pre-columbian
From the Contemporary Codices: Graduation Day (toon)
[Much more JAKE PRENDEZ for ogling and for sale over at JakePrendez.com.]
8 states are on land that was Mexican (History Channel video)
Know your history: The Mayans and the Aztecs developed advanced civilizations and eight U.S. states sit on land that used to be Mexico.
POCHO HISTORY 101: Los Pachucos Indigenas (toon)
[You can see lots more from JAKE PRENDEZ — and buy prints — at his website.]
Native American population almost back to pre-Columbian levels
Samuel W. Bennett’s GET DATA website features charts/graphs and infographics about current events, sports, news, culture, and history. We thought this log-scale graph of the native (in red, of course) and white population in the U.S. was fascinating, sad, and maybe, just maybe, encouraging.
His description:
After disease and war decimated the Native American population from an estimated pre-Columbian 5 million to a low of a few hundred thousand in the late 1800s, the American Native American population has recently approached the pre-Columbian population. The…figure shows that the population of American Native Americans from 1492 to present.
His chart that ranks Tolerance, Racism and Xenophobia in the United States shows we’re lots more tolerant than some other countries, but still have big-ass problems with gays, immigrants and “foreign languages,” not that this is news to us.
Mas…Native American population almost back to pre-Columbian levels
The unlikely history of the aguacate aka avocado (video)
The Meso-American aguacate (renamed avocado by Spanish invaders) is a prehistoric fruit that shouldn’t even be around today, all because it’s a tough nut to swallow. The Science Show breaks it down.
PREVIOUSLY ON AVOCADOS:
Mas…The unlikely history of the aguacate aka avocado (video)
Scientists: We’ve decoded more than 80% of Mayan hieroglyphs
The meaning of the intricate and striking hieroglyphs of the ancient Mayans have resisted decoding for centuries, but now some scientists claim the secrets will soon be revealed.
For hundreds of years, linguists have been trying to decode the ancient hieroglyphic script of the Mayans, left behind on monument carvings, painted pottery, and drawn in handmade bark-paper books.
Mas…Scientists: We’ve decoded more than 80% of Mayan hieroglyphs
Scientists: There’s a water-filled cave under Chichen Itza (video)
Mexican scientists have discovered a cave/sinkhole/subterranean river underneath the ruins of the Kukulkan Pyramid at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan.
Euronews reports on last week’s announcement:
Mas…Scientists: There’s a water-filled cave under Chichen Itza (video)
The molcajete: Mexico’s stone-age cooking tech still rules (video)
The continued popularity of the molcajete (mortar) and companion tejolote (pestle) is a living example of the principle “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Pocho Ocho top Aztec deities we could sure use today
In these troubled times, God[ess] knows, we could use some help from indigenous, culturally-appropriate deities.
Here are the Pocho Ocho top Aztec gods we could sure use today:
8. Chingilipochtli, god of payback
7. Guautemoc, god of amazement and wonder
6. Spocktezuma, god of living long and prospering tambien
‘Mom, where do chiles come from?’ ‘From Oaxaca, mija!’
Chile peppers were first domesticated in the area now known as Oaxaca, in eastern Mexico, about 8000 years ago, according to scientists.
Central-east Mexico gave birth to the domesticated chili pepper — now the world’s most widely grown spice crop — reports an international team of researchers, led by a plant scientist at the University of California, Davis.
Results from the four-pronged investigation — based on linguistic and ecological evidence as well as the more traditional archaeological and genetic data — suggest a regional, rather than a geographically specific, birthplace for the domesticated chili pepper.
Your basic futuristic Pre-Columbian animation from Israel (video)
From Israel comes this tale of a little girl in a “futuristic Pre-Columbian tribe” where everyone wears a mask. When the girl reaches the age of maturity, she’ll get a mask herself and she understands that accepting the mask will make her one of the tribe. Also involved: Carlos Castandeda’s Don Juan, abstract electronic music, high-speed rail, totem poles, pyramids, tunnels, skyscrapers, the Great Wall of China and iPads (could be Androids, hard to tell.) Mas Que La Cara , according to creator Yaniv Cohen, a college student, is from the Spanish and means “more than the face” or “added face.” It’s also the root of the word “masque.”