The Palenque - Maya ancient astronaut.

THE ASTRONAUT OF THE TEMPLE OF PALENQUE.

In the year 1952, the Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz discovered the tomb of King Pacal inside the Temple of Inscriptions of Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico. This region was once protected by a number of logs placed in a defensive and fortified way around the temples of Palenque. At the entrance of the temple there were a total of 620 inscriptions near the tomb of King Pacal who, according to the symbols, was born in Palenque, started ruling over the Mayan empire when he was 12 years old and remained in power for a total of 65 years before his death at the age of 80. One of the curiosities is that the Temple of Pacal is the only pyramid in the new world where a crypt was found, defining the pyramid as a burial place just like the ancient Egyptians. The tomb weight reached the 20 tons and it was build better than the entrance stone that was removed before the findings, which make archeologist believes that the temple was constructed after the crypt was put in place.
One of the most important aspects of the crypt was the cover stone. It weighted 5 tons and it have an inscription on top that, according to the first archeologist who studied, show the representation of the decent of King Pacal to the underworld and the Mayan believe of the three worlds: the heavens or world above, the world of the living and the world of the dead. Other archeologist interpreted the hieroglyphics as describing the presence of the monster from the deeps of the earth, the Mayan sacred tree and the hairs of the god of rain, but it was the third interpretation and the study of the remains that caused one of the greatest controversies on the world of archeology.

What it appeared to be to others… The controversy of the findings came years after the discovery when another group that studied the stone interpreted the hieroglyphics as what it appears to be some kind of propulsion machinery and a Mayan operating at the controls. From this theory and descriptions came the given name of "The Astronaut of Palenque". Also, and to add to the controversy, the results of the scientific research from the studies of the remains shows that the body is not from one of the Mayan descendants or is even close to the age described in the inscriptions. The body is more of like a full ground man of big stature and not similar at all to any of the Mayan body characteristics of any age. The remains appeared to be of a 40 to 50 year old man and not of an 80-year- old Mayan, matching the legends of the one of the Mayan gods "Votan", a white man of long stature and beard who came from "the other side", as it is described by the legend.

Apart from the inscriptions at the head stone of the crypt, there were other stones and inscriptions found in the Mayan city that showed similarities to, what it looks to some at first instance, as some type of human in front of controls while inside a capsule or enclosure.

In reality, there are more mysteries than answers surrounding the Mayan empire. They are the only civilization of the new world that vanished with very little evidence of what really happened to them or what was the cause of their disappearance. Some of today's archeologists are having conflicting theories explaining the disappearance of the Mayan people or understanding the Mayan number system or hieroglyphics without returning with different interpretations.

The Theories There are many people today who believe that the drawings on the stone are in fact the representation of some kind of ship with the operator inside and that the body found is non other than the pilot itself. Others believe that the remains belong to a European that, somehow, reached the new world before the Spanish colonist discovered America. They also believe that the drawings are misinterpreted when called "The Astronaut". Others, looking for explanations, go as far as including in their theories the ancient legend of "Erik the Red", who in the other side of the sea from the American continent, went in search of the earthly paradise toward "Wotan" or "Odin" which was in the same direction toward the Americas. Other group jumps to the conclusion to believe that the Mayan people were victims of a planetary ascension or abduction, therefore explaining how they acquired the knowledge of the advance architecture, astronomy and numeric system that the empire possessed.

The only current facts is that there are many books with theories regarding the Mayan empire and each lacks concrete evidence explaining the disappearance of these people or who is the tall man found in the tomb of King Pacal. As of now, the archeologist's discoveries on the Mayan Temples keep raising more questions than answers and keep adding wood to the fire of controversy.

The Ball Court

The Ball Court
This is the largest known Ball Court in the Mayan world. Most of the other ball courts discovered (including several here at Chichen Itza) are much smaller in scale than this one. The field here is over 500 feet in length and the rings on the walls are over 20 feet high. The sheer size alone implies that the games conducted here were of great importance (playoffs maybe!).
The tall structure in the front middle is the Jaguar temple (also seen on the Yucatan page) and there are temples on both ends. The photo on the left below is the temple on the north end of the field.

