Ancient Metropolis: The True Scale Of Mayan Cities | Treasure Tombs of the Ancient Maya | Odyssey

the dazzling

cities

of the

ancient

Mayans built by one of the most sophisticated civilizations in history the Mayan people were as advanced as any of the world's

ancient

civilizations for 3,000 years the ancient Mayans dominated Central America founded powerful kingdoms and built imposing temples ruled dominated By formidable kings and queens, my rulers lived lives of incredible privilege, but there was a price to pay, but their lives remain shrouded in mystery who they were and how they lived and died with exclusive access our experts embark on a groundbreaking 2-year journey . investigation using space technology to search for a long dead King within this intriguing temple scanning the jungle with liars to discover astonishing secrets about the

scale

of His Kingdoms, we had no idea how big they were and used pioneering geological techniques to search for answers As to why this Great Society collapsed, they may have thought it might have been the end of the world.

To solve these Mysteries, we bring this extraordinary world back to life in Vivid 3D and explore the lavish

tombs

of the Kings to shed new light on life and death. of the ancient

maya

ns the

maya

ns were one of the most advanced ancient cultures the world has ever seen they were pioneers in art, architecture, writing and mathematics at their peak the mayan region covered more than 250,000 square kilometers in central america with dozens of

cities

independent states each. ruled by a powerful king much like the kingdoms of ancient Greece David sedat has been studying the meire for over 40 years investigating how the Mayans grew and prospered developed a numerical system astronomy that was incredibly accurate huge pyramids platforms from any point of view They were astonishingly sophisticated about how these impressive people lived and died and what caused their glorious civilization to fall apart.

In search of answers, a unique team of Japanese experts heads to one of the most important Mayan cities in all of Kapan in what is now Honduras. In its heyday, Kapan was a spectacular city that was home to over 20,000 people, towering brightly painted temples, rose more than 30m above the jungle floor, had open plazas with impressive carvings and sculptures, baseball fields for sporting and ceremonial events and magnificent staircases for almost half a millennium. Kapan was the capital of a vast kingdom covering 350 square kilometers ruled by a powerful dynasty of 16 kings, but despite the legacy they left behind, much of their rise and fall is unknown.

How did the Kapan rulers become so successful and what happened to them in solving these mysteries? They prepare for a pioneering experiment, they are led by Seichi Nakamura. He hopes to find answers to puzzles that have baffled archaeologists for decades. Could there be clues hidden within the city's once magnificent temples? The mysterious Temple 11 stands out. Seichi believes it contains the final resting place. for one of the 16 kings of Copán, archaeologists have searched for almost two centuries, but only about eight royal

tombs

have been found. The discovery of another could revolutionize experts' understanding of what happened to them.

The team plans to use cutting-edge space technology called muon imaging to scan the structure. and search for a tomb in 2017 used this innovative technique to scan the Great Pyramid of Egypt the images revealed a mysterious hidden cavity now they hope to use the same technology to make an even more spectacular discovery here in Kapan when C IC rays hit the atmosphere of the Earth create showers of subatomic particles called muons pass through matter easily and with the right detection equipment can reveal cavities in large objects invisible even to X-rays By placing muon detection plates in large buildings scientists can detect hidden undiscovered spaces Previously, the team wants to apply the muon technique to Temple 11 of Cop and search for a tomb buried inside.

Seichi hopes this will be the first step in finding one of the missing Copan Kings. If they find a tomb that could not only reveal the untold history of the city, it could also contain priceless

treasure

s. It is every archaeologist's dream and they know it happened. before 420 km northwest of Copan lies Pelen now in modern Mexico Rodrigo Endo has been studying this magnificent city for more than 25 years this is the main plaza of Palen Palen was the capital of a vast territory in the lowlands of the northwest, is famous for its notable architectural style between the 5th and 9th centuries.

Ad Pelen controlled an area of ​​almost 130 square kilometers and was home to more than 7,000 people. In the heart of the city is the Temple of Inscriptions, 60 m wide and almost 30 m high, it is one of the most magnificent monuments in the Mayan world. The actual function of this building remained a mystery for many centuries. People actually thought it was probably just for a ceremonial presentation, nothing else that amazing. The monument hides dramatic secrets. Rodrigo explores the interior and finds peculiar circular plugs in the floor. There was a long period of speculation about the function of this strange feature here and it is actually holes in two of the main slabs that make up the floor, the mysterious holes.

