Monday, November 9, 2009

Mayan Collapse































































The Maya collapsed in 922 A.D. because the Toltec army sieged them. When the Maya collapsed they were suffering malnutrition and 80% of them had Anemia, a disease caused by a lack of iron. The land was being overfarmed from the mid 8th century onward for a long time, which may have been by the Toltecs, but the land was eroded and eventually the people left the land. Around 1225 there was mahogany pollen there, meaning it was forested, so it had to be left or intentionally forested by the Toltec. In around 950, the number of obsidian blades (used in sacrifice and worship) drops off, so the Toltecs probably made the Mayans give up their religion; but not completely, see the picture above of the temple, which is worshiping the Toltec god of dawn and Chac, the Mayan god of rain.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Ancient Artifacts (Chime Edition)

The title is

Ancient Artifacts (Moche Edition)



Two hands. These are amazing.

A moche face. Look at the teeth, with a straight face. Just try.

Ancient Artifacts (Nazca Edition)


















































A drawing of a bird then a spider in the Earth. It looks like this and the image below are all the ones I will find.


Some Nazca artifact. This and drawings in the ground are most of the artifacts left.


Ancient Artifacts (Paracas Edition)

























Some gold piece. Looks like someone dancing to me.

Paracas Bird, looks like a fish in my view.


Don't know what this is. Looks like a bird person.


Some gold piece. Looks like someone dancing to me.

Ancient Artifacts (Chavin Edition)


A Chavin Tribe gold artifact, this was a gold pot. It is unknown what it was for.


A clava from the Chavin. It depicts "nasal discharge associated
with use of hallucinogenic snuff" (from http://susu.xanga.com/697323852/human-sacrifice-cannibalism-and-hallucinogenic-snuff/)


It's a Tiwanaku ceramic vessel. Looks like a bust of someone. Really creepy cleft.


The Final item, a "Chavin effigy vessel" (from http://newsgrist.typepad.com/robertgoldwaterlibrary/auctions/)