A RCHAEOM AYA. The Newsletter of Maya Exploration Center. Tonina Tomb Sparks a New Battle

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1 MAYA EXPLORATION CENTER WINTER 2010 A RCHAEOM AYA The Newsletter of Maya Exploration Center In This Issue: New Tonina tomb BSC travels in the Mundo Maya Albright College in the Yucatan Kirk French filming in the Teotihuacan Valley 2010 Chautauqua Courses - Copan, the American Southwest, and Angkor New discoveries about the extinction of the dinosaurs Newest team member - Carl Callaway On The Horizon: New appearances on documentary films 2012 Lecture Series continued Community service programs in Peru MEC studies the ruins of Cambodia Texas Maya Meetings in Antigua, Guatemala Tonina Tomb Sparks a New Battle INAH Archaeologist Juan Antonio Yadeun outside of Tonina s new tomb The discovery of a royal tomb at Tonina, Chiapas, has set the archaeological world on fire. The stone sarcophagus, buried under the fifth platform of the towering pyramid, contained the remains of a noble who died between A.D , just before the Classic Maya collapse. After appraising the fine ceramics and exquisite stucco masks found in the tomb, the director of the site, Juan Antonio Yadeun, announced, It s not Maya! For years Yadeun has insisted that the Toltecs played a major role in Tonina s rise to power. As evidence, he points to the portraits of Tlaloc, the rain god; the immense wall of stepped frets depicting the four world directions; and the great stucco mural of the sun descending into the underworld. According to Yadeun, after the collapse of the Teotihuacan Empire, in A.D. 650, Toltec armies and their allies from Puebla, Oaxaca, and Veracruz swept into the Maya region and seized control of Tonina. In recent years, the Toltec theory has lost ground. A number of archaeologists contend that the Toltecs lacked the political clout to fill the vacuum left by Teotihuacan. Instead, they argue, the influence from central Mexico came through Chontal Maya merchants who plied the Gulf Coast. These great seafaring traders were in continual contact with the Valley of Mexico. Over time, the Chontal Maya penetrated the Usumacinta region, bearing foreign gods and myths as well as art and elite goods. But Tonina was apparently overwhelmed by a later wave of invaders. Yadeun reports that the tomb had been desecrated, and a large pot containing boiled bones had been interred during the 1400 s. Who were these looters? They may have been Mixe-Zoque, the descendants of the Olmec, who have occupied the Pacific coast and isthmus region of Chiapas for thousands of years. Or they may have been followers of the legendary warrior, Votan, who, after leaving Chichen Itza, marched across Chiapas into the highlands of Guatemala. Fragments of this migration story linger in the tales of the Chiapas Maya and in the Quiche myth, the Popol Vuh. Dr. David Stuart warns that, We shouldn t jump to conclusions about a single find and posit the possible influence of some mysterious people who may have taken over the site Story continued on page 4

2 PAGE 2 Letter from the Director MEC Board Chairman Edwin L. Barnhart Secretary Charles C. Williams Treasurer Blair Duncan Officers Fred Barnhart LeAndra Luecke Harold Green Research Associates Mark Child Carl Callaway James Eckhardt Kirk French Michael Grofe Carol Karasik Alonso Mendez Alfonso Morales Walter F. Morris Christopher Powell Kirk Straight MEC Staff Director Edwin L. Barnhart Editors Edwin L. Barnhart Carol Karasik Contact MEC United States 7301 RR 620 N Suite 155 #284 Austin, Texas Phone: Mexico El Panchan Apartado Postal 142 Palenque, Chiapas 29960, Mexico On the Web info@mayaexploration.org Contents of this newsletter 2010 Maya Exploration Center, Inc. All rights reserved has arrived and we at MEC are looking forward to a productive year. Over a dozen study abroad programs are scheduled thus far. January s travel courses for Albright College and Birmingham Southern State are featured in this issue of ArchaeoMaya. Our television presence is still on the rise, with appearances on History Channel, Discovery Channel, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Our research associates have achieved a number of important milestones this winter. Kirk French s timely study of Palenque s water management system has earned him a PhD from Penn State, Michael Grofe s brilliant work on Maya astronomy and the precession of the equinoxes has appeared in multiple mainstream publications, and Christopher Powell has completed his seminal dissertation on Maya geometry. We have also welcomed Maya epigrapher Carl Calloway to our team. Read about him and his outstanding investigations in this issue of ArchaeoMaya. The news from the field in this issue is especially exciting. Newly discovered tombs at Bonampak and Tonina reveal significant clues about the final years of two powerful Maya cities. The history of ancient Chiapas is about to be rewritten will also mark the first year of MEC s innovative Research Membership Program. With over 30 active subscribers, we expect our membership to double in the coming months. Our members say their access to JSTOR has been an invaluable resource, and our board has been hard at work advising members on their research proposals. Last but not least, I want to relate the happy personal news that I was just married to the beautiful and talented Cassandra Johannesen. The ceremony was held on February 13 th along the lagoon in Akumal, Mexico. Cassandra and I now embark on our newest adventure, raising four kids in our loving home in Austin, Texas. Thanks to one and all for your interest in and support of MEC s research and education programs. With your help, 2010 will be our best year yet! Sincerely, 2010 Mayan Calendar This month is your last chance to purchase the 2010 wall calendar that gives you the Maya date for every day of the year. The sales year will end on March 21st, the Spring Equinox. If you don t already have one, log on to to buy online.

