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Archaeologists find intact Maya hieroglyphic panels and well-preserved stela

2015-08-03T02:43:00.001-07:00

Archaeologists with the La Corona Regional Archaeological Project in Guatemala, who in 2012 discovered the second known reference to the so-called “end date” of the Maya calendar, have made more finds consisting of significant hieroglyphic panels.

Tulane graduate student Maxime Lamoureux St-Hilaire discovered the above hieroglyphic panel in near pristine condition during excavations of La Corona’s palace. Image: Tulane University

They also unearthed a well-preserved Maya stela that dates to the 5th century AD from the archaeological site of El Achiotal.

Marcello Canuto (left), director of Tulane University’s Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at El Achiotal with Luke Auld-Thomas, a Tulane anthropology graduate student who discovered the Maya stela dating to the 5th century AD. Image: Tulane University

“This stela portrays an early king during one of the more poorly understood periods of ancient Maya history,” said Marcello A. Canuto, director of Tulane University’s Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at El Achiotal along with Tomás Barrientos of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.

Tulane graduate student Luke Auld-Thomas, with funding from National Geographic Young Explorer’s Grant, uncovered a shrine that contained fragments of the broken stela. The ancient Maya had built the shrine to preserve this stela.

Epigrapher David Stuart of the University of Texas at Austin estimated the stela’s date to be November 22, AD 418, a time of great political upheaval in the central Maya area.

The La Corona team also found two more hieroglyphic panels in nearly pristine state.

“They even have much of the original sparkling red paint preserved,” Canuto said.

Tulane graduate student Maxime Lamoureux St-Hilaire discovered the panels in his excavations of La Corona’s palace. These panels had not been found by looters because they were installed in a small unassuming corner room of the palace. The panel inscriptions tell of rituals of kingly accession.

“The fact that the stela and these panels were preserved by the ancient Maya themselves long after they were first carved adds a new wrinkle to our interpretation of how much the ancient Maya valued and strove to preserve their own history,” Canuto said.

Nightmares Are Not Bad As You Thought

2015-07-15T08:27:00.001-07:00

We all have bad dreams such as being chased or shot at, or terrifying images …until we wake up in a panic. But do not worry since nightmares may have some good sides for your mental health.

According to New York Magazine, some sleep analysts have suggested that terrible dreams serve as a type of emotional release, permitting us to relinquish the stresses and tensions that torment us in our walking lives.

They explained “The things that concern us most when we're awake continue to mess with us when we're asleep. Your unconscious brain takes your abstract fears and turns them into stories in the form of nightmares."

The bad dream basically takes a fear and transforms it into a memory. This is useful, since recollections are easier for the psyche to adapt to in light of the fact that it speaks to something that happened before, than "vague anxieties about the world around us”

And here are 5 things that dreams can tell you:

1. You have a fever: being sick can lead to nightmares, especially a fever. So please take care of your health and listen to what your body is trying to tell.

2. You are stressed out: stress can turn out to be common dream themes follow you into bed. A strange dream may inform you it is time to relax and slow down.

3. Your sugar blood may be low: people with diabetes may experience bad dreams as a symptom. Be careful!

4. Congratulations! You may be pregnant: while pregnant, mothers can attest to dreaming more than usual. An Israeli study of 166 pregnant women found that the more harrowing dreams a woman had, the less likely she was to develop postpartum depression. And an Italian study of 290 women linked more dreams (and more upsetting dreams) with shorter labor times.

5. You need to see a mental health specialist: if nightmares happen all the time you may think of seeing doctors. Bipolar disorder is known to cause vivid or bizarre dreams in some people, according to WebMD.

Vedic maths shortcut-2

2015-07-15T08:11:00.003-07:00

2) Calculate multiplication of number which makes sum of units digits 10
Example: 43 x 47
The answer is 2021 i.e., 4 x 5(next number to 4) =20 for first two digits and multiplication of unit digits i.e., 3 x 7= 21
The above 'rule' works when you multiply 2 numbers with units digits add up
to 10.

Vedic maths shortcut 1

2015-07-15T08:03:00.001-07:00

1) Finding Square of a number ending with 5
To find the square of 75
Do the following
Multiply 5 by 5 and put 25 as your right part of answer.
Multiply 7 with the next higher digit i.e (7+1)=8 gives
56 as the left part of the answer, Answer is 5625