MAYAN CIVILISATION

The very first traces of Mayan civilization date back to

around 1,800 BC in northern Guatemala. Most
archaeologists agree that the Mayan civilization is the jewel
of all ancient American cultures, and one of the greatest
civilizations the world has ever known. The Mayans were
the only ancient American civilization with a recorded
history of their own, and in fact they broadcasted their
language on stone billboards (stelas), the loudest
messages of all Mesoamerican cultures. They recorded on
lithic monuments, pottery, papers, and skins, the notable
events of their intricate culture.

Origins of the ancient Mayan

civilization
Much of Maya history is shrouded in
mystery. It is believed today that the Mayan
peoples began to settle in the Yucatan area
of what is now Mexico between 2600 BC
and 1800 BC. As the centuries rolled on,
their culture and religion developed.
What we now call the Mayan empire really came into its own between
250 AD and 900 AD. Large-scale construction was taking place, and
major cities developed.

Mayan civilization at its height

The ancient Mayan civilization was based
around city-states. Some of the major cities
were Tikal, Copan, Chunchucmil,
Bonampak, and Palenque. Long distance
trade was developed, and the famous
Mayan pyramids (temples) were built. The
ancient Mayan people continued to develop
the art, math and science that they are
famous for even today.

Where was it?

Mayans dominated what are now the
Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and
most of the Yucatan. The empire also
stretched through northern Central America,
including Guatemala, El Salvador, western
Honduras, and Belize.

 one of the largest Mayan cities many years

ago - now called Caracol, in Belize. It is
estimated that 200,000 Mayans lived here
during the height of the city's power (around
700 AD). The great Caana complex there is
still the largest man-made structure in
Belize.

The Caana complex at Caracol,

Mayans and Aztecs

Mayan peoples were to pay tribute to the Aztec
empire many years later. But the culture of the
Mayans was to influence the Aztecs in many ways.
The ancient Mayan people had remarkable
insight into mathematics and astronomy, and
other sciences such as medicine. It's likely
that the Mayan civilization influences many
peoples of Central Mexico, and eventually the
world.

Locating the Maya

The Mayan civilization was one of the most dominant
indigenous societies of Mesoamerica (a term used to
describe Mexico and Central America before the 16th
century Spanish conquest). Unlike other scattered
indigenous populations of Mesoamerica, the Maya were
centered in one geographical block covering all of the
Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala; Belize and
parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas; and
the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. This
concentration showed that the Maya remained relatively
secure from invasion by other Mesoamerican peoples.

 Within that expanse, the Maya lived in three separate subareas with distinct environmental and cultural differences:
the northern Maya lowlands on the Yucatan Peninsula; the
southern lowlands in the Peten district of northern
Guatemala and adjacent portions of Mexico, Belize and
western Honduras; and the southern Maya highlands, in
the mountainous region of southern Guatemala. Most
famously, the Maya of the southern lowland region reached
their peak during the Classic Period of Maya civilization
(A.D. 250 to 900), and built the great stone cities and
monuments that have fascinated explorers and scholars of
the region.

Early Maya, 1800 B.C. to A.D. 250

The earliest Maya settlements date to around 1800 B.C., or
the beginning of what is called the Preclassic or Formative
Period. The earliest Maya were agricultural, growing crops
such as corn (maize), beans, squash and cassava
(manioc). During the Middle Preclassic Period, which lasted
until about 300 B.C., Maya farmers began to expand their
presence both in the highland and lowland regions. The
Middle Preclassic Period also saw the rise of the first major
Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmecs. Like other
Mesamerican peoples, such as the Zapotec, Totonac,
Teotihuacn and Aztec, the Maya derived a number of
religious and cultural traitsas well as their number system
and their famous calendarfrom the Olmec.

 In addition to agriculture, the Preclassic Maya also

displayed more advanced cultural traits like
pyramid-building, city construction and the
inscribing of stone monuments.
The Late Preclassic city of Mirador, in the northern
Peten, was one of the greatest cities ever built in
the pre-Columbian Americas. Its size dwarfed the
Classic Maya capital of Tikal, and its existence
proves that the Maya flourished centuries before
the Classic Period.

Cities of Stone: The Classic Maya,

A.D. 250-900
The Classic Period, which began around
A.D. 250, was the golden age of the Maya
Empire. Classic Maya civilization grew to
some 40 cities, including Tikal, Uaxactn,
Copn, Bonampak, Dos Pilas, Calakmul,
Palenque and Ro Bec; each city held a
population of between 5,000 and 50,000
people. At its peak, the Maya population
may have reached 2,000,000.

