Ancient Footprints
The remains of a nearly 3,000-year-old Maya city—featuring pyramids, sacred sites and a canal system—were recently unearthed across three sites in the Petén region of northern Guatemala, near the ruins of Uaxactún. The discovery promises to further our understanding of the “lost” Maya civilization, one of the greatest ancient civilizations of precolonial America, boasting a sophisticated calendar, complex writing system, astronomic observations, and construction skills.
Exploring the Ancient Maya City of Chichén Itzá
Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Fernando Gregory/Dreamstime.com
The Maya and 5 Other Lost Civilizations
Ygunza/FPG
The Mayan Hieroglyphic Writing System
Courtesy of the Museo de America, Madrid
News and Notes
Poland headed to the polls for a neck and neck election, and Europe’s most active volcano erupted in the wee hours of Monday morning.
Mount Etna, a volcano on the east coast of Sicily, erupted in the wee hours of Monday morning. The highest active volcano in Europe, Mount Etna has had a few significant eruptions already this century, including one in July 2001 that lasted several weeks. Other significant early 21st-century volcanic activity included the Strombolian eruptions of 2002–03, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020. A Strombolian eruption is one that involves cyclical or nearly continuous small eruptions.
A new president in PolandPoland has a new president after conservative Karol Nawrocki won a runoff election on Sunday, narrowly defeating Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski. Nawrocki secured 50.89 percent of the vote to Trzaskowski’s 49.11 percent. The election of Nawrocki, a historian and member of the Law and Justice party, signals closer ties between Poland and the United States, as the candidate was endorsed by U.S. Pres. Donald Trump.
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