User talk:Simon Burchell/Archive 7

DYK for Museo Miraflores

Materialscientist (talk) 18:03, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Main page appearance

Hello! This is a note to let the main editors of this article know that it will be appearing as the main page featured article on February 17, 2011. You can view the TFA blurb at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 17, 2011. If you think it is necessary to change the main date, you can request it with the featured article director, Raul654 (talk · contribs). If the previous blurb needs tweaking, you might change it—following the instructions of the suggested formatting. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page so Wikipedia doesn't look bad. :D Thanks! Tbhotch* ^{۩ ۞} 18:44, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Maya stelae are monuments that were fashioned by the Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. They consisted of tall sculpted stone shafts and were often associated with low circular stones referred to as altars, although their actual function is uncertain. Many stelae were sculpted in low relief, although plain monuments are found throughout the Maya region. Stelae became closely associated with the concept of divine kingship and declined at the same time as this institution. The production of stelae by the Maya had its origin around 400 BC and continued through to the end of the Classic Period, around 900 AD, although some monuments were reused in the Postclassic (c. 900–1521 AD). The major city of Calakmul in Mexico raised the greatest number of stelae known from any Maya city, numbering at least 166, although they are very poorly preserved. Stelae were essentially stone banners raised to glorify the king and record his deeds, although the earliest examples depict mythological scenes. Imagery developed throughout the Classic Period, with Early Classic stelae (c. 250–600 AD) displaying non-Maya characteristics from the 4th-century AD onwards, with the introduction of imagery linked to the central Mexican metropolis of Teotihuacan. As the Classic Period came to an end, stelae ceased to be erected, with the last known examples being raised in 909–910 AD. (more...)

Congratulations Simon! you are doing such good work for WP:MESOAMERICA, I didn't even realize that we had a new FA there. Congratulations, thanks for the excellent work and do keep it up!·Maunus·ƛ· 00:36, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Maunus! Simon Burchell (talk) 08:14, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Simon, congratulations. It's been a while since I edited here (other than here-and-there edits to fix spelling etc.). But I just had to congratulate you on this Featured Article. Excellent work! Madman (talk) 05:19, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Madman - good to hear from you! Simon Burchell (talk) 08:45, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

citation

Question... you almost exclusively use books, so I couldnt find an example to answer... When using the "new" form of citation (please see the expansion I did over at Great Pyramid of Cholula) are all sources listed at the bottom with notations above or just books and stuff with authors? If its all, Im going to have lots of "fun" with the in line citations when I upload the expansion of Xochimilco Im finishingThelmadatter (talk) 19:06, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

I list all the sources at the bottom, even web links. See for example Museums in Guatemala, where all the hyperlinks are in the references at the end - or most of my Guatemalan archaeological site articles, where PDFs and HTML web pages are regularly listed as refs but formatted using citation templates - as in Museo Regional del Sureste de Petén. I hope this helps, Simon Burchell (talk) 20:46, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Mmmmm Dr Blofeld responded to my query earlier. He pointed me to the Clint Eastwood article to use as an example, which puts the websites and such in the notes. Easier for me for this article as only two of the sources were books and several of the newspaper articles had the same author (same names keep popping up in articles from Reforma, but its the only Mexico City paper I know that covers A LOT of cultural topics, not just blood and guts). Anyway, Ive mostly finished with Xochimilco. It still needs tidying up, but Ill try to look at it with fresh eyes in the morning.Thelmadatter (talk) 03:28, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

I think I started putting the web refs down with the rest when it was demanded at FA or somesuch - I do it regularly now in order to minimise problems at GA/FA, should I take the article for review. Simon Burchell (talk) 10:55, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

I remember something about wanting a single format. But I dont do GA or FA, so this will do.Thelmadatter (talk) 17:19, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Maya city

The DYK project (nominate) 18:02, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Calakmul review

I am going to be reviewing this article but wanted to contact you as the major contributor first as a courtesy to a fellow history buff. I see a couple of things that stand out to me that you may not agree with. Please see review.

