Christmas in Moss!

Well after a week and a wonderful Christmas in Moss with Jeanette's family we are back in Oslo! Though of course not what I am used to... Norwegian Christmases are really quite lovely with tons of wonderful food, pastries, cakes and the like. I even enjoyed the weather despite the fact that I despise winter... I even made a snowman, but I guess I did not do that good  a job since everyone kept saying it looked like my snowman had a stroke! Anyway since we had quite a bit of free time I had plenty opportunities to go outside and take some photos... here are the results! Happy new year!

Happy 14th Baktun everyone!

Well its the 12/21/2012 and we are all still here! This entire "Mayan apocalypse thing" has been crazy annoying but at least through all this silliness more people than ever have been made aware of this great civilization. This being said, its important to keep in mind that the Maya are not gone. There are literally MILLIONS of Maya spread out through Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. The five past five centuries have not been particularly kind to the Maya but Mayan cultures are still thriving (yes plural, there are several) and the Mayan language in the form of its 30 (approximately) contemporary dialects comprise the second most spoken indigenous language in the Americas.

Exploring archaeological sites in Meso-America has for as long as I can remember been one of my very favourite things. Some of my earliest memories are of travelling with my father to sites such as Coba and Uxmal. I have been fortunate enough to visit approximately 100 different sites in Meso-America... the great majority of which being in the Maya Area.

Anyway, I have here posted my photos of 70 different Maya Archaeological sites (four of each). I Hope you enjoy the photos and that maybe they will peek your interest in learning about Mayan archaeology past Chichen Itza

* For some reason the meta-data on the photos seems to have gotten messed up, but if you have any question about any of the sites give me a shout @carlosrosado

Winter...

Well I am back from Mexico and the winter has not hesitated to receive me. The temperatures have indeed been quite cold this year; even by Nordic standards and especially when you consider how mild our last winter was. Alas, it is winter and no amount of complaining will change that. As I am incredibly uncoordinated skiing is not exactly an option for me during this most dreary of seasons, but this is not to say that winter is not without any perks. It is of-course fun to go out and snap photos of the wintery wonderland... however I find the lack of birds and wildlife characteristic of the season as a bit unnerving. In any case Sognsvann (which I have posted photos of many many times on this blog) is indeed quite pleasant this time of year, as it always tends to be. Here are a few photos! Now... I will get back to troll the web for cheap flights to Turkey, Croatia or Spain =)

Sacbé Xahxche

Today my dad and I made our way to pick up Abel in Santa Elena and take a hike out to the archaeological site known as Sacbé Xahxche, though it is usually refereed to simply as Sacbé. The site is located on an ejido about 10 kilometres from Santa Elena  and is accessible through a road which communicates several different fields (unidades agricolas). There are absolutely no signs to let you know when you have arrived to the correct ejido, and much less any indicators to let you know where the site is to be found within the surrounding jungle, so a guide is an absolute necessity. Though there are about a dozen structures which you can explore at the site the most impresive is known simply as Structure 1, Group A... though Abel informed me that it is also known as "Casa de los mascarones" (house of the masks). This name obviously refers to the two stacked mosaic style Chaac rain god masks which adorn the western portico.  Aside from the masks there are several typical Puuc esthetic are geometric features such as stones which form a stepped-fret design, horizontal rows of X-shaped adornments and short columnlike squarred spirals. Structure 2 which is located to the south-east is partialy standing and is characteristic of an early Puuc-style (670-770 A.D.) This sturcture faces south and is suported by lintels, though only the center one is intact. However, the other lintels are still observable in the rubble of the building. Towards the south west, structures 3 and 4 are mostly entirely fallen.  The site also has at least two chultunes (artificial water storage wells)... the one to the side of structure 1 is particularly noteworthy for its state of preservation. As I mentioned there are several other structures including a rather large pyramid, however it seems that do to looting it has been left fairly bared. In any case, if you are looking for an adventure and visiting an archaeological site which has been largely untouched but is fairly accessible, maybe an a visit to Sacbé is in order. Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos!

Fall in Oslo

Fall for me is always bitter sweet, sure its really pretty and full of lots of opportunities to take nice photos... but it is obviously also the prelude to winter, and if you know me you know I absolutely HATE winter. In any case I will be getting a reprieve from the weather which is beginning to settle in here in Scandinavia as I am going to Yucatan for a month starting next week. Unfortunately I will be travelling alone as Jeanette is not able to take the time off and I need to take care of some business in Merida and also do some additional fieldwork for my masters thesis. Though I am not thrilled about the prospect of not seeing my wife for a month... I am sure I will have a nice time with my friends and family... and hopefully get some productive work done! Anyway that is all for now...

Chacmultun with dad!

A couple of months ago I made way way with my dad to Chacmultun for a day of rummaging through the jungle and enjoying a little archaeology. I had been to the site last year but my father said he had not been there for approximately thirty years so he was very interested to see the result of all the research and excavations done over that period. I am just posting the pictures now because I just this week found the photos on a memory card which I had misplaced. Chacmultun which means "mound of red rocks" in the local Yucatec-Mayan language, is located in the municipality of Tecax, on the foothills of the Puuc valley and is truly impressive for its architectural beauty and gorgeous landscape. Chacmultun is representative of Puuc style architecture and is comparable to other sites in the area such as Kabah and Labna, however perhaps due to its out of the way location it is seldom visited by anyone... perhaps in great part due also to the fact that it is not an official part of the "Puuc route". Definitely worth the trip!