Why the Maya?
Why did I write
about the Maya and Mesoamerica (in Dancethe Dream Awake*)? Because I find the culture a constant fascination. New archaeological
discoveries are made all the time, amazing me again and again. Like the river
of mercury (I just learned) that was discovered in 2015 under the temple of the
Feathered Serpent.
Deep under Quetzalcoatl’s Temple at Teotihuacan, outside
Mexico City, they found large quantities of liquid mercury (which held no
practical purpose for ancient Mesoamericans) and is speculated may have symbolized an
underworld river or lake (the underworld held great significance for them). It is believed to be a burial chamber.
Why is this so
fascinating? Because in the tomb (yet to be revealed to the public) of China’s
1st Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, there is a moat or river of liquid
mercury that has been undisturbed under his tomb for more than two millennia. Nobody
in the world right now has the technology to properly excavate it without
danger to the items inside, so China will not open it. It will remain a mystery
for a long time to come.
If that were
all, I probably would have thought, 'huh, very interesting coincidence,' and moved on. But when you start to put together all
the other coincidences, it gets weirder and weirder to be just a coincidence.
The symbol of a
snake is used world-wide in many cultures. But one from the sky? The feathered serpent was a symbol for the
supreme god of the Maya (called Kukulcan) and for the Teotihuacanos and Aztecs
(called Quetzalcoatl).
In China, the winged
dragon was worshipped as a supernatural power of the air, and became the symbol
of the imperial authority of the emperor.
Feathered serpents
AND rivers of mercury? When I put
together these very unlikely findings from Teotihuacan and China I’m flabbergasted.
I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.
I'd love to know what you think.
1 comment:
Found myself thinking almost exacty the same thing. It gets even better when you google "Shimao carvings"; Shimao being the most ancient of Chinese cities. The symbolism is almost identical to the one found in Meso-american carvings. If you look up when Asian people crossed over to the Americas via the Bering Strait passage according to science, there is a much wider gap between the last contact between Asian and Meso-american peoples than this apparent cultural link suggests. Or this kind of symbolism was already embedded in the culture of the peoples crossing the strait some 12.000 years ago or it is pure coinicidence or there was cultural exchange between China and the Americas a handful of millenia after the first people crossed. I think all of these possibilities are fascinating. I can't imagine any knowledge of mercury 12.000 years ago. I find it hard to believe all this to be coincidence, but also the contact hypothesis is quite unbelievable. Interesting times! Let's see what else we can uncover...
Post a Comment