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| a member of an advanced Indian civilization in what is now Mexico before the conquest by Cortez in 1519 |
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| a Maya chronicle dating to 495 AD but written much later |
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| a tall straight tree sacred to the Maya who regard it as the World Tree or axis mundi- the prop that holds up the sky and the place where humans communicate with gods |
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| a large natural well-like source of water for the Maya formed by the drainage of surface water into caverns with the consequent collapse of the cavern roof due to erosion and leaching |
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| a Maya reclining figure looking over its left shoulder and having a kind of tray or vessel for offerings upon its chest. It has been interpreted as a heavenly messenger taking the blood-gifts of humans to the gods (Kubler). Others say that they are attendants of the rain god Tlaloc, and that the trays are for catching rain. |
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| the formation of a vault-like structure by progressively cantilevering two stacks of stones until they touch at the top, leaving an open space below. |
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| explorer and conqueror of Mexico |
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| one of the chief gods in the Maya pantheon, associated with the sun and the most basic food of the Maya people |
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| explorer in America, discovered Mississippi |
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| in some ways comparable to Romulus and Remus in the Founding of the City of Rome, repeatedly outwit the Xibalbans, the Lords of the Underworld (evil and darkness) |
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| Maya Glyphs or hieroglyphics or glyphs |
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| the Pre-Columbian Maya writing system |
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| member of an advanced Indian civilization found in Yucatan, Chiapas, British Honduras and N. Guatemala. They had sophisticated system of hieroglyphic writing for which about half of the characters are now translated |
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| the theory that homo sapiens developed in just one place (probably Africa) and spread from there over the rest of the world including to the American continent, perhaps via the Bering Strait |
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| one of the major rulers at Palenque |
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| the book of the Maya creation myth |
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| a tube connecting a tomb to a temple through which the souls of the deceased were thought to gain access to the world of living |
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| in incarnate form, which he is supposed to have assumed at a certain moment in history, a great lawgiver and civilizer, inventor of the calendar or Book of Fate. He was a compassionate king who could scarcely bear to hurt anything. Otherwise, the great plumed bird-serpent; the life god |
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| the old capital city of Guatemala |
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| Maya city in Yucatan (Mexico) |
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| Maya site in Yucatan famous for the Codz Poop, a temple covered with sculpted faces |
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| Maya city in Chiapas (Mexico) |
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| residential suburb of the Maya site of Copan (Honduras) |
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