A monumental complex built by the Maya of Mesoamerica (Tabasco, Mexico) an estimated 3,000 years ago was modeled on a map of the cosmos (universe), new fieldwork has revealed.
A detailed survey of the Aguada Fénix site reveals that not only was the monument significantly larger than initial surveys suggested – laid out in the shape of a cross with axes measuring 5.6 and 4.7 miles (9 and 7.5 kilometers) – but it was also designed as a cosmogram, a kind of Buddhist mandala, an architecture symbolizing the cosmos (Buddhist cosmology, Earthly realms).
What will I wear when I visit? (Crystal Q)
What's even more remarkable about the structure is that the site contains none of the trappings of social inequality, such as elite residences or sculptures of rulers.
This strongly implies that egalitarian cultures were capable of monumental building works without the application of coercive force through a stratified social hierarchy ruled by a king or queen.
Before now, the Maya site of Seibal was thought to be the oldest ceremonial center, dating back to around 950 BCE
Related: 'Bad Omen': Ancient pyramid in Mexico collapses
Aguada Fénix greenstone object likely depicts a crocodile (Inomata et al., Sci. Adv., 2025).
The Maya cosmos mapped out on Earth?
The discovery of Aguada Fénix by way of LiDAR surveys, in the Mexican state of Tabasco near the Gulf of Mexico, was fascinating for a number of reasons.
The first was its size; it was the largest Maya site ever found, even going by the more modest initial estimate of 1.4 kilometers along its longest axis. And it wasn't hidden in the forest, as so many lost Mesoamerican (Mexican), Central American, and South American structures are.
Walking in noble silence, carrying nothing but robes and alms bowls, depending entirely on strangers for food and shelter, these Theravāda monks (bhikkhus) are practicing a 2,600-year-old tradition on modern American highways.
As of January 2026, they're passing through the Carolinas, approaching their destination at the U.S. Capitol on February 13th, 2026.
This is not a protest, not a march, but an ancient Buddhist practice brought into the modern world.
DISCOVER
Why Buddhist monks are walking 2,300 miles in silence while the world keeps fighting
How this pilgrimage traces back to the historical Buddha’s original way of life
The ancient sane ascetic practices (dhutaṅgas) these monks follow (one meal per day, sleeping outdoors, walking barefoot)
How Aloka, their rescue dog, became a viral symbol when he needed surgery in Charlotte, NC
The deeper meaning of dāna (sharing, non-clinging, letting go, generosity) in a divided society
Why this walk matters now as U.S. war, political tension, and global unrest escalate
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🙏 First time here? Buddha’s Wisdom explores timeless Buddhist teachings and their relevance to modern life but in this case makes an exception for an extraordinary current event. This is happening now.
(The Space Race)
May 17, 2025: Chinese robots [like China's superior electric cars on Earth not covered by the Western media] have discovered something new on the far side of the Moon.
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Sean, The Space Race, May 17, 2025; CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
First, Americans should know that there are today three Californias: upper (Alta California, USA), lower (Baja California, Mexico), and BC Sur (Southern tip, Mexico).
All three were part of Mexico for the longest time, but the British, Spanish, German, and other European settler colonialists now calling themselves the "Americans" decided to annex Alta California for their new settler colonial project.
We wouldn't be the only island, as Madagascar is to Africa, and we still have other islands.
This came amid their ongoing genocide of the indigenous folk living there, the Native or American Indians, following centuries of Spanish colonialism, which was aided and abetted by the Vatican (the Catholic Church and its maniacal "Doctrine of Discovery") and the Spanish throne. Could it be that it was once an island?
Yes. Here's why. If one travels up the Gulf of California in Mexico to San Felipe, one can easily imagine continuing all the way up to the Salton Sea(near Los Angeles), USA. That lowland desert is full of the remains of higher sea levels of the ancient past.
Connect green parts, with Gulf lower right
But where would it end? Would Alta California, USA, really be a part of a Mexican island or, as today, just a peninsula? The answer, as shown above, is Lake Corcoran (flowing out to the Pacific through the Carquinez Strait) and its ancient remnant Tulare Lake, which existed up until 1930.
Now it's a well-watered deserted and the nation's breadbasket, fondly called California's Central Valley.
Cartographers knew California was a lake and depicted as such in many maps. That was the legend, the lore, and the reality for European explorers and travelers. Even today we have a phantom lake (Lake Manly) in one of the lowest and hottest places on earth -- Death Valley, Alta California.
The "Island of California" (Spanish Isla de California)
There was a long-held global (mis)conception, dating from the 16th century, that the California region was not part of mainland North America (of which Mexico is a part)
Rather, it was known to be a large island separated from the continent by a strait now known to be the Gulf of California (part of the Pacific Ocean and not part of the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic side).
