Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 18 sepTember 2018
Experts: Mayan altar hints at ancient intrigue

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — An legitimate by appealing to
altar found at Guatemala's local interests." A princess
La Corona site suggests the from the Kaanul dynasty -
Mayan dynasty of Kaanul, based in Dzibanche and
known as the Snake Kings, later Calakmul, in neigh-
acted like its namesake in boring Mexico - had been
slowly squeezing the rival married into the La Corona
kingdom of Tikal, archae- ruling family two decades
ologists said Friday. before. It's unlikely that La
A team led by Marcello Corona could have simply
Canuto of Tulane Univer- conquered El Peru, which
sity uncovered the carved was much more powerful,
stone altar in the northern unless it had backing from
Peten region near the Mex- someone even more pow-
ico border. erful. "This would be equiva-
When it was first found in lent to Cuba defeating the
2017, the altar was encased United States in a war. They
in the roots of a tree in a could only have done that
collapsed temple. It took a ... if they had had the back-
year to painstaking pry the ing of the Soviet Union,"
massive stone slab from the Canuto said.
roots, fully excavate it and The enormous city-state of
move it to Guatemala City, Tikal, whose towering tem-
where it was presented this ples still stand in the jungle,
week at a museum. battled for centuries for
The altar is dated A.D. 544 A nearly 1,500-year-old carved altar from the Maya site "La Corona," located in the northern Gua- dominance of the Maya
and depicts the Tikal ruler temalan department of Peten, is displayed at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnol- world with the Kaanul dy-
Chak Took Ich'aak conjur- ogy in Guatemala City, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018. nasty. Just a few decades
ing two local gods from a Associated Press after the altar was carved,
shaft in the form of a dou- Kaanul apparently de-
ble-headed snake. ferent local deities associ- not just battles. Chak Took said. "It's almost like they're feated Tikal by amassing
The same man appears 20 ated with that place. Ich'aak and his son "are try- setting up franchises, but a string of allied cities that
years later as a vassal of the Canuto said the altar sug- ing to show that they are using the same recipes of encircled and eventually
Kaanul dynasty and the rul- gests Kaanul's eventual praying or conjuring up local gods, claiming they strangled Tikal. The symbol
er of the larger, nearby city victory was the result of de- gods that were there way had access to local dei- of the Kaanul dynasty were
of Peru-Waka. But the gods cades of astute politicking earlier to give them that ties. There's an attempt to stone masks carved in the
associated with him are dif- and cultural appropriation, kind of legitimacy," Canuto render this whole process form of grinning snakes.q

SpaceX changes plans to send tourists around the moon

By MARCIA DUNN Falcon Heavy rocket and a eling to space," SpaceX
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Dragon crew capsule. said in a tweet.
— SpaceX said it has signed At the time, Musk said the On its website, SpaceX is
the first private moon trav- pair approached SpaceX touting the "first passenger
eler, with some changes to about sending them on a on lunar BFR mission," imply-
its original game plan. weeklong flight and paid a ing there will be more.
The big reveal on who it is "significant" deposit for the This could be humanity's
— and when the flight to trip. first lunar visit since 1972,
the moon will be — will be The new strategy is to still fly depending on how NASA's
announced Monday at the around the moon, but us- latest moon plans shape
company's headquarters in ing an even bigger SpaceX up. Twenty-four NASA as-
Hawthorne, California. rocket still in development tronauts flew to the moon
It's not the same mission that has its own dedicated from 1968 through 1972,
SpaceX founder Elon Musk passenger ship. And now, and only 12 of them strolled
outlined last year. The origi- it appears there will be only its dusty surface. Next July
nal plan called for two pay- one person aboard. will mark the 50th anniver-
ing passengers to fly around Given that this new BFR sary of the first manned
the moon this year, using a rocket, as it's dubbed, has In this Feb. 6, 2018 file photo, Elon Musk, founder, CEO, and moon landing by Apollo
lead designer of SpaceX, speaks at a news conference after the 11's Neil Armstrong and
Falcon 9 SpaceX heavy rocket launched successfully from the
Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Buzz Aldrin.
Associated Press NASA is shooting for its
own flyby of the moon,
yet to be built, the flight additional details Friday. with a crew, around 2023.
presumably is at least a few Musk's ultimate goal is to The space agency aims
years off. colonize Mars. This lunar to build a gateway in the
SpaceX put out the teaser mission — a flyby, not a vicinity of the moon, com-
via Twitter late Thursday, landing — represents "an plete with staff, during the
and Musk also tweeted out important step toward en- 2020s. It's envisioned as a
the news. Company repre- abling access for everyday base for exploration of the
sentatives declined to offer people who dream of trav- moon, Mars and beyond.q