Chaco Canyon – Did You Know?
Located in the northwest corner of New Mexico, Chaco Canyon is 70 miles from the nearest town and reached only by rutted dirt roads. And yet, throughout the valley floor are vast stone edifices some towering as high as 4 or 5 floors and containing hundreds of rooms....
Cooperative Government and the Ancient Olmec
A strong centralized monarchy, evidenced by a single plaza, characterizes the Olmec sites of San Lorenzo and La Venta. At Tres Zapotes, however, this form of government appears to have been adjusted in order to distribute power between several groups. Archaeologists...
Sport and Politics in the Ancient Maya World
Drawing by Christophe Helmke Two carved stone panels discovered in 2015 by Christopher Andres of Michigan State University and his colleagues at the site of Tipan Chen Uitz in Belize depict ballplayers and are the first of their kind to be found in Belize. One of the...
Discovery at Nim Li Punit in Belize
Photo by Professor Geoffrey Braswell A large carved jade pendant likely made for the Maya king Janaab’ Ohl K’inich has been found by Professor Geoffrey Braswell of University of California, San Diego and his team at the site of Nim Li Punit in Belize. Measuring 7.4...
Climate Change Causes Disappearance of Ancestral Pueblo People in American Southwest
Droughts of just five or ten years were enough to prompt major shifts in the small niches where Pueblo people grew maize, their major crop.