One of the most famous cartographic "errors" in history, it was propagated on many maps during the 17th and 18th centuries, despite contradictory evidence from various explorers [1].
The legend was initially infused with the idea that California was a terrestrial paradise, like the Garden of Eden or Atlantis.
This mapping error -- which may not have been an error at all -- was not a one-off event. From the mid-1500s to the late 1700s [2] great controversy surrounded the geography of California.
For instance, a Spanish map from 1548 depicts California as a peninsula [3], while a 1622 Dutch map depicts California as an island.
A 1626 Portuguese map depicts the land as a peninsula, while a 1630 British map depicts it as an island [4].
A French map from 1682 only shows the tip of the Baja Peninsula.
There are slightly over 1,000 maps in Stanford's Glen McLaughlin Collection of California as an island, the largest collection of such maps in the world [5].
History
Why would anyone think this island was an island?
The first known mention of the legend of the "Island of California" was in the 1510 romance novel Las sergas de Esplandián by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo—the sequel to Montalvo's more famous tales of Amadís de Gaula, father of Esplandian. He describes the island in this passage:
"Know, that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons [6]."
It is thought that, because of the widespread popularity of Las sergas de Esplandián at the time of European exploration of California, that it is reasonable that the book inspired the naming of California [7].
Archaeologists discovered an ancient stone slab with 123 hieroglyphic symbols in Mexico, revealing founding of a town in 569 AD and details about Maya rulers (jopstock /Getty)
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An archeological find in Mexico revealed a stone slab with 123 hieroglyphic symbols that, in part, describe the founding of a town in 569 AD.
The slab was located on the floor of what was once a pool at the Nohoch Mul Pyramid. Details about ancient Maya rulers are also featured on the slab.
A stone slab covered with 123 hieroglyphic cartouches discovered at an ancient Maya pyramid in Mexico might not be a treasure map to a lost city, but it comes incredibly close.
. The discovery — located in the archeological zone of Cobá on what is now the eastern side of the Yucatán Peninsula — came from the bottom of what was once a pool. The large stone slab measures a full 118 square feet and features a panel containing 123 hieroglyphic characters carved directly onto the rock.
Experts are just beginning to understand the stories these symbols tell, but they already know that at least part of the slab describes the founding of the town of Keh Witz Nal on May 12, 569 A.D., according to a translated statement from the National Institute of Anthropology and History. Just where the lost Maya city — the name for which translates to “Deer Mountain” — once existed remains a mystery.
Cobá took its place in Maya culture no earlier than 100 B.C. and enjoyed a continuous life as a city until about 1,200 A.D. Known as the “city of chopped water,” the site may have had up to 50,000 residents at one time, and still features the largest pyramid in Mexico — the Nohoch Mul pyramid.
Related video: Ancient glyphs discovered on massive stone slab detail untold secrets of Mayan city (Amaze Lab)
As archeologists continue to uncover more of Cobá — slowly working their way through the buildings and monument sites covered in soil, jungle, and salt — crews discovered a causeway at the pyramid that led to the former pool.
Once discovered, crews began a cleaning process to remove the muck covering the L-shaped slab that was carved to fit the piece of stone. Restoration included the injection of lime mortar fillers to fight off any further water damage. The team also made three-dimensional models of the glyphic text to allow for deeper study off-site.
In addition to the information regarding Keh Witz Nal, the team believes that they have uncovered the name of an additional Cobá sovereign — K’awiil Ch’ak Cheen.
This is the first time experts have seen the name, and it should help them fill gaps in the dynastic sequence of the region. The finding of the name also allows experts to confirm that, of the 14 city-state rulers identified at Cobá so far, it was common to adopt the name of the Maya god of lightning, K’awiil. Ancient rulers may have believed that the name gave them additional attributes as protectors of the site.
The Babylonian Map of the World with Irving Finkel | Curator’s Corner S9 E5
(The British Museum) Premiered Aug. 1, 2024: The Babylonian map of the world is the oldest map of the world, in the world. [In space they have older ones.] Written and inscribed on clay in Mesopotamia around 2,900-years-ago, it is, like so many cuneiform tablets, incomplete.
However, scholar Irving Finkel and a particularly gifted student of his, Edith Horsley, managed to locate a missing piece of the map, slot it back into the cuneiform tablet, and from there set us all on journey through the somewhat mythical landscape of Mesopotamia to find the final resting place of the ark.
And, yes, we mean that ark, as in the stolen story of Noah [appropriated from older cultures and flood myths, namely, the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and Akkadian Atra-Hasis].
00:00 Intro
00:52 Ancient Mesopotamian Cuneiform Tablets
01:48 The oldest map of the world, in the world
02:07 What is the Babylonian Map of the World?
