Dr. James Fitzsimmons

We used to think there was, crazily enough.

So Maya names, ancient Maya royal names

They are really evocative.

And at a certain point, we figured out that these Maya names that were there, they were names that they actually took when they became king, not names that they were born with, right?

And so, for example, during this war I was talking about, there's this one guy named Balachan Kawil, which means Kawil, the god Kawil, is hammering in the sky.

So he's producing thunder.

There's this god, and he's producing thunder in the sky, right?

His enemy, when he becomes king, is...

Hasao Chan Kawil, the God Kawil is clearing the sky.

Storm's over, right?

These are like people with like rivalries, like basically like taking names to like dig, as digs at each other, right?

Anyway, one of the names that we used to think was evidence of cannibalism was a name that meant, we used to think it was like, this person is eaten.

It was a mistranslation.

And when we re-translated and figured it out, the name was, roughly translates as, Sun God is eating hearts in the sky.

Now, one, that's a metal name.

Like, Sun God's eating hearts in the sky, right?

Two, no mother is going to name, like, who are you?

Oh, your Sun God's eating hearts in the sky.

That's not really a name that people give their kids, right?

And so most of the names that we thought were cannibalism-type names have evaporated.