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Article: Unraveling the mysteries of the Maya. (includes travel tips)
- Article from:
- Sunset
- Article date:
- November 1, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Sunset Publishing Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Recent excavations and insights into the language of the Maya give visitors to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula a fresh look at an ancient civilization
In Yucatan, there is a story told about Chichen Itza's Temple of Kukulcan. Each year at the spring and autumn equinoxes, hundreds of visitors gather to witness twin serpents slithering down the temple's north face. Not long ago, as the story has it, one American tourist was seen clutching a snakebite kit, prepared in case the reptiles escaped into the crowd. No one had told her that the snakes are, in fact, a twice-yearly trick of sunlight as it hits the pyramid--a mirage and nothing more.
The story might be ...