Our guide, Antonio, whose mother was Mayan and father Honduran. He studied and did research in the States so he spoke very good English. He was very knowledgeable and entertaining and even told lots of jokes.
The ball court where the Mayan people played their sport -- either the winners or the losers were killed to honor the gods, depending on how the game was played. If it was political, the losers were killed and the smoke of their burning blood was said to reach the gods in heaven. The Mayans never ate human bodies, that was the Aztecs, but they did perform self mutilation to make themselves bleed. Anyway, the point of this game is to score by getting a 10 lb rubber ball to hit the ear of 1 of the 3 the macaw heads (see middle and end of ramp). The players were only allowed to use their hips, elbows and thighs to move the ball -- no hands, feet or heads. The ball was made from a type of rubber tree that grows near by and it is very bouncy.
Honduran national bird -- the macaw.
Me with Antonio Rios -- a.k.a. "Tony Rivers" as he told us. His stick had a macaw feather on the end to point things out on the ruins.
An old tree at the top of the ruins. The Mayan empire in Copan is said to have dispersed due to exploitation its natural resources, which is known through the analysis of skeleton bones that show calcium depletion among other signs of malnutrition. Due to erosion, deforestation, and pollution, Copan was inhabited only for the reign of 16 kings, from 426 to 820BC. The land was purchased in the late 1800s for $50 by a man from New York and since has been restored mainly by American universities and Japanese donors, along with many other archeologists.
Our guide, Antonio, whose mother was Mayan and father Honduran. He studied and did research in the States so he spoke very good English. He was very knowledgeable and entertaining and even told lots of jokes.
The ball court where the Mayan people played their sport -- either the winners or the losers were killed to honor the gods, depending on how the game was played. If it was political, the losers were killed and the smoke of their burning blood was said to reach the gods in heaven. The Mayans never ate human bodies, that was the Aztecs, but they did perform self mutilation to make themselves bleed. Anyway, the point of this game is to score by getting a 10 lb rubber ball to hit the ear of 1 of the 3 the macaw heads (see middle and end of ramp). The players were only allowed to use their hips, elbows and thighs to move the ball -- no hands, feet or heads. The ball was made from a type of rubber tree that grows near by and it is very bouncy.
Honduran national bird -- the macaw.
Me with Antonio Rios -- a.k.a. "Tony Rivers" as he told us. His stick had a macaw feather on the end to point things out on the ruins.
An old tree at the top of the ruins. The Mayan empire in Copan is said to have dispersed due to exploitation its natural resources, which is known through the analysis of skeleton bones that show calcium depletion among other signs of malnutrition. Due to erosion, deforestation, and pollution, Copan was inhabited only for the reign of 16 kings, from 426 to 820BC. The land was purchased in the late 1800s for $50 by a man from New York and since has been restored mainly by American universities and Japanese donors, along with many other archeologists.
No comments:
Post a Comment