The First Ruined City

Episode 23 - Esteban and the others climb a long flight of stairs and emerge in a fantastic temple. This temple is based on the Temple of Inscriptions in Palenque.

The Temple of the Inscriptions is one of the most impressive buildings at the site. While excavating the room at the top of this structure in 1952, the Mexican Archeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier discovered a hidden chamber and a concealed stairway filled with rubble. It took four field seasons to follow the stairs 80 vertical feet into the pyramid. They terminate in a chamber 30 feet long by 13 feet wide with a high vaulted arch of 23 feet which contains the crypt of Pacal--the most important ruler at the site. The sarcophagus is famous for it's sculpture of the tree of life and the afterworld journey of Pacal. A jade burial mask was found in the crypt.
At the bottom of the outside stairway on the plaza is a round stone monument. The tomb of Pacal lies approximately 5 feet underneath this spot.

http://www.snowcrest.net/goehring/maya/paltins.htm

'The Temple of the Sun - Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. Temple of the Sun, with well preserved roof comb, boasts inscriptions dating from 642.

http://www.thewonderingeye.co.uk/Scripts/ImagePage.asp?ImageID=74

The West Courtyard of the Palace with the Palace Tower. The purpose of the Tower is not clear. Some think it was for astronomical studies, while others speculate that it was used as a watch tower.

http://www.thresholds.net/palenque/palenque-a2.html

Tula - (too´lä) , ancient city in the present state of Hidalgo, central Mexico. It was one of the chief urban centers of the Toltec . The city is believed to be Tollán, the legendary Toltec capital mentioned in a number of postconquest sources, including Bernardino de Sahagún's Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana ( tr. General History of the Things of New Spain ) as well as in documents in indigenous hieroglyphics known as códices. Archaeological investigations in the ceremonial precinct have revealed impressive architectural remains including pyramidal structures and ball courts. One of the former was surmounted by a temple to the Toltec hero-god Quetzalcoatl and had unusual sculptured columns in the form of warriors. These columns have been restored. Besides continuing restoration within the ceremonial precinct, archaeologists in recent work have explored outlying residential areas. Architectural and stylistic correspondences between Tula and several Mayan centers on the N Yucatán peninsula, primarily at the site of Chichén Itzá, indicate that Toltec influence pervaded the area. This influence is believed to stem from splinter groups of Toltec who migrated into the Mayan region and established hegemony in the early Post-Classic period (AD 900-1200).

http://www.encyclopedia.com/

Episode 23 - The manuscript of the first ruin is hidden in a secret chamber beneath this arch, a transplant from Kabah.

For more info on Kabah, see the second ruin page.

Jade Mask

Episode 23-24 - Beneath the Hall of the Serpent, Tao discovers hieroglyphics that relay some of the history of the Cities of Gold.

Maya Writing The Maya developed a highly complex system of writing, using pictographs and phonetic or syllabic elements. A complete discussion of their writing system is beyond the scope of this paper. Their writing was highly sophisticated, probably only members of the higher classes were able to read their symbols. The Maya carved these symbols into stone, but the most common place for writing was probably the highly perishable books they made from bark paper, coated with lime to make a fresh white surface. These "books" were screen-folded and bound with wood and deer hide. They are called codices, codex is singular. Because of their perishable nature and zealous Spanish book burning, only four codices remain today.

The contents of the codices must have varied, but some of them were evidently similar to astronomic almanacs. We have examples of a Venus table, eclipse tables in a codex in Dresden. There is a codex in Paris that seems to contain some kind of Maya Zodiac, but if it is and how it must have worked are still unknown. Another major example of Maya almanacs are present in the Madrid Codex. The fourth codex is called the Grolier and was authenticated as late as 1983. These codices probably contained much of the information used by priests or the noble class to determine dates of importance or seasonal interest. We can only speculate as to whether or not the Maya developed poetry or drama that was committed to paper. The codices probably kept track of dynastic information as well.