Baffled archaeologists until they realized that if they passed a rope through the holes they could lift the slab and look underneath, they found a surprising discovery: the first step toward a staircase descending into the building. The team spent 2 years excavating this staircase. The expectation of finding something truly great grew and grew, each step covered by the UN was one step closer to this enormous discovery. Hidden at the end of the tunnel is the find of a lifetime, an ancient tomb located in the heart of the pyramid in The center is a spectacular 20-ton stone sarcophagus It is so large that the temple must have been built around it under a lid covered with intricate carvings It is the remains of a man surrounded by priceless

treasure

s Who is he when experts examined the inscriptions in the temple discovered a name pakal the great bakal the great was the most important king in the history of palen it was a peaceful period of incredible developments in architecture and craftsmanship led palen to its peak in political power what may reveal objects buried with pakal about the treasures the Japanese team could uncover in their A new investigation into the Tomb, archaeologists found exquisite jade jewelry shells and a spectacular death mask.

The mask is completely green and is mainly made of pure jade of the most excellent quality, making this a priceless piece of craftsmanship, probably one of the most spectacular works of art made by the ancient Mayan people. The Mask has an important spiritual meaning The mask represented the person in his youth. This was an attempt to freeze youth for eternity on their way to the underworld. Give yourself the best gift ever this holiday season. Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning podcasts. and thousands of hours of original history documentaries published weekly exclusively on History hit. There are themes for all history lovers, from Pompeii to D-Day.

Sign up via the link in the description for an exclusive discount. Don't miss this incredible opportunity to explore. The past like never before with history struck the splendor and richness of this incredible tomb made headlines around the world The discovery of Pakal was one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the last century It was a GameChanger Could the new groundbreaking research in Copan reveal an even greater king within this temple and strange carvings may help point out how the city of Copan was one of the most important in the Mayan world. Its monuments are covered with mysterious images.

Clues to how the Mayans lived and died. Renee Vel has been studying the site for 40 years in the early 20th century, archaeologists were baffled by those inscriptions; They did not know what those inscriptions represented, if it was a language or if it was just a pictorial writing. The experts knew that decoding these puzzling designs would revolutionize their understanding of the Mayan, but they were impossible to read. The idea was that the ancient writings were related to the calendar and religion. You know, in archeology, when there is something we cannot understand, we say it is religious. What secrets?

They are locked within this mysterious code. The Mayan expert Panos ctim least finds answers in the pages of an ancient book known as The Dresden Codex and is about 800 years old before the Spanish conquest, there would have been thousands of these codices throughout the Mayan world In part, they did not survive until preservation, but the largest. The loss of these books was caused by the Spanish conquistadors who burned them as idolatry by the work of the devil. Only four codices have survived for centuries. Scholars believed they held the key to understanding Mayan inscriptions, and through them, the entire Mayan culture is wonderfully illustrated. of people animals supernatural deities but they are completely surrounded by these symbols for a long time we had no idea what they really meant it's like trying to put together a puzzle with most of the pieces missing and without an image for reference but Throughout decades of careful analysis, scholars gradually began to spot clues in this image from the Drsen Codex: we can see an illustration of a dog with writing around it, so it stands to reason that somewhere in that text is probably the word for dog , this understanding was one of the big pieces of the puzzle in deciphering Mya's hieroglyphs.

It took dozens of scholars more than a century to decipher the text. When they finally did it, they realized that this is one of the most sophisticated writing systems ever seen. Western languages ​​use the 26 letters of the alphabet. To create the words in your vocabulary, Chinese writing uses more than 50,000 symbols that can represent words or entire concepts. Mayan writing has 800 glyphs written in paired columns from left to right representing syllables and complete words balam, the word Jaguar can be written as an image with three separate syllables or a combination of both, making Mayan writing extremely complex.

Deciphering the Mayan inscriptions was one of the most important archaeological advances of the 20th century and even today we only understand about 85% of the glyphs, but what we understand has already completely transformed our understanding of the Mayans, what can these hieroglyphs reveal? about the mysterious kings of Copan and how they lived and died? Renee Vel takes a closer look. We now know that these texts are about historical events and historical people because we have the names, for example. Of the Kings of Kopan glyphs tell the story of the lives of the rulers of Copán and record births, deaths and key events.

