By Eli Addams
In the midst of the ruins of Chichén Itzá, there is a wall covered entirely in skull carvings known as a tzompantli (or skull rack, wall of skulls, skull banner, etc.). However this is just one…

By Eli Addams
Templo Mayor, located in downtown Mexico City, has an adjacent museum that proudly displays artifacts and renditions of items from the Mesoamerican civilizations. The top floor of this museum contains…

By Eli Addams
In the midst of downtown Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, there is an Aztec site lying in ruin known as Templo Mayor. This site is home to the House of Eagles, which was a sort of barracks for the…

By Shirley Mejia
The Grand Mayan World Museum which was designed by architects, Josefina Rivas Acevedo, Enrique Duarte Aznar, Ricardo Combaluzier Medina, and William Ramirez Pizarro was built in 2012. This museum…

By Ana Becerra
Celebrated Mexican painter Diego Rivera transcribed the history of Mexico in a mural in his own style of painting on the main staircase of the National Palace of Mexico City. The staircase leads to…

By Shirley Mejia
San Lorenzo Zinacantan is a municipality in the southern part of Chiapas, Mexico. The population consist of Tzotzil Maya who have ties to other highland Maya people. The name Zinacantan means “land of…

By Shirley Mejia
The Zocalo has served as the historical, cultural, and ceremonial center to the past and present occupants of Mexico City. It is the main square of the entire city and the center which is next to…

By Ana Becerra
Who can deny “the drink of the gods” and the delicious sweetness of churros? The oldest churrería in Mexico can be found in Mexico City in an important historical center, just a few blocks away from…

By Roberto Venegas
Calakmul and Tikal were two rival kingdoms who fought each other multiple times for supremacy during the Classic period from the sixth century to 900 A.D.. The Kaanul or Snakes orchestrated a plan…

By Allison G. Faith
A middle aged man drenched in sweat and overcome by exhaustion stands amidst the heat of the jungle. Swatting at mosquitos and never losing focus, he is determined to finish what he started. With the…

By Roberto Venegas
Obsidian was one of the most important materials distributed in Mesoamerica. Teotihuacan controlled the trade in this valuable commodity from the dawn of the common-era to 600 CE. In Mesoamerica,…

By Allison G. Faith
Arms open wide, reaching down to her people below, she is adorned with a beautiful headdress and jewelry. Her purpose is unclear, but her beauty is apparent. Appearing in multiple murals throughout…

By Allison G. Faith
Warrior, outsider, ruler, and legend. These are a few of the words used to describe the infamous “Spearthrower Owl.” The Spearthrower Owl or “Atlatl Cauac” is the name of a figure that appears in…

By Chloe Henze
The second largest Volkswagen factory is located in Puebla, Mexico. Volkswagen de Mexico was established in 1964 and construction of the Puebla plant began in January of 1965. In October of 1970,…

By Chloe Henze
A native of Texas, Cyrus Longworth Lundell was born November 5, 1907. He attend both Columbia University and Southern Methodist University (B.A., 1932). He studied in the Graduate School of Business…

By Caleb A Zavala
“The Aztec Calendar Stone is one of the most famous objects in world archaeology, art history, and visual culture”. The Calendar Stone was built during the post classic era. It’s time of construction…

By Roberto Venegas
The Cross Group at Palenque are the first and last set of buildings of their kind that were designed to honor the three set of gods of Palenque . The three buildings were constructed during the reign…

By Caleb A Zavala
Frans Blom was a notable archaeologist who had many great explorations and discoveries that contributed to the field of Mesoamerican studies. One of his greatest accomplishments, was his founding of…

By Caleb A Zavala
The Maya Codex of Mexico (also known as the Grolier Codex) was discovered in the mountains of Chiapas in 1964. The following year, Mexican collector Dr. Josué Sáenz traveled with two men on a small…

By Jennifer Lopez
Tulum was one set of ruins found in the Yucatan Peninsula. It was also the only Mayan city built on a coast around the late classic era (200CE-1000CE). Their daily routines included activities…

By Jennifer Lopez
Copan was a Maya civilization that took place in the classical era of 300-900 AD. This civilization had many political, religious or civil issues. The Maya leader of Copan was Yax Kuh Mo, he…

By Jennifer Lopez
El jardin de etnobotanico de Oaxaca is home to many indigenous plants that are only found in Oaxaca. Oaxaca has several different types of climates throughout the state. The garden collects…

By Ashley Foster
In Mexico City lay a bright blue house that physically displays the colorful life Frida Kahlo left behind. The blue color of the house was later known to represent her admiration for the indigenous…

By Ashley Foster
Within the El Gran Museo del Mundo Maya de Mérida that recently opened in 2012, there is an extensive exhibit of local Maya history and anthropology. Not only does the outer architecture symbolize…

By Ashley Foster
The Maya ruins of Chichén Itzá (late-classic), located in the Yucatán Peninsula, hold the largest ball court in Mesoamerica. The Ball Court symbolized the underworld in the Maya cosmovision and…

By Jeffrey L Littlejohn
Located in the southern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula, Calakmul sits within an ecological preserve of 331,397 hectares, surrounded by a buffer zone of an additional 391,788 hectares. Together, this…

By Lyndsey Holloway Hernandez
Twenty-four miles outside the city of Oaxaca, in the town of San Pablo Villa de Mitla, a group of ruins subsist in a state of repose, waiting to be encountered. The site’s original name in Zapotec is…

By Lyndsey Holloway Hernandez
During the Classic period, Palenque was one of the most important Maya cities. Archeologists have uncovered some of Palenque’s greatest secrets, including two sarcophagi, that contribute to Palenque's…