Professor of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University
Due to its strategic economic position as the transfer point between the ancient highland world and the lowland cities, Cancuen became incredibly rich with the largest workshops of the Maya in both jade and obsidian, and one of the largest Classic Maya royal palaces. Follow along while I continue our tour through Cancuen!
Cancuen sits in a narrow peninsula where the Pasión river sharply bends and first slows down to be navigable by canoe. It’s a huge rich city built at “the head of navigation of the Pasión river,” the beginning of the great river trade route of the Classic Maya world. Due to its strategic economic position as the transfer point between the ancient highland world and the lowland cities, Cancuen became incredibly rich with the largest workshops of the Maya in both jade and obsidian, and one of the largest Classic Maya royal palaces.
Written By: JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Source: The New York Times
NASHVILLE— After hacking through tropical jungles in Central America and turning up stones of magnificent temples and tombs, archeologists over the years built up in their minds an idealized image of the Maya people who once flourished where now only wilderness thrives.
Continue reading “What Doomed the Maya? Maybe Warfare Run Amok”
