, and preservation that makes the "Tikal plus allies (Copan, Palenque)" more prominent on the tourist itinerary than "Calakmul plus allies".  I just thought it was funny that all of the "major sites" were effectively on the same side of this big war.

Are the Mayans aware New Age people in the United States thought their ancestors predicted the world would end a bit over two years ago?

I have no idea - I certainly didn't ask any about it. 

Anyway, the Mayans would have built a really big pyramid to mark the occasion, not assume that the world would end (apparently, some Mayan inscriptions looked forward to events thousands of years in the future - specifically, celebrations of important victories and kings - though that may have been more a rhetorical flourish than a serious 'prediction', it certainly indicates that the ancient Mayans did *not* believe the world ended when the calender reset!)

[crazy canuck]

Anyway, the Mayans would have built a really big pyramid to mark the occasion, not assume that the world would end (apparently, some Mayan inscriptions looked forward to events thousands of years in the future - specifically, celebrations of important victories and kings - though that may have been more a rhetorical flourish than a serious 'prediction', it certainly indicates that the ancient Mayans did *not* believe the world ended when the calender reset!)

I am waiting for the dawning of the age of Aquarius

[Malthus]

Anyway, the Mayans would have built a really big pyramid to mark the occasion, not assume that the world would end (apparently, some Mayan inscriptions looked forward to events thousands of years in the future - specifically, celebrations of important victories and kings - though that may have been more a rhetorical flourish than a serious 'prediction', it certainly indicates that the ancient Mayans did *not* believe the world ended when the calender reset!)

I am waiting for the dawning of the age of Aquarius

When the Moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars? 

Anyway, the Classic-era Mayans appear to have mostly used astology for predicting when it would be a good idea to attack one's enemies (Venus allignments were frequently mentioned in this context - in the glyphs, the symbol for Venus, added to that for the defeated city, meant a specific sort of victory - one in which the victim was completely overthown and their capital plundered, as opposed to a mere raid for captives to sacrifice - termed by some archaeologists as a "Star War" event  You can tell when this was discovered ... )

[Valmy]

I find it amazing how widespread astrology was in the old days. It seemed like everybody did it.

And in Roman history the astrologers were not only always right but very specific in their predictions 

[Malthus]

I find it amazing how widespread astrology was in the old days. It seemed like everybody did it.

And in Roman history the astrologers were not only always right but very specific in their predictions 

At least the Mayans didn't predict the outcomes of battles by the feeding patterns of sacred chickens. 

"Bibant, quoniam esse nolunt." - Pulcher, Battle of Drepana

[lustindarkness]

Malthus went to Mejico?
But, but, mexicans hate jews....!

Not only that, but his sun glasses were not stolen either.

[derspiess]

Yeah they were from 1500-400BC. Some beautiful artwork in way of jade masks are the other thing noted for besides the large head statues.

Cool read all around Mal, glad to read it all.


And it's only you we don't like siege.

"We" 

[Valmy]

Katmai is an ethnic Tejano and he knows it.

[katmai]

Yeah they were from 1500-400BC. Some beautiful artwork in way of jade masks are the other thing noted for besides the large head statues.

Cool read all around Mal, glad to read it all.


And it's only you we don't like siege.

"We" 

Yes i speak for all Mexicans on languish, sorry but you aren't privy to that memo since you married a gaucha

[katmai]

Katmai is an ethnic Tejano and he knows it.

Don't you ever speak of this again, i don't care if it is the truth