Great Ball Court
Archaeologists have identified several courts for playing the ballgame in Chichén, but the Great Ball Court about 150 meters to the north-west of the Castillo is by far the most impressive. It is the largest ball court in ancient Mesoamerica. It measures 166 by 68 meters (545 by 232 feet). The imposing walls are 12 meters high, and in the center, high up on each of the long walls, are rings carved with intertwining serpents. At the base of the high interior walls are slanted benches with sculpted panels of teams of ball players. In one panel, one of the players has been decapitated and from the wound emits seven streams of blood; six become wriggling serpents and the center becomes a winding plant.
At one end of the Great Ball Court is the North Temple, popularly called the Temple of the Bearded Man. This small masonry building has detailed bas relief carving on the inner walls, including a center figure that has carving under his chin that resembles facial hair. At the south end is another, much bigger temple, but in ruins. Built into the east wall are the Temples of the Jaguar. The Upper Temple of the Jaguar overlooks the ball court and has an entrance guarded by two, large columns carved in the familiar feathered serpent motif. Inside there is a large mural, much destroyed, which depicts a battle scene.
In the entrance to the Lower Temple of the Jaguar, which opens behind the ball court, is another jaguar throne, similar to the one in the inner temple of El Castillo, except that it is well worn and missing paint or other decoration. The outer columns and the walls inside the temple are covered with elaborate bas-relief carvings.

The Sacred Cenote

The Sacred Cenote A pathway, one of the original network of roads (or sacbe's) goes to the north of the Pyramid some few hundred yards to the Sacred Cenote. The cenotes are natural sinkholes that likely provided the main water supply to this and other settlements. In this case however the site was also used for ceremonial purposes. Early dredging of the cenote uncovered numerous artifacts (including jade, jewelry, figurines, pottery, etc.) that had apparently been offerings to the rain god Chaac.
At the same time the remains of around 50 human beings, mostly children, were turned up. Many say that this is conclusive evidence of human sacrifice, but the alternative opinion asks why people would pollute their water supply with human remains. They also point out that the site was occupied for over 500 years and given the populations levels here an occasional accidental drowning would not be unusual.

History
Cenote Sagrado
Northern Yucatán is arid, and the interior has no above-ground rivers. There are two large, natural sink holes, called cenotes, that could have provided plentiful water year round at Chichen, making it attractive for settlement. Of the two cenotes, the "Cenote Sagrado" or Sacred Cenote (also variously known as the Sacred Well or Well of Sacrifice), is the more famous. According to post-Conquest sources (Maya and Spanish), pre-Columbian Maya sacrificed objects and human beings into the cenote as a form of worship to the Maya rain god Chaac. Edward Herbert Thompson dredged the Cenote Sagrado from 1904 to 1910, and recovered artifacts of gold, jade, pottery, and incense, as well as human remains.[7] A recent study of human remains taken from the Cenote Sagrado found that they had wounds consistent with human sacrifice

