Uaxactun: the greatest Mayan observatory
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- Опубліковано 22 гру 2024
- Another one from my trip to Guatemala. Archaeology, hat-wearing, a giant locust, and a demonic pig. What more do you want?
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Who else misses Lindy's old archaeology videos where he saunters around a village in Turkey lecturing us about olive trees and ends up getting kicked by a horse?
Good times
🎵 I miss the old Lindy, the getting kicked by a horse Lindy 🎵
I think Lindy was also greatly impacted by that video, I think that horse especially left a mark on him
To be honest, I don't miss being kicked by horses.
15:47 missed opportunities
Why haven't the BBC or National Geographic or SOMEBODY hired this man to make a professional documentary with him as the host?
If they did, the documentary would last 15 hours
@@blueberry1c2 Then he has no control about the content.
I'm really glad he isn't hosting anything for a major documentary network to be honest. At least Lindy has near complete say in what he does and presents, with only some degree of influence by way of his audience and a sponsor message here and there. As much as I love public education, these documentary networks are doing more in terms of misinformation, the BBC included.
The BBC wants to "stop white men explaining stuff."
A command straight from the top.
@@Arkantos117 thats so hilarious
I'm guessing Lloyd killed the butterfly from his last video :(
Pulled those wings off.
Very clever, hadn't thought of that :D
Yup. Worked a treat.
*laughs in blackmail material*
I'm glad king A22 finally gets the recognition he deserves
He did have the road from Purley to Eastbourne named after him.
@@sunscream4525 Well, at least he didn't get the same treatment as Toh Chak Ich'ak, he doesn't have any roads named after him.
Wtf cant find a wiki about these guy, Google keeps showing me apartments and shit
Spear Thrower Al disliked this video
@@sunscream4525 Various highways and buildings actually, plus a Samsung phone. Seems like he's the most recognized out of all Mayan kings.
10:14: "At what angle does a staircase become a ladder?"
How sharp/blunt are the sides of a swinging weapon to distinguish a dull sword from a sharp club?
@@christopherconard2831 depends on purpose and effect. A sword is meant to cleave. If it doesn't eqsily donthat, iet is dull. A club is meant to bludgeon. If it then cleaves, it is sharp.
70 degrees. Although what separates a stair and ladder isn't just the angle...
This is also something one ponders in Dutch houses
I would say, when it becomes necessary to use hands to go up it.
I really wish Mesoamerican stuff got more play in History/Military content, it's vastly underrated: Cities like this, in their heyday, had many times more structures then what you see left now (and they were covered in painted murals and sculptural reliefs) surrounded by kilometers of landscaped suburbs of residences, with populations in the tens to low hundreds of thousands, like Eurasian early Classical Antiquity. We have records of specific rulers, wars, laws, poets and much more for the civilizations which have surviving written records: The Mixtec warlord 8-deer-jaguar-claw for example was widely written about: Bitter about not being eligable for the throne in his home city of Tilantongo, he conquered towns along the coasts of Oaxaca and founded his own city-state, Tututepec there, and then side-stepped the Oracle-controlled Mixtec political system by getting blessings from the Toltec king of Cholula (a sort of Mesoamerican Mecca), and then nearly conquering all of the fractured Mixtec states into a single empire before, ironically, dying when the one boy he left alive from his rival's family he massacred rallied conquered towns and cities against him.
These societies are so much more complex and have so much more history then what people realize: Complex civilization in the region goes back nearly 3000 years prior to the arrival of europeans, with dozens of other major civilizations beyond the famous Aztec and Maya: I mentioned the Mixtec and Toltec before, but there's also the Olmec (the guys who made those big stone heads), Teotihuacan (which, no joke, had it's city covering an area larger then Rome, with nearly all of it's population living in a large planned grid of palace/villa complexes), the Purepecha (who had a large empire rivalling the Aztec to their west who repelled numerous invasions from them and set up a fortified border in response) and so many more.
If anybody is interested in learning more, I think a good book to further satiate and pique your interest further would be Hassig's "Aztec Warfare", which is a book not just on the Aztec military, and it's organization and tactics, but also on the geopolitics of the different city-states and kingdoms in Aztec-controlled 14th, 15th, and 16th century Central Mexico and how political marriages, coups, and diplomatic coercion was used.
Also, if you want some visual examples of how Mesoamerican cities and archtecture looked when they were in use and not just as ruins, I highly reccomend checking out paintings by Scott and Stuart Gentling of Aztec cityscapes. Absolutely gorgeous stuff.
"...the one boy he left alive from his rival's family he massacred rallied conquered towns and cities against him."
Avoiding mistakes like this is exactly why the Evil Overlord List is needed!
@GangWeedHammond and some smallpox caughs.
The Siege of Tenochtitlan which toppled the Aztec Empire had only a few hundred Conquistadors, but 200,000 troops from a variety of local city-states. The remaining city-states, kingdoms, and empires took decades, arguably centuries (the last Maya city-state only fell in 1697) to be conquered, and nearly every conflict had the "Spanish" side still being mostly Mesoamerican soldiers using their traditional armor and weapons, not to mention that this was aided by massive, greater-then-black-death level population losses from diseases amongf the native population. The assertion that it was just a few hundred Conquistadors is woefully ignorant.
@@MajoraZ which is interesting. Actually, imagine if a modern underdog country got some big advantage suddenly, like help from some kind of alien with advanced weapons,,, they would probably also happily take down the larger nations militaries,,, because they probably feel oppressed by the prices they are forced to agree on and because wealthier people make mistresses of their women. ,,, Sure, it's a catastrophe that the continent descended into anarchy, bleeding itself into a stone age,, but most of the USA would kill the richest american if they ever got the chance, at the time of the conquistadors, those americans GOT that chance. they took it.
@lol no, more like a gang of lawless europeans,, all independently committed to the seeking of wealth beyond what was legally achievable. Powerful nations always produce such people, where they break their own laws and ethics, but they do it where and how they will be able to keep their reputation safe. The most powerful traffickers are usually wealthy citizens of nations that the US that allow them to find ways to cover their activities and travel publicly. A US passport and some business meetings in Iraq, and there won't be any reason to investigate if the real business is weapons and opiates. Conquistadors were the era's equivelent. They were mean, secretive, and supported by legal nations as well as traffickers. Using their national status to keep them safe from unwanted questions, they could pursue open atrocity in the land where only their sides of the stories would come out of it.
16:10 English pioneer exploring new lands for the crown (1623 colourized)
Time stamp should have been the year.
@@Shiro_Amada true, I didn't notice that the minute could be read as a year!
More like heretic British pirate causing trouble in spanish land
ManOhMan bleh all those colonisers look the same
@widhbnw efDwdwDW it all the same
Hi! I'm an archaeology student in Guatemala. I just wanted to say that I really loved and enjoyed your video. You described Uaxactun's history with great detail and accuracy. I wanted to know which were your sources for the video, and share with you some others. I hope you keep travelling and get to know our archaeological Mayan sites, and of course, that you keep making videos.
I had guidebooks, and an actual human guide with me, plus my producer had studied the Maya and added bits, but the main book I was working from was
"Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens" by Simon Martin.
👍✌️
*Indiana Lloyd and the Temple of Beige*
You really missed out by not saying "Lindiana Biege" but whatever.
Lindiana Beige and the temple of stargazers. But I like even that his touch of Britanisation on Indiana Jones.
11:43 Maybe the weapon is a club-sword. You know, for the people in the... sword-club.
You both disappointed me, and made me exhale through my nose. Take my like and be gone!
Lindybeige is one of the few UA-camrs
that can do a long take with few cuts which I genuinely Love
Usually, his videos are simless. Only those with footage from outdoors are cut. He can do a 40 mins video without a cut!
British man babbles at camera for months on end
You really ought to wear a Pith Helmet for this sort of thing.
Yes, I've also seen his bald spot.
Yeah because nothing says respecting foreign cultures like British colonialism lol
Hair too on point to hide under a hat.
@@-Zevin- The brits and french were very respectful to the people they colonized. The pith helmet would highlight the exploration and conquering spirit of the video.
As an astronomy teacher and history lover, this is now one of my favorite all time UA-cam videos.
officially branded, cheers!
You gotta love LB.
