SmugMug
Home | Login | Help |
|
Style:
|View Cart
share photo
WorldTravel > 1000places  > Travel > International Destinations > 2005-Route of the Maya
We follow in the footsteps of the ancient Maya.
Gallery pages:  <  1  2  3  4  5  6  >  >>
Buy:
this photo buy this photo
multiple photos buy multiple photos | view cart view cart
< 28 of 337 >
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - In the Great Plaza of Copan, many of the stelae are semi-protected by tin roofs, but some of the most exquisite have been left open to the elements -- good for the "natural" look but damaging to the long-term preservation of these unique sculptures.
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Copan is generally devoid of the towering pyramids that are characteristic of Maya sites like Tikal and Chichen Itza.  This stepped pyramid is at one end of the Great Plaza.
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Virtually every Maya site has the ruins of a ballcourt.  This one is the largest of such courts built in the Maya "Classic" period (200 A.D - 900 A.D.).  Here teams of 5 to 7 players would attempt to bounce a rubber ball off, or through, stone carvings set at the tops of the sloping walls.  Many Mayanists believe the ballgame was a religous ritual, and some contend that the losers (or possibly, the winners) were sacrificed.
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - A carved stone macaw watches over the Maya  ballcourt.
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - The famed "Hieroglypic Stairway" - an immense stone staircase completed around AD 755 that contains some 2200 glyphs (Maya writing symbols), the longest continuous text in the Maya world.  But unfortunately, we now know that archaeologists assembled it out of order, making it gibberish.  Computer technology is being used to rearrange the written blocks.
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - From high atop the Temple of the Inscriptions, another view of the ballcourt and beyond it, the Great Plaza of stelae.  (The white awning in the foreground covers the hieroglyphic stairway.)
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Past the Hieroglyphic Stairway and the ballcourt is the Temple of the Meditations.  In its courtyard (lower right) was Altar Q - another of Copan's most recognized carvings.
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Altar Q was one of the most important discoveries at Copan.  On its four sides are depicted the city-state's 16 rulers.  The altar was commissioned by the 16th ruler Yax Pac as an attempt to show his royal linkage to the founder of Copan, the first ruler Yax K'uk Mo.
1000places > COPAN, HONDURAS - Tucked into one obscure corner of the plaza in front of the Temple of Meditations is this carving of the head of a rattlesnake, a sacred creature of the Maya.
COPAN, HONDURAS - In the Great Plaza of Copan, many of the stelae are semi-protected by tin roofs, but some of the most exquisite have been left open to the elements -- good for the "natural" look but damaging to the long-term preservation of these unique sculptures.

 > COPAN, HONDURAS - In the Great Plaza of Copan, many of the stelae are semi-protected by tin roofs, but some of the most exquisite have been left open to the elements -- good for the "natural" look but damaging to the long-term preservation of these unique sculptures.
COPAN, HONDURAS - In the Great Plaza of Copan, many of the stelae are semi-protected by tin roofs, but some of the most exquisite have been left open to the elements -- good for the "natural" look but damaging to the long-term preservation of these unique sculptures.

Camera: Olympus Corporation (U10d,s300d,u300d) |
More details: exif |
Original size: 1855px x 1269px |
Current: 400px x 274px |
Other sizes: Small · M · L · O · save photo |
Share photo: links, forums, blogs |
Keywords: maya copan honduras stelae stela
Gallery pages:  <  1  2  3  4  5  6  >  >>
Buy:
this photo buy this photo
multiple photos buy multiple photos | view cart view cart
< 28 of 337 >

Comments

| hide gallery comments |

New comment:

Comment on: | Rating: stars
Name:
Link:
To foil spammers, enter this code: copy this text in this box: Code unreadable?
News | Browse | Keywords | Communities | Forum | Wiki | Gear | Prints & Gifts | Shopping Cart | Login
Terms | Privacy | About Us | Contact SmugMug | Blogs | API | Affiliates | © 2008 SmugMug, Inc.
Show FeedsAvailable Feeds | What are feeds?
gallery photos:
Atom FeedAtom | RSS FeedRSS