Maya Expert Answers Maya Civilization Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

Dr. Ed Barnhart, an American archaeologist, answers the internet's burning questions about the ancient Maya civilization. Why was the Maya calendar year only 260 days? Who did they sacrifice? Did they build more pyramids than the Egyptians? This Maya expert answers all these questions and much more.



Director: Lisandro Perez-Rey
Director of Photography: AJ Young
Editor: Christopher Jones
Expert: Ed Barnhart
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Casting Producer: Nicholas Sawyer
Camera Operator: Lucas Vilicich
Sound Mixer: Kari Barber
Production Assistant: Fernando Barajas
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Paul Tael
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward

00:00 Maya Support
00:10 Shaping Baby Heads
00:59 Kukulkan
01:40 Maya Calendar
02:48 Maya Sandals
03:13 2012 Apocalypse
04:15 Maya vs Aztec
04:47 Sports
06:36 Sacrifice
06:57 Lost Maya City
08:53 Cacao
09:56 Maya Civilization
11:06 Pyramids
12:09 Tools
12:49 Aliens
13:16 King Pakal
14:10 Palenque
15:25 Indigenous Writing
17:26 Mayan Language
18:39 Building Ancient Cities
19:55 Astronomy
21:05 Math
22:11 Maya Today


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[LeeshMa]

''The city that I found '
Thats gotta be the coolest thing anyone could say about themselves.

[kittykat]

This man dropping that he discovered a Mayan city at 25 in the 90s just going off of a hunch and that he got to name it, in the same tone as the rest of his answers, has gotta be one of the coldest things I've ever heard.

[I-must-scream]

As a 4"10' descent of the maya living in the US, you made me feel seen. 😂 We ARE still here, just look down!

[justsomeguy]

Once again, Wired found the singlemost charismatic and engaging teacher for the class. This was amazing, I hope Dr. Ed will come back for Mayan Support 2!

[scrommy]

He found a city at 25 using his intuition? That has to be the biggest flex in the history of flex

[alexbucsp]

As a maya speaking person living in Yucatán, Dr Barnhart is invited to the cochinita.

[SneakyG]

lmao he answered that alien question with the utmost exhaustion, like he had been asked 1000 times already haha. Which i'm sure he has.

[checkmatefurries]

As a dude with a History degree that was more Ancient Med focused: This guy is fascinating. 10/10 would love to have him back on for more episodes

[jessicatingley]

Fellow archaeologist and paleoanthropologist here! I cannot appreciate enough how much he touched on the conspiracy of aliens being directed solely towards POC/Indigenous groups, as if they were not as capable as the "more white" civilizations and could never construct such impressive structures on their own - like the Greeks and Romans. He has always been such an incredible archaeologist! There is *almost* never a question of aliens (or giants) helping the Romans build the Colosseum (which had the capability to have naval battles within it), The Colossus of Rhodes or Nero, Trajan's Column, the Pantheon, the aqueduct systems, so on and so forth. These hurtful conspiracies are crucial to debunk in our field, and not everyone is willing to touch on the subject; particularly the older people in our field. Working for the museum industry, you can guess what kind of people always ask us these questions. They also tend to throw a hissy-fit when we reach the human evolution part of the Paleo tours.

[iancuspinera]

One of the coolest things as a mexican is hearing people speaking indigenous languages. That is what we are, and I’m really proud of it. I’m still in search of learning nahuatl as a start and traveling to more states in the center and south of the country. Mexican history is beautiful and it feels so amazing to be part of this culture.

[lukecaverns]

Dr. Barnhart is a mentor & great friend of mine. So glad to see him get a big platform like this. Well deserved.

[aroundtheworldaly]

The false theory of aliens “disparaging the abilities of the Mayans” is such an important point and a perspective I hadn’t considered. This was a fascinating talk!

[Dhi_Bee]

As someone who has Inca ancestry & backpacked in Mexico, Belize, & Guatemala I can assure you the Mayan people are EVERYWHERE in that region despite colonization. They still speak Mayan languages & dress traditionally, as well as retain & practice much of their precolonial customs

[tsirakura]

I held off watching this because I was afraid of another prejudiced video against people that is so often mysticized. I am so happy after watching this video because of how respectful all this knowledge was presented. It’s clear he loves his field of study and has immense respect for the maya culture and people both past and present. Thank you for posting this.

[lauracontreras]

I took an Mesoamerica anthropology class in college and fell in love with this topic. My college professor warned us about people trying to discredit the Mayan/ Aztec culture by saying aliens helped them. I loved your response about that and acknowledging the fact that they did it on their own. Thank you so much for researching this topic and sharing your knowledge ❤

[scrtsquar]

"Tech Support" is one of the best quick little shows on youtube. it never disappoints and this one was no different. cheers and bravo

[vsauce]

The Mayans taught me that if you don't finish something, it's not really the end of the world.

[angelmidknight]

I live in the Yucatan peninsula and I'm so glad our culture gets a Wired episode. Great talk.

[Kolmaryn]

As someone of Maya descent, it's always been an interest of mine to learn more about my distant ancestors. One day I hope to visit the Maya people living in Central America.

[mpleandre]

As a honduran, I am quite excited knowing we learn mayan math in school. The basics, but it's still fun to do. A bit dissapointed he didn't mention Copán at all though, considering its glyph staircase is very important today.