Agriculture - Culture and Religion of Mayans

Agriculture
The Mayan civilization in all stages--formative, flourishing, declining, and continuing--has been based on agriculture. Indian corn, or maize, was domesticated from a wild grass in central Mexico about 7,000 years ago and sustained most sedentary Indian civilizations from that time.
In the humid Peten a surplus of water and rapid growth of trees and vines encouraged the slash-and-burn farming method. The farmer cleared the cornfield by cutting bushes and girdling the trees, usually near the end of the rainy season, allowing the piled brush to dry under the hot sun of the dry season. Then the wood was burned and the ashes scattered among the stumps. A mattock of stone or wood to scoop the earth into a hummock and a fire-hardened pointed stick to poke a hole for the seed were used.
Culture
The productivity of the corn farmer sustained the Mayan civilization. It is estimated that as many as 150 days a year were free from daily drudgery in the fields. This surplus time was utilized by the nobility and the priests in a stratified society to build the cities, pyramids, and temples. There was sufficient leisure to support skilled craftsmen in arts and crafts. The Mayan workers who constructed the great stone structures and decorated the walls with artistic embellishment, however, were unaided by draft animals and wheeled carts. The lords of the land oversaw civic matters, while the priests conducted religious rituals, pursued intellectual studies, and corrected the calendar.
Cities that flourished in the classic period in lowland Guatemala are exemplified by Tikal, which has pyramid-temples more than 200 feet (60 meters) high and numerous carved stelae as time markers and reign recorders. Then the Old Empire collapsed. The stable city-states, comparable to ancient Greece in cultural accomplishment and administrative acumen, faded from memory.
No one knows why the culture declined and the cities were covered by encroaching forest until rediscovery in the 19th century. Possible causes include exhaustion of the cornfields by overpopulation, climatic changes, hurricanes, pestilences of epidemic proportions, wars, and insurrection.
Far to the north at the tip of Yucatan the New Empire waxed while the Old Empire waned. Archaeologists trace transition routes through Palenque in Chiapas, via Mirador and Rio Bec in Quintana Roo, and around Coba, where a network of causeway roads called sacbes connect distant cities.
The physical environment of the peninsula of Yucatan differs from that of the Peten. It too is lowland and limestone but arid and covered with desert scrub. Water is scarce and seasonal, draining underground via sinkholes and subterranean streams. Where the water table reaches the surface or the limestone layer can be breached, a cenote, or well, provides water for settlement and cultivation. Chaltunes are man-made cisterns lined with plaster to catch rainwater runoff. Such sites are typified by Uxmal and Chichen Itza with the Sacred Cenote, or Well of Sacrifice.
Palenque presents two notable features: the tomb of Lord Pacal (615-683), located inside the Temple of the Inscriptions, and the royal palace with a four-story square tower used not for defense observation but to notify the hospitable lords that visitors were approaching along the Usumacinta River, the artery of trade and travel to Tikal.
Uxmal (750-1000) is distinguished by the Temple of the Magician, which was rebuilt five times to comply with century cycles every 52 years according to the rounds of the lunar and solar calendars. The tracery of Kukulcan, or "feathered serpent" in the Mayan tongue, is intertwined through the mosaic of fretwork on the upper wall of the Nunnery Quadrangle.
El Castillo, or the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, the "feathered serpent" in the Nahuatl language of the Toltecs and Aztecs, is the outstanding feature of Chichen Itza (1000-1200). It heralds the coming of the Toltecs from Central Mexico and their dominance of the Maya of Old Chichen (800-1000). The themes of art and architecture duplicate Tula, the original capital in the highlands, with emphasis on the images and symbols of the feathered serpent. The Quetzalcoatl portal supported the lintel over the entrance to the Temple of the Warriors, and the memoirs of the associated military orders of Jaguar and Eagle are carved into the Court of the Thousand Columns. The head, body, and tail of the creator deity--the giver of corn and civilization--outline the grand staircase rising to the temple atop El Castillo. Inside, the red Jaguar throne is encrusted with pieces of precious jade. The Quetzalcoatl legend predicted the return of the god to Mexico, which happened to coincide with the arrival of the conquistadores, and Cortez astutely assumed the mantle of the deity to befuddle the superstitious Montezuma and complete the Spanish conquest.
Religion and the state among the Maya were as closely interconnected as among the Spaniards who conquered them. This convergence of customs and beliefs facilitated the merging of religions and the acceptance of authority during the colonial period. The Indians were converted to Roman Catholicism, but pagan practices persist, particularly in rural villages. In ancient days religious rites were conducted in temples by priests, and the government was administered by the aristocracy. The palace at Sayil and the governor's palace at Uxmal represent

