Headless Man's Tomb Found Under Maya Torture Mural

National Geographic News ^ | March 12, 2010 | John Roach

[SunkenCiv]

The tomb of a headless man adorned with jade has been discovered beneath an ancient Mexican chamber famously painted with scenes of torture. Found under the Temple of Murals at the Maya site of Bonampak, the man was either a captive warrior who was sacrificed -- perhaps one of the victims in the mural -- or a relative of the city's ruler, scientists speculate... At the time of the murals' creation, about A.D. 790, Bonampak was a city of thousands. Today its most prominent vestige is a long-overgrown, partially excavated acropolis in the middle of a vast tropical rain forest in the southern state of Chiapas... Perched midway up the stepped acropolis, the Temple of Murals holds three elaborately painted rooms. Room One depicts the presentation of a young heir. Room Two, above the newfound tomb, is ringed with scenes of the torture of captive warriors -- broken fingers, torn-out fingernails, heads without bodies. Room Three includes paintings of an elite bloodletting ritual... Discovered by the outside world in 1946, the Bonampak murals eviscerated scholars' long-held belief in an ancient Maya Empire ruled by kindly astronomer-priests. The new tomb find may only add to the aura of violence. [Photograph courtesy Alejandro Tovalín, INAH]

[SunkenCiv]

• Mayan texts reveal superpower wars
• Professor Says Mayan Calendar Does Not Portend Earth's Doom (2012AD)
• Tigers Put Their Spin On Mayan Culture
• Mystery Of 'Chirping' Pyramid Decoded
• Evidence May Back Human Sacrifice Claims
• Experts Uncover Ancient Mayan Remains
• A 1,200-Year-Old Murder Mystery in Guatemala
• Bush Visits Mayan Ruins in Mexico
• Second Royal Tomb Discovered at Waka' (Site Q)
• An interpreter of Maya culture [ Harri Kettunen ]
• Exhibition highlights Jades of Belize
• Climate change killed golden civilisations
• Mayans to 'purify' sacred site after Bush visit
• (Mayan) Priests to purify site after Bush visit
• Maya to 'cleanse' sacred site after Bush visit
• Mayan Priests To Kill Extra Chickens, Goats, To Purge Country Following Bush Visit
• Maya Rituals Caused Ancient Decline in Big Game
• Trip To A Sacred Site
• Ancient Mayan Marketplace Discovered
• Mayan calender hints at apocalypse, set for 2012
• Ancient Yucatán Soils Point to Maya Market, and Market Economy
• Ancient Maya sacrificed boys not virgin girls: study
• Analysis of Rare Textiles From Honduras Ruins Suggests Mayans Produced Fine Fabrics
• Thousands Expect Apocalypse in 2012 (imspired partly by Mayan Calander)
• Olmeca Waterproofing Technology Involved Tar
• Tahitian Vanilla Originated In Maya Forests, Says Botanist
• Fighting with Jaguars, Bleeding for Rain:
  Has a 3K-year-old ritual survived in the central Mexico?
• New Maya Olmec Archeological Find in Guatemala [Takalik Abaj]
• Portal to Maya "hell" found in Mexico?
• UAH casts eye on Maya mystery [global warming shills]
• Mayan Elder Insists "2012 Is Not the End of the World"
• 2012 Doomsday Not Likely, Mayans Insist
• Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in Guatemala lake
• Divers probe Mayan ruins submerged in Guatemala lake
• "Of Mayans and Millerites: 2012, 1844, and 2009"
  (Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year)
• If the world ends, can you still return gifts?
• UCSB Archaeologist Disputes Common Belief About Collapse of Maya Civilization
• Ancient Mayans Likely Had Fountains and Toilets
• Honduran ruins predate Mayans
• Mayan Calender Includes Image of Obama ??
• 1000-Year-Old Monument with Image of Mayan Ruler Found
• Wall with Maya Seignior Glyphs Discovered at Archaeological Zone

[SunkenCiv]

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[BunnySlippers]

BUMP

[Grizzled Bear]

How the left yearn for the ways of these ancient, loving, enlightened cultures...

[Diogenesis]

[muawiyah]

The Leftwingtards imagine that THEY will be the ones wielding the swords.

They are so stupid aren't they!

[bboop]

Yes, I second that. And I had thot (not) that the Mayans were just another get-along culture. But a headless sacrificed guy? Must have wandered in...

[Sherman Logan]

Same was said of the Anasazi. Turns out at least some of them were cannibals.

If the neighbors are cannibals, I’d move into a cliff dwelling, too!

[Grizzled Bear]

That reminds me; I need to pick up some more ammo.

;-)

[Sherman Logan]

Reminds me of the world’s all-time best newspaper headline.

Headless Body Found in Topless Bar

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/anniversary/35th/n_8568/

[wildbill]

One of those articles where the Editor puts out the most exotic headline and then you get down into the article and find out that they found a lower jaw and jade ear rings so they speculate the rest of the skull just disintegrated.

So much for the headless hetman.

[James C. Bennett]

You don’t need to go that far, geographically or culturally.

Witch burnings and decapitation ended in the West barely two centuries ago.

Thank goodness for the Age of Enlightenment!

[Grizzled Bear]

Witch burnings and decapitation ended in the West barely two centuries ago.

No one was ever burned for witchcraft in Salem.

They were hanged.

So much for liberal myths.

;-)

[Liberty Valance]

[JoeProBono]

[bunkerhill7]

Bush did it- AND Bush probably waterboarded his head off.

[Yardstick]

Thank God for the Conquistadors.

[JoeProBono]

[Beowulf9]

Who knows what ghost lurketh beneath the cold Mayan tomb and in what way Washington Irving would’ve summoned it to an ever nodding moon!

[SantosLHalper]

And liberals love to vilify the settlers for the Salem witch trails as an indictment of Christianity, but pout, raise hell and generally make asses out of themselves when Mel Gibson released Apocalypto.

"How dare Mel Gibson portray those backward, blood thirsty savages as backward, bloodthirsty savages."