--Amadscientist (talk) 16:55, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

The article is well written and in reality has a good scope. I have updated the review notes to reflect my error and what caused it. Its late for me and I am about to go to sleep. The article does need work, but not so much that cannot be easily corrected. I will not put the article on hold until you've had a chance to look at my concerns. I am confident it is a pass with the needed changes. (Images problems are a must to be corrected or tossed) However, please be aware I just began the review and still need to take a look at references and notes, although a quick glance seemed to be fine.--Amadscientist (talk) 18:01, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for looking at it, I will try to sort out the article over the weekend. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 22:04, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

I went ahead and placed the article on hold to give you the full 7 days to work on it at your liasure. The image source problem was a matter of actualy having the source indicated and not just linked. Wikimedia is a depository of images not necessarily for use on Wikipedia. In order to be used in a GA article, sometimes manual input is required. The link could have remained as is and simply write in "Flickr" before or after. The source for GA status simply needed to be indicated and not just link...and yes it does sound "picky" but images have been deleted from Wikimedia for simply not having a discription.--Amadscientist (talk) 06:26, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

GA Review for El Chal

I reviewed your article and I'm putting it on hold until further changes. You can read my review here. Bernstein2291 ^{(Talk • Contributions • Sign Here)} 06:58, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll take a look at it shortly. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 11:04, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

I'm glad I read it, it was very interesting. Bernstein2291 ^{(Talk • Contributions • Sign Here)} 17:22, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Palenque and Yaxchilan

You might be interested to know that my husband and I uploaded a ton of pictures we took at Palenque and Yaxchilan.Thelmadatter (talk) 02:01, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll take a look. I don't have much time for wikipedia at the moment but Yaxchilan is unfinished business and Palenque is on my hitlist, so when I have a chance I'll see if I can incorporate any into expanded articles. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 08:45, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Tikal Temple IV

Calmer Waters 12:03, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Tikal Temple III

Materialscientist (talk) 16:04, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Plaza of the Seven Temples

Calmer Waters 16:02, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Huehuetenango Department

Hello, I am new to this. But I recently changed ethnicity for San Rafael la Independencia, but you changed it back. I am not sure how to put the sources but here it is http://www.larutamayaonline.com/history/idiomas2.html http://www.ethnologue.com/show_work.asp?id=13444 The language spoken there is Akateko. Older texts list this language as Kanjobal. San Rafael la Independencia used to be part of San Miguel Acatan where Akateko is spoken. http://cpdmunisanmiguel.blogspot.com/ http://biblioteca.usac.edu.gt/EPS/03/03_0634_v7.pdf I hope you can change it back, and I hope these sources will do. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Piccmon (talk • contribs) 00:52, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Piccmon - I've updated the article and inserted the reference. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 14:48, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Seibal

Hello, I'm Michelle. I am interested in Mesoameric culture and civilations of Mayas and Aztecs. I think that in article about Seibal we don't need that table because another article is created and now we have article about any ruler. You can tell me if you find some other solution. - User:Mychele Trempetich

Hi Michelle, just because a new article is created doesn't mean that the information should be removed from the main article. Any spin off article can include extra information not in the original article, but a general article on Seibal would not be complete without at least a summary of what is known about its rulers. If another article has been created dedicated to the rulers of Seibal, then a link can be provided above the table, as has been done with Tikal, for example. In the case of Seibal, the table was removed and replaced with a link to a category, which merely listed those articles created for the rulers of Seibal, and lost information on dating and referencing. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 16:14, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

I saw that you are also interested in culture of Mayas and Aztecs. Was there more kings of Seibal or were just three? I mean, is information about their number complete?Michelle

There are three whose names have been deciphered from hieroglyphic inscriptions - due to the long history of the site it is likely that there were many more, however the city appears to have been subservient to other cities at different points in its history, and these overlords may have prevented the local nobility from immortalising themselves in inscriptions, or may have destroyed older inscriptions. All the remaining inscriptions that I can think of off the top of my head come from the Late to Terminal Classic stelae, and mention only those kings listed in the article. Simon Burchell (talk) 09:04, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

I studied Ancient Egypt too, where some kings removed inscriptions of those who they didn't loved. Did this occured in Maya society? For example, it is possible that somebody didn't liked one king and he remove all his inscriptions and statues? - Michelle

It certainly did happen - Maya cities were constantly at war with one another, and the victor defaced the inscriptions/sculptures of the looser. Simon Burchell (talk) 19:02, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Dear Simon, can you tell me from where are you? And you really visited all that beautiful places, gems of Maya culture?

