King Pakal's Rocket

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King Pakal was a ruler in the Late Classic period in Mesoamerica. He ruled between the years of 615 to 683. He ruled over the city state of Palenque and was said to live to a very old age. There have many mysterious in history that cannot be explained and Ancient alien theorists go around trying to find evidence that link them to aliens. For example, the pyramids are depicted to being built by aliens. Another is King Pakal’s sarcophagus lid portraying him in a spaceship and controlling it to go to outer space. To some it may look that he is controlling some sort of buttons and that he may be pressing something that looks like a pedal. Yet, many people disagree that this lid does not show a spaceship at all. In an article, The Mystery of King …show more content…

Like modern astronauts who sit looking up at the sky when they are about to take off. Yet, that is not the case. Many say it is just showing him descending to the underworld. In another article, “Pakal’s Rocket”, it states, “Archeologists believe this scene is depicting the moment of Pakal’s death and his decent into the underworld”( Miller & Taube, 1993). Some say the outline shape of an object shows the rocket, his hands controlling it, the pedal, and even smoke coming out at the end of the rocket ship shows that he is an astronaut. Though, you still have to know Mayan art in order to understand what each symbol means and the position the person is in to understand what the actual picture is trying to portray. Next, they say that his hands may look like they might be controlling something, but really it does not seem to be connected to anything. His hands are just shaped like they are holding something when they are not. Archeologists who know Mayan art say that it was the way they drew their hands. Hands were shown in a delicate posture, like you were holding a small cup of tea. Therefore, he cannot be seen to be holding controls. One of his heels seems to be pushing down on a pedal. Yet, again, it was just the way the feet were positioned and a pedal should not look like something that would be difficult to drive. His so called air mask is also not connected to what they …show more content…

I personally believe that the theory of him controlling one is quite silly. You have to sit down and learn your Mayan art and symbols before you start assuming what the picture looks like to you. I do not believe that the World Tree looks like the outline of a spaceship. To some, it may look like one, but you can clearly see the World Tree reaching upwards and its roots reaching down towards the underworld. His body position does raise a small question as to why he is horizontal, but it makes sense that he is riding the sun monster into the underworld; therefore, he looks like he is sitting. It was meant to be King Pakal’s journey and transition to his next life. All the controversy was just a misunderstanding of artwork. It is just a way for Ancient Alien theorists to find some sort of proof that aliens existed or had some sort of contact with people. Just like the Egyptian pyramids, it was all misunderstood on why the Egyptians built their pyramids the way they did. It is the same with the Mayans and their beliefs on life and death. This was their version of how they saw what it may have looked like to go to the underworld with the sun monster. It all makes perfect sense and I believe that the Mayans had a flawless understanding on what the World Tree meant to

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