7:58 This point is one that I've made to New Agers. The Maya didn't have to calculate anything in order to align their monuments with the solstices.
Fair point: the alignments don't necessarily mean anything. But then again that doesn't mean that they necessarily mean nothing. For example: t may be that 1000 of those 2000 magical alignments have a distinct meaning to their stories and culture (and therefore intentionality and not just randomness). One would have to go into a more depth with the study of the culture to know to what extent they are a result of careful planning vs. a result of just a massive amount of potential coincidences.
@@jcmiller23 The careful planning of many alignments throughout Mesoamerica is obvious, and their cultural importance is well established. What the New Agers claimed was that the Maya couldn't have aligned their buildings accurately without supernatural help, plus a good dose of magic mushrooms.
Fun fact true fact the character of Indiana Jones was based on Lindybeige...
Lindy doesnt carry a whip, but i dont think the directors wanted Indiana to throw a pommel at his captors
I realize you're joking but honestly I think it's the other way around. Lindy must worry some of the natives when he comes in with his English accent, dressed like a stereotypical British colonizer. I'm kinda surprised he hasn't been speared or shot with an arrow yet.
Indy is not as charismatic
I few hot gypsies wouldn't go amiss.
@@MrEazyE357 What are you on?
Your channel is better than most Documentaries
Without his british imperial pith helmet ? No way.
because he doesnt add dramatic music and uses humor quite often.
I'm always in two minds about graffiti. On the one hand it seems senseless and abhorrent, but on the other hand one has to recognise that if it weren't an innate part of human nature to mark one's presence on anything vaguely permanent, we wouldn't have the vast number of carvings and cave paintings throughout history, many of which provide valuable insight.
That's quite an interesting point.
Graffiti is horrible when it's made and becomes priceless art after enough time has passed.
Yep, I traveled with some Australian Rugby and Bear spirit dudes,
,,Nick the Dick, has been here!" carved on some greec statues makes sens ?
Nick spent 3 months in prison thanks to his inspiration ... he carved a lot of history artifacts in his jail cell.
graffiti with style or a message is art, tagging and defacement are vandalism, be it to your taste, or not. thought provoking is Arts bread and butter so even if you see a piece and think it vile, it has done its job and made you think something, other than just...................
@@gb2301 Exactly. It's defacement and vandalism now, but when we look at ~2000 year old graffiti in Pompeii that says stuff like "I have a big dick" or "I took a shit here", we say "wow, I can't believe Roman youth were like modern youth!" and try to preserve it.
You can kinda tell the humidity is draining Lindy's normal energy lol
My name is A22, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
I feel the story of king "A22" is telling us an important lesson about how deep-time will wash over each of us and erase us from history, irrespective of whatever power over others we achieve, or treasures we hoard in our own lifetimes. It is more important to focus on the here and now, and how kindly we treat others.
Ozimandius
And furthermore: what does it mean if we had an actual name there instead of "A22" - would his legacy be preserved with any more meaning? The representation of him sure would, but it would not help to further the ideas he lived his life by anymore. All names will turn into dust, the only thing that lives on is...
Still, the Maya were pretty good at maths. They had a zero after all. That's quite a big deal in maths.
Yes, and enough surplus food to have two guys look at sticks and keep records for at least a full year. In all seriousness I think Lindy downplayed the sophistication required to ask the questions that would lead to someone observing a stick for a year.
@@genericfakename8197 I think he was trying to emphasize that it doesn't require you to understand what we now call newton's laws and truly complex orbital mechanics to know where the solstices are. or when. and that many cultures have done it. it's not that it's not sophisticated to keep track of these things, and longer cycles that take years, but that it's not in itself extraordinary abilities that other cultures lacked.
in short; still very impressive, just perhaps not as uniquely 'advanced' as some people make it (/them) out to be when compared to similar cultures around the world at the same time.
@@genericfakename8197 Observing solstices is incredibly simple. If you live in the same place long enough, you will realize that the sun doesn't always appear in the same place on the horizon and if you live there for years you'll notice the pattern. I knew whereabout the solstices were looking from our house when I was 6 years old and knew nothing about astronomy whatsoever. It's not that much more sophisticated to start recording it accurately.