They are also propaganda commissioned by kings to glorify themselves for future generations. Could the Japanese team be about to discover one of these proud kings? Inside this temple they believe there is an actual burial chamber somewhere within the structure, but it is huge and the tomb could be anywhere. This old excavation tunnel could be the perfect place to place the photographic films they are using to scan the temple and need to make sure. The films are in the right place and pointing in the right direction. If they get it wrong, they could miss the tomb entirely.

The team also needs to verify that their equipment works here. The last time they used it was in the dry deserts of Egypt here in Copán the rainforest conditions create a different challenge the dust, heat and humidity make the job difficult, but Seichi is optimistic that they will find a real tomb nearby. Finding the tomb of one of Copan's lost kings could shed new light on the rise and fall of this great kingdom. What can the mysterious carvings reveal about the city's ruling dynasty? David sedat investigates an ornate stone altar found in Copán's main plaza.

He shows the 16 rulers of Copán during its golden age in four figures to one side and begins here with Ketel MAA Verde, the founder of Copán. Dynasty until we get to the last ruler of Copán, ruler 16, who were these enigmatic kings. David searches for clues in the city's Acropolis. The Acropolis platform in its heyday would have been an impressive elevated citadel where some of the grandest and most spectacular rituals would have taken place. Convinced that he could hide the last resting place of one of the 6 rulers of Copán to confirm his suspicions, his team spent 15 years carefully excavating tunnels beneath the complex.

We were looking for the tombs because we considered them to be time capsules that would contain proof of real history. from Copán after digging3 kilometers of tunnels, David's team made the discovery of a lifetime hidden beneath the Acropolis there is a brightly painted temple from the 6th century buried beneath David finds a labyrinth of tombs inside one of them there is a skeleton on a slab of stone surrounded with precious offerings including a large Jade chest a ring with an intricate carved pattern a set of earrings and four teeth decorated with Jade this is clearly a rich burial to whom it belongs and what it can reveal about how the kings of Copan arrived at Al In order to search for clues to the identity of the tomb's occupant, the team found something spectacular: a magnificent carving depicting two birds.

This clue was immediately obvious to us because it was made up of a huge green kettle bird on one side and the other. On one side a large scarlet red mcov so it spelled the full name of the founder of Copán first Kel ma green the beautiful design indicates that this must be the Tomb of the first king of Copán when the experts analyzed his skeleton they discovered something surprising that it did not era This area David believes that the powerful Copán dynasty was founded by an outsider who took over the city in the 5th century.

Ar iological research has shown us that the Mayans were writing

true

history about themselves. I think this is probably the greatest achievement of my archaeological career, but it is not the only impressive discovery within this magnificent nearby temple. David finds another tomb, to our great amazement, it was the tomb of a woman with truly one of the greatest treasures of jade jewelry and giant pearls and pottery, truly one of the richest burials found anywhere in the Mayan world the extraordinary wealth of the woman and the burial near the founder suggest that this must be his wife.

Analysis of her bones shows that she is local, suggesting that the first king of Copán may have married. She reached the top. The question was who he was. Was she just a wife or was she a queen? This wealth from her tomb is testimony that women could become incredibly rich and probably supremely powerful in their own right, but to this day one of the most enduring mysteries and secrets of the Acropolis of Copán is that we do not know The name of this woman The first king and his wife are two of the eight royal burials found in Copán At least half of the members of this mysterious dynasty are still missing At the end of a tunnel David finds another surprising structure ancient It is a 13 M temple that was once painted deep red.

An inscription reveals that it was built in the 6th century, approximately 200 years before the monument outside. The team nicknames this hidden temple Rosalila. The real surprise was that Rosalila was buried absolutely intact and was buried on purpose by later rulers. Mya Kings often placed new temples on top of older ones, each wanting to build bigger and better monuments than their predecessor, but the temples were more than just showing that the temples could face the setting sun, they could also face the sun. nascent, could be essentially astronomical. watches because how the sun rose and set throughout the year was an important consideration for them why astronomy is so important to the Mayans Panos cim less searches The Dresden Codex for clues an important topic in the Dresden Codex is to trace the course of celestial bodies throughout the world.

In the sky here we can see a series of numbers with a dot representing one, a bar representing five and this shell-shaped glyph representing zero. The Codex is like an almanac that counts the number of days until an event such as an equinox or a full moon occurs. The Mayans were skilled astronomers, they could track various celestial bodies across the sky with extreme precision, as good, if not slightly better, than what we are able to do today and all without the modern technology we are accustomed to, such as the telescopes. They had to be precise because getting the date wrong could be fatal.

