Chapter 1851 Mysterious Maya (1)

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I originally planned to return after discussing this order, but as I had to wait for news from Agapanthus Manor, my original plan had to be delayed.

But there was nothing to go on in Peru. It was because he had just returned from the Inca ruins that he had a strong interest in the Inca, one of the three major civilizations in the Americas. He was going to talk to an expert.

For ordinary people, experts are out of reach, but with Yang Cheng's current status and Jose's introduction, he soon met Dick Gill, an archaeologist who specializes in the three major civilizations of the Americas. This redneck from Texas, USA, has never had any money with cowboys in his life, but he has been dealing with these mysterious civilizations for half his life. Now he has settled in Lima to better study the Inca world.

But according to him, the Maya is more mysterious than the Inca.

"Hello Dick~" Yang Cheng met the archaeological expert in a small detached house in the suburbs of Lima.

His white hair was disheveled on the back of his head, and he had reading glasses on his nose. He looked at Yang Cheng seriously, and after a while he said, "Are you willing to provide me with research funds?"

Yang Cheng shrugged, "If there is no one else, it should be me~"

Looking past Dick Gill, he saw a standard American country-style villa, but the floor seemed to have begun to rot, proving that Dick Gill's life was not as beautiful as it seemed~

"How much money are you willing to spend to fund my research? Let's agree first. Don't mention 50,000 or 100,000. That's enough?" The old man seemed to have no intention of inviting Yang Cheng in for discussion, so he blocked the door and asked.

Yang Cheng was not annoyed, and thought this old man was quite interesting, "It depends on how much you can make me believe. The more you believe, the more funds you can get. Don't worry, I can't give you 50,000 or 100,000." .”

Rich people have money but don’t know how to spend it well. They have to cultivate their own hobbies. There are all kinds of weird situations. For example, some people like to collect dinosaur fossils, and some people like to collect pirate treasures. Yang Cheng doesn’t know his own hobbies. What.

But since his trip to Egypt, he has become somewhat interested in treasure hunting. Of course, he is not obsessed with it. It is just a hobby to satisfy his curiosity.

Spending tens or even millions a year on this is considered entertainment, and there is no essential difference from spending hundreds of dollars on smoking.

"Come in, what do you want to hear?"

The old man's temper is very Texas-like.

He has a very hot temper, yet he is so aloof when facing someone who may become his financial sponsor.

Yang Cheng was not surprised. Talented people have weird tempers. If you can accept his talent, you must understand his character. Geniuses are always different from ordinary people.

Following Dick Gill into the house, he didn't even have a glass of water, not to mention coffee. Instead, he saw a room that was messier than his hair. The coffee table, sofa, dining table, and bookshelf were filled with all kinds of literature and materials. There are some strange stones. If it weren't for satisfying curiosity, Yang Cheng would never have been able to stay here for 10 minutes.

"Sit wherever you want~" Dick Gill said casually, but the problem is where is there a place to sit? There's even less room to put your feet down.

For this reason, Hansen even kicked everyone out to avoid stepping on the experts' information. This was an important thing that no one could afford to pay for it.

Yang Cheng looked around and said, "I'll just stand~"

"It's up to you, tell me, what do you want to hear?"

Yang Cheng couldn't say casually, this was not ordering food, so he hesitated and then said, "Let's just talk about what you have been researching recently, right?"

Dick Gill stood up immediately, pointed to the clue diagram on a blackboard next to the desk and said, "I have been studying this recently~"

Yang Cheng leaned over and took a look. Was it Mayan writing?

It is worth mentioning that between the two major civilizations, the Incas and the Mayans, the Incas had their own language but no writing, while the Mayans had their own writing. This is a big difference.

"How much do you know about Maya?" Dick Gill seemed to have returned to the classroom and asked Yang Cheng a question.

Yang Cheng was stunned for a moment and said, "That's a lot, but it's just superficial things."

"Tell me?"

"For example~" Yang Cheng smiled bitterly, "Let's talk about it. I don't know where to start."

Dick rolled his eyes at him rudely, "Then let me start from the most basic point. Until now, almost the entire Mayan civilization has been shrouded in a layer of mystery, as if it deliberately refused to be analyzed by humans, or in other words It's like a black hole. We know it's there, but humans can't get in and have no idea what's inside.

Especially in the ninth century, there were endless hypotheses about the demise of the Maya, such as theories of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.; theories of infectious diseases such as plague and mass poisoning; economic problems such as population expansion and repeated forest burning and farming leading to soil infertility. There are even too many social problems such as foreign invasion, urban wars, peasant rebellions, and mass suicide theories.

Although there are many different hypotheses, none of them has sufficient evidence to be accepted. We will talk about the demise of the Maya in a moment.

Let’s talk about the ancient Mayan civilization first.

