Posted on 01/10/2008 3:24:46 AM PST by restornu
The findings, archaeologists say, are some of the first strong evidence that the ancient Maya civilization, at least in places and at certain times, had a market economy similar in some respects to societies today. The conventional view has been that food and other goods in Maya cities were distributed through taxation and tributes controlled by the ruling class.
Archaeologists suspected that a wide clearing at the center of the ruins of Chunchucmil might have been a market, not a ritual plaza. Rock alignments peeking above the surface seemed to outline the positions of stalls and regular pathways; the rock patterns for stalls were too small to be house foundations.
Other research in recent years indicated that the city appeared to have been an important trade center in northwestern Yucatán, connected by a canal to the Gulf of Mexico, 15 miles away. It was doubtful, experts say, that the nearby agriculture could have supported the estimated population of up to 45,000 at the city’s peak around A.D. 500. Archaeologists surmised that the city traded in goods and services for food at an outdoor market.
Noting that he had been a skeptic of an ancient Maya market economy, Dr. Houston wrote in an e-mail message, “I’m definitely coming around to a belief in these market facilities,” citing suggestive discoveries at other ruins in Mexico and Guatemala.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The findings, archaeologists say, are some of the first strong evidence that the ancient Maya civilization,
Very interesting. I always thought it convenient that we were taught in school that the Maya were big time socialists. Perhaps the picture is a bit more complex, or even upside down.
There is a theory that Machu Picchu was really just a resort for the well-to-do and rulers of what is now Peru. The sexier theory I was taught was that it had great and undiscovered meaning — something spiritual. The more prosaic explanation (here, a market) and in Machu Picchu, Club Med for the wealthy, is probably closer to reality. You first have to eat, and every body wants to “get away from it all.”
No wonder they misinterpreted typical MesoAmerican marketplaces. Even though the market is the centerpiece of nearly every current MA community -- such an explanation of an archAEological site would be too "prosaic"...
Stuffed-shirt nitwits... <...grumble...>
We, apparently, agree...
“We, apparently, agree . . .”
Well your more practical understanding/pragmatic evaluation of archeology will not get you a spot on Art Bell (or George what is his name).
And somehow the world is supposed to end in 2012, as some ancient calendar only goes to that year.
The real reason? Maybe they just ran out of stone to carve 2013.
I think they modified it too
the world is supposed to end in 2012 as we know it!
There is a passage in the Bible which might fit this scenario
Isaiah 24
Men shall transgress the law and break the everlasting covenant—At the Second Coming they shall be burned, the earth shall reel, and the sun be ashamed—Then shall the Lord reign in Zion and in Jerusalem.
1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
7 The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
11 There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
13 ¶ When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
16 ¶ From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
D&C 49 http://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/49/22-28#22
22 And again, verily I say unto you, that the Son of Man cometh not in the form of a woman, neither of a man traveling on the earth.
23 Wherefore, be not deceived, but continue in steadfastness, looking forth for the heavens to be shaken, and the earth to tremble and to reel to and fro as a drunken man, and for the valleys to be exalted, and for the mountains to be made low, and for the rough places to become smooth—and all this when the angel shall sound his trumpet.
24 But before the great day of the Lord shall come, Jacob shall flourish in the wilderness, and the Lamanites shall blossom as the rose.
25 Zion shall flourish upon the hills and rejoice upon the mountains, and shall be assembled together unto the place which I have appointed.
26 Behold, I say unto you, go forth as I have commanded you; repent of all your sins; ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you.
27 Behold, I will go before you and be your rearward; and I will be in your midst, and you shall not be confounded.
28 Behold, I am Jesus Christ, and I come quickly. Even so. Amen.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
Well, as one of the merryhearted I ain’t goin’ out with a sigh.
I’m gonna get busy and get all the wine women and song I can before 2012.
To each their own!:)
Ancient Mayan Marketplace Discovered
LiveScience | December 3, 2007 | Andrea Thompson
Posted on 12/05/2007 12:21:26 PM EST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1935088/posts
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