02:34 The Babylonian Map of the World explained
04:13 What are the triangles on the Babylonian Map of the World?
06:17 Missing triangle on the Babylonian Map of the World
06:52 Edith Horsley - Cuneiform LEGEND
07:20 Channel 4 News report on Babylonian Map of the World September 1995
Although in the earlier Mesopotamian version of the flood story, the ark is built by Ziusudra. CONTENT WARNING: Contains a baby Irving F., when his beard was not yet white. #curatorscorner#babylon#mesopotamia
Irving Finkel, British Museum, Aug. 1, 2024; Pat Macpherson, Sheldon S., Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
(RealLifeLore) July 12, 2024: Antarctica is not what we are told. It is only recently frozen over, as the Piri Reis map shows. There is no way for them to have known those shorelines, but there they are. When the map was made, either the place was clear of ice or ET technology had ice piercing capabilities. But if the latter is the case, why draw it without the ice when that is all sailors would see when navigating the area. Who can control the weather, who is able to rain down miles of snow? There is life on the continent of Antarctica, human life in underground bases the Nazis built with extraterrestrial help. The name of their settlement, which seems to connect with hollow earth civilizations, known in ancient India as Agartha, is New Schwaben Land, near Argentina, where many Nazi officials escaped to in U-boats (submarines). After all, the Nazis did not lose WWII. That is just the way the narrative was spun so as to continue what the Nazis had arranged and were doing with off-planet intelligences and new weapons and vehicles.
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(Domain of Science) This map of plants summarizes all of the different kinds of plants from algae (single cell chlorophyll-based plants) all the way through bryophytes, ferns [which reproduce through sperm], gymnosperms, angiosperms, monocots, eudicots, rosids, and asterids. It explains how they are related to each other due to their evolutionary history, and the features that make plants so successful, leaves, roots, a vascular system, spores, seeds, flowers, and fruits.
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Additional Footage
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Dominic Walliman, Domain of Science, YouTube, Dec. 31, 2023; Kelly Ani, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
The real name of "Mexico" is actually the United Mexican States and has been for a long time.
Human remains were discovered in Chichén Itzá in 60s (Fred Ihrt/LightRocket/Getty Images)
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Human remains were first discovered in the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá (across the way from US shores on the Yucatan Peninsula in the shared Gulf of Mexico) in the 1960s while workers excavated land to build a proposed airport runway.
In the spring of 1967, workers building a small airport behind Chichén Itzá, the ancient Maya city in Mexico, ran into a problem: Their excavations had uncovered human remains in the pathway of the proposed runway.
The airport was set to serve V.I.P.s who wanted to visit Chichén Itzá. But with the remains so close to a major archaeological site, the work had to be halted until the bones could be examined.
Any hope for a quick resolution dissolved when archaeologists who were called to the scene uncovered a chultún — an underground rainwater-storage container that, in Maya mythology, was viewed as an entrance to the subterranean [realm of reptilians now called the] land of the dead [location of Atzlan, where the tribes that came to Mexico originated in lore].
Connected to the cistern was a cave containing more than 100 sets of human remains, almost all belonging to children.
Who built this perfect architecture? ETs from?
In a push to finish the airport, researchers were given just two months to excavate and exhume the cache of bones.
Nearly 60 years later, ancient DNA extracted from 64 of the children is offering new insights into the religious rituals of the ancient Maya and their ties to modern descendants.
In a paper published on Wednesday (6/12/24) in the journal Nature, an international cohort of researchers revealed that the children — presumed to be sacrificial victims killed between 500 and 900 A.D. — were all local Maya boys (not virgin girls as we usually are told to imagine) that may have been specifically selected to be sacrificed in sibling pairs.
New DNA analysis of sacrificial Mayan remains changes everything we thought we knew about their rituals (Amaze Lab)
“These are the first ancient Maya genomes to be published,” said Johannes Krause, an archaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
The DNA work provided a previously unseen glimpse into the identities of the sacrificed children. “One feels quite moved by such a finding,” Dr. Krause said, noting that he himself has a young son.
The search into the genome of the Maya boys did not start as an exercise in ancient Maya rituals.
Rich pre-Columbian culture we are not told about
In the mid-2000s, Rodrigo Barquera — now an immunogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute — was hoping to discover the genetic legacy of Mesoamerica’s deadliest pandemic.
In 1545, an outbreak of Salmonella enterica spread like wildfire across [Mesoamerica or] what is now Mexico.
Over the next century, the disease killed up to 90 percent of the Indigenous population. Pandemics like these often leave their mark on the immune genes of survivors.
To uncover this genetic legacy, Dr. Barquera and his colleagues needed to compare the DNA from the precolonial remains with that of people who were born after the calamity.
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