Giant Maya Figureheads to be Restored

MEXICO CITY.- Six giant figureheads at Chakanbakan Archaeological Zone, Quintana Roo, considered the greatest and among the earliest in the area, will be restored by specialists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Created more than 2,300 years ago, these sculptures remind the Olmeca style, which represented deities with jaguar faces, revealing the adoption by Maya of elements from earliest cultures. Intervention to figureheads made out of stucco, clay and stone is coordinated by Gerardo Calderon and conducted [...]

Burials Were Discovered at Tlatelolco

MEXICO CITY.- More than 130 burials, most likely from the 16th century, were found at the Great Base of Tlatelolco Archaeological Zone, in Mexico City, during the recent exploration season. The remains are being analyzed to determine their age. First traces of this unprecedented funerary complex were registered between 2008 and 2009. The group of skeletons was found placed parting from the center of the Prehispanic structure, from where 126 of 131 registered skeletons were recovered by archaeologists of the [...]

Egypt Finds Hoard of 2,000-Year-Old Bronze Coins

CAIRO.- Archaeologists unearthed 383 bronze coins dating back to King Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century B.C. and was an ancestor of the famed Cleopatra, the Egyptian antiquities authority announced Thursday. The statement said one side of the coins were inscribed with hybrid Greek-Egyptian god Amun-Zeus, while the other side showed an eagle and the words Ptolemy and king in Greek. Founded by one of Alexander the Great’s generals, the Ptolemaic Dynasty ruled Egypt for some 300 [...]

Restoration of Mural in Tlatelolco Uses Nanotechnology

MEXICO CITY.- Specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have been successfully applied different treatments to stabilize the mural painting at the water tank at Santa Cruz de Santiago de Tlatelolco Imperial College, among them, the use of calcium hydroxide nanoparticles, technique that allows retiring salts produced by humidity. Considered a unique vestige that reveals the fusion of European and Prehispanic pictorial techniques during early New Spain age, this mural, discovered in 2002 in Mexico City, represents [...]

Zapoteca Ruling Marriage Portrait Restored

NEW YORK, NY.- One of the few samples of Prehispanic rulers’ portraits, located at the façade of Tomb 6 in Lambityeco, Oaxaca, was restored by specialists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). They are the portraits of Lord 1 Earthquake and Lady 10 Reed, created more than 1,300 years ago. Salts and humidity damaged the stucco depiction, famous for its realism, created near 700 AD, which represents the couple, advanced in years. The woman wears her hair [...]

Baja California Cultural Heritage Suffered No Earthquake Damage

MEXICO CITY.- The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reports that Baja California cultural heritage presents no damage provoked by the earthquake of April 4th 2010. Baja California INAH Center informed that after several inspections conducted at main cultural centers and archaeological sites guarded by INAH, no affectations were reported. Daniel Aguilar Hernandez, administrator of the aforementioned center, pointed out that epicenter of the quake is located 18 kilometers away from Mexicali, where there are no historical buildings. El [...]

Eye See: Astronomical Architecture Of The Jantar Mantar

The Jantar Mantar – 5 sprawling astronomical observatories – was built by Maharaja Jai Singh II in the early years of the 18th century. Not one of these elaborate ancient observatories boasted a telescope. What they had, and have still, are grandeur, beauty, and exceptional accuracy as calculating instruments. The surviving Jantar Mantar observatories, preserved and restored, are a testament to the skill and ingenuity of India’s royal astronomers. Jaipur and Jai Singh II (images via: Rivaaj Magazine, IN.com and [...]

New Fossils May Fit in Gap between Apes and Humans

WASHINGTON, DC.- Two skeletons nearly 2 million years old and unearthed in South Africa are part of a previously unknown species that scientists say fits the transition from ancient apes to modern humans. The fossils bear traits from both lineages, and researchers have named them Australopithecus sediba, meaning “southern ape, wellspring,” to indicate their relation to earlier apelike forms and to features later found in more modern people. “These fossils give us an extraordinarily detailed look into a new chapter [...]

