Archaeology of the Americas

Last updated
Temple of Kukulcan in Chichen Itza located on top of Kukulcan pyramid Chichen Itza (3326547826).jpg
Temple of Kukulcan in Chichen Itza located on top of Kukulcan pyramid

The archaeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of the Western Hemisphere, including North America (Mesoamerica), Central America, South America and the Caribbean. This includes the study of pre-historic/Pre-Columbian and historic indigenous American peoples, as well as historical archaeology of more recent eras, including the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and European colonization.

Contents

Chronology

The Pre-Columbian era is the term generally used to encompass all time period subdivisions in the history of the Americas spanning the time from the original settlement of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic until the European colonization of the Americas during the early modern period. While technically referring to the era before the voyages of Christopher Columbus from AD 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until the 18th or 19th century. In more recent decades, archaeological scholarship has extended to include enslaved Africans and European and Asian migrant populations.

The pre-Columbian archaeological record in the Americas has conventionally been divided into five phases based on an enduring system established by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips's 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology. [1] Their chronology differs from old world prehistory from Europe and Asia which uses the three-age system, with the Stone Age divided into Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic, followed by the Bronze Age and Iron Age, remain in general use.

Folsom projectile point.
National Park Service, c. 1961 Folsom point.png
Folsom projectile point.
National Park Service, c.1961

Numerous regional and sub-regional divisions have since been defined to distinguish various cultures through time and space, as later archaeologists recognized that these generalised stages did not adequately correspond to the cultural variation that existed in different locations in the Americas. [1]

Defined by the ostensible prevalence of big-game hunting. In most places, this can be dated to before 8000 BCE, starting most probably around 16,500 BCE (see Paleo-Indians). Examples include the Clovis culture and Folsom tradition groups.
Defined by the increasingly intensive gathering of wild resources with the decline of the big-game hunting lifestyle. Typically, Archaic cultures can be dated from 8000 to 1000 BCE. Examples include the Archaic Southwest, the Arctic small tool tradition, the Poverty Point culture, and the Chan-Chan culture in southern Chile.
Defined as "village agriculture" based. Most of these can be dated from 1000 BCE to 500 CE. Examples include the Dorset culture, Zapotec civilization, Mimbres culture, Olmec, Woodland, and Mississippian cultures.
Simplified map of subsistence methods at 1000 BCE
.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}
Hunter-gatherers
Simple farming societies
Complex farming societies (Olmecs, Chorrera)
Ancient advanced states World in 1000 BCE.png
Simplified map of subsistence methods at 1000 BCE
  Complex farming societies (Olmecs, Chorrera)
Defined as "early civilizations", and typically dating from 500 to 1200 CE. Willey and Phillips considered only cultures from Mesoamerica and Peru to have achieved this level of complexity. Examples include the early Maya and the Toltec.
Defined as "later prehispanic civilizations" and typically dated from 1200 CE until the advent of European colonisation. The late Maya, the Incan civilization, and the Aztec cultures were Post-Classic.

Today, for Meso- and Andean South America, the later periods are more often classified using the "Horizon" terminology, with "Early Horizon" typically broadly equating to the Late Formative stage. "Horizons" are periods of cultural stability and political unity, with "Intermediate periods" covering the politically fragmented transition between them. In the Andes, there are three Horizon periods, with two Intermediate periods between them. The Horizons, and their dominant cultures are: Early Horizon, Chavin; Middle Horizon, Tiwanaku and Wari culture; Late Horizon, Inca. [2]

Major regions

North America

NAGPRA

Since 1990, in the United States, physical anthropology and archaeological investigations based on the study of human remains are influenced by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, (NAGPRA), which provides for the bodies of Native Americans and associated grave goods to be turned over to the recognized tribal body most legally affiliated with the remains; the law applies only to culturally identifiable remains and artefacts found on federally owned public land. In some cases, notably, that of Kennewick Man, these laws have been subject to close judicial scrutiny and great intellectual conflict. [3]

Exact location of Mesoamerica Mesoamerica geo location.png
Exact location of Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. [4] [5] Prehistoric groups in this area are characterized by agricultural villages and large ceremonial and politico-religious capitals [6] This culture area included some of the most complex and advanced cultures of the Americas, including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Maya, and the Aztec, the most powerful tribe of Mesoamerica in their time.

South America

Important South American societies include the Moche, the Inca, the Wari.

Important South American archaeological sites include: Pikillaqta, Machu Picchu, Tiwanaku, Monte Verde, and the Upano Valley sites.