The calendar was vitally important to the Mayans because they had to keep track of the time of year to be able to plant and harvest their crops correctly. Many Mayan temples had a dual purpose, not only were they giant funerary monuments for kings and queens but also helped keep track of time. Could the Japanese team be about to find one of the lost kings of Copán inside one of those temples and what can the impressive inscriptions reveal about the mysterious city ​​dynasty? Copan is home to some of the most spectacular carvings and monuments the Mayans ever built and a magnificent temple is unique, completely covered in stunning carved hieroglyphs.

What is it for? Ravel investigates the amazing construction known as the Hieroglyphic Staircase. The yogic staircase is one of the most important monuments in the entire Mayan world because it is the longest known inscription in Mayan Tus Lees this sculpted library is 21 M high and contains 62 steps carved with more than 2,000 glyphs records the history of Copan and His Kings the first version of the heric staircase was built by king 13, he could not finish it because it had a tragic end and it was completed by his grandson, king 15, after king Copán was killed by a rival, the city fell In decline, ruler 15 attempted to revive the city's fortunes, a huge monument to him standing guard in front of Temple 11, could provide a clue as to who might be buried within.

King number 15 remodeled the entire southern part of the Plaza r, he represents himself at the bottom of his entire construction and this is the reason why we think that it must be king number 15 who is buried there the fate of the The 13th king of Copan was not uncommon in the Mayan world. Rulers walked a dangerous line between power and politics. Dozens of independent city-states were ruled by powerful kings, but were they allies or enemies? The answer may lie elsewhere. spectacular Mayan sight in what is now Guatemala its name is tial tial flourished for over 1,000 years and at its peak in the 8th century it was home to approximately 60,000 people Edwin Roman has been researching the ancient Mayans for over 20 years ago more 100 years ago the first explorers arrived at Tial and since then Tial has been home to many archaeological projects We thought we knew everything We were wrong Now new technology is helping experts make enormous progress in their understanding of how the Mayan kingdoms arose and They fell, which technology is Liar Liar uses aircraft equipped with lasers to scan the jungle and reveal objects hidden beneath the trees.

Researchers from the pacunam liar initiative surveyed more than 2,000 square kilometers of Guatemalan rainforest and their lasers revealed thousands of previously unknown Mayan temples and monuments - a discovery that changed everything - before we could only see most of the large structures - now we can see everything and everything. What is more surprising is the extent of the cities that we had no idea about. How big they were, this epic scanning project has revealed a colossal 60,000 previously unknown Mayan structures. It shows that the Mayan population was more than 10 million. 10 times larger than previously thought. The removal of trees also exposes the paths that connect one city to another, where we are learning.

From these images it is how some cities were allies of another and how they were interconnected through roads but the surprising thing is that why not all cities have it? Some Mayan kings created alliances to help them become more powerful but the liar reveals that others did not. they were so Amic, this is the wall of tial, they discovered the whole landscape right here, it was around tial, this huge defensive wall shows that the people of tial were not welcoming their neighbors, they were trying to keep them away before, al principle. We thought the Mayans were peaceful.

Now we can see the amount of energy they have to put in to protect themselves and what this image shows us is then. I was in a landscape of fear. These innovative new images suggest that in the Mayan World War. It was common for many kingdoms to be locked in centuries-long rivalries with their neighbors, but why were the people of Tal so afraid? Edwin believes the liar could lead him to a lead. When we received this image, they discovered that there was a structure. Before they thought it was just a natural hill, the unusual thing about this structure is its shape, it is nothing we have seen in the Mayan War Edwin Ventures to investigate the strange structure that the first explorers had to traverse through the jungle without knowing what they would find Now your high-tech map guides you straight to the location, now we can start seeing it right there, reaching the mysterious Mound.

Edwin confirms what the liar suggested. This is not a Mayan building. When we first saw this pyramid, the design was a bit strange and that caught our attention. because the only structure similar to that is 1,000 km from here in the city, call it teot wakan. Teot Wakan was one of the most powerful city states in Mesoamerica, home to around 100,000 people. Edwin believes that this newly discovered structure is evidence that the wakan teot invaders occupied the takal in the 4th century AD. suggests that competition and struggles for power were widespread in Mayan society. War was really important to the Mayans, they were always in some kind of battle between neighbors, like any culture around the world they want to try to gain access to. to resources that came from a different kingdom in Maya Warfare, the king himself led raiding parties in small

scale

skirmishes, the main objective was not to kill but to take prisoners to be sacrificed to the gods and the biggest prize was the king.