Government of Peru Reopens Machu Picchu After 2 Month Closure

MACHU PICCHU.- The famed Inca citadel of Machu Picchu reopened to tourists Thursday after a two-month closure due to floods that washed out the rail link to the mountaintop ruins. Actress Susan Sarandon was on hand for an ancient ceremony asking for the blessing of mother Earth and other rituals, including the sounding of an Incan welcoming trumpet. Sarandon posed for photos with young girls wearing traditional Andean dress, and sipped coca tea that many locals use to ward off [...]

Mexican State of Yucatán Buys Archaeological Site of Chichen Itza from Private Landowner

MEXICO CITY.- A historic transaction between the Government of Yucatán and businessman Hans Jurgen Thies Barbachano yesterday allowed the State to buy 83 hectares of land where the archaeological site of Chichen Itza sits for 220 million pesos (17,800,150 USD). The negotiation, which ended two days ago with the signing of an agreement to purchase the land, began more or less a year ago between the Governor Ivonne Ortega Pacheco and Hans Jürgen Thies Barbachano, the owner, who sought the [...]

Teotihuacan Lineage at Tikal Studied

MEXICO CITY.- Iconographic studies of Teotihuacan murals confirm the extension of the lineage of a ruler of the ancient city of Tikal, Guatemala, already revealed by epigraphists of the Maya area. The aforementioned investigation sums up to interpretations of Stele 31 of Tikal that relate to the dynastic line of Atlatl-Cauac (“Dart-thrower Owl”), possible ruler of Teotihuacan between 374 and 439 AD, and whose son, Yax Nuun Ayiin I, was seignior of Tikal. The emblem of this lineage would be [...]

2,000-Year-Old Ceiling Partially Collapses at Nero’s Fabled Golden Palace

ROME.- A huge chunk of a 2,000-year-old gallery in the complex that includes the infamous Emperor Nero’s fabled Golden Palace collapsed Tuesday, Rome’s art officials said. Officials said they believed nobody was inside when the collapse took place at around 10 a.m., bringing down part of a garden above, but firefighters cordoned off the area as they checked no one was trapped. Nero’s Palace had been closed as workers were doing repairs. Built by Roman emperor Nero in the first [...]

Door to Afterlife from Ancient Egyptian Tomb Found by Archaeologists

CAIRO.- Archaeologists have unearthed a 3,500-year-old door to the afterlife from the tomb of a high-ranking Egyptian official near Karnak temple in Luxor, the Egyptian antiquities authority said Monday. These recessed niches found in nearly all ancient Egyptian tombs were meant to take the spirits of the dead to and from the afterworld. The nearly six-foot- tall (1.75 meters) slab of pink granite was covered with religious texts. The door came from the tomb of User, the chief minister of [...]

Peabody Essex Museum Opens Maya Exhibition

SALEM, MA.- Integrated by masterworks of Maya Art, the exhibition Fiery Pool: the Maya and the Mythic Sea was inaugurated at Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, Massachusetts, United States. The showcase based on new interpretations regarding the relevance of the ocean for the Prehispanic civilization, will be open from March 27th to July 18th 2010. The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) lent 22 pieces lodged at the National Museum of Anthropology (MNA); Yucatan Regional Museum “Palacio Canton”; Tabasco [...]

Aztec and Roman Empires Confronted at the Getty Villa

MALIBU, CA.- The Aztec Pantheon and the Art of Empire, integrated by some of the most emblematic pieces of this Prehispanic culture was opened in The Getty Villa in Malibu, California, United States. The exhibition is sponsored by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and J. Paul Getty Museum and will be open from March 24th to July 5th, 2010. Objects exhibited come from the collections of the National Museum of Anthropology, Templo Mayor Museum and J. Paul [...]