Maya Kingdoms

[Imperial Dave]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/archaeology/a60538378/archaeologists-found-a-smoking-gun-behind-the-end-of-the-maya-kingdoms-reign/

Hopefully of interest

[Justin Swanton]

Of interest. 

[Imperial Dave]

good, I thought it was interesting

[Erpingham]

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. 

[Jon Freitag]

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?

[Jim Webster]

I was left wondering if 'smoking gun' was a pun suggesting it had been a coup

[Jon Freitag]

I 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?

[Erpingham]

I 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.

[Jon Freitag]

Now that is a grudge.  I suppose I should have prefaced my comment with "civilized" society...

[Erpingham]

Now 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 shows a darker side of his character.

[Imperial Dave]

All I said was that bit of halibut was good enough for Jehovah...