Central America

Central America is a region and cultural area in the Americas located south of Mesoamerica extending from Nicaragua to the southern border of Panama. Important sites include the Stone Spheres of Costa Rica.

Archaeogenetics

Molecular genetics study suggests that surviving Amerindian populations derived from a theoretical single founding population, possibly from only 50 to 70 genetic contributors [7] Preliminary research, restricted to only 9 genomic regions (or loci) have shown a genetic link between original Americas and Asia populations. The study does not address the question of separate migrations for these groups, and excludes other DNA data-sets. [8]

The American Journal of Human Genetics released an article in 2007 stating "Here we show, by using 86 complete mitochondrial genomes, that all Indigenous American haplogroups, including Haplogroup X (mtDNA), were part of a single founding population." [9] Amerindian groups in the Bering Strait region exhibit perhaps the strongest DNA or mitochondrial DNA relations to Siberian peoples. The genetic diversity of Amerindian indigenous groups increase with distance from the assumed entry point into the Americas. [10] [11] Certain genetic diversity patterns from West to East suggest at least some coastal migration events. [12] Geneticists have variously estimated that peoples of Asia and the Americas were part of the same population from 42,000 to 21,000 years ago. [13]

Archaeological finds

The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan Mexico-3487 - Avenue of the Dead (2214741272).jpg
The Avenue of the Dead in Teotihuacan
The iconic Machu Picchu, symbol of the Inca civilization Machu Picchu (7914096100).jpg
The iconic Machu Picchu, symbol of the Inca civilization
Burnt Hill Stone Circle, Heath, Massachusetts, USA Steinkreis Burnt Hill Massachusetts gross.jpg
Burnt Hill Stone Circle, Heath, Massachusetts, USA

In February 2021, archaeologists from the University of Buenos AiresNational Scientific and Technical Research Council announced the discovery of 12 graves dated to 6,000-1,300 years ago in Argentine Northwest. Researchers also revealed necklaces and pendants next to some of the bodies. According to archaeologist Leticia Cortés, there were many kinds of burial methods, in individual or collective graves, and also in the posture of the bodies. Some were hyperflexed, like squatting, with the shoulders touching the knees. [14] [15]

In 2018, 9000-year-old remains of a female hunter along with a toolkit of projectile points and animal processing implements were discovered at the Andean site of Wilamaya Patjxa, Puno District in Peru. [16] [17]

In September 2021, archaeologists announced the remains of eight 800-year-old bodies nearby ancient town of Chilca. Bodies included adults and children who were covered in plant material before being buried. Some dishes and musical instruments were uncovered as well. Researchers think remains belong to the Chilca culture, which was apart from other pre-Hispanic cultures in the area. [18] [19] [20]

A mummy that is approximately 800 years old that is believed to be of pre-Inca cultures was found at the site of Cajamarquilla in Peru in November 2021. Researchers reported that the mummy was tied with strings, covering his face with his hands, so they assumed it was a southern Peruvian funeral custom. [21] [22] In February 2022, archaeologists announced the discovery of six mummified children thought to have been sacrificed, probably to accompany a dead elite man to the afterlife. According to archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen, 1,000-1,200 years old mummies were probably relatives and placed one above the other in different parts of the tomb. [23] [24]

In May 2022, archaeologists reported the discovery of 1,400-year-old remains of the Mayan site so-called Xiol on the outskirts of Mérida. They also uncovered a large central plaza and at least 12 buildings, workshops, burial places of adults and children, and an altar that served a ritual purpose. [25] [26]

In June 2022, archaeologists from the Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced the discovery of a 1,300-year-old nine-inch-tall plaster head statue indicating a young Hun Hunahpu, the Maya’s mythological maize god. The figure's semi-shaved haircut that resembles ripe corn gives reason to the possibility that it is a young maize god. Researchers assume that the Mayan inhabitants of Palenque possibly placed a large stone statuette over a pond to represent the entrance to the underworld. According to archaeologist Arnoldo González Cruz, the Mayan people symbolically shuttered the pool by breaking up some of the plaster and filling it with animal remains, including pottery fragments, carved bone remains, shells, obsidian arrowheads, beads, vegetables, and others. [27] [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Columbian era</span> The Americas prior to European influences

In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, the era covers the history of Indigenous cultures until significant influence by Europeans. This may have occurred decades or even centuries after Columbus for certain cultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories</span> Speculative historical theories

Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories are speculative theories which propose that possible visits to the Americas, possible interactions with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas—or both—were made by people from Africa, Asia, Europe, or Oceania prior to Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Caribbean in 1492. Studies between 2004 and 2009 suggest the possibility that the earliest human migrations to the Americas may have been made by boat from Beringia and travel down the Pacific coast, contemporary with and possibly predating land migrations over the Beringia land bridge, which during the glacial period joined what today are Siberia and Alaska. Whether transoceanic travel occurred during the historic period, resulting in pre-Columbian contact between the settled American peoples and voyagers from other continents, is vigorously debated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nim Li Punit</span>

Nim Li Punit is a Maya Classic Period site in the Toledo District of the nation of Belize, located 50 kilometres north of the town of Punta Gorda, and directly adjacent to the village of Indian Creek. Nim Li Punit is sometimes known as Big Hat or Top Hat; the name is Kekchi Maya for "Big Hat", referring to the large elaborate head-dress on a stela sculpture found on site depicting one of the site's ancient kings. It is bordered by the Maya Mountains to the west and lowland swamps and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lithic period in Mesoamerica</span> Prehistoric period in Mesoamerica

In the History of Mesoamerica, the stage known as the Paleo-Indian period is the era in the scheme of Mesoamerican chronology which begins with the very first indications of human habitation within the Mesoamerican region, and continues until the general onset of the development of agriculture and other proto-civilisation traits. The conclusion of this stage may be assigned to approximately 9000 BP, and the transition to the succeeding Archaic period is not a well-defined one.

Pseudoarchaeology—also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, cult archaeology, and spooky archaeology—is the interpretation of the past by people who are not professional archaeologists and who reject or ignore the accepted data gathering and analytical methods of the discipline. These pseudoscientific interpretations involve the use of artifacts, sites or materials to construct scientifically insubstantial theories to strengthen the pseudoarchaeologists' claims. Methods include exaggeration of evidence, dramatic or romanticized conclusions, use of fallacious arguments, and fabrication of evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joya de Cerén</span>

Joya de Cerén is an archaeological site in La Libertad Department, El Salvador, featuring a pre-Columbian Maya farming village. The ancient Maya site of Joya de Cerén is located in the Zapotitán Valley, 36 kilometers northwest of San Salvador, El Salvador. It is often referred to as the "Pompeii of the Americas", in comparison to the famed Ancient Roman ruins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures</span> Ritualistic killing of humans in pre-Colombian cultures

The practice of human sacrifice in pre-Colombian cultures, in particular Mesoamerican and South American cultures, is well documented both in the archaeological records and in written sources. The exact ideologies behind child sacrifice in different pre-Colombian cultures are unknown but it is often thought to have been performed to placate certain gods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jade use in Mesoamerica</span>

The use of jade in Mesoamerica for symbolic and ideological ritual was highly influenced by its rarity and value among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Olmec, the Maya, and the various groups in the Valley of Mexico. Although jade artifacts have been created and prized by many Mesoamerican peoples, the Motagua River valley in Guatemala was previously thought to be the sole source of jadeite in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerica</span> Pre-Columbian cultural area in the Americas

Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and small parts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. As a cultural area, Mesoamerica is defined by a mosaic of cultural traits developed and shared by its indigenous cultures.

Mesoamerica, along with Mesopotamia and China, is one of three known places in the world where writing is thought to have developed independently. Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are a combination of logographic and syllabic systems. They are often called hieroglyphs due to the iconic shapes of many of the glyphs, a pattern superficially similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs. Fifteen distinct writing systems have been identified in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, many from a single inscription. The limits of archaeological dating methods make it difficult to establish which was the earliest and hence the progenitor from which the others developed. The best documented and deciphered Mesoamerican writing system, and the most widely known, is the classic Maya script. Earlier scripts with poorer and varying levels of decipherment include the Olmec hieroglyphs, the Zapotec script, and the Isthmian script, all of which date back to the 1st millennium BC. An extensive Mesoamerican literature has been conserved, partly in indigenous scripts and partly in postconquest transcriptions in the Latin script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican architecture</span> Building traditions of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

Mesoamerican architecture is the set of architectural traditions produced by pre-Columbian cultures and civilizations of Mesoamerica, traditions which are best known in the form of public, ceremonial and urban monumental buildings and structures. The distinctive features of Mesoamerican architecture encompass a number of different regional and historical styles, which however are significantly interrelated. These styles developed throughout the different phases of Mesoamerican history as a result of the intensive cultural exchange between the different cultures of the Mesoamerican culture area through thousands of years. Mesoamerican architecture is mostly noted for its pyramids, which are the largest such structures outside of Ancient Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cajamarquilla</span> Archaeological site in Peru

The Cajamarquilla archaeological site is located 25 km inland from the coastal city of Lima, Peru; in the Jicamarca Valley, 6 km north of the Rímac River. It occupies an area of approximately 167 ha, making it one of the largest archaeological monuments in the country. The site itself is now surrounded by several small villages which are encroaching upon, and threatening, its largely unfenced perimeter - despite its nationally 'protected' status.