That was about breaking popular exaggerations, and it’s Lindy, historical myth busting is a big part of “what he does” :)
Maya did not have a currency, so it’s doubtful that any Mayan merchants were utilizing the number 0. It was not applied in theorems or algebraic calculations, not to say anything of trigonometry (although, who knows, maybe it was lost to time, since all their books save ~3 were burned).
The Maya likely only used ‘0’ in a limited period of their history and only in (some) astronomy-related observations (and calculations, perhaps).
They were advanced in astronomy and had some math because of the paramount status of their priestly class. The rulers depended on the priests to keep track of events related to agriculture, as there were many religious holidays each week.
Because their large civilization was situated so near the equator, their seasons were not so easy to differentiate (vital for farming), so they simply *needed* to track astronomical phenomena more than others.
I realize the English were doing mathematics long before the USA existed. I still die slightly on the inside each time somebody says "maths".
When I watch a lot of UA-camrs I speed up the videos to 1.5 speed, but with Lindybeige I never have to do it because its so interesting and well explained with consistency throughout the entire video.
This is the Lindybeige I have missed. The well-educated explorer who has deemed me worthy enough to receive a portion of his knowledge. Please give me more of this type of video.
This brings back memories since i was at this very spot 7 years ago, completely on my own, rode there on a semitrashed motorbike I rented from german punk with Texas license plates from El Remate, he told to avoid millitary checkpoints and so i did. After a few hours ride i finally arrived at the village realizing that i was the only one there, NOT speaking any spanish at all. I found my way to the ruinas and investigated the site for an hour or so, very magical when being All alone with these constructions and the Nature surounding it. I suddenly had a feeling in my belly that i should get my arse out of there, but i told myself "dont be ridiculous enjoy the place its hard to get here" but the feeling grew stronger and stronger, almost in to anciety and i found myself running back to motorcycle. Again i told myself " relax take picture of this beautiful ballcourt" my bike was parked next to it and i suddenly hear some motorbikes coming, so i jump on the bike and i see some men coming my Way with machetes and looking like sketchy individuals, so i raced out of there full throttle through jungle. And no it wasnt the guys maintaining the area, because they left When i arrived.
Found an abandoned observatory from the '70s in the woods a few miles from my home on Sunday. Not nearly as cool but a fun coincidence : )
Ahh man that stinks : (
Still cool.
@Anirban Chakrabarti In Bavaria in germany we have a law that specifically says that anyone has the right to enjoy nature and may go in whatever forest they please (but they should stay on the paths). Even if the forest is an enclosure
@Anirban Chakrabarti Maine here, heading up to a cabin this weekend so remote there's no address. Only way to find it is with longitude and latitude. I tried living in a city for a while but my heart belongs in the forest. Even when it's -20°F, I'd rather be in a cabin with a wood fire than down in Florida sweating my ass off.
@Anirban Chakrabarti I hope you can find a job that offers you the ability to have the work-life balance you crave, most of us live in cities and have little opportunity to visit truly wild country and have to make do with brief visits to more secluded places.
2 days in a row? You're spoiling us!
Hey thank you for sharing your explorations and adventures. I listen to you while I’m stuck at work seeing the same things over and over again.
“At what angle do stairs become a latter?” I ask that every time I see the houses in Amsterdam.
How much time needs to pass untill a lader and stairs become seperate concepts?
Can nobody spell ladder any more?!
@@annother3350 No, it is scientifically proven, without a shadow of a doubt, that they cannot.
I'm a scientist, I can confirm the world did in fact NOT end.
That wasn't the mayans claim that it would end completely. Just beginning a new cycle it was modern people that misinterpreted it.
That's a relief!
@TSM 101 Would you care to provide your sources? Anyone can make such a claim!
Yeah but has anything felt real since 2012
@@ericgrajeda9916 I always just though they reached 2000 years ahead and some guy went "Guys! Chill with the calendar making!"
A LIndybeige video day is a great day
The fact that Lloyd is capable of doing a video like this in one long take with no discernible mistakes never ceases to blow my mind. Makes all these bedroom jump cut heroes look very bad at their job!
He has good public speaking
These are kinda just stream of consciousness videos
@P A I would say its good public speaking because not everyone is that good at giving lectures even if you can remember it all. I take myself as an example of that
@Pedro Abreu It’s good public speaking because it’s informative and engaging. It’s easy to be informative, but most people aren’t engaging when they talk for extended periods of time.
1000 years from now some archaeologist will be saying "Ugh, Someone put graffiti all over Wilson's name and the love heart! Don't carve stuff into it!"
1000 years from now that place will have drones from 300 years prior which are historically significant themselves, they are powered by little fusion cells and were placed there to obliterate anyone who dares to bring a knife close to the wall. Ofcourse their deathrays are going to be replaced by a very mean Taser
around 12:00, could the circles on the atlatl be more decorative rings? Fire-is-born was a king you know. they like decorations. (or perhaps, they like to be depicted with them).
I enjoyed watching you in a jungle surrounded by locals and a few tourists haha. I mean it, it was very enjoyable.
As always absolutely brilliant. Rarely have so many owed so much to you, enthusiasm that's all true! Thankyou.
I'm from Honduras. It's nice to see you visiting Central America and showing a bit of its culture and history. Have a nice day sir!
Lindy Explores is the second best video series on you tube. Lindy's Speculative Historical Monologues is the best.
A wonderful excursion into the jungle. thanks for letting us partake on your adventures. cant wait for your next upload.
I approve of what appears to be a well traveled leatherman case. May it assist your travels for a long time to come.
How fantastic THANKYOU for this video hope you had fun
Really intersting tour lindy thanks for all the good info as always
Your videos about archaeology are especially good. I still re-watch those you made in Turkey.
Great work!
Please do more videos like this. I had no idea how they could work out dates. I found it fascinating
2020 is the new 2012!
Great video. Last I tuned in, you were donning homemade chainmail in front of a white wall, so that’s a plus too.
Welcome to Guatemala, enjoy your stay and keep up with great videos.
Lloyd is the single most fascinating person I've ever had the pleasure of watching on UA-cam
Thank you for this marvellous video and explanations.!!
As for the ball courts, perhaps they were as informal as our own tennis courts; mostly used for informal games...
And I wonder what writing Lindy left in the wall...
Obi-wan would have loved all that high ground.
I love these videos, so informative. Your videos should be used in schools across the world.
if it is it possible may you do a video on the Bush fires.
I'll bet that view at the top is amazing at dawn and dusk. Great stuff Lloyd. Thank you for sharing it with us.
This is fantastic love these fantastic quality videos well worth the wait
Thank you very much. Love this type of content.
20:00 those probably weren't plugged completely with stucco, because if it were not level, or sloping the right way, that area would certainly end up flooded from the rain.
Your cameraman did a really great job on this video.
I love these kinds of videos by Lindybeige.
Imagine going on vacation to Guatemala to visit old cities and Lindy Beige is there to explain it all.
Man history is so awesome to learn lots of great events and achievements from the past to appreciate.
This was fascinating. More Maya, mate!
Interesting, informative and entertaining, as usual, Lloyd. Thanks.
I could watch this content all day
I love seeing the shots of the villages and local life. We usually only see the touristy images.
20:34 i am convinced that Lloyd's mind actually considered jumping up the wall there to get down
Just wanted to leave behind, that I am so thankful for people like him to provide such an amazing and interesting content for others.
It is simply astonishing what you can learn about this world today without even leaving your chair.
Talking about.. I should have gotten my housework done some hours ago.. but I guess one more video won't hurt 🙃
Another great video, Thank you.
Never commented before, but this video was fantastic
Plus I love the outfit
This astrology thing sounds amazing! I'm taking it up and will base my decision making on it!
Hey Lindy while on the topic of alignments, have you read about a matematician Matt Parkers findings on ancient Woolforth stores in Britain? Alignments are everywhere if one wants to find them.
Nice One! Interesting plus Enjoyed and Cheers
Great vid! Makes me want to be able to travel again
10:17 I don't think the condition of ladder-ness is a function of angle, so much as it is a function of method of construction. A ladder placed flat on the ground is still a ladder. It doesn't become a bridge or a road or what have you.
