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History => Ancient and Medieval History => Topic started by: Imperial Dave on April 26, 2024, 06:09:45 AM

Title: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Imperial Dave on April 26, 2024, 06:09:45 AM
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a60538378/archaeologists-found-a-smoking-gun-behind-the-end-of-the-maya-kingdoms-reign/

Hopefully of interest
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Justin Swanton on April 26, 2024, 07:51:03 AM
Of interest.  :)
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Imperial Dave on April 26, 2024, 10:49:57 AM
good, I thought it was interesting
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Erpingham on April 26, 2024, 10:56:44 AM
I was a little confused as to how this was a the "end of the maya kingdoms reign".  There is, it seems, a dynastic shift. But culturally, things continue. The city doesn't collapse - it actually enjoys a building boom. 
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Jon Freitag on April 26, 2024, 12:33:03 PM
Interesting, yes, but there are so many speculations in the conclusions to the finding and imagined event that interpretation is almost unreadable.  While the original paper unveils how these conclusions were reached, many seem to be leaps of faith.  Why a lead photo of Kukulcan at Chichén Itzá rather than showing the actual Guatemalan site?
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Jim Webster on April 26, 2024, 12:43:33 PM
I was left wondering if 'smoking gun' was a pun suggesting it had been a coup
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Jon Freitag on April 26, 2024, 02:36:32 PM
Quote from: Jim Webster on April 26, 2024, 12:43:33 PMI was left wondering if 'smoking gun' was a pun suggesting it had been a coup
Does a society pull their already dead and interred Ancients from their tombs and toss them into a bonfire in a coup?
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Erpingham on April 26, 2024, 02:58:23 PM
Quote from: Jon Freitag on April 26, 2024, 02:36:32 PM
Quote from: Jim Webster on April 26, 2024, 12:43:33 PMI was left wondering if 'smoking gun' was a pun suggesting it had been a coup
Does a society pull their already dead and interred Ancients from their tombs and toss them into a bonfire in a coup?

Possibly.  Oliver Cromwell was dug up and his body "executed" after the Restoration of Charles II.  John Wycliffe was burned as a heretic and his ashes thrown in a river 44 years after he died.
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Jon Freitag on April 26, 2024, 03:06:18 PM
Now that is a grudge.  I suppose I should have prefaced my comment with "civilized" society...
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Erpingham on April 26, 2024, 03:24:07 PM
Quote from: Jon Freitag on April 26, 2024, 03:06:18 PMNow that is a grudge

There is an image of Charles II as a Merry Monarch and a beacon of the Enlightenment. But his treatment of the regicides (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regicides_of_Charles_I) shows a darker side of his character.
Title: Re: Maya Kingdoms
Post by: Imperial Dave on April 26, 2024, 04:29:40 PM
All I said was that bit of halibut was good enough for Jehovah...