In 1839, the explorer Stephens led a team in the Central American rainforest and unexpectedly discovered several magnificent pyramids, many wealthy palaces, and a highly accurate calendar carved on stone slabs with weird hieroglyphics.

It was also at this time that the Mayan civilization, known as the miracle of human civilization, slowly appeared in people's sight.

As one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, the Mayan civilization immediately triggered a rare earthquake in the history of world archaeology as soon as it was announced!

Since John Stephens first discovered ancient Mayan civilization ruins in the tropical jungles of Honduras, archaeologists from all over the world have discovered more than 170 abandoned ancient Mayan city ruins in the jungles and wastelands of Central America. It starts from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, goes south to Guatemala and Honduras, and reaches the Andes Mountains. "

Yang Cheng raised his hand, "Sorry, Professor Dick, let me interrupt. Didn't I say that there are still some descendants of the Mayans living in the Yucatan Peninsula?"

Dick Gill was very dissatisfied that his words were interrupted and glared at Yang Cheng, "I didn't ask you to shut up when you were talking~"

Yang Cheng helplessly spread his hands to indicate that he understood, and gave a look that said, "Go on."

Dick Gill pointed to a computer restored picture on the blackboard and said, “This mysterious nation built huge buildings of staggering scale in the tropical jungles of South America.

This is the majestic city of Tikal, which many designers of modern cities could not compare to.

There is also this Palenque Palace built in the 7th century. The palace is 100 meters long and 80 meters wide. It is difficult to imagine how such a majestic building was built in that era of lack of technology.

This - the Governor's Palace in Uxmal, is composed of 22,500 stone carvings into carefully designed patterns, every detail.

Although the roof of the Warrior Temple in Chichen Itza has disappeared, the 1,000 towering stone pillars are still reminiscent of the majesty of the past.

But the most surprising thing is that the Mayans thousands of years ago had unparalleled mathematical attainments and enigmatic writings. I am trying to learn and interpret these writings. Once I succeed, I will open a new door to the Mayan civilization. door.

Moreover, the giant buildings in places like Chichen Itza, Tikal, Palenque and other places were not based on the actual life needs of the Mayans, but were built strictly in accordance with the magical Mayan calendar cycles.

Do you know the Mayan calendar? "

Dick Gill asked again, and this time Yang Cheng answered without thinking, "They divided the year into 18 months, with 20 days in each month. They calculated the earth year to be 365.2420 days, and modern people calculated it to be 365.2422 days, with an error of only 0.0002 Days, that is to say, the error of about 5,000 years is only one day.

Also, the Venusian year they calculated is 584 days, and the difference between it and modern calculations within 50 years is only 7 seconds. "

Dick Gill's eyes flashed with excitement and enthusiasm, "Yes! What an incredible number!

You must know that thousands of years ago, the Mayans came up with such accurate calendar calculations before they figured out how to keep themselves fed.

No one knows how it came about, because this calendar is not based on the movement of any celestial body observed on the earth. Therefore, some people believe that this calendar, called the Zhuojin Year, was developed by the Mayans. The ancestors of the world were based on another planet that we still don’t know about.

The Mayans also mastered the number concept of 'zero' at least in the 4th century BC, 800 to 1000 years earlier than the Chinese and Europeans. They also created the 20-carry counting method, and their number calculations can be used today. Four million years from now, do you dare to believe it? "

Yang Cheng shook his head in cooperation. Nonsense. If he believed it, what would Dick Gill say next? I probably have to suffocate myself to death.

"Knowing such huge astronomical numbers is only useful in modern interstellar navigation and measuring distances in the starry sky.

Thousands of years ago, the Mayans practiced slash-and-burn farming, used leaves to cover their bodies, and used cocoa beans as a medium to exchange goods. Such numerical calculations were simply not available to the Mayans.

If this calendar is followed, it can even last until 400 million years later.

In addition, their writing is a hieroglyphic script composed of 800 symbols and graphics, with a vocabulary of up to 30,000 words.

They have exquisite carvings, paintings and art. However, before the birth of this extremely advanced civilization, the Mayans lived in tree caves and made a living by gathering. Aren't you curious about how such a primitive tribe could have such an advanced civilization? "

This time it was time to nod. Of course Yang Cheng was curious. Why would he come to Dick Gill if he wasn't curious? Do you think you have nothing to do and spend money to play?

"The most important thing is, how did these Mayans suddenly perish when they had such a high level of civilization? Was it really a natural disaster?"

Dick Gill pointed to a photo of a stone slab again, "And this. On June 5, 1952, someone unearthed a stone slab with figures and patterns engraved on it from the ruins of a temple in the ancient Mayan city of Palenque on the Mexican plateau. , at that time people only regarded this as a carving of ancient Mayan mythology.

But in the 1960s, after people entered space in spaceships, American scientists who had participated in aerospace research suddenly realized that the stone slab in Palenque was carved with a picture of an astronaut driving a spacecraft! "

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