 Excavations of Maya sites have unearthed plazas,

palaces, temples and pyramids, as well as courts
for playing the ball games that were ritually and
politically significant to Maya culture. Maya cities
were surrounded and supported by a large
population of farmers. Though the Maya practiced
a primitive type of slash-and-burn agriculture,
they also displayed evidence of more advanced
farming methods, such as irrigation and terracing.

 The Maya were deeply religious, and worshiped

various gods related to nature, including the gods
of the sun, the moon, rain and corn. At the top of
Maya society were the kings, or kuhul ajaw (holy
lords), who claimed to be related to gods and
followed a hereditary succession. They were
thought to serve as mediators between the gods
and people on earth, and performed the elaborate
religious ceremonies and rituals so important to
the Maya culture.

 The Classic Maya built many of their temples and palaces in a stepped
pyramid shape, decorating them with elaborate reliefs and inscriptions.
These structures have earned the Maya their reputation as the great
artists of Mesoamerica. Guided by their religious ritual, the Maya also
made significant advances in mathematics and astronomy, including the
use of the zero and the development of a complex calendar system
based on 365 days. Though early researchers concluded that the Maya
were a peaceful society of priests and scribes, later evidenceincluding
a thorough examination of the artwork and inscriptions on their temple
wallsshowed the less peaceful side of Maya culture, including the war
between rival Mayan city-states and the importance of torture and
human sacrifice to their religious ritual.

Mysterious Decline of the Maya

the Maya had exhausted the environment around them to
the point that it could no longer sustain a very large
population and constant warfare among competing citystates led the complicated military, family (by marriage) and
trade alliances between them to break down, along with the
traditional system of dynastic power. As the stature of the
holy lords diminished, their complex traditions of rituals and
ceremonies dissolved into chaos. Finally, some
catastrophic environmental changelike an extremely long,
intense period of droughtmay have wiped out the Classic
Maya civilization. Drought would have hit cities like Tikal
where rainwater was necessary for drinking as well as for
crop irrigationespecially hard.

 overpopulation and overuse of the land, endemic

warfare and droughtmay have played a part in
the downfall of the Maya in the southern lowlands.
In the highlands of the Yucatan, a few Maya cities
such as Chichn Itz, Uxmal and Mayapn
continued to flourish in the Post-Classic Period
(A.D. 900-1500). By the time the Spanish invaders
arrived, however, most Maya were living in
agricultural villages, their great cities buried under
a layer of rainforest green.

Mayan
Religion

There were many different Gods that the Mayan

people worshiped and all gods had a good and
bad side. The major God of the Mayan people was
Izamna, who was known as the fire and earth God
as well as being a creator. Kukulan was also an
important God to the Mayan people and is
featured on many of their temples as a feathered
serpent. Chac was another very important God
because he was known as the god of rain and
lightning. Bolon Tzauab was a great and
significant God only to the royal people because
only they could make contact with him.

Mayan leaders
The various Mayan leaders also took on the role as pastor or
preacher to the people and were the only ones besides the priest who
could make contact with all the different Gods. When these leaders
would die they would be buried with many beautiful gifts and placed in
big and lavish style tombs as their final resting place.

The Mayan people were also big believers of the afterlife;

believing that the soul never died but instead continued on a
dangerous journey in the after world. They believed in a heaven, but
thought that it was reserved only for those who died at childbirth and
the men and woman who were used as sacrifices to the Gods. They
believed in human sacrifices because they felt that it was the only
means of contact with the Gods. Sacrificing life was their way of
feeding the Gods and receiving their blessings, and they feared that if
they did not sacrifice humans, they would be severely punished. At
the ceremonies the person being sacrificed had his or her own heart
ripped out and burned as a way of showing the Gods the ultimate
respect.

MAYAN SACRIFICAL CERMONY

The ancient Maya considered flat foreheads

and crossed eyes beautiful. To achieve these
effects, children would have boards bound tight to
their heads and wax beads tied to dangle before
their eyes. Both men and women made cuts in
their skin to gain much-desired scar markings, and
the elites sharpened their teeth to points, and
made incrustations with Jade and Pyrite, another
mark of wealth and beauty.

 Maya society was broken into a class structure with four

main levels: the nobility, the priesthood , the common
people , and the slaves .At the top were the nobles with the
King being the most powerful. The King's power was
hereditary which means that the oldest son would become
the King when he died. The next most powerful were the
priests who helped the king and also lead religious
ceremonies. The next level of people were the commoners.
Most people were in this category and were farmers. The
bottom of the system was the slaves. Slaves were caught
during wars or if people broke a law like stealing they
would become a slave.

