The development of the maya writing system
May 24th, 2010 / View Comments / by Juan Bendfeldt
A strongly believed issue is that peasants didn’t have the knowledge or understanding of the glyphic writing and it was only a noble practice. This is said and believed by the lack of “peasant texts” in the sites themselves. I personally disagree on this matter. It is my personal belief that they had knowledge and could interpret the texts. They probably had their own “simple” texts regarding their amount of goods or possessions or personal history but not in stone or in public display and maybe not as complex as the nobility’s.
Posted in: Deconstructing the Ancient Maya
The Katun cycle as a link to the origins of creation
May 17th, 2010 / View Comments / by Juan Bendfeldt
The concept seems to be a “link to the ancestors after another completion of the sun”(…) A completion of the creator himself. This destined his descendant to ritually commemorate and recreate that moment when creation began for the “corn creatures”. He was that link between the first men and the current ones.
Posted in: Deconstructing the Ancient Maya
Corn and the maya longevity
May 10th, 2010 / View Comments / by Juan Bendfeldt
This ancient peoples complimented their diets by the fat of avocados and the vitamins in squashes. By the year 3,000 B.C. their 7 main crops were (…) one of the healthiest diets in the world at their time, which gave the posterior classic Maya rulers an lifespan of 60-80 years like Pakal from Palenque (80 years) and Ah Kakaw from Tikal (72 years).
Posted in: Deconstructing the Ancient Maya
The dilemma of the maya mathematical system
May 3rd, 2010 / View Comments / by Juan Bendfeldt
You’re probably wondering now, why bars and dots. (…) Dots meaning finger tips and bars representing extremities which counted both fingers and toes. 10 could have been “an arm and a leg” and 7 could have been “a foot with two fingers”. Hence the representation of 20 with a human face
Posted in: Deconstructing the Ancient Maya
The early origins of the Maya
April 26th, 2010 / View Comments / by Juan Bendfeldt
America was the last continent to be settled by modern humans, most probably from northeast Asia through Beringia(…)
It is accepted that in the maya regions agriculture was a common practice since at least 3,500 B.C. That shift, from “chasing your food” to “growing your food” made it possible to alternatives, brought new horizons and perspectives.
Posted in: Deconstructing the Ancient Maya
Carlos Alfredo Bendfeldt