Mayan Calendar

Mayan Calendar
The life of the Maya revolved around the concept of time. Priests were consulted on civil, agricultural and religious matters, and their advice would be derived from readings of the sacred calendars. Time was of such importance that children were even named after the date on which they were born.
Maya math uses only three symbols - a shell-shaped glyph for zero, a dot for one and a bar for five to represent units from zero to 19. For instance, the number 13 was represented as three dots and two bars.
Zero was an advanced concept in those days, something that the Romans were not aware of. Yet the Maya were comfortable enough with it to use a shell as its symbol, a tangible object representing an abstract concept. The Maya also used metrical calculation and place numeration, which were very clever for a culture that didn't use the wheel!
Although they had many calendars, they marked the passage of time with three cycles that ran in parallel.
The first is the scared calendar known as the Tzolkin. It combines the numbers from 1 through 13 with a sequence of 20 day-names. It works in a similar manner to our named days of the week, and their date within each month. So you might have 5-Chikchan (like our Sunday the 5th) followed by 6-Kimi (as we would have Monday the 6th). After 260 days the same number/name combination will re-occur, and the calendar starts anew. Their use of the vigesimal (base 20) numbering system probably relates to fingers and toes, whereas the 13 nicely fits the growth phase of the moon which isn't visible when new and appears full for two days on end, thus appearing to have a 13 day growth cycle. Alternatively, the length of the Tzolkin may be related to the human gestation period of nine months (273 days). It has been suggested that 260 days is the time between a woman suspecting her pregnancy (she doesn't menstruate) and when she gives birth.
The second is the agricultural calendar known as the Haab, or vague year. It consists of 18 months, each of 20 days. An addition of a five-day month (a period of apprehension and bad luck named Uayeb) gives us 365 days, an approximation of a year. This calendar's primary purpose was to keep track of the seasons, for seasonal and solar events would occur on roughly the same day of each year. The Maya were aware of the annual quarter day discrepancy, but it is not known if they ever did anything about it.
These two independently running calendars each begin again every 260 and 360+5 days. However, every 52 years they coincide:
"The Tzolkin and the Haab ran concurrently, like intermeshed cog-wheels, and to return to any given date, 52 years, or 18,980 days, would have to elapse (because both 365 x 52 and 260 x 73 = 18,980). In other words, the Tzolkin would make 73 revolutions and the Haab 52, so that every 52 calendar years of 365 days one would return to the same date. A complete date in this 52-year cycle might be, for example, 2 1k 0 Pop (2 1k being the position of the day in the Tzolkin, 0 Pop the position in the Haab). Fifty-two years would pass before another 2 1k 0 Pop date returned.
It was expected that the world would end at the completion of a 52-year cycle. At this time, among the Mexica in the Valley of Mexico, all fires were extinguished, pregnant women were locked up lest they be turned into wild animals, children were pinched to keep them awake so that they would not turn into mice, and all pottery was broken in preparation for the end of the world. In the event the gods decided to grant man another 52 years of life on earth, however, a night time ceremony was held in which the populace followed the priests through the darkness over a causeway to the top of an old extinct volcano that rises abruptly from the floor of the basin of Mexico, known today as the Hill of the Star, the hill above Ixtapalapa. There, with all eyes on the stars, they awaited the passage of the Pleiades across the center of the heavens, which would announce the continuation of the world for another 52 years. When the precise moment came, a victim was quickly sacrificed by making a single gash in his chest and extracting the still palpitating heart. In the gory cavity the priests, with a fire drill, kindled a new flame that was quickly carried by torches across the lake to the temple in Tenochititlan, and from there to all temples and villages around the lake. This was known as the New Fire Ceremony among the Mexica, and in some way this same completion and renewal of each 52-year cycle was recognized by all Mesoamericans."[i]
This is not unlike how the end of the last millennium may have felt for many Christians or doomsday cult followers.
Our modern Western calendar was first introduced in Europe in 1582. It was based upon the Gregorian calendar, which calculated the Earth's orbit to take 365.25 days. This was 0.0003 of a day per year too much, but still exceptionally accurate for scientists living over 400 years ago.
The Mayan calendars were derived from those of their predecessors, the Olmec, whose culture dates back at least 3,000 years. Without the instruments of 16th century Europe, these Central American locals managed to calculate a solar year of 365.2420 days, just 0.0002 of a day short. More accurate than the Europeans, and much earlier.
The Long Count
A Mayan date utilises three calendars. The third calendar, known as the "long count", is a continuous record of days that starts over every 5000 years or so. The current Long Count began in 3114 BC. And it will end very soon.
A typical Mayan date looks like this:
12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi 4 Zotz
4 Zotz is the Haab date.
3 Cimi is the Tzolkin date.
12.18.16.2.6 is the Long Count date.
The basic unit is the kin (day), which is the last component of the Long Count. Going from right to left the remaining components are:
unial........1 unial = 20 kin = 20 days
tun..........1 tun = 18 unial = 360 days = approx. 1 year
katun.......1 katun = 20 tun = 7,200 days = approx. 20 years
baktun.....1 baktun = 20 katun = 144,000 days = approx. 394 years
The kin, tun, and katun are numbered from 0 to 19.
The unial are numbered from 0 to 17.
The baktun are numbered from 1 to 13.

