Sunday, January 28, 2024

Completed a  48-Lecture Series on "The Great Courses" aka Wondrium tonight.

Very in-depth amount of material, it certainly assisted on our recent trip to Uxmal...

 "Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica Revealed"


The lectures were taught by Professor Edwin Barnhart, Director of the Maya Exploration Center.

This was the third series of lectures from Dr. Ed Barnhart at Wondrium.  

I've benefited and learned a great deal from these areas of study. Sometimes the material is enough, other-times they act as jumping-off points for additional study.  Regardless, I spent about twenty-four hours watching the lectures, and I enjoyed all of it.

Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica Revealed

LECTURE 1:    The Maya, Aztecs, and Mesoamerica

LECTURE 2:    Olmec Civilization Emerges

LECTURE 3:    Olmec Art as the Mother Culture 

LECTURE 4:    Olmec Contemporaries

LECTURE 5:    Mesoamerican Plants, Cuisine, and Medicine

LECTURE 6:    Early Highland Maya—Izapa to Kaminaljuyu

LECTURE 7:    Preclassic Maya Lowlands—El Mirador

LECTURE 8:    The Popol Vuh—Creation and Hero Twins

LECTURE 9:    The Great City of Teotihuacan

LECTURE 10:    How the Maya Mastered Mathematics

LECTURE 11:    The World’s Most Elaborate Calendar

LECTURE 12:    Tikal—Aspiring Capital of the Maya World

LECTURE 13:    Maya Hieroglyphs—Breaking the Code

LECTURE 14:    Maya Astronomy and Building Orientations

LECTURE 15:    The Dresden Codex

LECTURE 16:    Palenque—Jewel in the West

LECTURE 17:    Sacred Geometry in Art and Architecture

LECTURE 18:    Illuminating Works of Maya Art

LECTURE 19:    Copan—Jungle Dynasty of the East

LECTURE 20:    Calakmul—The Mighty Snake Kingdom

LECTURE 21:    The Mesoamerican Ball Game 

LECTURE 22:    Enigmatic West Mexico and Shaft Tombs

LECTURE 23:    Classic Maya Collapse—Cities Abandoned!

LECTURE 24:    New Cities of the Terminal Classic—Uxmal

LECTURE 25:    Monte Alban and Zapotec Rule over Oaxaca

LECTURE 26:    The Mixtec Rise—Gold and Epic Stories

LECTURE 27:    The Great Pyramid of Cholula and El Tajin

LECTURE 28:    Cacaxtla Murals and Xochicalco

LECTURE 29:    The Toltecs—Role Models or Myth?

LECTURE 30:    Chichen Itza—Maya Capital of the Yucatan

LECTURE 31:    League of Mayapan—Maya New World Order

LECTURE 32:    Mesoamerican Religion

LECTURE 33:    Aztec Origins—Arrival and Rise of the Mexica

LECTURE 34:    The Aztec Capital of Tenochtitlan

LECTURE 35:    Life in the Aztec World

LECTURE 36:    How the Aztecs Expanded Their Empire

LECTURE 37:    Independent Tarascans—Desert Warriors

LECTURE 38:    Paquime—Northernmost Mesoamerican City?

LECTURE 39:    Illuminating Works of Aztec Art

LECTURE 40:    Tulum—Aztecs at the Ancient Maya Port City

LECTURE 41:    First Contact with Europe in Mesoamerica

LECTURE 42:    The Siege of Tenochtitlan

LECTURE 43:    Conquest of the Maya and Landa’s Legacy

LECTURE 44:    Fall of the Last Maya Kingdom—The Itza

LECTURE 45:    The Caste Wars of Yucatan

LECTURE 46:    Echoes of the Past in Mexico

LECTURE 47;    Maya Survival and Revival

LECTURE 48:    Frontiers of Mesoamerican Archaeology