THE AURYN JOURNAL
Notes on jewellery, materials, memory, style and the small details that make an object feel personal.
LATEST FROM AURYN
What do the Nazca plant geoglyphs show? The flower, tree and 'seaweed' figures of the Nazca desert, and what archaeologists can and cannot say abou...
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What was the Maya fire-walking ceremony? The New Year rites recorded by Landa, Kawak yearbearer years, and walking barefoot over coals.
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What do the Nazca spirals mean? The spiral geoglyphs of Nasca and Palpa, how they were made, and what archaeologists can and cannot say about them.
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What are the Maya day signs? All twenty signs of the 260-day tzolk'in, from Imix to Ajaw, how the Maya sacred calendar worked, and where it lives on.
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What does Manik mean? The Maya day sign associated with deer and hunting, its place in the tzolk'in, and what scholars know of its name.
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What does Ok mean? The Maya day sign Ok or Oc, its link with dogs in Maya language and art, and its place in the 260-day Tzolk'in.
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What does Etz'nab mean? The eighteenth Maya day sign, linked with flint, its place in the 260-day tzolk'in, and the ritual importance of flint in M...
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What is the Nazca parrot? One of the bird figures drawn on the Nazca desert, how it was made, and why its meaning remains uncertain.
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What does Ocelotl mean? The fourteenth Aztec day sign, why ocelotl means jaguar rather than ocelot, and the jaguar warriors of the Mexica.
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What does Cozcacuauhtli mean? The sixteenth Aztec day sign, a bird whose name contains the Nahuatl word for necklace or jewel, usually read as a vu...
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What are the Aztec day signs? All twenty signs of the 260-day tonalpohualli, from Cipactli to Xochitl, and how the Nahua sacred calendar worked.
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What does Atl mean? The Nahuatl word for water, the ninth day sign of the Aztec 260-day calendar, and the phrase 'atl tlachinolli', water and fire.
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What does Calli mean? The Nahuatl word for house, the third day sign of the Aztec calendar, and one of the four signs that named the years.
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Coatl means “serpent” in Nahuatl and is the fifth of the twenty Aztec day signs. Explore its calendar role and serpent imagery in Mexica culture.
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What is the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Bobby Henderson's 2005 letter to the Kansas school board, the rise of Pastafarianism, and the colander hat.
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What are crop circles and who makes them? Explore the documented human-made circles of southern England, Bower and Chorley, hoaxes and modern land ...
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Is there an official Cthulhu symbol? Lovecraft established no single canonical emblem for Cthulhu. Explore his Elder Sign and the later symbols add...
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Who is Bokrug? The great water-lizard worshipped by the beings of Ib in Lovecraft's 1920 story 'The Doom That Came to Sarnath', and the doom he bro...
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