Five oddly expressive clay figurines, made on the edge of the Maya world about 2,400 years ago, were probably used as puppets in public rituals to commemorate mythical or real events.

Three figurines were laid face up and the other two face down, with all except the smallest facing west, a direction associated with death in Maya culture. This, researchers suggest, raises the ...

“This study turns that story on its head and reveals the deep connections between ritual sacrifice and the cycles of human death and rebirth described in sacred Maya texts.” There are several ...

On the other hand, Varela Scherrer, a specialist in Mayan culture, specified that after the excavation of the ritual deposits, a procedure of “sifting with water and floating” was carried out ...