: | Global Television |
Episode Number: | 39017 |
Title: | In The Land Of The Maya & Inca |
Languages: | E De Cz |
52 Mins | |
Produced: | 2007 |
Myths, secrets and mystery surround the archaeological sites of the Maya and Inca in both Middle and South America. The city of Teotihuacán is no exception. The founding of this ancient and historically important city probably dates back to the second or third century A.D. when construction of the mighty Sun Pyramid crowned by a temple, was completed.
The rain god, Tlaloc, and the Feathered Snake, Quetzalcoatl, were the major deities in the flourishing ancient city in some parts of which the magnificent decoration of various sanctuaries, including beautiful reliefs has been preserved to the present day.
In Chichén Itzá the association between the beautifully decorated ancient monuments and temples and their function as a place of human sacrifice is more than evident. Heavy stone tables and human-shaped sacrificial altars such as the Chac Mool create a rather disturbing and mysterious ambience and even today little is known of the true nature of the horrifying rituals that once took place there.
Despite its rather modest size the magnificent location of Tulum, located in the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribbean coast, is still one of the most popular and well-known Maya sites in the world. Tulum was once entirely surrounded by a massive defensive wall with towers and battlements and in the 14th century the small port developed into one of the most important trading centres in the region.
The desolate and extensive desert in Southern Peru hides one of the most spectacular secrets of Nazca culture, the legendary and mysterious geoglyphs engraved on the surface of the desert. There are illustrations of various animals that measure a hundred metres and further images that extend for several kilometres. The precision and huge dimensions of these lines is simply breathtaking. For some time it was believed that they could only be discerned from the sky but the truth is that they can be seen from the neighbouring hills.
Perhaps at some time in the future and with the help of more archaeological discoveries there will be further revelations with regard to the mysteries of the Inca people. However, in this region, each discovery leads to a new mystery!