Ancient America

Few ancient ruins capture the imagination like the mighty holy site of Tiwanaku, located on the high Andean altiplano plateau outside of La Paz, Bolivia. Unlike some ancient sites, such as Machu Picchu in neighboring Peru or Chichen Itzá in Mexico, Tiwanaku has never been “lost”; on the contrary, it has been marveled over for centuries by Incan nobles, Spanish Conquistadores, modern backpackers, and UFO fanatics alike. Despite this history of amazement, Tiwanaku has remained something of an enigma until recently, but it appears that this would have probably been pleasing to its creators. It was created to be a mysterious, sacred, and beautiful place, one with many secrets and a public face characterized by PT Barnum-like showmanship.

This book will take you on a journey through the past, discovering the secrets of the Maya that have been lost to time. Explore the culture and traditions that have shaped the history of the Maya.

As I write this in May of 2020, the annual travel season is upon us. There are travel guides on lots of subjects and locations. This book is kind of an unusual travel guide to ancient and (mostly) unusual sites in the USA. Most persons think that the United States doesn’t have much in the way of ancient ruins, and they would be wrong. There are amazing ruins all over the country, and some are not even accepted by conventional archaeology or anthropology as being real. These sites are fascinating and some are mysterious in terms of who built them and when?

Do you use a calendar? Have you ever played basketball? These things were important to the ancient Mayans too. About 4,000 years ago, they invented tools and treasures that still shape our lives. Find out where and how the ancient Mayans lived, and learn about their mysterious disappearance. Discover how they changed the world!

Venerado por muchas culturas, el «Señor del espejo humeante», uno de los dioses principales del gran Imperio azteca, es también una de las deidades mesoamericanas más interesantes, y a la vez difíciles de entender. Conductor de los destinos del mundo, dador y despojador, patrón de reyes y de esclavos, sembrador de discordias y revelador de pecados, señor de la noche y la oscuridad, primer sol de la creación.

Worshipped by many cultures, one of the main deities of the great Aztec Empire, the “Lord of the Smoking Mirror,” is also one of the most interesting and elusive Mesoamerican deities.

Many ancient civilizations have influenced and inspired people in the 21st century. The Greeks and Romans continue to fascinate the West today. But of all the world's civilizations, none have intrigued people more than the Mayans, whose culture, astronomy, language, and mysterious disappearance all continue to captivate people.

Chi sono i Maya? Cosa realmente si sa della loro civiltà davvero unica che per molti aspetti è ancora avvolta nel mistero? Furono un popolo organizzato in classi sociali, combattivo, con conoscenze scientifiche avanzate dal punto di vista matematico e in particolare astronomico. Conoscevano l'arte divinatoria e con i loro famosi calendari di pietra erano in grado di prevedere eventi futuri. Gli avvenimenti predetti e documentati che poi sono realmente accaduti, sono numerosissimi.

Rosalba is a nine-year-old Mayan girl living in rural Mexico. Like her mother and grandmother, she weaves stories of her people onto blouses, ensuring that the age-old traditions continue. But new influences are entering her life. A ladina girl from the city, visiting with her scientist father, passes on the astonishing news that the Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012. Rosalba knows nothing about that, but her village is faced with a bulldozer tearing through the forest, dying wildlife, and cornfields in danger.

Martin Robison Delany (1812-1885) was an African-American abolitionist, journalist, physician, and author. He was one of the first three black people admitted to Harvard Medical School. Delany dreamed of establishing a settlement in West Africa and visited Liberia, a United States colony founded by the American Colonization Society. He was a prolific writer, and his book The Origin and Objects of Ancient Freemasonry, Its Introduction Into the United States, and Legitimacy Among Colored Men was published 1853. 

What was Aztec culture like? Use this audiobook to examine the features of the Aztec empire particularly its aqueducts, art, architecture, and society. Where did they live and what was their way of life like? How successful were the Aztecs in building and expanding their empire? Listen all about the Aztecs in this audiobook for fourth graders.

Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in North America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. The first civilization in central and north America develops in about 1200 BC in the coastal regions of the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico. Known as the Olmec civilization, its early site is at San Lorenzo. In Mesoamerica the Maya civilization made the greatest progress in science and technology.

The Toltecs are one of the most mysterious and little understood of all the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica. This culture was venerated by later civilizations, such as the Aztecs. Even today, “Toltec knowledge” is used as a kind of shorthand for arcane wisdom from an ancient culture. However, discussing the actual history of the Toltecs is extremely difficult. Much of what we know of these people comes from writings and oral traditions of the Aztecs, as translated and interpreted by the European invaders.

Durante muchos años, los aztecas han capturado nuestra imaginación. Las historias de los invasores europeos originales combinadas con ruinas y leyendas únicas e impresionantes que hablan de palacios de oro crean una imagen de la sociedad azteca definida por la grandeza, la riqueza y el esplendor. Pero, ¿quiénes eran exactamente los aztecas? ¿De dónde vienen? ¿Cómo ascendieron para controlar una extensión tan amplia de tierra? Y si fueron tan poderosos, ¿cómo era posible que cayeran del poder y la dominación solo tres años después del primer contacto con los españoles?

Worship of the Feathered Serpent can be traced back 2,000 years, and the Serpent’s cults appear all across Mesoamerica. The Olmec, the Aztec, and both the Yucatec and K’iche Mayans all had different names for this deity, including Kukulkan, Q’uq’umatz, and Tohil...Quetzalcoatl was and remains one of the most interesting and enlightening stories ever to have come out of any civilization, and his stories offer a better understanding of the Mesoamerican world.

Hay muchos misterios que rodean a los incas. ¿Dónde se originaron? ¿Cómo llegaron a reinar sobre un imperio tan vasto que incluía montañas, selvas tropicales y zonas costeras? ¿Cuáles fueron los logros más destacados de sus grandes reyes? ¿Cómo eran sus templos y monumentos, especialmente la ciudad capital, Cuzco, y su impresionante asentamiento en la cima de la montaña, el Machu Picchu, en lo que hoy es Perú?

Breve Historia de los Incas comienza presentándonos el origen incierto de los incas y su inicial jerarquía social para llevarnos a continuación a conocer la historia de los gobernantes del Curacazgo de Cusco, incluyendo algunos tan relevantes como Pachacútec, conocido como el Alejandro Magno de América del Sur. El audio libro no nos presenta un desarrollo lineal de la historia de los Incas, sino que la autora elige tratar el tema desde una perspectiva trasversal.

Machu Picchu es uno de los mejores puntos turísticos de América del Sur, y las ruinas han sido incluso votadas como una de las Siete Nuevas Maravillas del Mundo. Pero a pesar de que Machu Picchu es ahora la más conocida de todas las ruinas incas, su función en la civilización inca aún no está clara. Machu Picchu: La historia y el misterio de la ciudad inca cubre de manera integral la historia de la ciudad, así como la especulación sobre el propósito de Machu Picchu y el debate sobre los edificios.

In 2012 especially there was a renewed focus on the Mayans, whose advanced calendar led many to speculate the world would end on the same date the Mayan calendar ends. The focus on the doomsday scenario, however, has overshadowed the Mayans' true contributions to astronomy, language, sports, and art.

From the moment Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortés first found and confronted them, the Aztecs have fascinated the world, and they continue to hold a unique place both culturally and in pop culture. Nearly 500 years after the Spanish conquered their mighty empire, the Aztecs are often remembered today for their major capital, Tenochtitlan, as well as being fierce conquerors of the Valley of Mexico who often engaged in human sacrifice rituals.