Hun Hunahpu, or 'Head-Apu I' is a figure in Maya mythology. According to Popol Vuh he was the father of the Maya Hero Twins, Head-Apu and Xbalanque. As their shared calendrical day name suggests, Head-Apu I was the father of Head-Apu. He is believed to be the father of the twins' half-brothers and the patrons of artisans and writers, Hun-Chowen and Hun-Batz. Head-Apu I is paired with his brother, Vucub-Hunahpu, Head-Apu VII. The brothers were tricked in the Dark House by the lords of the Underworld (Xibalba) and sacrificed. Head-Apu I's head was suspended in a trophy tree and changed to a calabash. Its saliva impregnated Xquic, a daughter of one of the lords of Xibalba. She fled the Underworld and conceived the Twins. After defeating the Underworld lords, the twins recovered the remains of their father and their father's brother, but could not resuscitate them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Taube</span> American ethnohistorian (born 1957)

Karl Andreas Taube is an American Mesoamericanist, Mayanist, iconographer and ethnohistorian, known for his publications and research into the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. He is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, University of California, Riverside. In 2008 he was named the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences distinguished lecturer.

William Andrew "Bill" Saturno is an American archaeologist and Mayanist scholar who has made significant contributions toward the study of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. Saturno is a former director of the Proyecto San Bartolo-Xultun at the Instito de Antropologia e Historia in Guatemala, a former national space research scientist at the Marshall Space Flight Center, and a research associate at the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. Saturno has previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Archaeology at Boston University and MIT and as a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painting in the Americas before European colonization</span>

Painting in the Americas before European colonization is the Precolumbian painting traditions of the Americas. Painting was a relatively widespread, popular and diverse means of communication and expression for both religious and utilitarian purpose throughout the regions of the Western Hemisphere. During the period before and after European exploration and settlement of the Americas; including North America, Central America, South America and the islands of the Caribbean, the Bahamas, the West Indies, the Antilles, the Lesser Antilles and other island groups, indigenous native cultures produced a wide variety of visual arts, including painting on textiles, hides, rock and cave surfaces, bodies especially faces, ceramics, architectural features including interior murals, wood panels, and other available surfaces. Many of the perishable surfaces, such as woven textiles, typically have not been preserved, but Precolumbian painting on ceramics, walls, and rocks have survived more frequently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talgua caves</span>

Talgua Cave is a cave located in the Olancho Valley in the municipality of Catacamas in northeastern Honduras. The misnomer “The Cave of the Glowing Skulls” was given to the cave because of the way that light reflects off of the calcite deposits found on the skeletal remains found there. The site has gained the interest of archaeologists studying cave burials of Central America and of Mesoamerica as one of the most extensive Early to Middle Pre-Classic ossuary cave sites currently known to have been in contact with the Maya societies of nearby Mesoamerica. It provides many valuable clues to how the inhabitants of the Talgua Cave may have been an important link between Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and parts further south and east in Central America and extending into those societies in northern South America, a region known as the Isthmo-Colombian Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-Columbian cuisine</span>

Pre-Columbian cuisine refers to the cuisine consumed by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas before Christopher Columbus and other European explorers explored the region and introduced crops and livestock from Europe. Though the Columbian Exchange introduced many new animals and plants to the Americas, Indigenous civilizations already existed there, including the Aztec, Maya, Incan, as well as various Native Americans in North America. The development of agriculture allowed the many different cultures to transition from hunting to staying in one place. A major element of this cuisine is maize (corn), which began being grown in central Mexico. Other crops that flourished in the Americas include amaranth, wild rice, and lima beans.

This page lists significant events of 2022 in archaeology.

