Mayan Warrior, Chichén Itzá

Much of what we know of the religious and war practices of the Mayans is inferred from the carvings on their monuments at sites such as Chichén Itzá. Here is a Mayan warrior toting the severed head of his enemy. In other carvings, one can see other severed heads, which seem to be the result of human sacrifice. The volume of severed skulls found at the sites seem to bear incontrovertible witness to the fact that Mayans seemed to really like cutting off heads. Of course, this practice seems unexplicably barbaric to us. On the other hand, I'm also waiting for someone to explain to me, too, why Japanese tourists take videos of carvings like this at Mayan temples that haven't moved in over 1000 years.