Ancient Mayan Economics

Farming was the main labor resources, and usually consisted of men. Every
day they worked in the farm and brought in food, Farmers gave up portion's of
each crop, or paid with other items such as salt, cloth, honey, fruit, and
domestic animals to the government and also used them to buy and trade
goods. In this way, they can support the family and meet their daily needs.
Agriculture is the basic form of the economy. The most important crop was corn
and many scientists believed that that the Mayans depended heavily on the
crop. The second form of the agriculture was raising animals. Mayan people
raised a diverse group of animals, such as cows, pigs, goats, etc. The honey
from the bees they raised was also used in trade. They often traded the
animals or the crops for clothes or other items once or maybe twice a week in a
market, which was often located in a plain beside the river, because of the
advantage to plant the crops and raise the animals. As a result of fertile
grounds, there was a large population, so that contributed to form a basic
market. And the powerful people made the first rules to make sure that the
trade and the agriculture can run smoothly.

Entertainment
,Although much of the Maya life was spent doing hard
work, they did enjoy entertainment as well. A lot of their
entertainment was centered around religious ceremonies.
They played music, danced, and played games such as
the Maya ball game.

Interesting Facts about Maya

Daily Life
The Maya considered crossed eyes, flat foreheads, and big noses to
be beautiful features. In some areas they would use makeup to try and
make their noses appear large.
The Maya loved to wear large hats and headdresses. The more
important the person, the taller the hat they wore.
The farmers of the Maya did not have metal tools or beasts of burden
to help them farm. They used simple stone tools and did the work by
hand.
Sometimes the ball games that the Maya played were part of a
religious ceremony. The losers were sacrificed to the gods.
The Maya had hundreds of different dances. Many of these dances are
still practiced today. Some examples of the dances include the Snake
dance, the Monkey dance, and the Dance of the Stag.

What were their clothes like?

The clothing worn by the Maya depended on the region they lived
in and their social status. The wealthy wore colorful clothing made
from animal skins. They also wore feather headdresses and fancy
jewelry.
Commoners wore simpler clothing. The men often wore loincloths
while the women wore long skirts. Both men and women would use
a blanket called a manta to wrap around their shoulders when it
was cold.
Clothing for a Maya woman

Men and women both wore their hair long. Once they were married,
both men and women often got tattoos.
Men also wear hats, especially for ceremonial events, which vary
by region. Some are straw hats decorated by ribbons or pompons.
Men do not wear jewelry, but they carry a bag called a morral

Types of clothing worn by the

Mayan

What did the Maya eat?

The most important food that the Maya ate was maize,
which is a vegetable like corn. They made all types of food
from maize including tortillas, porridge, and even drinks.
Other staple crops included beans, squash, and chilies. For
meat the Maya ate fish, deer, ducks, and turkey.
The Maya introduced the world to a number of new foods.
Probably the most interesting was chocolate from the
cacao tree. The Maya considered chocolate to be a gift
from the gods and used cacao seeds as money. Other new
foods included tomatoes, sweet potatoes, black beans, and
papaya.

What were their homes like?

The nobles and kings lived inside the city in large
palaces made from stone. The commoners lived in
huts outside the city near their farms. The huts
were usually made from mud, but were sometimes
made from stone. They were single room homes
with thatched roofs. In many areas the Maya built
their huts on top of platforms made from dirt or
stone in order to protect them from floods.

Life as a Maya Commoner

Life as a Maya commoner was full of hard work.
The typical peasant worked as a farmer. At the
start of the day, the wife would get up early and
start a fire for cooking. Then the husband would
leave to go work at the fields. After a hard day
working at the fields, the farmer would come home
and bathe. Bathing was an important part of the
day for all the Maya people. The men spent
evenings working on crafts such as tools, while the
women wove cloth to make clothing

Life as a Maya Noble

The Maya king and his nobles lived an easy
life. They had their every need provided for
by the commoners. They were even carried
from place to place in litters by slaves.

Technology
The ancient Maya shaped their world with stone
tools. Lithic artifacts helped create the cityscape,
were central to warfare and hunting, were keys to
craft activities, were used to process food, and
were employed in ritual performance. This volume
expands our understanding of the past by
considering Maya lithic artifacts made of chers,
obsidian, silicified limestone, and jade. Using
these as sources of data, lithic specialists examine
the relationship between ancient people and
natural resources, and ask questions regarding
social organization and political economy.

 Along with lithic technology, Mayan were

skilled mathematicians. Besides having a
concept of zero as a place holder, they
grasped the idea of arithmetic, using 20 as
their base. Below shows their numbering
system which only uses three symbols