A city in the jungle, with only mounds cropping out beneath extensive vegetation, covers 11.5 square miles! That's a big city for the time - estimated to have been built around 200 years before the birth of Christ!
Work to Uncover Massive Mayan City Begins
Bogota, Colombia | Nov 05, 2011 at 6:32 PM PDT
Thick vegetation covers the ground over the ruins of the large Mayan city.
Mexican archaeologists have begun recovery of a great Mayan city buried under tons of earth and jungle in the area of Ichkabal on the Yucatan peninsula, according to the National Anthropology and History Institute (INAH).
Previous archaeological digs in Ichkabal have indicated existence of a vast Mayan settlement of buildings, the biggest roughly 650 feet wide at the base and 150 feet high. The buildings are believed to be part of a city covering about 11.5 square miles whose study will add important archaeological information to what is known about ancient Mayan civilization.
“This is a city whose construction began in preclassic times, 250 years before Christ,” INAH said. No architectural details are visible on the surface. All that can be seen are mounds covered by “the exuberant vegetation” of the area.
The site was discovered in 1995 by a local inhabitant, who revealed the existence of pre-Colombian vestiges to two Mexican archaeologists.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
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According to Dr. Louis Cazeaux's website, Ouk Chatrang is either a lot like or identical to Thai or Siamese chess, Makruk. Here is information from his website regarding the names of the pieces:
|
|
Cambodian
|
Thai
|
|
King
|
Sdaach, Ang (King)
|
Khun (Lord)
|
|
Queen
|
Neang (Maiden)
|
Met (Seed*)
|
|
Bishop
|
Koul (Pillar)
|
Khon (Nobleman)
|
|
Knight
|
Ses (Horse)
|
Ma (Horse)
|
|
Rook
|
Tuuk (Boat)
|
Rua (Boat)
|
|
Pawn
|
Trey (Fish)
|
Bia (Cowrie shell)
|
A seed is weird in this Chess context. The name could originate from the
Sanskrit "Mantri" (=counsellor, minister) which was used in India as well as in
Malaysia and Java.
Dr. Cazeaux was puzzled by the name for the "Queen" piece in Thai (Siamese) chess: "MET" or "SEED." But to me this simply means that the MET was the BEARER of the SEED she carried within, an ancient title for a Queen.
See also at Dr. Cazeaux's website: The Cambodian Chess Riddle (from 2001 - he has since answered his original questions).
Without getting into the particular moves of the pieces in either Cambodian or Thai chess, it is fascinating to me that both games feature a BOAT, which is the equivalent of the ROOK/CASTLE in western chess. Russian chess also used a boat - a LADYA - which, historians say, attests to its origin more or less directly from India. The Thai name for the boat, RUA, in particular sounds a lot like the English ROOK. However, the Persians, whose literature says they got the game of chess (chatrang) directly from the Indians in the early 600s CE, called this piece a RUHKH, and it was a war chariot driven by the King's Champion. Hmmm....
At least one Indian name for this piece was Roka, but as you can see from the table below, from Dr. Cazeaux's website, different regions within India (and Pakistan) had different names for some of the pieces:
|
North India
(Varanasi) |
West India
(Bombay) |
East India
(Bengal) |
South India
(Dravidians) |
equivalent
|
|
Rajah
|
Raja
|
Raja
|
Dorai
|
King
|
|
Wazir
|
Mantri, Wazir
|
Mantri
|
Munthri, Prathani
|
Queen
|
|
Voutay, Ratha
(Chariot) |
Unt, Usthra
(Camel) |
Gaja
(Elephant) |
Voutai, Ther
(Chariot) |
Bishop
|
|
Ghora, Ashwa
|
Ghora, Ashwa
|
Ghora
|
Kutherai, Ashwa
|
Knight
|
|
Array, Athi
(Elephant) |
Hatthi, Hasti
(Elephant) |
Nauka
(Boat) |
Array
(Elephant) |
Rook
|
|
Piyada
|
Pada, Padati
|
Piyada, Boray
|
Pathay, Algo, Sepoy
|
Pawn
|
Horses play a prominent role in Western chess, for both the Knight and originally the War Chariot (RUHKH) from Persia, had horses, and of course Xiang Qi or Chinese Chess, has the MA - horse. Interestingly, the Chinese word denotes a mare, or female horse! A Knightess! Thai chess also features a Knight called a MA (horse). In Indian chess, things are a bit more muddled; there is a horse (Knight) in the Ashwa or Ghora, but the presence of a chariot (presumably drawn by one or more horses) is less certain.
Xiang Qi also features a chariot. Although it's not clear from written descriptions of the game, I presume the these game piece chariots were also pulled by one or more horses (as was the Persian RUHKH), because of the myriad archaeological excavations of tombs showing horse burials in conjunction with two wheeled chariots.
Things in Indian chess get really confusing when one looks at the equivalent of the western pieces for the Bishops and the Rooks. At some point, it seems that in India the Bishops and the Rooks switched places, but not in Bengal, where the Nauka (Boat) stayed in the Rook's place and the Elephant stayed in the traditional Bishop's place.
If it is supposed that Cambodian chess came more or less directly from India, why is it called chatrang, like the ancient Persian game, which in Pahlavi may have meant something like "FACE TO FACE" and was also the name for the mandrake plant, shaped like a man? Why not something closer to the meaning of chaturanga - FOUR PARTS or FOUR LIMBS? Chatrang in Persian never meant four of anything!
Confused? So am I. So are the chess historians, although they usually won't admit it :)