Legend has it that when the infamous Serpent Kings conquered Tal in 562, they sacrificed the city's King on his own altar. The Serpent Kings were masters of Mayan warfare. Later, they also defeated Pelen, forcing the queen to hand over the city after centuries of domination in the 9th century AD, to the Mayans mysteriously. They abandoned their cities, the war tore them apart, or there is another reason why it is the biggest enigma in Mayan studies now in Mexico, another team tries to finally solve it tesi nakagawa believes that the clues to what happened to the Mayans could be hidden in the bottom of this lake.

He prepares for a pioneering geological investigation. The lakebed sediments contain traces of the environment from centuries past, from pollution to weather conditions to plant and animal remains. This lake is right next to an abandoned Mayan site. The team builds a floating platform to collect samples of the In the deepest part of the lake they hope to find evidence of the Mayan collapse preserved in the sediment, but what can other precious clues found deep underground reveal about the rise and fall of this great civilization? Ancient kings were buried in luxurious tombs surrounded by treasure and a grave offering was essential.

Jade Why did Mayer favor Jade above all else? Mary Lou Rider is an expert in Mayan trade. Jade was the most valuable thing the Mayans had in their entire cultural inventory. Jade is exceptionally rare and harder than steel in a world. Without metal tools, this made it unique and valuable. They felt that the Jade was indestructible. It has a lifespan of 400 million years. It will last forever, so it represented immortality. Jade pebbles blend perfectly with their surroundings to discover if a stone really is. Jade Mary Lou tests it in a laboratory. The test uses a mixture of two extremely dense liquids in the form of bromide and methylene iodide.

Almost any other stone will float in the mix, but due to its extreme density, Jade will sink, so this is a piece of stone that I suspect is not Jade, the stone floats, it is not heavy enough to be panted . She tries another piece that sank, proving it's Jade, so let's take this and make something beautiful with it. Nowadays, technicians use diamond-tipped swords to cut Jade, but the meire only had stone. tools, how could they cut something as hard as jade in the only stone in Guatemala that was harder than jade? It's garnet, so they were wearing a garnet bracelet on the edge of their wooden jade carving tools.

The Mayan craftsman would take weeks or even months. cutting a stone, but jade was not only beautiful, it meant that being able to control the jade trade was the most important thing for these cultures, they formed political alliances with the people closest to the source of jade to gain power, the world is all . about who controls resources, this happens every day in today's world. Jade was a vital part of Mayan culture. He was buried in tombs alongside kings and queens, many of whom are now lost to history. Could Seichi Nakamura and his team be close to achieving it? a new discovery inside this temple the team has installed photographic plates inside the tunnels it will take several months to complete the scanning process while they wait seichi decides to excavate aThe collapsed temple is close to Kanan's magnificent hieroglyphic staircase believed to hide the tomb of another of the city's missing kings, this ruined monument is known as Temple 7.

If there is a tomb inside, it could contain vital clues about the fall of the royal dynasty of Copan. Seichi believes it begins with the tragic death of the 13th king in the 8th century AD. After the 13th king was captured and killed by a rival, Copan fell into decline, could he find the tomb of his son within this temple to reveal what went wrong? Objects inside the tomb could provide evidence of the city's wealth and political connections at the time, all holding vital clues to what caused its fall. Soon the team finds some gruesome human bones nearby, incense burners and pieces of jade.

More than 1000 years old is evidence that Mayan priests performed a ritual here. Seichi believes this ritual could have been to celebrate the completion of the building. Could it be related? to the construction of a royal tomb and what more human remains found in another part of the city may reveal about these chilling Mayan practices. The Mayans were a deeply sophisticated civilization with stone tools, they built spectacular cities and controlled powerful kingdoms far larger than they ever imagined. Impressive treasures to bury with their fallen kings and queens hidden for millennia in amazing tombs. As the team continues their investigations beneath the temples of Copan, they hope to uncover the secrets of how this great civilization came to be and what ultimately brought it to its knees next.

What can mysterious human remains reveal about the dark side of the Mayan religion? Those heads had been cut off. How did they use advanced engineering to survive against all odds? What caused its final collapse? They may have thought it could have been the end of the world.