This is a stairway of thrones. Interesting when this civilization was conquered the first thing the conquerors would do is lop of the heads of the statues.
We went with about 18 other senior missionaries on an excursion to Honduras to visit the Book of Mormon ruins of Copan. We were led by a very knowledgeable guide who had led tours with an LDS archaeologist who had compared the ruins of Central American to the writings of the Book of Mormon. We enjoyed our stay....but the van ride out there was challenging. 6 hours both ways on very turny roads. We did stay in a hotel there and it was nice. The trip came up and we didn't think we would get out there again due to the distance and travel time.
These photos were taken with my Canon camera that was given to me (Kathy) by a departing missionary that said he had a better one at home. Trying my luck with this. I will add some of Al's as he gets them to me.
We stopped at museum on the way out and viewed some mammoth skeletons . They are huge.
Our LDS Guide telling us all about what each ruin was about. The round stone was used as a sacrificial stone. Not Book of Mormon people but some time after.
Carved stone that reflects a tribe.
A Parrot with a squirrel, imagine that. The Macaws are all in the tree tops but they have some averys and feeding trays. The squirrel takes his share of it as well.
Stairway to top of temple
Another view of temple
Pagan God
Al looking up from a tomb area
Elder Burningham looking for photo opportunities
Looking down on what is assumed as living quarters for government officials. ???
More ruins but look at the perspective of size from the man there and the size of the structure. And it was made of really heavy stone. It has been assumed that the people then were small however their sculptures of people show them as very large much like a Polynesian type person.
Throne room
Some examples of architecture
This is a reconstructed temple as it was in ancient days in the museum nearby.
The building is red as it was found that red dye was on the stone and mortar.
This is called an "Astela" which is a monolith of an individual and his life. The sides tell of his birth and marriage, children, death and other heroic things the individual did.
Another "Astela"
A relief map of the area of ruins
The following are Al's pictures
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| This shows the tunnel that exits out of the museum |
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The tree is about 200 years old and look how small the people look. |
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