The Long Count is a great cycle of 13 baktuns (roughly 5,126 years), where the use of 13 may again represent the growth of the moon from new to full. The current cycle began on 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 8 Cumku which correlates to Aug. 13, 3114 BC.
In Mayan mythology each Long Count cycle is a world age in which the gods attempt to create pious and subservient creatures.
The First Age began with the creation of the Earth, and it had upon it vegetation and living beings. Unfortunately, because they lacked speech, the birds and animals were unable to pay homage to the gods and were destroyed. In the Second and Third Ages the gods created humans of mud and then wood, but these also failed to please and were wiped out. We are currently in the Fourth and Final Age, the age of the modern, fully functional human. Is it possible that these Ages referred to evolutionary change? If they did, then what might occur when the current age finishes on December 21, 2012?

History of Mayas

The Mayas were the most civilized culture in the whole of the Americas at the time. The Mayan culture covered the territories of Chiapas and Yucatán (Mexican territories), the departments of Izabal and Petén in Guatemala and Copán in Honduras. Although it is not known how they came to Guatemala, it is widely believed that their origin is Asian, this affirmation is based on six perfectly identifiable anthropological characteristics: Fold of eyelid, The presence of the mongolic spot, Its scarce beard. Lower height, The black and limp hair. Its religion was polytheistic (they worshipped many gods). The theory generally accepted is that they crossed the strait of Bering, taking advantage of the conditions of the frozen and icy conditions in that region during certain months of the year. Classification of Mayan history is divided into three large Periods:
Pre-Classical (300 B.C to the 325 A.C) In this period they were an agricultural society. This activity forced them to to observe the seasons of the year for its cultivations, and also the course of the Sun and the cycle of the Moon, which first inspired the study of astronomy, in which they were extremely advanced, observing the stars, while at the same time, coming up with a system of geroglyphical writing and a sophisticated numerical system. They created sculpted works of art, rough and without detail and expression. Also, the ceramics from that time reveal that commerce existed in some form or another.
Classical (325 to the 900 of our it was) It is in this Period that Mayan architecture really comes into its own, with buildings rising to 70 meters. Art reaches its peak, with beautiful sculptures, and lovely multicoloured pieces of pottery. The Mayan calendar is refined to perfection, accounting for the passing of the days and years perfectly, with no mistake.
Post Classical (987 to 1204 A.C) The cities that flourished during the classical epoch are inexplicably abandoned. In this period arise the famous invasions of Kukulkán known also by the name of Quetzalcoat. Also, it is during this period that the Mayans disappears, leaving no trace behind them.

Maya Civilization Timeline and Locations

Ancient Maya had a highly structured civilization that thrived in southern Mexico and Central America around year 1000. In the 1500s, the Maya were discovered, conquered, and almost totally destroyed by invading Spanish. Today's Maya are descendants of that American Indian tribe.
Maya people once dominated the region that is now eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. Prior to the sixteenth century arrival of Europeans, they developed one of the most advanced Native American civilizations in the western hemisphere. Without metal tools, the Maya constructed massive stone pyramids and temples. They created stone sculptures and painted elaborate murals. They also recorded events in hieroglyphs, a form of pictorial writing. Their most complex achievements were in astronomy and mathematics. Maya used a numbering system and could complete abstract and complicated calculations. They developed a pair of interlocking calendars. One calendar was based on the position of the sun and contained 365 days. The other was a sacred 260-day almanac. Designation of any given day involved combining the name for the sun calendar day and the sacred almanac day.
The Maya culture's greatest period was from about year 300 to 900 AD. After that zenith, the Maya mysteriously declined in Guatemala's southern lowlands, but later their culture revived in the Yucatán Peninsula. There the Maya continued to dominate until the Spanish conquest. Today's Maya descendants still comprise a large segment of that region's population, living their lives as peasant farmers. They speak a mixture of Mayan and Spanish languages. One tribal group, the Lacandón people of Mexico, still makes pilgrimages to worship the ancient gods among the ruins of the pyramids and temples.