How women ascended the ranks in the highstakes world of Maya politics

The Maya built their cities with advanced engineering

Maya cities featured pyramids, palaces, causeways, ball courts, and water-management systems that were engineered to support large populations—often tens of thousands—without the use of metal tools, draft animals, or wheeled transport.

A Maya creation myth begins with dwarfs

In the Popol Vuh—a foundational Maya creation text from Guatemala—an early age is marked by dwarves gifted with great vision and intellect. Their hubris led to destruction by flood, after which humans were created from corn with deliberately limited sight.

Enter the Mayan underworld through this 3-mile cave

Discoveries in Belize's Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) cave suggest the cave was once a significant site for sacred Mayan ceremonies in antiquity. New research reveals how the Mayans conducted rituals to re-enact a specific creation myth, often staged in desperate times and aimed to invoke the gods for a "rebirth" amid drought and turmoil. Read more on the enigmatic research here.

The Maya played a ballgame that symbolized the conflict between good and evil

Played on I-shaped courts across Mesoamerica, the Maya ballgame was a ritualized sport tied to cosmic struggle. Contrary to popular belief, the game did not involve mass sacrifice or basketball-style scoring.

Human sacrifice reinforced Aztec political control and religious belief

The Aztecs controlled a vast territory through military might and intimidation. One very key tactic of control was the ritual of human sacrifice. While an effective scare tactic, the ritual was also grounded in deeply held beliefs that the world was sustained by blood.

Matrilineal societies—where women led households—were common among Northeastern natives

Such societies also viewed women as leaders in spiritual matters. Both men and women held political roles as clan leaders and worked in tandem with an advisory council.

Chichen Itza was one of the Maya world’s most powerful cities

Chichen Itza was a major religious, cultural, and economic center on the northern Yucatán Peninsula, attaining prominence between approximately 800 and 1000 CE. It was largely abandoned by the 13th century for reasons that are still debated today.

Cacao is a Maya word that survives today

In the 1980s, archaeologists finally deciphered Maya hieroglyphs in part by identifying known words. Maya scholar David Stuart notes that cacao—still used today—was one of the key linguistic anchors that unlocked ancient Maya texts.

Who were the mirror-bearers of ancient Mayan civilization?

The Mirror-Bearer is a remarkable example of Early Classic Maya art, one of many discovered that were crafted from solid hardwood around 500 CE. The male figure is adorned in a knee-length woven skirt and shawl and once held a removable plaque, likely a mosaic mirror. It is a model of an actual Mirror-Bearer, likely a royal court dwarf, and depicts typical Maya courtly scenes. Learn more about the sculpture and its inspiration here.

See a day in the life of an Aztec midwife

This illustrated story follows Xoquauhtli, a midwife in the Aztec Empire, as she juggles childbirth duties during the festival of Teteoinnan, navigating the tension between professional responsibility and participation in the empire’s religious ceremonies, including ritual sacrifice.

Maya jade earflares were believed to open pathways to the divine

Carved from rare, hard-to-work jadeite, Maya earflares symbolized vitality and timelessness. Seen as living objects, they were believed to act as portals between the human and supernatural worlds, making finely crafted examples especially prized.

The warrior women of Ancient Scythia who inspired the Greek Amazons

Greek literature regales readers with tales of Amazon queens and warriors going toe-to-toe with heroes, including Achilles and Hercules. This article explores why these female warriors were relegated to myth. For a long while, it was believed that these stories about all-female warriors were just stories. But scientists have since found evidence that these ancient warriors were part of the nomadic tribes of Scythia, and more discoveries are expected.

The Valley of Mexico sits over 7,000 feet above sea level

Once dominated by the shallow waters of Lake Texcoco, the high-altitude Valley of Mexico—surrounded by volcanic peaks—was home to the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. This resource breaks down the region’s unique geography and why it became a cradle of Mesoamerican civilization.

Why did the Spanish steal the Inca's mummies?

From inside stone palaces and atop sacred mountaintops, the Inca dead continued to wield incredible power over the living. So much so that the Spanish confiscated them. Read more about the afterlife of these mummies here.

What's so special about Mayan bees and their honey?

Melipona honey was utilized by the ancient Maya and produced by stingless bees located in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. With a history dating over three millennia, this honey was traditionally used for medicinal purposes due to its high fructose content and antioxidant properties. Unlike regular honey, Melipona honey is less prone to crystallization and has a distinctive watery texture. Learn more about the honey here.

Explore the roughly 190 Egyptian pharaohs across 31 dynasties

The meticulous records kept by scribes in ancient Egypt allow contemporary historians the unusual ability to list the civilization's hundreds of monarchs, from the quasi-legendary Egyptian unifier Narmer (also known as Menes) all the way to the Roman emperors 3,000 years later.

Why physiology and genetics prevent king bees from existing

The mating process is fatal to male honey bees, as their endophallus detaches from their bodies and remains temporarily within the queen. Because fertilized honey bee eggs develop into female bees, if a male somehow did survive and become king, his line of succession would also abruptly end.

Caesar and Cleopatra's complicated affair

The Egyptian queen Cleopatra, a known charmer in history, had a public affair with Roman leader Julius Caesar. Read this article for details and a timeline of their doomed romance—from their first meeting to her later affair with Marc Antony.

The reptilian conspiracy theory posits that humanoid lizards run the world

Conspiracy theorists believe shape-shifting reptiles have taken human form and gained authority to manipulate human populations. From US politicians to British royalty, could lizard people be holding positions of power?

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Tattoos were once used to identify status

Around 450 BCE, Scythians inhabiting what is now southern Siberia were recorded as wearing tattoos of swirling mythical beasts to signify nobility. At the same time, tattoos have identified lower-status and enslaved people.

Medieval elites prized narwhal tusks as mythical “unicorn horns”

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, narwhal tusks were believed to be unicorn horns, possessing healing and anti-poisonous properties. Coveted by Europe’s elites, they became royal gifts—with one even presented to Queen Elizabeth I by explorer Martin Frobisher.

The Hungarian countess rumored to have bathed in blood

According to legend, Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory killed up to 600 women to bathe in their blood and preserve her youth. Such allegations have been challenged since the 1980s when Slovakian archivist Josef Kocis published a book detailing new aspects of Báthory's life and included possible evidence of a conspiracy meant to undermine her power as part of Transylvania's ruling dynasty.

Mexico’s political chaos weakened its defense against US invasion

Mexico’s post-independence instability—marked by coups, power struggles, and weak central control—left its northern frontier vulnerable. That political fragmentation shaped Mexico’s unpreparedness during the Mexican-American War and helped enable US conquest.

A taxonomy of Mardi Gras' many krewes

There's more than one kind of krewe in New Orleans. This handy guide breaks down some of the most famous (such as the Krewe of Zulu and the Krewe of Rex) and explains the differences between a "super krewe" and a "walking krewe."

How snake biology allows them to eat prey larger than they are

Possessing flexible skulls with elastic ligaments and unfused jaw bones, snakes can open their mouths to engulf much larger prey, and adjustable airways enable them to continue breathing while their teeth grip onto their food. Through slow digestion and specialized cells that decompose bones, some snakes can survive on a single large meal for over a year.

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Salvador Dalí believed he was his own dead brother, who had died nine months before he was born

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

Ebola infects and disables immune cells, triggering a cascade of events that leads to small blood clots throughout the body, weakening blood vessels and interrupting blood flow to key organs.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Coral polyps reproduce via broadcast spawning, where entire reefs simultaneously release reproductive cells for about one hour, once a year.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.