A "ladder" has distinct steps ("rungs") oriented more or less vertically with one another, with an open-air gap between. A "flight of stairs" has steps ("stairs") that are either connected (hewn from a single block, mortared together, etc) or, less commonly, have open-air gaps but also a significant vertical deviation (as is the case in metal fire escape stairs, for example). We could, of course, argue at what precise point the second definition of "stairs" goes from stair to ladder (a folding metal fire escape that might function as either ladder or stair depending on its current configuration, for example), but the stairs shown in this video are clearly connected, and thus would never properly qualify as a ladder, regardless of how steep they got.
That view is just breath taking.
these are your best videos, Lindy. More archeology!
What a pleasant suprise. Didnt expect to be learning about Mayans while cooking.
3:16 - Smoking Frog: "Pass me another camel mon ami"
Morley also used his work on Mayan studies as a cover for espionage in Mexico during ww1. James Bond and Indiana Jones at the same time.
They may not get you the most views and are a lot more effort to make than the "man with a camera in his apartment" style videos, but these documentary style videos are very fascinating. Please keep making them.
@10'16"
In Germany, the minimal angle at which a staircase becomes a ladder is 60°.
Everyone be getting raid shadowlegends sponsorships. Lindybeige bagged a sponsorship for Guatemala
8:00 Did John Cleese write that little gem? :-)
at what angle a stair becomes a ladder you ask? i think is 75º, if you look in a osha aproved ladder, that is the angle you are supposed to place it for safe use
I absolutely love mesoamerican stuff like this
I love your content man :D
Absolutely amazing and informative
I miss Adventure Lindy. Brilliant nostalgia hit.
Videos like this let me vicariously live my desire to be some form of archaeologist. A dream that was murdered by the high cost of tuition.
I love these videos. Thanks for exemplifying the adventurer archetype.
Love your trip!!, any chance of sources, bibliography, documentary?
Further to the 'significant' co-incidencies with observation lines. Wasn't there a set of lines drawn on a map that looked very significant only to show the 'significant' points were Woolworth stores, (may have been to discredit laylines).
Well, that was fun. I liked the lecture on the observatory. He cold have gotten into the callendar a bit more, but that will require it' own half-hour special. It's was complicated.
Wish you could do more like this. What about doing UK sites like Tyneham in Dorset then you could also talk about the military range there as well.
@2:10, the ritual calendar has 260 days, and it coincide with the regular calendar every 52 years. 365x52/260 = 73.
So every 52 years is 73 years on the ritual calendar. Except a year is 265.24 days, so they are off by 0.24 day each year, and after 400 years, they would be off by more than three months and they probably realize the coincidence was wrong.
I am not interested in Mayan observatories, but in the preview of the thumbnail I saw a pig in a pond. Now I am emotionally invested.
If you came for that as well, its dramatic entrance starts at 10:51
Awesome! My parents are from Guatemala but I’ve only visited Tikal. Awesome place.
Firstly i loved this. been trying to convince several people that there is nothing otherwordly about mayans, egytpians etc. You did however flesh it out much more. Next time when the beer flows free and this comes up again ill just send them over here. Also you must make a video that utterly and for all future defines when stairs does infact become a ladder.
Love your shows
The animal at 23:18 actually isn't a coati, even if it looks rather similar, but a sub-species of racoon!
So how do you build an ancient mayan observatory that shows solstice and equinox? For that you need two blokes and wto sticks...
I really like this video! While I enjoy most of Lindy's stuff, this is really cool/interesting. Wish he had the budget to do more of these travels (obviously travel is tough even with a budget now; i get that) - Good Job Mr. Beige 👍
I know that some native american tribes in north america used the stars and known landmarks to be able to navigate at night. I wonder if the Mayans, and indeed any ancient culture that had emphasis on astronomy, did this as well which lead to it being culturally significant.
Would be so incredible to visit here. Any plans to visit the Temples of the Sun & Moon in Teotihuacan?
I'd like to see more Lindy the explorer episodes!
Lloyd, love it, but I don't think that the idea of the atlatyl needs any "energy storage through bending" element. It is more about leverage - it's why you can hit a tennis ball faster than you can throw a javelin.