Aichi Prefecture

Here I am in Aichi, home of the city Nagoya. Aichi is located in the Chibu region, well known for Nagoya Castle. So far, my experience teaching at a Junior High in the city of Okazaki has been incredible, fun, and the best time I have ever had outside of my home country. Also, Okazaki is far enough away from Tokyo that there is not a lot of tourist activity, but we are close enough to live a non-rural lifestyle. However, my experience at the Junior High has been too great to ignore it.

Collapse of the Mayan empire - what does the evidence tell us?

My theory of the downfall of the Maya is that a combination of malnourishment, lack of crop growth, and excessive sacrifice wiped them out. Archeologists have found that 80 percent of bodies dug up around the Copan valley area had anemia, a lack of iron in the bloodstream. The picture below shows a skull of a person with anemia.

Also, many of the modern day farmers are experiencing what probably was happening to the Maya - their crops are growing in smaller and smaller quantities each year, with very little time in between the harvesting stage and the planting stage. Since the Maya probably had this same problem, the crops would have been scarce, and therefore malnourishment was a definite problem. The picture below is one of a former Mayan farming spot.

Finally, after all of the famine and death, the Maya would follow their culture and try to make the gods stop bringing this terrible fate to all of them. To do this, the city states would sacrifice person upon person, whether important or not, and eventually have such small amounts of people left that they would be unable to care for themselves. The scattered city states in which this was happening would then be vulnerable to anything and either be overcome by nature or die of other causes. The picture below is of a house which was abandoned around 1200 AD, about the time that many people were dying of malnourishment and anemia, but also the approximate year in which may productions of tools decreased and new invasive plants started appearing all across the Maya region.

This is a picture of some obsidian blades, one of the tools that were not made in large abundance after 1200.

Ancient South American Tribes

This is a Chancay ceremonial staff. It depicts a sitting feline.

This is also Chancay, but it is an animal eating a human head.

These are weavings from the Paracas tribe.

This is a map of the Chavin territory.

This is a tool used by the Chimu to cut through people's ribs and usually kill them.

This is a Chimu mask with green earlobes.

Here are some examples of the "Nazca lines", some mysterious lines in the ground.

Here's the link to a video of Nazca lines:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=nazca+lines&docid=1077403451680&mid=4B93BA2D493458D682924B93BA2D493458D68292&FORM=VIVR6

This is a map of where the Moche lived.

This is a gold plate from the Moche civilization.

This is an Inca flat sculpture.

This is an Incan pot.

This is Macchu Picchu, the lost Incan city.

Here is a link to some Incan music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKDpfyVuKCQ&feature=related