All posts tagged: Maya

Maya Jama tipped to be in line to replace Emma Willis on The Voice UK

Maya Jama tipped to be in line to replace Emma Willis on The Voice UK

Published by Daniella Wilson

Love Island presenter Maya Jama is reportedly in talks with ITV over a key primetime presenting role. According to The Sun, the 31-year-old is said to have held multiple meetings with the channel’s producers about replacing Emma Willis as the new host of The Voice UK. Willis has seemingly left the reality singing series after 12 years to join Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe as part of the BBC’s new presenting team for Strictly Come Dancing. The paper claims that Jama has impressed ITV bosses and has reportedly been offered the job of fronting The Voice UK, but has yet to accept it due to other potential opportunities in the UK and in the US. Johannes Radebe, Emma Willis and Josh Widdicombe. BBC/Ray Burmiston A source told The Sun: “There have been a lot of approaches to Maya from various networks, including ITV, and shows in the UK and Stateside. “The Voice producers and her did have meetings but because of her other commitments, the conversation didn’t progress. “Right now, she and her management are evaluating …

Calakmul Mural Identified as Early Depiction of Maya Hero Juun Ajaw

Calakmul Mural Identified as Early Depiction of Maya Hero Juun Ajaw

Published by Jenni Sidey

Researchers have identified what they believe is one of the oldest known representations of the mythical Maya hero Juun Ajaw at the ancient city of Calakmul in Mexico. Their findings, which were based on three years of research and analysis, were published in IdeAs, the online journal of the Institute of the Americas. The authors of the paper, archeologists Daniel Salazar Lama, Ana García Barrios, and Benjamin Esqueda Lazo De La Vega, focused on what is considered the earliest mural painting found at Calakmul, a massive Maya city whose ruins, deep in the Yucatan jungle, were discovered in 1931. Though the mural, which depicts a man in a headdress holding a spear, had been removed for conservation in 2004, the team relied on advanced imaging techniques to reconstruct both the work and its surrounding architecture. Related Articles In their report, the authors posit that the image, which until now had been thought to represent a warrior with a spear, is in fact a painting of Juun Ajaw, a central figure in Maya mythology best known …

Hieroglyphs Reveal Name of Ancient Mayan Astronomer for the First Time

Hieroglyphs Reveal Name of Ancient Mayan Astronomer for the First Time

Published by Jenni Sidey

Archaeologists excavating Xultun, a large Mayan site in northeast Guatemala, have identified the name of an 8th-century Mayan astronomer-mathematician who wrote a calendrical formula on an interior wall of a small masonry building. The individual’s name, Sak Tahn Waax, translates to “White-chested Fox,” and the formula (either written by him, or by someone else and attributed to him) calculates the orbital cycles of Mars and Venus. According to a paper published by Antiquity, this is the first and only known example of a Maya mathematician being directly credited for his or her intellectual work. Related Articles The structure where the formula and signature were found was first excavated in 2010. In addition to hieroglyph texts, the interior walls feature murals depicting portraits of seated and kneeling figures, and archaeological evidence of papermaking tools. Researchers believe that the chamber was used for mentorship and training, and to teach calendrical calculations during the 8th century CE, before being filled in around the end of the century, eventually becoming the foundation for a new building. In order to …

Jenni Fagan: ‘Maya Angelou taught me that I owed myself hope’ | Books

Jenni Fagan: ‘Maya Angelou taught me that I owed myself hope’ | Books

Published by Sam Flores

My earliest reading memoryFairytales. I was obsessed. I took fairytales very seriously as moral lessons. I soon knew that I’d always help any old lady cross the road, it really is always best to do so. My favourite book growing upThe Hobbit was my favourite book while growing up. It expanded my understanding of what could be achieved in fiction. I found JRR Tolkien’s world transformative. I felt as if I knew the hobbits, and I so wanted to see the elves. I could hear the crack of fireworks as they turned into dragons that flew overhead. The writer who changed my mindMaya Angelou taught me that I owed myself hope. No matter how painful or difficult it was. Her work has such dignity and light. I read all of her work for years and took as many lessons from it as I could. It made me want to step up and continue to try to find a way to create a life that mattered to me. The book that made me want to be a writerI was reading the dictionary when I was really …

Maya Hawke reveals next steps in marriage to musician husband as she puts ‘some roots down’

Maya Hawke reveals next steps in marriage to musician husband as she puts ‘some roots down’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Maya Hawke is enjoying all the next steps that come with married life. The Stranger Things actress tied the knot on Valentine’s Day 2026 in New York City, marrying musician Christian Lee Hutson. The couple are now putting down roots, and have settled down not far from none other than Maya’s mom Uma Thurman. © Getty ImagesMaya and Christian married on Valentine’s Day 2026 Speaking with People, Maya, 27, revealed that she and Christian, 35, purchased a home in upstate New York, where Uma also owns a home, reportedly in the Woodstock area of the Catskills. “I just got myself a home a couple of blocks away from my mom,” she shared, gushing: “I’m so excited to finally be able to put some roots down.” It’s a timely purchase in more ways than one, as Maya is currently filming God of the Woods, a television adaptation of the bestselling Liz Moore novel, right in the town she grew up in, in the Hudson River Valley, not far from where she has now purchased a new home. …