Can you tell me how some souns are pronounced in Maya language?

Is X like SH in Shampoo; J like H in Hate; Y like Y in Mary or in Youtube; CH like CH in sandwich? Is this page good to learn this sounds? Mayan

Thank you, your Michelle :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.138.27.57 (talk) 15:26, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Yes - I really have been to all those places! Those are good introductory approximations for pronunciation. For a while I studied K'iche', although I've forgotten almost everything. As I recall (and I can't stress enough how rusty my Maya is), the J is actually a bit stronger than the English H, more like the Spanish J. As I recall, the ' signifies a glottal or explosive consonant, so b' is rather more strongly pronounced than the English b, a Maya k is like a Spanish q, softer than the English k, while k' is deeper, like the English k. Then there are q and q' , which have no equivalent in English or Spanish, and are glottal clicks deep in the throat. Other consonants are ch and ch' , and tz and tz' . After a vowel, the ' is a glottal stop, cutting the vowel abruptly short. I believe these standards apply across all Maya languages in Guatemala and Mexico, although in some places alternative spelling standards can still be found, such as the use of a single and double vowel (o and oo, instead of o' and o). That page is a basic summary but misses the subtleties of pronunciation. Simon Burchell (talk) 16:35, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

So, the word for ruler - "ajaw" is the same (or very close to) "ahau". I mean, is W pronunced as OO in Moon?

Y is like Y in Spanish Yucatán?

Maybe you think that is strange to ask about pronunciation, but I allways wanted to say something correct. I am writing articles about Mayan rulers here and on my Wikipedia. Because in my language the names of the monarchs are allways transliterated, it is important to me to know the real pronunciation (because I will write about them on my Wikipedia). I must thank you on this help about sounds, and also want to ask you: do you live in Mexico or somewhere else in South America? Because you visited all that places (and some of them are pretty unknown to me).Michelle :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.136.105.231 (talk) 16:49, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Well, I used to live in Guatemala and regularly go back, and I have travelled extensively in the region and am always looking for new sites to visit. As for the pronunciation - ajaw and ahau are just different ways of writing the same thing, and sound exactly the same. I believe it is pronounced similar to the English "w", so ahau is pronounced (more-or-less) like a-HOW. I could be wrong though... it has been ten years since I spoke any Maya. Simon Burchell (talk) 12:06, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Hello there. Thank you for editing some of my articles. Every help is welcomed. Can you please identify person on this image? I think this is Ucha'an K'in B'alam. Michelle — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.136.127.176 (talk) 09:12, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

I don't think that Ucha'an K'in B'alam and Ucha'an K'an B'alam are the same person. Please see for more information. Contact me and I will redirect Ucha'an K'An B'alam to Ucha'an K'In B'alam.

The image was originally from Arroyo de Piedra, although my sources don't identify the name of the king depicted. The panel was originally a stela erected at that city before being moved to Dos Pilas after the latter city conquered it. At any rate, it is unlikely to have been Ucha'an K'in B'alam. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 17:22, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for adding references to my articles. Thank you for every help. Can you tell me when you are here, so we could write and edit together? - Michelle

I'm not spending as much time online as I used to, and tend to dip in and out, however when I have a longer editing session I'll let you know. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 10:16, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I saw that you are removing "last" from some article. I must ask: why you don't let it, because we sometimes do not know who was the first ruler, but we know who was the last? If there is no more rulers on the list, then we can easily say who was the last.

I saw on some lists term like "mythic rulers". I know that some king list, for example Sumerian, had many fictive rulers (who ruled for 28 000 years!). It is possible that later Maya rulers invented some kings?Michelle — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.138.249.33 (talk) 16:14, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

I assume you are referring to the kings of Dos Pilas - I pretty much wrote the article on Dos Pilas as it stands, and I never completed it. Just because there are no more kings listed on Wikipedia doesn't mean they aren't listed elsewhere. I will shortly be working on Dos Pilas in order to finish what I started. Just because an article is incomplete is no reason to leave inaccurate information in it. Regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 16:20, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Ixtonton

Hello! Your submission of Ixtonton at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:37, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Ixtonton

Casliber (talk · contribs) 08:03, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Spanish conquest of Guatemala

Thanks from me and the wiki Victuallers (talk) 08:02, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Festival Internacional Cervantino

Hi! Students of the Club Wikipedia at ITESM CCM and I are working on a project to create and improve articles related to the Festival Internacional Cervantino. We are still organizing although we have made some good contacts with embassy of the special guest-countries and the press people of the Festival. Ive worked on the Festival's page and two participants' pages Angereds Teater and Åke Parmerud as well as the European Festival Association to which the festival belongs. It hasnt been easy so far, even the Festival page is no where near where Id like it to be and a lot of that is finding info. That's where we hope working with the embassies and making other contacts will help. *Fingers crossed* These articles also desperately need images, another focus of the project. Anyway, we could sure use some experienced hands at this, as most Club members are still newbies at editing Wikipedia. We want the Festival's article in as many languages as possible, as as many of the participants' pages in both English and Spanish.

If you'd like to help, we'd love to have you!Thelmadatter (talk) 17:49, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

If you need any translations let let me know, otherwise I'll see what I can do. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 20:33, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of File:San Mateo Ixtatán 2.jpg

A tag has been placed on File:San Mateo Ixtatán 2.jpg requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section F2 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is an image page for a missing or corrupt image or an empty image description page for a Commons-hosted image.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, contest the deletion by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 12:20, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Looks like an unintentional copy created by accidentally adding categories. By all means delete it. Simon Burchell (talk) 15:11, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

resource exchange

Hi Simon,

I've got the thesis on Guatemalan archaeology that you requested at the resource exchange. Please see that page for a link. Best, GabrielF (talk) 17:16, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks - that's great. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 20:01, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

New Page Patrol survey

New page patrol – Survey Invitation Hello Simon Burchell! The WMF is currently developing new tools to make new page patrolling much easier. Whether you have patrolled many pages or only a few, we now need to know about your experience. The survey takes only 6 minutes, and the information you provide will not be shared with third parties other than to assist us in analyzing the results of the survey; the WMF will not use the information to identify you. If this invitation also appears on other accounts you may have, please complete the survey once only. If this has been sent to you in error and you have never patrolled new pages, please ignore it. Please click HERE to take part. Many thanks in advance for providing this essential feedback. You are receiving this invitation because you have patrolled new pages. For more information, please see NPP Survey. Global message delivery 13:17, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

Assessment

Hello Simon, I have noticed you made an assessment to "Ethereal being" article at June/11. Since then, this article was remarkably improved in my opinion. Would be possible you check it again and re-assess it? If by chance you think that there is still some point to be worked, please let me know which is (or are). Indeed I can’t promise anything but seems that there are users there that can help. I myself made some modest contributions to that article, but not thanks to me, I am sure, this article seems, right now, very well written, with very good references, plentiful and unbiased. I also noticed that several users with status of reviewers stopped by there, so I wonder we can regard it as a featured article, a good standard to Wikipedia. Best regards, Aztlshamb (talk) 13:16, 9 November 2011 (UTC).

Hi Aztlshamb, the article is certainly looking very good. "B" class is as high as an article can be assessed without going through some more formal review process, such as for Good Article or Featured Article - I would certainly recommend posting it for Good Article review - the Featured Article process is rather more demanding, and the article should certainly be thoroughly reviewed before trying for Featured. In the meantime, I've assessed as B class for the remaining unassessed WikiProject; not working in the other projects very much, I can't really assess its importance for those projects. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 13:30, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Wow, this was fast. I was just logging out (I really have to leave this now and come back to my job) when I saw your assessment. I understood your explanation, not what I expected but still got better, thank you for your time. It was really nice, all best (you deserve). Aztlshamb (talk) 13:53, 9 November 2011 (UTC).

