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Alberto Lhuillier and Pakal's Tomb
Archaeologist, Alberto Ruz Lhuillier, was born in France on January 27, 1906. He moved to Mexico, becoming a nationalized Mexican on September 3, 1940. Ruz took much pride in his Mexican identity and…
Oaxaca's Guelaguetza Festival
In the Zapotec language, the word “guelaguetza” means mutual cooperation, which is based on the idea of reciprocity–“today for you, tomorrow for me” (Bonfil Batalla, 1996, p. 30). The Guelaguetza…
The Birth of the Feathered Serpent
The religious art in Pre-hispanic Mesoamerica featured an abundance of iconographic deities that resembled the most important fauna in the region. It was common to combine the characteristics of…
Texture of the Centuries
Indigenous blouses, better known as huipiles, in Oaxaca, Chiapas reveal as much as they hide. They tell a tale of fertility, enchantment and seduction with the intricate design using the colors of the…
Chapultepec: The Seat of Power
Chapultepec, seed of power through the centuries. Nothing could be more true as you walk up the middle of chapultepec park in the heart of Mexico City, up the hill to the breathtaking view of the…
Calakmul Stela 51
Located in the southern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula, Calakmul sits within an ecological preserve of 819,000 acres, surrounded by a buffer zone of an additional 968,000 acres. Together, this vast…
The Remains of Hernán Cortés
After touring many opulent cathedrals in Mexico, the Church and Hospital of Jesús Nazareno seemed unusually plain. There were no frescos covering the walls, no grand carved marble alters, or organ…
Archaeology in Chiapa de Corzo
Many explorers have travelled throughout Mexico searching for ruins of early Mesoamerican civilizations and historical sites. A fascination with our early origins has led to many explorations. The…
Maya Medicine
The Museo de la Medicina Maya is located in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas. On Avenida Salomón González Blanco 10 this site is marked by an arch leading into what appears to be a small hamlet.…
Guadalupe’s Apparition at Tepeyac
Like many marvelous structures and phenomena in Mesoamerica, the story of the Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe begins with an indigenous wanderer stumbling upon a site of future significance. A…
Monte Albán: Batres and Caso
Monte Albán has existed for thousands of years. It was known to the natives as Danibaan, or “Sacred Mountain.” It received its new alias from being named after 17th century Spanish nobleman Don…
Becán Archaeological Site
A major center for religion, politics, and economics of the Rio Bec region, Becán is a fascinating city of the ancient Maya during the Classic Period. It depicts the Rio Bec style, and has…
The Tizoc Stone
When one enters the Aztec exhibit at the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City there is an immediate sense of ancient power radiating from the artifacts in the room. To the left a beautiful…
The City of Uxmal
The city of Uxmal is located in the hilly Puuc region of the Yucatan peninsula. It was first established around 500 C.E. and controlled the entire area from roughly 850 to 950 CE.
Today, the ruins…
The Catholic Church: 400 Years After Conquest
Izamal or Zamná which means "Dew that descends from heaven" was a place of pilgrimage and religious significance to the Maya people. There were at least 7 pyramids in this region, many were respected…
San Gabriel Convento in Cholula
Built in 1520 by the Spanish, San Gabriel Convento in Cholula is known for being the oldest religious temple in the Americas. This temple was built on the ruins of a previous temple honored to…
Mexico: 2018 Presidential Election
The purpose of this entry is to give a better understanding of the political parties that exist in Mexico and the current candidates. This year's presidential election is controversial because the…
The Quiet of Edzná
We arrived in the morning and there is a strange kind of quiet in the plaza. The sounds of the modern world do not dwell here. The sun is shining and beating down on the unprepared in the quiet of the…
Textiles In Mesoamerica
Textiles are one of the oldest forms of art known to mankind because every civilization has their own unique way of approaching this art. Many societies use textiles in many different ways according…
Henequen: Yucatán’s Green Gold
Henequen also known as sisal is raw fiber from the henequen plant. The plant’s long leaves are soaked to soften and dried in order to gather the fiber which is mainly used to produce rope or sacks but…
Diccionario Maya Cordemex
While walking in El Gran Museo Del Mundo Maya de Mérida, my attention was caught by a very large book. It was much larger than others I had seen in museums, and newer. It was the “Cordemex Maya…
Pyramid of the Moon
The Pyramid of the Moon is located in the ancient city of Teotihuacan some thirty miles northeast of Mexico City. Although smaller than the site's famous Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon…
Aztec Military Hierarchy
Hierarchy is established in military systems to provide organization. Orders can be sent through the ranks by those of higher rank or status to their inferiors who will carry them out without…
Yaxche: The Tree of Life
The Yaxche, as the Maya referred to it, was the representation of what is known in vast ancient civilizations as the tree of life. In the Maya civilization the Yaxche is represented by the Ceiba…
Chichén Itzá Vendors
This entry will purpose as an educational article about the emerging conflict between the Chichén Itzá site and the Maya Vendors that occupy the site. Although an arrangement to the benefit of both…
Nation Building in Mexico
During the summer of 2018, I participated in a month-long study-abroad experience in Mexico. My group from Sam Houston State University traveled more than 1,500 miles from Cancún and Merida, to…
Japan and Mexico - Before 1939
Japanese in Mexico did not face the intense discrimination other Asians did during the first half of the twentieth century. Mexican intellectuals were impressed with Japan in the late nineteenth…
The Rise and Fall of Chan Santa Cruz
José Antonio Migangos met with the Mexican consul, Buenaventura Vivó, in Havana on March 12, 1849. He represented 135 other Yucatec Maya men, women, and children forced to sign labor contracts for…
Appropriating Indigenous Culture
On October 18, 1916, fashion designers flocked to the Museum of Natural History in New York City and declared that the “art of the Red Man…[is] a field of remarkable possibilities for all those…
Mexican Nationalism and Fashion
Over the last century, Mexican fashion designers such as Armando Valdés Peza, Henri De Châtillon, and, most remarkably, Ramón Valdiosera created a legacy that still influences Mexican fashion today.…