[SunkenCiv]

The ancient city of Tikal rises above the rainforest in northern Guatemala. [David Lentz/UC]

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHY0YxdswyY

[DeplorableGirl]

I thought only evil greedy white people in 20th century America polluted the environment. No?

[moovova]

“The bad thing about these is they’re resistant to boiling. It made water in these reservoirs toxic to drink,” Lentz said.”

Whoa. While boiling wouldn’t have eliminated the mercury, I’ve always thought boiling was the cure for all those little buggies floating in the water.

[Red Badger]

I have read, or seen a documentary, on the Maya that said they were crazy over STUCCO!

They STUCCOED EVERYTHING, INSIDE AND OUT!

They also liked ‘red’ paint to create murals, stain the stucco mix and their own bodies.

CINNABAR, a mercury ore, is bright red and they probably used it everywhere, ground into powder.

Oxides of mercury affect the brain as in Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter of Alice in Wonderland. Hatters of the time were known to suffer mental breakdowns because they used mercury in their trade.

So all the Maya may have just gone insane and their civilization collapsed..............

[Red Badger]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crO55WVM0S0

[oldvirginian]

I watched Mel Gibson’s movie “Apocalypto”. In one scene where the prisoners were being led into the city it showed the fields nearest the city to be low yield with stunted growth. It showed the overflow from the dye making pits in the city flowing into ditches and flowing away.
The whole scene showed an arrogant and declining society.

Also watched a documentary that posited that the Mayans burnt too many trees for the ash to make the whitewash for their buildings. The estimation of how many acres of trees had to be cut to whitewash one small temple was astonishing.