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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread BBC News Word #98434 03/12/2003 1:21 AM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 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.stm The 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 Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: BBC News Word #98435 03/12/2003 4:52 PM Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK dxb Pooh-Bah dxb Pooh-Bah Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 1,692 UK 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! Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: BBC News Word #98436 03/12/2003 5:43 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 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. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: BBC News Word #98437 03/13/2003 5:30 AM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 3,065 Jakarta Bingley Carpal Tunnel Bingley Carpal Tunnel Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 3,065 Jakarta Weren't the human sacrifices in those parts usually enemies captured in battle? Somehow I doubt many of them were virgins. Bingley Bingley Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: BBC News Word #98438 03/13/2003 2:33 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 Dear Bingley: The Sunday supplements suffered no compulsion to stick to facts. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: BBC News Word #98439 03/16/2003 12:10 PM Joined: Jun 2001 Posts: 2,636 Caribbean consuelo Carpal Tunnel consuelo Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2001 Posts: 2,636 Caribbean 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.html There 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.html There 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. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: BBC News Word #98440 03/19/2003 12:45 AM Joined: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,154 British Columbia, Canada Zed Pooh-Bah Zed Pooh-Bah Joined: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,154 British Columbia, Canada 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] Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: BBC News Word #98441 03/19/2003 1:34 AM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 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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