DYK for Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala

Materialscientist (talk) 12:03, 12 November 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Devil's Humps, Stoughton

Panyd^{The muffin is not subtle} 16:01, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Cradleboard

Under the "Use" section, I added a paragraph with some source citations for cradleboard use in Kickapoo communities in Mexico, and by Aztecs and Maya (in Mexico and in Belize). Mesoamerican areas sometimes used them, but other areas didn't, and they disappear in South America...until the southernmost end of Argentina, when cradleboards mysteriously reappear. Funny. Anyway, maybe reconsider adding the article back to the Mesoamerican history project?OttawaAC (talk) 03:01, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

That's fine - I suspected they would be used somewhere - but it wasn't in the article. I'll put it back in the project. Thanks, Simon Burchell (talk) 08:26, 22 November 2011 (UTC)

Chichen Itza edits

First, thanks for doing a yeoman's job cleaning up the Chichen Itza Wikipedia page. It's been a long time coming. I assume you are still in the midst of your edits, but a few comments. Of the dozens of corrections and additions you made, a few nitpicks.

Under "Name and orthography" you added: "This name, dating to the Late Classic Period, is recorded both in the book of Chilam Balam de Chumayel and in hieroglyphic texts in the ruins, and has been transcribed from these latter as Uuc-yab-nal." I would delete the reference to the name appearing in hieroglyphs. Leon's paper provides no source for this statement, and as this is outside the scope of his article, it is suspect.

You changed the heading "Archaeological investigations" to "Modern history." The former is more precise, as the section does not include ALL the history, namely tourism (which appears in a section below). I suggest changing it back to the original or perhaps a compromise, "archaeological history."

Finally, that map of Chichen at the bottom of the page is from a copyrighted postcard. I kept intending to delete it, but I was afraid of breaking the format.

Again, many thanks for all your hard work. It is appreciated. Saludos! CoyoteMan31 (talk) 15:55, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Hi CoyoteMan, thanks for your comments. The article is still very much a work-in-progress and, at the moment, all section organisation is very much subject to change - I'm trying to organise it more in keeping with other Maya city articles although my priority at the moment is (or rather should be - I find it a little tedious!) getting all the unref'd stuff cited or removed.

On page 458, Osorio León has El nombre del sitio para el Clásico Tardío era Uuc-yab-nal, tal como se refiere en las crónicas del Chilam Balam de Chumayel (Roys 1933). Este toponímico aparece en las inscripciones jeroglíficas de Chichen Itza. so I think it should stand. He is, after all, a reputable source. I may rephrase it since now I come to reread it, the Uuc-yab-nal part is clearly referring to the Chilam Balam, not the glyphic reading.

I'm not sure what map to delete, since they're both marked as "own work" and both seem too clean to be scans - the one now in the gallery?

I'm a long way from finished with this, and hope to take it to GA when I'm done, but expect it to take several weeks at least before it is ready.

Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 17:39, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Sorry I wasn't clear. The one to delete is the one in the gallery. I own a copy of the postcard. I'll look around and see if I can find it again to be sure.

You'll notice that León sources his comment about the reference in the Chilam Balam, but there is no source regarding the name Uuc yab nal being in glyphs. León's a fine archaeologist, but again, this is outside his expertise hence would require a footnote. My suspicion is that he is referring to Erik Boot's translation of the Caracol stela, glyph N4, but Boot writes that his translation is "tentative," and that one can't be sure because the main sign is too eroded to identify. (Boot, 2005, 345-6). Cheers! CoyoteMan31 (talk) 17:31, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