References

  1. 1 2 "Method and Theory in American Archaeology". Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips . University of Chicago. 1958. Archived from the original on 2012-06-28.
  2. Essential Humanities. "History of Precolonial Meso/South America". Accessed 9 May 2017. Archived 2017-06-25 at the Wayback Machine .
  3. Bones, Discovering the First Americans Elllaine Dewar, Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York, 2002, ISBN   0-7867-0979-0
  4. "Meso-America." Oxford English Reference Dictionary , 2nd ed. (rev.) 2002. ( ISBN   0-19-860652-4) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; p. 906.
  5. (2000): Atlas del México Prehispánico. Revista Arqueología mexicana. Número especial 5. Julio de 2000. Raíces/ Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. México.
  6. Gregonis, Linda M.; Reinhard, Karl J. "Glossary". Hohokam Indians of the Tucson Basin. The University of Arizona Press. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05.
  7. Hey, J (2005). "On the Number of New World Founders: A Population Genetic Portrait of the Peopling of the Americas". PLOS Biology. 3 (6): e193. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0030193 . PMC   1131883 . PMID   15898833.
  8. "Nomenclature for Incompletely Specified Bases in Nucleic Acid Sequences". NC-IUB. 1984. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
  9. Meltzer, David J. (2010). First Americans. University of California Press. ISBN   9780520267992 . Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  10. "The peopling of the Americas: Genetic ancestry influences health". Scientific American. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  11. "First Americans Endured 20,000-Year Layover - Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News". Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
  12. Wang, Sijia; Lewis, Cecil M.; Jakobsson, Mattias; Ramachandran, Sohini; Ray, Nicolas; Bedoya, Gabriel; Rojas, Winston; Parra, Maria V.; Molina, Julio A.; Gallo, Carla; Mazzotti, Guido; Poletti, Giovanni; Hill, Kim; Hurtado, Ana M.; Labuda, Damian; Klitz, William; Barrantes, Ramiro; Bortolini, Maria Cátira; Salzano, Francisco M.; Petzl-Erler, Maria Luiza; Tsuneto, Luiza T.; Llop, Elena; Rothhammer, Francisco; Excoffier, Laurent; Feldman, Marcus W.; Rosenberg, Noah A.; Ruiz-Linares, Andrés (2007). "Genetic Variation and Population Structure in Native Americans". PLOS Genetics . 3 (11): 3(11). doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.0030185 . PMC   2082466 . PMID   18039031.
  13. Fagundes, Nelson J.R.; Ricardo Kanitz; Roberta Eckert; Ana C.S. Valls; Mauricio R. Bogo; Francisco M. Salzano; David Glenn Smith; Wilson A. Silva; Marco A. Zago; Andrea K. Ribeiro-dos-Santos; Sidney E.B. Santos; Maria Luiza Petzl-Erler; Sandro L.Bonatto (2008). "Mitochondrial Population Genomics Supports a Single Pre-Clovis Origin with a Coastal Route for the Peopling of the Americas" (PDF). American Journal of Human Genetics. 82 (3): 583–592. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.11.013. PMC   2427228 . PMID   18313026. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
  14. "Prehistoric Burials Excavated in Argentina - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  15. "Six thousand-year-old tombs found in northwest Argentina". Radio Cadena Agramonte. Archived from the original on 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  16. Wei-Haas, Maya (2020-11-04). "Prehistoric female hunter discovery upends gender role assumptions". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 2021-02-17. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
  17. Haas, Randall; Watson, James; Buonasera, Tammy; Southon, John; Chen, Jennifer C.; Noe, Sarah; Smith, Kevin; Llave, Carlos Viviano; Eerkens, Jelmer; Parker, Glendon (2020-11-06). "Female hunters of the early Americas". Science Advances. 6 (45). Bibcode:2020SciA....6..310H. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd0310. ISSN   2375-2548. PMC   7673694 . PMID   33148651. S2CID   226261247.
  18. Paul, Jacob (2021-09-24). "Gas pipe workers uncover remains of eight people buried inside 800-year-old tomb". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  19. "Gas pipe workers find 800-year-old bodies in Peru". France 24. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  20. "800-Year-Old Tomb Discovered in Peru - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  21. Jeevan Ravindran (28 November 2021). "Peruvian mummy at least 800 years old found by archeologists in Lima". CNN. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
  22. "Archaeologists unearth mummy estimated to be at least 800 years old in Peru". The Guardian. Reuters. 2021-11-27. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
  23. "Ancient mummies of children, likely sacrificed, unearthed in Peru". France 24. 2022-02-14. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
  24. "Update on Mummified Human Remains Uncovered in Peru - Archaeology Magazine". Archaeology Magazine. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
  25. Kuta, Sarah. "Construction Crew Stumbles on 1,400-Year-Old Ruins of Maya City". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
  26. "Archaeologists discover ancient Mayan city on construction site". Reuters. 2022-05-27. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
  27. Kuta, Sarah. "1,300-Year-Old Corn God Statue Shows How the Maya Worshipped Maize". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-10.
  28. Marsden, Ariella (2022-06-04). "Sculpted head of Mayan maize god uncovered in Mexico". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2022-08-10.