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A Turquoise Mosaic Skull Spent 60 Years in Europe. Researchers Now Want to Know Who He Was
A human skull covered with turquoise, shell, jadeite and rock crystal spent six decades in a museum in the Netherlands. Now back in Mexico, it is now being documented in three dimensions as researchers confront a more difficult question: who was the man behind the mosaic? Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced…
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A 2,700-Year-Old Figurine from Guatemala May Preserve Mesoamerica’s Earliest Numbers
Mesoamerica’s earliest numbers may have survived on something far smaller than a monument. A fragmentary ceramic figurine found at La Blanca, on Guatemala’s Pacific coast, carries eleven tiny clay dots pressed into the area of its head. The object is only a few centimeters across, but researchers argue that those marks may represent the earliest…
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Archaeologists Find Teotihuacan-Era Tombs and 47 Miniature Vessels Near Tula
Beneath the floors of an ancient domestic complex near Tula, archaeologists have found a burial world tied to the age of Teotihuacan. The discovery includes human remains, shell ornaments, shaft tomb-like graves, and 47 miniature ceramic vessels placed beside the dead. The excavation, carried out near the community of Ignacio Zaragoza in Mexico, is part…
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Ancient Toltec Altar With Human Remains Discovered Near Tula Ruins in Mexico
Archaeologists working near the ancient city of Tula in central Mexico have uncovered a Toltec ceremonial altar surrounded by human remains and ritual offerings, shedding new light on the religious life and urban layout of one of Mesoamerica’s most influential civilizations. The discovery emerged during salvage excavations linked to the construction of the Mexico City–Querétaro…
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The Oldest Story Painted in the Americas? Rock Art in Texas and Mexico Carried a Single Message for 4,000 Years
Deep inside the limestone canyons that cut across the borderlands of Texas and northern Mexico, ancient murals stretch across cliff walls in sweeping tapestries of color. For decades, archaeologists knew they were old—what they did not know was how old, or how far their cultural influence may have travelled. A new study in Science Advances…
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Researchers May Have Deciphered the Lost Language of Teotihuacan, Linking the Ancient City to the Aztec World
For centuries, one of Mesoamerica’s greatest enigmas has remained unsolved: the language of Teotihuacan. Now, two researchers from the University of Copenhagen — Dr. Christophe Helmke and Dr. Magnus Pharao Hansen — may have cracked the code behind the mysterious symbols covering the city’s ancient murals and pottery. Their study, published in Current Anthropology, proposes…