Maya City, Hidden for More Than 1000 Years, Discovered Intact in Mexico

Maya City, Hidden for More Than 1000 Years, Discovered Intact in Mexico

Published by Jenni Sidey

A joint Slovenian-Mexican archeological team has discovered an undisturbed Mayan city in a remote area of Campeche, Mexico. Located deep within the jungles of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the city—which the researchers have named “Minanbé,” a Maya Yucatec phrase meaning “there is no road”—had been hidden by vegetation for over a thousand years. The site features a 43-foot-high pyramid temple (about the height of a four-story apartment building), and 14 carved altars and stelae, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), which authorized the expedition. The discovery is the culmination of lead archaeologist Ivan Šprajc’s three-decade-long exploration of the Central Maya Lowlands, home to between 9 and 11 million people during the Maya civilization’s Late Classic period (600–900 CE). Related Articles This year’s expedition followed on the team’s discovery, in 2013, of the Mayan city of Chactún. Airborne LiDAR mapping of the area had shown a 37-acre urban center under the forest canopy just east of Chactún, with squares surrounded by palaces and temples, terraces, and hydraulic channels. To conduct a surface …

Elite Maya people had teeth placed in a cave far from their tombs

Elite Maya people had teeth placed in a cave far from their tombs

Published by skeptic

The Mayan site of Xunantunich in Belize Michael Robinson/Getty Images The teeth of some important members of the Maya civilisation were removed and kept in a cave far from their tombs. It may have been done to venerate ancestors or ensure they made it to the underworld. During the Classic period (AD 250-900), Maya communities lived in cities spread across what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and northern Honduras. They spoke many languages, but were unified by a political and religious system in which lineage and rituals legitimised power. As such, the dead were important, and the living often kept the remains of many deceased relatives nearby, under the floors of the house or within the walls. Esther Brielle at Harvard University and her colleagues studied remains at numerous burial sites in Belize from the Classic period to investigate how some of the buried people related to each other. They generated genomic data from hundreds of samples and used radiocarbon dating to work out when each person lived. They found that 341 samples relate …

Love Island’s Maya Jama is a beachside It-girl in tiny designer bikini photos

Love Island’s Maya Jama is a beachside It-girl in tiny designer bikini photos

Published by Daniella Wilson

Love Island is back on our screens, which can only mean one thing: we’re fast approaching swimsuit season. With summer on the horizon and the first heatwave already hitting the UK, we’re swapping our cosy knits for breezy beachwear. And who better to look to for inspiration than Love Island host Maya Jama? Jetting to Mallorca for the launch of season 13, the presenter has packed her suitcase full of enviable bikinis and swimsuits that could have her mistaken for one of the show’s bombshells. Despite seemingly oozing confidence, posing up a storm for sun-soaked photos on her Instagram, she previously confessed that she would struggle with being judged by her appearance. “I would not be able to, at any age, strut out of the house in a bikini in front of men that are judging me based on just one sentence and what I look like. The confidence of the people that go on! They’ve got a different kind of juice,” she told Vogue. Instead, her fashion choices are inspired by “summer in the …

Ruben Dias ‘draws a line’ at cheating accusations amid Maya Jama break-up

Ruben Dias ‘draws a line’ at cheating accusations amid Maya Jama break-up

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Footballer Ruben Dias has denied that he cheated on his now ex-girlfriend Maya Jama. The Manchester City defender confirmed their break-up and addressed reports of his infidelity in an Instagram post shared on Friday (29 May), writing: “That’s where I draw the line.” “When my 85-year-old grandad is asking me if I’ve cheated on my girlfriend because he’s seen it repeatedly on the news, that’s where I draw the line on what’s acceptable and what’s not,” Dias said. “Maya and I have always had a relationship built on mutual respect. No line was ever crossed in that regard.” Public speculation surrounding their relationship has grown in recent weeks after both Dias and Jama removed photos of one another from their respective social media accounts. …

Maya Jama sizzles in micro-bikini as fans declare she’s ‘broken the internet’

Maya Jama sizzles in micro-bikini as fans declare she’s ‘broken the internet’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Maya Jama made the most of the heatwave on Wednesday as she shared a stunning series of photos of herself modelling a set of stylish swimwear. The star didn’t shy away from any of the risqué looks as she wowed in a daring black cut-out swimsuit, alongside several tiny bikinis from Agent Provocateur. As she posed on a tennis court, the 31-year-old stunned in a two-piece that featured a cherry pattern, while a second silver string bikini saw the presenter relaxing poolside. The images also showed off Maya’s incredibly toned abs, including one snap where she relaxed in a phenomenal black item, with her raven-black locks cascading behind her. In her caption, the star wrote: “Me for AP Swim 2026. Summer is here,” while also providing plenty of photography credits. Maya looked phenomenal in the swimwear Fans were blown away by the head-turning images, as one enthused: “BREAK THE INTERNET,” and a second commented: “Love this for women everywhere, Maya Jama suffers NO bad summers.” A third added: “Maya on fire,” while a fourth posted: “Hot …