Alex Green

Penn State Class of 2015

My name is Alex GreenI am a senior at Penn State

I recently saw a program on The History Channel, H2, that presented evidence that after the Mayans left Mexico around 900 A.D., they may have settled in Georgia, USA http://www.history.com/shows/america-unearthed/videos/finding-the-mayans-in-georgia

LiDAR mapping technology was used to reveal structures in Georgia that have much in common with structures from the Mayan culture, specifically those found in Chichen Itza, Mexico

About 10 years ago, I travelled to Chichen Itza with my family. What we saw there was nothing short of amazing

The slides that follow show unusual pictures from my visit to Chichen Itza.

I am now thinking about Chichen Itza and the mystery of what happened to the Mayans a little differently

A unique view of the Templo de los Guerreros (Temple of the Warriors) from the top of El Castillo pyramid

Elaborate stone carvings

El Castillo – When we took this picture, you could walk up the steps to the top. Not sure about today. Pretty steep stairway, a long way down with no landings – a little scary on my way down!

Twice a year during the equinoxes, the northwest corner of the pyramid casts a series of triangular shadows which when linked with the massive stone carving of a snakehead shows the image of a serpent crawling down the staircase

For some amazing facts about El Castillo and archaeoastronomy, check out these links http://www.world-

mysteries.com/chichen_kukulcan.htm

http://www.world-mysteries.com/alignments/index.htm

http://www.exploratorium.edu/ancientobs/chichen/HTML/castillo.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Castillo,_Chichen_Itza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeoastronomy