Mysteries of the Ancient Pyramids

By Linda Sohner

This book is the third in a series for middle readers that explores ancient sites and cultures. The stories follow the adventures of two best friends, Caroline and Polly. The girls, and Polly's little brother, have the opportunity to visit sacred sites with Caroline's father and his colleagues from the University of Arizona. In this novel, they travel to Mexico to the ancient city of Palenque to explore an archaeological project where they learn about the Mayan culture, language and history. They visit the Palenque museum where they learn all about Pakal, the greatest Mayan King. The visitors fall in love with the beauty of the surrounding rain forest. But Caroline and Polly venture too far into the jungle while following a beautiful Mayan bird and get lost during a storm. They spend the night in a small cave where they find a previously unknown ancient burial that could be the most important historical discovery of the decade. The visitors begin and end their Mayan adventure in the city of San Cristobal where Mayan vendors offer beautiful textiles, jewelry and crafts to satisfy the girls' shopping desires.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098317362

Book preview

©2019 by Linda Sohner. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons:

Palenque temple 1.jpg by Jan Harenburg/Cc-by-3.0

Respendant Quetzal.jpg by Larry Thompson

Print ISBN: 978-1-09831-735-5

eBook ISBN: 978-1-09831-736-2

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to Apab’yan Tew, Mayan Curandero

And

Carla Woody, Director, Kenosis Spirit Keepers

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Caroline and Polly sat at a corner table in the hotel courtyard surrounded by lush tropical plants graced with brilliant, scarlet flowers. On this warm, humid day in San Cristobal, an important city in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, the girls were dressed in lightweight shorts and tee shirts showing colorful Hopi symbols. They purchased the shirts the previous summer on their trip to northern Arizona.

Now, a year later, the best friends were together again, to join an archeological dig in the ancient Mayan city of Palenque. The project was being led by Dr. Martinez, a colleague of Caroline’s father, Dr. James. Emma, their Hopi teacher and Dr. James’ research assistant, was traveling with the group to learn more about the connections between the Mayans and her Hopi ancestors.

In the hotel courtyard, next to a pair of hand carved double doors, a bright chartreuse parrot in a black wrought iron cage gave out a loud squawk whenever someone passed through the doorway. Tourists in vests, cargo pants and hiking shoes lined up at the breakfast buffet table. Spanish speaking staff brought steaming hot trays of huevos rancheros, thick strips of bacon, spicy, multicolored potatoes and tamales to the table.

In spite of the heat, the girls sipped steaming cups of hot chocolate while they waited for Polly’s brother, Joey, Emma, and Caroline’s parents to join them for breakfast. They barely noticed their early morning hunger as they talked excitedly about plans for the day and reminisced about their exciting adventures from the previous summer.

The group had arrived in San Cristobal, from Phoenix, Arizona late the previous evening. Now they had three days to explore San Cristobal and the surrounding villages in the state of Chiapas before joining the archeological project in Palenque. There, they would meet up with Caroline’s neighbor, Dennis, who was working with his father, Dr. Martinez, on an important study of a newly excavated temple on the outskirts of the city.

On the flight from Phoenix to Mexico, Polly and Joey had talked non-stop about their trip the previous summer to Caroline’s new home in Tucson, where Caroline’s father had begun a job at the University of Arizona. The desert seemed a very strange world to Polly and Joey when they first arrived In Tucson. But they quickly learned all about desert plants and animals at the Sonoran Desert Museum.

They admired beautiful ancient pottery and baskets made by indigenous people of the area at the university museum. Emma shared many stories about her ancient ancestors who lived in the desert thousands of years ago. They saw ruins of ancient villages throughout Arizona. A highlight of the trip was a visit to Chaco Canyon, one of the largest ancient cities in neighboring New Mexico.

Emma, a beautiful and wise young Hopi woman, was a wonderful guide, teaching them all about the culture and lands of the southwestern desert. And her special surprise for Caroline, Polly and Joey was a visit to her Hopi home on Black Mesa. There they were honored to see a Kachina dance in the plaza of a nearby village. As they explored the Hopi reservation, Polly especially loved the beautiful jewelry crafted by the Hopi artisans who are famous for their designs of silver and turquoise.

They also explored ancient ruins of Hopi ancestors all across the area. The largest ancient city was Chaco Canyon, in nearby New Mexico. At this sacred site, Dr. James was directing a project and Emma was documenting ancient petroglyphs, or rock carvings, which traced the migrations of her ancestors. Joey, of course, could not stop talking about how he helped capture some artifact thieves who had stolen petroglyphs from a small cave where Emma was doing her work.

Caroline was most fascinated by an ancient petroglyph that the group found on a wall in salt trail canyon which matched part of the carving on an old tablet they found near Serpent Mound in Ohio. Dennis, Caroline’s neighbor, recognized the drawing as a Mayan symbol representing the planet Venus.

And now they were all gathering in Mexico to join the archeological project at Palenque, to learn more about the Mayans and their connections with the old ones in North America. They would meet Dennis and his father Dr. Martinez at Palenque later that week.

As Caroline and Polly drained the last sip of chocolate from their cups, a small, freckled boy wearing a black cowboy hat and jeans entered the courtyard doorway and set off a new round of parrot squawks.

Over here Joey, called Polly.

Joey walked toward the girls, but Emma, who was right behind him, motioned to them all to sit at the large table in the center of the courtyard where they were soon joined by Dr. and Mrs. James.

Emma, and Caroline’s parents seemed a bit bleary eyed after the long flight from Arizona the previous day. But the children were energized and ready to see every site in this new city.

First things first, Caroline. Coffee and food! said Mrs. James. Maybe that will wake me up.

They lined up at the buffet, filled their large plates with delicious food and inhaled the wonderful spicy aromas of their first meal in Mexico.

The only thing missing are blue corn meal pancakes, sighed Joey. That was the best thing at your house, Emma.

Here you’ll have your fill of tacos and tortillas, Joey. The Mayans were the first to make tortillas, she responded.

So what will we see today, Emma? asked Dr. James. You’ve been here before and can show us around, can’t you?

I think Polly’s favorite place might just be the market, said Emma as she watched Polly’s face brighten and eyes widen.

And so it was. After a huge breakfast they were ready for a walk to the central plaza of the city.

Passing a large Spanish cathedral that dominated the plaza, Emma explained, The Spanish came to this part of Mexico in the 1500’s. They built much of the colonial city, but today it remains a cultural center for the Mayan people. Tourists heading to Palenque stop here to experience the interesting blend of cultures. It’s just a short walk from here to the market where indigenous Mayan people sell their hand made treasures.

As they walked through the city, vendors called out to the group to buy jewelry, small woven purses and other Mayan handicrafts but Emma advised them to wait