3 injured after man with knife enters Montreal-area mosque
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
Archeologists in Guatemala uncovered evidence of a ritual where the human remains of royals during the early ninth century AD were burned, indicating that ancient Maya people used the event as a public display to highlight regime change.
A new study published in the journal Antiquity looked at textual sources from between AD 800 and 900, highlighting political upheaval in the Maya Lowlands, and that the Maya kingdom of K'anwitznal grew during the reign of Papmalil. The new discovery coincides with Papmalil's empire and suggests a dramatic show of power.
Christina T. Halperin, a professor from the University of Montreal and lead author of the research, says this discovery is unique because archeological research typically doesn't highlight precise moments when there is regime change.
"Much epigraphic and archaeological research in the Maya area has focused on the collapse of Classic Maya polities at the end of the eighth and the beginning of the ninth century AD," Halperin said in a news release. "However, key tipping points in history are rarely found directly in the archaeological record."
Halperin and the research team excavated a temple-pyramid in Ucanal, which was the K'anwitznal capital and is now present-day northern Guatemala. They discovered a deposit containing burnt human remains and ornaments, which included a greenstone mask usually saved for royal tombs, as well as jade and marine shell ornaments. This indicates it was the burial of Maya royalty.
Burnt and cracked greenstone ornaments, including a Hu'unal greenstone diadem and a round relief pendant of a human head. (Christina Halperin/University of Montreal)
Through radiocarbon dating, the research team was able to figure out that the burning event occurred some time after the royals had died, suggesting the tomb was re-entered specifically to burn the remains. It likely overlapped with Papmalil's takeover of the kingdom.
Halperin says the burning ritual would have been "a dramatic, public affair" that rejected the Late Classic Maya dynasty (AD 600-810) and introduced a new political order.
"The fire-burning event itself had the potential to be highly ceremonial, public and charged with emotion," Halperin said. "It could dramatically mark the dismantling of an ancient regime."
Through Maya hieroglyphic texts, the act of re-entering a tomb and burning royal remains is considered an act of desecration, and the public display of burning those remains symbolizes the dismantling of previously hardened institutions.
Halperin says this specific moment in history demonstrates not just the end of a dynasty, but a total transformation from what the K'anwitznal political structure and Maya Lowlands had been previously.
"The fire-burning event itself and the reign of Papmalil helped usher in new forms of monumental imagery that emphasized horizontal political ties and fundamental changes in the social structure of society," Halperin said.
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a warning to any potential home intruder: 'If somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot.'
What Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, 49, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of Hungary-based BAC Consulting, says she hasn't done is make the exploding pagers that killed 12 people and wounded more than 2,000 in Lebanon this week.
Advocates have identified the woman who died this week after being shot by police in Surrey, B.C., as a South American refugee who was raising a young daughter.
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
Provincial police investigating the death of a cat that was allegedly set on fire in Orillia earlier this week released surveillance video of a person of interest in the case.
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.