Deep in the jungle of southern Mexico lie the ruins of Calakmul, a former classical Mayan superpower, that along with its rival Tikal, and smaller other Mayan cities boasted 1 million inhabitants.
I've always wanted to visit these sites, as well as the pyramids in Egypt. Around this time, the population of the western hemisphere was 15,000,000. That means that 6% of the population this side of the Atlantic resided in this region. What causes civilizations to engage in such advanced activities, then die?
Ancient postcards is a good description! Seeing these cities of stone today, they appear as fossils of a once living culture. "Mayan Americans are Americans of Indigenous Mayan descent. Most Mayan Americans originate from western Guatemala and Chiapas".
When looking at these old buildings and the other things around the world makes you wonder who is really advanced. Seeing stones weighing thousands of tons place with such accuracy that you can not put a razor blade between them or perfectly drilled holes through rock when they only had copper tools. Also making perfect right angles with a chisel. Is out historians been lying to us??
During the pre-Columbian era, human sacrifice in Maya culture was the ritual offering of nourishment to the gods. Blood was viewed as a potent source of nourishment for the Maya deities, and the sacrifice of a living creature was a powerful blood offering.
A change of pace. Beneath the water in China's Qiandao Lake in the province of Zhejiang lies a hidden treasure. The ancient city of Shi Cheng (also known as Lion City).
An artist impression of 1300 year old Shi Cheng before it was flooded in 1959 to make way for a hydro-electric project.
One of the most extraordinary ancient cities is Machu Picchu, a 15th-century Inca citadel perched 2,430-metre (7,970 ft) on a Peruvian mountaintop in the Andes.
Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio "In 1996, archaeologists began attributing the mound to the Fort Ancient culture (circa 1070 AD). A 2017 article, based on radiocarbon dating, argues for a construction by the Adena culture (circa 320 BC). The academic debate continues with multiple rebuttals to each theory."