stackyFACTSFor a culture deeply obsessed with blood, standard paint simply wouldn't do. Mayans heavily decorated their sacred pyramids and royal tombs with a vibrant crimson pigment made from crushed cinnabar. Unfortunately, cinnabar is a highly toxic mercury ore, meaning their breathtaking religious art slowly poisoned anyone who touched it too much.
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The rain god Chaac lived at the bottom of dark cenotes, and he allegedly loved expensive rocks. Mayans routinely chucked priceless, carved jade artifacts…
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When droughts hit, the Mayans resorted to targeting large reptiles. Because iguanas were associated with water and the underworld, priests believed they made…
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The tzompantli was essentially ancient propaganda built from human remains. Aztecs displayed the heavily pierced skulls of sacrificed captives on gigantic…
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Imagine living in a glorious society where money literally grows on trees and tastes amazing when you melt it down. The Mayans valued the rare cacao bean so…
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While modern humans associate turkeys with being aggressively stuffed and deep-fried on Thursdays, the Maya viewed them as untouchable holy relics. Long…
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The darkness of night wasn't an absence of light; it was a massive, prowling predator. The Mayans believed the sky turned into a gigantic cosmic jaguar after…
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