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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From a story tonight on BBC Science and Nature About Chicxlub crater on Yucatan Peninsula http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2837407.stmThe collapse of numerous limestone caverns above the crater rim has resulted in an arcing chain of sinkholes - also visible in the shuttle radar image. "They are the result of extensive erosion in the limestone. These beautiful cenotes, as they are called, are several metres across and were in fact used by the Mayans to make their sacrifices. cenote suh no' tay n. 5AmSp < Maya tzonot6 a deep natural well carved out of friable limestone
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
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used by the Mayans to make their sacrifices.
Interesting turn of phrase. We all make our sacrifices, but somehow I think the Mayans sacrifices were not about self-denial!
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear dxb: The Sunday newspaper supplements used to feature gory
details of Axtecs cutting the hearts out of virgins before casting the
still quivering corpse into a deep waterfilled natural well. That kind
of sacrifice.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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Weren't the human sacrifices in those parts usually enemies captured in battle? Somehow I doubt many of them were virgins.
Bingley
Bingley
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Bingley: The Sunday supplements suffered no compulsion to stick to facts.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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According to the tour guide I overheard at Chichen Itza, it was an honor bestowed on certain families to have their babies chosen for sacrifice. The babies were brought up in the knowledge that they would be sacrificed for the greater good of the tribe and their sacrificial ceremony when they reached the proper age (12?)was much like a wedding celebration. I have not been able to verify this. http://www.jaguar-sun.com/maya.htmlThere were many forms of human sacrifice and some were captured enemy warriors. The truth is that no one really knows. I also heard the tour guide tell the tourists that the team that lost the match in the Mayan ballgame would be sacrificed. I can imagine that perhaps this happened at the end of a cycle, but not on a regular basis. http://www.jaguar-sun.com/ballgame.htmlThere were about 159 hits on google when I searched "Mayan sacrifices cenotes". I will look into this further, later on. Edit: Tour guides at the Mayan ruins suffer no compunctions about offering lurid details as facts, either. The tourists want to be titilated by "heathen worship practices", the gorier the better. The tour guides have found that the tips are better if they tell great yarns. Human nature, after all.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I'd heard that it was the winners who received the honor of being sacrificed. After all, why would a god want the losers ? [All those years I thought failing phys ed was a bad thing]
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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I wonder why the priests didn't seek the honor of having their heart cut out.
I also wonder why the Muslim fundamentalist mullahs aren't anxious to get to Paradise and 70 virgins, by becoming suicide bombers.
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