3 PAGE 3 Documenting Urbanism in the Teotihuacan Valley MEC is happy to announce its support of the documentary film, Land and Water Revisited. Produced by MEC Research Associate Dr. Kirk French, the film will document the drastic social and environmental changes that have occurred in the Teotihuacan Valley during the last 50 years. Two thousand years ago the valley was home to Teotihuacan, the first great city in the Americas. Until 1960, the region was an agrarian paradise. Today the valley is being drawn into the orbit of Mexico City, the second largest megalopolis on the planet. Rapid population growth and the commercialization of farmland have destroyed much of the archaeological record as well as the rural landscape. At a time when most of the world s population lives in urban areas, taxing natural resources and creating a host of social ills, the Teotihuacan Valley provides a dramatic case study of cultural and ecological ruin. To measure the human impact on the environment, the documentary will rely on footage from a 1961 film made by William T. Sanders, a renowned archaeologist who studied the development of urbanism in central Mexico. In Land and Water: An Ecological Study of the Teotihuacan Valley of Mexico, Sanders captured a way of life now facing extinction. Just prior to the current urban explosion, Sanders documented farmers using masonry dams, canals, and splash irrigation; women and children washing clothes at a fresh spring; and the many uses of the maguey plant. Attention to such mundane but essential activities is one reason why this 28-minute film has been used as an educational tool for over 45 years. Kirk French filming in the hills above the Teotihuacan Valley Equally poignant are several slow pans of the Teotihuacan Valley before the onset of urban sprawl. In early February, Dr. French spent five days documenting ecological changes in the very same locations as the 1961 film. What we see are the sobering effects of urbanization on a once vibrant rural landscape housing developments, highways, concrete, Wal-Mart. With funding from Penn State s Department of Anthropology and camera equipment provided by MEC, French was able to travel throughout the valley. During the trip, he and Dr. Maria Inclan, professor of political science at the Centro de Investigación y Docenicia Económicas in Mexico City, located and interviewed several residents who were involved in the original film. The cost of uncontrolled growth on a rural populace is as grave as the damage to the region s ecosystem. This film project gives French an opportunity to apply his knowledge of ancient Maya hydraulic systems to modern social and environmental issues. Land and Water Revisited will also serve as a tribute to William T. Sanders, French s mentor and one of the most influential Mesoamerican scholars of our time. Research of this nature brings archaeology to life. Filming will resume in August. Anyone interested in donating to the project may do so through the MEC website at: For more information on the project, please visit For more information on Sanders or to purchase his original film, please visit:

4 PAGE 4 Birmingham Southern College Explores Piedras Negras The Maya world is the stuff dreams are made of, dreams of high adventure and exploration. When professor Scott Bowman and 10 students from Birmingham Southern signed up for a two-week travel course led by Christopher Powell, they knew they would receive an education in Maya mathematics and astronomy. But even the stars could not compare to the sheer romance of the jungle. The expedition to the lost city of Piedras Negras turned out to be the highlight of the trip. BSC students swimming at the Golondrinas Waterfalls Bouncing along a rutted track in a six-wheeled open truck was just the beginning. Since the Usumacinta River was high, the expert boatmen were able to maneuver past the jutting rocks of the Devil s Tail without anyone getting wet, though the rapids did provide a bit of a jolt. Then there was a surprise encounter with a military patrol boat manned by six Guatemalan soldiers. Evidently they were there to offer protection while the group visited the Guatemalan side of the river. And so, the students had a polite armed escort throughout their trip to this remote Maya site. Once the students put ashore on the narrow sand beach, they began following the invisible footprints of nineteenth-century explorers and more ancient river travelers. They slogged through mud, forded streams, and climbed steep hills that masked dozens of ruined temples. Part of the site had been restored about 10 years ago by archaeologists from Brigham Young University. Since then, dense vegetation has reclaimed the resurrected stone walls and fallen stelae. This is the nature of the jungle and the cyclical pattern of time. In one sense, the loss offers another chance for rediscovery. At the top of the giant acropolis, with its stunning view of the rushing river, it was obvious that Piedras Negras had once held a commanding presence, competing with Yaxchilan for ultimate control of the trade route between the Peten and the Gulf of Mexico. Although the exquisite art produced at the site was no longer in evidence, the city s mysterious grandeur has endured. Under Christopher Powell s guidance, students measured the enormous royal sweat bath and uncovered its golden mean proportions, proportions extolled for their healing powers among the Greeks, and perhaps the Maya. At Tikal and Uaxactun they also took measurements of the temples. Yaxchilan, Palenque, and Bonampak struck pure Pythagorian chords for the artists and composers in the group. At Comalcalco, the westernmost site in the Maya area, students discovered a city built of adobe bricks in the style common to ancient Rome at the same period. If there was transatlantic contact, as some suggest, it must have been for the chocolate. The region around Comalcalco still produces the finest cacao in the world. Exotic jungle ruins, Maya geometry, and chocolate. For the liberal arts majors from Birmingham, there was much to take home and savor before they return for next year s Maya adventure. Continued from Page 1: Tonina Tomb Sparks a New Battle of Tonina. His point is well taken. After all, cultural influences ran both ways. By A.D. 1000, increasing globalization was spearheaded by a homogenous art style that spread throughout Mesoamerica. Indeed, refined works of art are fueling the current debate over a self-professed warrior state. Which brings us to the other recent discovery found in the palace at Tonina: a wall of murals containing the name and date of its most bellicose king, Baaknal Chak ( ). He was the infamous ruler who reigned when Kan Hoy Chitam, lord of Palenque, was captured by Tonina. The plot thickens. At Bonampak, one of the cities plagued by Tonina, a royal tomb was discovered beneath the floor of Room 2. The famed murals in that room depict the conquest and capture of sacrificial victims for the heir designation ceremony held in 790. The noble buried in this tomb was adorned with lavish jades. It is safe to assume he was one of the victors. New archaeological finds in Chiapas are shedding new light and complicating the story of a turbulent period in Maya history.

5 PAGE 5 Albright College: Close Up and Personal in the Yucatan While travelling across the Yucatan in January, students from Albright College discovered the path with heart. Arriving in Yaxcabá ( Turquoise Water ), they went in search of the town s most famous resident, Don Juan Bautista Cab Balam, a renowned Maya Dzac Yahe herbalist and healer who maintains an expansive medicinal herb farm and clinic. After stopping several passersby, MEC Research Associate Dr. Michael Grofe received puzzled looks and some indirect directions. At last came the moment of recognition, Ah! Don Juan! It was clear that not too many buses full of foreign students came through town. But there is a deep reverence for kindness to strangers in the Yucatan, and this was true wherever the students travelled. Don Juan s green eyes lit up when asked to show the group around his medicinal herb farm, and everyone was in for a special treat. He knew the Spanish and Maya names for hundreds of plants, their medicinal properties, and the proper ways to administer and combine them. Sip che, kan che, pixoy, he said as he picked the leaves and let the students rub the aromatic herbs in their fingers. Delighted that Dr. Grofe spoke some Yucatec Maya, Don Juan broke into another language the language of frogs. In no time, he was doing raucous imitations of the many frog sounds found in the Yucatan. To top it off, Dr. Grofe threw in his howler monkey impression, just to hear Don Juan s unstoppable laughter. Great healers usually have a great sense of humor. The students of Dr. Richard Heller and Dr. Fredericka Heller were completely immersed in all that the Yucatan has to offer. They explored the ancient cities of Cobá, Uxmal, Ek Balam, Mayapan, and Chichen Itza. They journeyed through the underworld cathedral in Loltun Cave, used continuously for over 10,000 years. They held wet crocodiles in their bare hands, stood face to face with curious spider monkeys Albright students in front of Coba s Nohoch Mul Pyramid hanging from the trees, and listened to the sound of otherworldly flamingoes preening among the tangled mangroves in Celestún. In Muna, they met the accomplished painter and ceramicist Patricia Martín Morales, who faithfully continues the tradition of Classic Maya painted pottery. They were also welcomed into private homes, where they practiced the arts of hennequin twining and making tortillas on a traditional Yucatec three-stone hearth. That night, thanks to Dr. Grofe s trusty green laser pointer, they observed the three hearthstones of Orion in the winter sky. The Maya cosmos is truly a house and a world where all of us can dwell. The many Maya guides and drivers gave Albright students an unforgettable glimpse of that world, which is still very much alive, and one that the Maya people continue to preserve, cultivate, and generously share. Upcoming Public Tours from MEC Pillars of the Classic Maya, Palenque to Tikal April 17-25, 2010 Learn the details and sign up at

