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Carved Lintel, Yaxchilan
Lintel 14, from Yaxchilan. The relief carving depicts Lord and Lady Great Skull and a ritual-induced vision of a snake creature. 8th century CE.
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The Maya Calendar, Culture and History: an Introduction to a Mesoamerican Civilization
The Maya are a people indigenous to Mexico and Central America who have continuously inhabited the modern regions of Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and...
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The Inca Road System
The Inca road system formed a network known as the royal highway or qhapaq ñan, which became an invaluable part of the Inca empire. Roads facilitated the movement of armies, people, and goods across plains, deserts, and mountains. They connected...
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Mycenae
Mycenae was a fortified late Bronze Age city located between two hills on the Argolid plain of the Peloponnese, Greece. The acropolis today dates from between the 14th and 13th century BCE when the Mycenaean civilization was at its peak of...
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Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku (or Tiahuanaco) was the capital of the Tiwanaku empire between c. 200 - 1000 CE and is situated in the Titicaca basin. At an altitude of 3,850 metres (12,600 ft) it was the highest city in the ancient world and had a peak population...
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Tiryns
Located on the fertile Argolid plain, Tiryns lies between Nafplion and Argos in the eastern Peloponnese in Greece. The site has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age (7th-4th millennium BCE) but reached its greatest period of importance...
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A Visual Glossary of Classical Architecture
Abacus - a large slab placed above the column capital to support the architrave or an arch placed above it. Akroterion - a decorative piece added to the roof of a temple at the apex and corners, usually made of clay or bronze and...
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The Iberian Conquest of the Americas
European explorers began to probe the Western Hemisphere in the early 1500s, and they found to their utter amazement not only a huge landmass but also a world filled with several diverse and populous indigenous cultures. Among their most...
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Gold in Antiquity
Gold, chemical symbol Au (from the Latin aurum meaning 'shining dawn'), is a precious metal which has been used since antiquity in the production of jewellery, coinage, sculpture, vessels and as a decoration for buildings, monuments and statues...
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Muisca Civilization
The Muisca (or Chibcha) civilization flourished in ancient Colombia between 600 and 1600 CE. Their territory encompassed what is now Bogotá and its environs and they have gained lasting fame as the origin of the El Dorado legend. The Muisca...