Free Republic

Toxic levels of a pollutant commonly associated with the wastes of modern industry have been uncovered amid the most unlikely of archaeological sites. Long before conquistadors from far-off lands introduced the decay of war and disease, Maya cultures were dusting the soils of their urban centers with the heavy metal mercury. - snip - "Discovering mercury buried deep in soils and sediments in ancient Maya cities is difficult to explain, until we begin to consider the archaeology of the region which tells us that the Maya were using mercury for centuries." - snip - Perhaps the most widely used form...

The ancient Mayas are widely known for their achievements in architecture and astronomy but are perhaps less known for their commercial and seafaring skills. But the archaeological site Oxtankah’s history reveals how its inhabitants used marine resources for economic purposes.The Maya of Oxtankah were skilled sailors. The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) says they used canoes to access the Caribbean Sea for trading. They supplied products to interior Maya communities.While this Quintana Roo archaeological zone may not be as popular as the coastal Maya site of Tulum, its lush surroundings and interesting history make for a beautiful visit....

Archaeologists have discovered an approximately 2,000-year-old Mayan pot in a cave in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo.The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced the discovery in a statement Tuesday, saying that the 13-centimeter-high “chocolatier style” pot had been dated to the late pre-classic period of 300 B.C. to 250 A.D.INAH archaeologists José Antonio Reyes Solís and Enrique Terrones González visited a cave on a Playa del Carmen property owned by a religious association after receiving a report on it from biologist and speleologist Roberto Rojo.Reyes said they found the pot near the eastern wall of the Cueva de...

Measuring over 5ft (1.6m), it was found almost completely intact, submerged in a freshwater pool near the ruined Mayan city of Chichen Itza. The rare find came during construction work on a new tourist railway known as the Maya Train. In a statement, the Inah said archaeologists had also discovered ceramics, a ritual knife and painted murals of hands on a rockface in the pool, known as a cenote. Experts from Paris's Sorbonne University have been helping with pin-pointing the canoe's exact age and type, the statement said. A 3D model of it would also be made to allow replicas...

Human poop can reveal more than you might think, even when it's really, really old. In a new study of a Central American Maya civilization, samples of ancient feces have shown how the size of this community varied significantly in response to contemporary climate change. Researchers identified four distinct periods of population size shift as a reaction to particularly dry or particularly wet periods, which haven't all been documented before: 1350-950 BCE, 400-210 BCE, 90-280 CE, and 730-900 CE. In addition, the flattened poop piles show that the city of Itzan – which in the modern day would be in...

The National Guard and Federal Police were dispatched Monday to an outlying section of the Teotihuacán archaeological site to seize land where illegal construction work has continued in recent months despite stop-work orders.The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the Ministry of Culture said 250 National Guard troops and 60 agents of the Attorney General’s Office participated in an operation to seize two parcels of land in Oztoyahualco, an area of the México state site that is known as the “old city” because it is believed that the Teotihuacán settlement began there.In March, INAH suspended projects being built...

Frontal and lateral view of a Muna-type (AD 750-900) paneled flask with distinctive serrated-edge decoration. Credit: WSU ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scientists have identified the presence of a non-tobacco plant in ancient Maya drug containers for the first time. The Washington State University researchers detected Mexican marigold (Tagetes lucida) in residues taken from 14 miniature Maya ceramic vessels. Originally buried more than 1,000 years ago on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, the vessels also contain chemical traces present in two types of dried and cured tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum and N. rustica. The research team, led by anthropology postdoc Mario Zimmermann, thinks the Mexican marigold was...

The great Maya city of Tikal transported zeolites for water filtration thousands of years before other cultures learned or adopted the idea, archaeologists have found. The filtration was probably much better than anything known to the Europeans who conquered the area 1,500 years later. The Corriental reservoir was one of Tikal’s sources of drinking water. Dr Kenneth Tankersley of the University of Cincinnati found crystalline quartz and zeolite when digging at the reservoir. Neither are local to the area and would have had to be brought a long way by the standards of a people who had no beasts of...

A resourceful archaeologist has made the stunning discovery of 27 new ancient Mayan sites—all without ever leaving his desk. Takeshi Inomata, an researcher at the University of Arizona, made his discoveries using freely accessible light detection and ranging maps (LiDAR for short) published in 2011 by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography in Mexico, according to the New York Times. The organization created the map, which surveys 4,400 square miles of land in the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, with an eye toward serving businesses and researchers. An even though the imagery is low resolution, it still suited...

In Mexico, LiDAR (light detection and ranging) equipment uncovered what researchers say is the largest and oldest known Maya monument, while in neighbouring Belize, isotopic analysis of human remains provided the earliest timeline for the adoption of maize as a staple crop. The discovery at Tabasco near the border with Guatemala suggests the Maya civilisation developed more rapidly than previously thought and hints at less social inequality than in later periods, according to the international research team led by Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan from the University of Arizona US. Known as Aguada Fénix, the monument lurked beneath the surface...

SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACAN, MEXICO—On 16 January 378 C.E., a stranger arrived in Tikal, a large Maya city in what is now northern Guatemala. His name was Sihyaj K’ahk’ (SEE-yah Kak), or Fire is Born, and he was likely a mighty warrior from a distant land. Many archaeologists think he hailed from Teotihuacan, a metropolis of 100,000 people about 1000 kilometers northwest of Tikal, near today’s Mexico City. And he may have come with an army. The stone Maya monuments that record Sihyaj K’ahk’s arrival don’t say why he came or how he was received by Chak Tok Ich’aak, or Jaguar...

Former Rep. Kweisi Mfume said Wednesday he would be a "champion" for the district he once represented if elected to represent it again. Mfume, the former 7th District congressman, is running to succeed the man who succeeded him, Elijah Cummings. He spoke Wednesday to C4. Mfume, who left office to lead the NAACP out of a path to financial ruin, touted his credentials as "somebody at the very least who is proven, tested, trusted and most of all ready to go to work on day one." Mfume talked about his beliefs on health care, violent crime, affordable college and spurring...

Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, the widow of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), on Thursday said in a statement that her late husband “worked until his last breath.” “Congressman Cummings was an honorable man who proudly served his district and the nation with dignity, integrity, compassion and humility. He worked until his last breath because he believed our democracy was the highest and best expression of our collective humanity and that our nation’s diversity was our promise, not our problem,” she said. “It’s been an honor to walk by his side on this incredible journey. I loved him deeply and will miss him...

Former NFL Linebacker and businessman Jack Brewer and Trump. President Trump’s criticism of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) over the living conditions in Baltimore were reportedly brought up at the request of former NFL linebacker Jack Brewer. "I had a chance to meet with President Trump, and I told him please call out Elijah Cummings and Baltimore. I asked him to do that three weeks ago and he did it," the former NFL linebacker said on Fox Nation’s “Deep Dive.” Brewer explained he was motivated to reach out to Trump after a visit to Baltimore. “I'm seeing these kids that...

National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) today filed a Complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against the Center for Global Policy Solutions (CGPS), a 501(c)(3) organization headed by Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, wife to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD). Mrs. Cummings is currently Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party and is a former candidate for Governor. Rep. Cummings is Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The Complaint describes a score of apparent Internal Revenue Code violations, including prohibited private benefit and inurement of the Cummings. CGPS has received millions in grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and,...

A watchdog group filed a complaint Tuesday with Maryland Democratic Attorney General Brian Frosh to investigate whether the wife of House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings used her charity for her personal benefit. The complaint, filed by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), is the second action filed against Maya Rockeymoore Cummings’s Maryland-based charity, the Center for Global Policy Solutions (CGPC), by watchdog groups since May. Rockeymoore Cummings is the principal officer and sole staffer of her charity, which between 2013 and 2015 paid $250,000 in “management fees” to Global Policy Solutions LLC, a for-profit venture in which she...

A watchdog group is asking the Maryland attorney general to investigate whether Rep. Elijah Cummings and his wife used a charity for improper self-enrichment, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by the Washington Examiner. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, which leans conservative, filed the complaint on Monday against the Center for Global Policy Solutions, a nonprofit organization founded by Cummings’ wife, Maya Rockeymoore. The complaint asked Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh to investigate the financial relationship between the Center for Global Policy Solutions and Rockeymoore’s for-profit consulting firm, Global Policy Solutions LLC. The similarly named entities...

Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is facing accusations that he is using his position in Congress to financially benefit his wife, whose charity may have gained "illegal private benefit" from his committee activities. Cummings' wife, Maya Rockeymoore, is the chairman of the Maryland Democratic Party and she "runs two entities, a nonprofit group called the Center for Global Policy Solutions and a for-profit consulting firm called Global Policy Solutions, LLC, whose operations appear to have overlapped, according to the IRS complaint filed by watchdog group the National Legal and Policy Center," The Washington Examiner...

**SNIP** Documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show that Rockeymoore Cummings’ for-profit consulting firm, Global Policy Solutions LLC, was paid more than $250,000 by her charity, the Center for Global Policy Solutions. The Daily Caller notes that between 2013 and 2015, the charity paid Rockeymoore Cummings’ for-profit firm “management fees” totaling more than $250,000. Additionally, the nonprofit and for-profit entities had a cost-sharing contract highlighting their joint property, as the two entities are housed at the same address **SNIP** Although the NLPC’s complaint was focused on Rockeymoore Cummings’ 2017 business transactions and the congressman’s potential influence, Anderson believes...

Potters at Maya cities on the Caribbean side of Central America fused volcanic ash with local limestone to form household and ceremonial pottery, because the ash made their ceramics easier to fire. The distinctive recipe was a hallmark of the Late Classic Period from A.D. 600 to 900, Ford said. With thousands of people living in cities such as El Pilar and Tikal, the Mayan potters burned through several tons of volcanic ash every year, Ford has estimated. But no one can figure out where the ash came from. The mystery begins with the fact that there just aren't any...