6 PAGE 6 News From the Field Chicxulub Ended The Dinosaurs The Cretaceous Tertiary mass extinction, which wiped out the dinosaurs and more than half of the species on Earth, was evidently caused by an asteroid colliding with our planet, according to a comprehensive new review of all the evidence. A panel of 41 international experts examined 20 years' worth of research to determine the reason for the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction, which happened 65 million years ago. The review, published in this week's Science, shows that the extinction was caused by a huge, 15-kilometer-wide asteroid slamming into Earth at Chicxulub, Mexico. The key to their conclusions was a new set of seismic data compiled from a 2005 University of Cambridge project in the Chicxulub crater, just off the coast of Mexico s Yucatan Peninsula. Dr. Penny Barton, who led the seismic survey, concludes that the asteroid s initial impact created a crater 30 km. deep and 100 km. across, hitting Earth with a force one billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. It blasted material at high velocity into the atmosphere, triggering a chain of events that caused a global winter, wiping out much of life on Earth in a matter of days. Prior to the new study, scientists argued about whether the extinction was caused by the asteroid or by volcanic activity in the Deccan Traps in India, where a series of massive volcanic eruptions occurred over a volatile period of 1.5 million years. With this new data and scientific consensus, we can now be relatively sure that the extinction of the dinosaurs happened almost instantaneously due to a catastrophic collision off the coast of Mexico some 65 million years in the past. Chautauqua Courses for 2010 Now Open to the General Public Come join Dr. Barnhart this summer on one of these new learning adventures! Once restricted to college-level science professors, the University of Texas at Austin Chautauqua Program is now open to anyone interested in advanced learning. Ancient Astronomy in the American Southwest: Aztec, Chimney Rock, and Chaco Canyon June 17-22, 2010 Explore the American Southwest during summer solstice. Learn about astronomy in ancient times and the strong links between modern Pueblo people and their Anasazi ancestors. Ancient Maya Calendars, Astronomy and 2012: Copan, Quirigua, and Kaminaljuyu July 23-29, 2010 Traveling through Guatemala and Honduras, participants will learn about ancient Maya science as they explore three of the most important ruins in the Maya world. Ancient Astronomy and Mathematics in Angkor, Cambodia August 11-19, 2010 Participate in field studies at Angkor during zenith passage and help discover never before documented evidence of the city s astronomical alignments and sacred geometry. Log on to for all the details on these courses Also from the Chautauqua Program: A three-day seminar on the University of Texas at Austin campus: Ancient Maya Astronomy, Mathematics and the 2012 Craze July 19-21, 2010 Join Ed Barnhart and Christopher Powell as they demystify the Maya calendar and present startling new discoveries about Maya Sacred Geometry Contact Gail Seale at gails@mail.utexas.edu to register

7 PAGE 7 Callaway Joins the MEC Team MEC is proud to introduce our community to the newest member of our research team, Carl Callaway. Carl is a Ph.D. candidate in archaeology, studying under Dr. Peter Mathews at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. His doctoral research is a profound exploration of the Classic Maya creation story. Specifically, he seeks to understand the mythological events that transpired on a momentous day the starting point of the Maya Carl Callaway Long Count and the establishment of a new cosmic era on Ajaw 8 Kumk'u (August 13, 3114 B.C.). Currently, Carl is on an expedition around the Maya world, photographing and documenting all the references to the creation date he can find. His discoveries are sure to teach us more about Maya cosmology and perhaps provide a new view of the supposed era end date in Carl s mastery of Maya epigraphy, iconography, and folklore make him a very welcome addition to our diverse team of scholars. We look forward to collaborating with him and sharing his expertise with our students. Support MEC by always using Just click on the link below and bookmark it to always use our portal to do your Amazon.com shopping: Thanks to Everyone Who Donated to MEC This Winter Daniel Maddux John Walton Linda Matthews Hal Green Millikin University Donate to Maya Exploration Center Your support is crucial. Please help us to continue our education and research programs. Donate today. Amount Donated: Method of Payment Check Visa MasterCard Name Address Phone Maya Exploration Center, Inc., is a 501(c)(3), Texas Non-Profit Corporation. Your donations are tax deductible. Credit Card # Exp. date Signature Please mail donations to: Maya Exploration Center, 7301 Ranch Road 620 N, Suite 155 #284, Austin, Texas 78726