[FairOpinion]

Nick -- you are finding a lot of interesting articles! :)


Civ --

GGG PING

[TADSLOS]

Stingray spines had been placed near their groins, a possible sign that they were regarded on the same level as warriors, says Freidel.

Ping.

[Redcloak]

Ya know... I woulda thought that the killers were the more powerful; as opposed to the killees.

[longtermmemmory]

archeologists get so much wrong it is hard to believe them when they start inserting PC policy.

Was this not the culture that was viewed as a bunch of peaceful astronomical calendar watchers until a wall painting depicting blood sacrifices and bloody wars?

[tet68]

The use of stingray spines in bloodletting ceremonies
is well documented and the blood used to write messages
to gods which were then ritually burned.
This was an obligation of the ruling class, so one could
infer that these two women were of that class.
It doesn't give any hint about their deaths though, interesting positioning of the bodies...

[WIladyconservative]

Researchers say the young, wealthy women were probably slaughtered as part of a power struggle between Mayan cities.

Oh yeah, right. The slaughtering of women makes women powerful . . . .puleeeeese.This makes it sound like women are the most powerful sex in Islam then, too . . . .

[Enterprise]

The ancient Mayans were the world's first Democrats. When things went wrong, they blamed the women.

[tet68]

The bloodletting was done as depicted on the stele from the cover of "Blood of Kings". The tongue was slit and a rope of thorns used to keep the blood flowing, obviously the use of ethnobotanicals was well known, at least enought to allow the participent to complete the ceremony with out disgracing themselves.

[gitmo]

Maybe the stingray spines were just some kinky fad.

[kharaku]

How the heck does to women beign DEAD contribute to an argument of their STRENGTH? I'm starting to see how people might thing Carter was a good president, apparently failing miserably on a grand enough scale means you must have been a contender.

[freekitty]

Somehow laying dead does not conjure up powerful.

[IronJack]

"This tomb tells us that women were extremely powerful," ... "When there were political disagreements, women were killed."

Um, pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't their NOT being killed mean they were more powerful? It seems to me that power resides in the sacrificER, not the sacrificEE.

[ModelBreaker]

I'm embarassed for the author of this article. Her reaching to find power for women in anything is pathetic.

[familyop]

Mzzzzzz. Witze, Mzzzz. Dorie Reents-Budet und ze udduh unnamed "researchers" extrapolate and assume much. ...typical. Zey earn ze reputation for their "movement."

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :

Hysteric.] (Med.) A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women, in which the emotional and reflex excitability is exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished, so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into paroxism or fits. [1913 Webster]

Note:

The chief symptoms are convulsive, tossing movements of the limbs and head, uncontrollable crying and laughing, and a choking sensation as if a ball were lodged in the throat. The affection presents the most varied symptoms, often simulating those of the gravest diseases, but generally curable by mental treatment alone. Hysteric

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks FairOpinion for the ping. And ditto what she said to you, Nick. I had a good laugh though about the conclusions in the article, which were stated up front (and in the headline). "We found the remains of a couple of murdered Mayan women, therefore women must have had a very high status in their society." Reminds me of the "Burnt City" of Iran nonsense. But anyway, a very nice GGG topic.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[DJ MacWoW]

ping

[guitfiddlist]

This tomb tells us that women were extremely powerful," says Dorie Reents-Budet, a Maya specialist who works for the Smithsonian Institution from North Carolina. "When there were political disagreements, women were killed."

This has to be one of the stupidest statements ever. Even for a hyphenated-last-name pinhead feminist.

[Cowboy Bob]

"This tomb tells us that women were extremely powerful," says Dorie Reents-Budet, a Maya specialist who works for the Smithsonian Institution from North Carolina. "When there were political disagreements, women were killed."

If wymyn were so powerful, why were they killed? Note that the author and the Maya "specialist" are wymyn... Enough said.

[PapaBear3625]

"This tomb tells us that women were extremely powerful," says Dorie Reents-Budet, a Maya specialist who works for the Smithsonian Institution from North Carolina. "When there were political disagreements, women were killed."

In Islam, disputes between clans are settled by one clan raping a woman from the other clan, who is then killed in an honor killing. Does this reflect women having power in Islam? Or does it reflect women being expendable objects?