A couple more picayune points and a major one. 1) You translate the Castillo as "castle/palace." I've never seen the word castillo used as palace. Where is that from? 2) You changed the word "built" to "superimposed." The word superimpose is an engineering term in construction that refers to loads, but I've never heard it used to describe one building constructed atop another. Was that word literary license? 3) You quote Mary Ellen Miller (I think) in the opening graphs. First, it's her theory (and hers only, I believe). She is not an archaeologist, and I know at least a few archaeologists that don't ascribe to it. I'm not opposed to including unproven theories in an article, but it is not appropriate in the lead paragraphs. 4) Everything else is fantastic. Thanks again for doing this. CoyoteMan31 (talk) 04:42, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

No Spanish speaker I've ever spoken to distinguishes castillo as the English concept of "castle" (as an example, Mexican relatives of my wife refer to Buckingham Palace as a castillo. The constant translation as "castle" is, in my opinion, a lazy translation based more on the similarity of the English and Spanish words castillo/castle (similarly the constant (mis)translation of lanza ("spear") as "lance", whereas a lance is a mounted weapon, obviously not used in the pre-Columbian Americas). "Castillo" can mean "castle", but it is interchangeable and not exclusive to a fortified structure. The same is true for Peninsula and Guatemalan Spanish in my experience. I can reference this to one of my rather weighty dictionaries if necessary. Simon Burchell (talk) 10:28, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

I don't actually have any problem with citing Miller, a quick Google Scholar search shows her book is cited by such people as David Webster, Stephen Houston and others, in both general works on the Maya and more technical papers. If Mayanists are happy to cite her, so can we, irrespective of the fact that she is an art historian, not an archaeologist. As for the fact that not everyone may agree with it, there is very little in the world (nothing, I would hazard) that someone, somewhere won't disagree with...

"superimposed": feel free to use whatever synonym you prefer, but "1. To lay or place (something) on or over something else." sounds OK to me, but not something I feel strongly about. As always, thanks for the feedback, it keeps me on my toes! Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 13:07, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Gracias for your reply. RE: Castillo, I checked all my dictionaries and none defined a castillo as a palace. While I found many times in common usage that Spanish speakers refer to a palace as a castle (Buckingham Palace, for example), there are separate words for a large residence/palace (palacio) vs. a fortified structure/castle (castillo). I would argue the laziness is with the common usage, not in the definition. The words mean what the words mean.

Your logic re: Miller. Because she's quoted, everything she writes is reliable? I'm not knocking her knowledge or abilities, but her theory is not widely accepted and has no place in an introduction. Once you complete your revisions, I'll move it to more appropriate place. I'll also see if I can find scholars who support/disagree with it. Let me know what you think afterward.

Re: superimpose -- I liked "built," and as superimpose has a specific meaning in construction, will change it to that -- again, when you're done.

Keep up the excellent work. The page is a vast improvement. CoyoteMan31 (talk) 20:39, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

You're right about castillo and I'll change it back - I have found the odd reference as a palace but the RAE gives it just as a castle - I would argue a word means what it means in common usage, after all words came before dictionaries! BTW, I'm unlikely to have much time for Wikipedia over the next week or two but that doesn't mean I've gone away - I'll keep plugging away at the article until it's up to a decent standard (i.e. something like Tikal or Copán, which I've done previously). Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 21:23, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

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Baking Pot

Thanks for your work copyediting this article. Sincerely, Akjar13 (He's Gone Mental) 08:45, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

No problem - it's a nice article, good work. Best regards, Simon Burchell (talk) 09:32, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Eccentric flint (archaeology)

Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:02, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

GA review of Motul de San José

Hi,

I'm reviewing your nomination and have made some comments at Talk:Motul de San José/GA1. Perhaps you can explain to me why the article is organized the way it is, and why it is so long. I'm semi-familiar with the topic, but this article seems too inclusive for the topic. Can you help me understand?

Best wishes,

MathewTownsend (talk) 01:34, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations on attaining GA for Motul de San José. Sorry I gave you a hard time. (It was my inability to follow the article.) Seeing the whole TOC help a lot! Best wishes, MathewTownsend (talk) 19:04, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Many thanks for the review - you didn't give me a hard time at all, I new the layout needed sorting out and GA was the place to get a fresh eye. All the best, Simon Burchell (talk) 10:11, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

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