American Civilizations
Mayans
Location: from southern Mexico into northern Central America, which includes highland and lowland regions (lowlands to the north; the lowlands include the dry scrub forest of the Yucatán Peninsula and the dense, steamy jungles of southeastern Mexico and northern Guatemala. The highlands are further south and include a range of cool, cloud-wreathed mountains that stretch from southern Mexico to El Salvador.
- The Mayans developed Olmec influences and blending them with local customs.
CLASSIC PERIOD OF MAYA CIVILIZATION Ã AD 250 to 900:
- The Maya built spectacular cities such as Tikal, a major center in northern Guatemala, whose Temple IV pyramid stretched 212 feet! The Tikal temple was one of the Mayan civilization’s advanced factors because it was a site for tourism and a religious icon, which promoted their religion. Other notable cities were Copán, Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichén Itzá. Each of these cities were independent city-states, ruled by a god-king and serving as a center for religious ceremonies and trade. They were Advanced Cities, which led to the success of the Mayan civilization because foreign civilizations would come to these cities to trade, and, therefore, the Mayan economy thrived. Some other important factors of these cities that led to the success of the civilizations were pyramids, temples, palaces, and elaborate stone carvings dedicated to the gods and to important rulers. For example, Tikal’s Temple IV pyramid stretched 212 feet.
- Also, each Mayan city had a ball court where they played a game that had religious and political significances. They believed that by playing the game would maintain the cycles of the sun and moon and bring helpful rains. This also contributed to the success of the Mayan civilization because it gave the Mayans something to believe in. It also provided entertainment for the people. People would come to the Mayan cities to play this game, which would bring money and tourism to the area.
- TRADE: The Mayan city-states were linked through trade and alliances, which helped the advancement of the city-states, and, in all, the entire civilization.Cities exchanged their local products such as salt, feathers, flint, honey, and shells. They also traded cotton textiles and jade ornaments, which was an precious gemstone and was very rare. Cacao beans sometimes served as the Mayans’ currency since they did not have one. This could have contributed to the Mayan civilization’s decline because there was no set currency for the civilization to exchange with other civilizations. The growing of maize, squash, and beans helped the Mayans sustain life. Historians believed that Mayans practiced slash-and-burn agriculture, but now think that the Mayans developed more sophisticated methods, including planting on raised beds above swamps and on hillside terraces. This contributed to the success of the Mayans because they were able to grow more food for all the people. It was efficient farming and did not require the labor of as many workers as inefficient farming or hunter-gathering. These successful farming methods led to the accumulation of wealth and the development of social classes. The noble class included leading warriors and priests, and following them came merchants and those with specialized knowledge (specialized workers). The peasant majority made up the Mayan society’s bottom. The Mayan king sat at the top of the class structure. He was considered a holy figure, and his position was inherited.
MAYAN RELIGION: They prayed and made offerings of food, incense, and flowers. They also pierced and cut their bodies and offered their blood, believing that this would nourish the gods. The Mayans, overall, believed that human sacrifice pleased the gods and kept the world in balance. Their religion contributed to the success of their civilizations because each Mayan had a single religion to believe. It also created uniformity in the area, which would prevent rebellions. However, the human sacrifices could have also contributed to the decline of the Mayan civilization because they were losing their own people. The Mayan religion also led to the development of the calendar, astronomy, and mathematics. At the end of a day, month, or year, one god would lay the burden down and another would pick it up. The Maya developed a 260-day religious calendar, which consisted of 20-day months. A second 365-day solar calendar consisted of eighteen 20-day months, with a separate period of 5 days at the end. Both calendars were combined so that a day could benefit both cycles. The cycle contributed to the advancement of the Mayans because it helped identify the best times to plant crops, crown rulers, and attack enemies. All the Mayans were following the same calendar. The Mayan also used the concept of zero, which they used to calculate the number of days in a solar year. The Mayan number system was a base-20 system; they used the number system mainly for calendar and astronomy. The Mayan number system led to the advancement of the Mayans because mathematicians and astronomers were able to calculate the number of days in a solar year. This was a huge advancement because they were only 0.0002 of a day short of the 365 days of a year today.
- WRITTEN LANGUAGE: The Mayans also developed the most advanced writing system, which consisted of glyph symbols. They used their writing system to record historical events, and carved the glyphs in stone of recorded them in a bark-paper book called the codex. These factors again led to the success of the Mayan civilization because it was a form of Record Keeping that they could use in their government system and economy for trading with foreign merchants (for checks). A book, Popol Vuh, recounts the Highland Maya’s version of the story of creation, which is an advanced technology that the Mayans developed.
- MAYAN ARCHITECTURE: The Mayans also built other success factors, such as monumental structures. The style was complex with ornamentation and detailing. Mayan architecture also included stele, a carved marker that is used to mark important dates. Mayan architecture was and still is a site for tourism and brings money to the area.
Decline of the Mayan Civilization:
The Maya were thought to have declines in the late 800s when they abandoned many of their cities. The Toltecs moved into the Mayan lands. The Toltec changed Mayan culture, which led to the decline of the Mayans. The Mayan cities of Tikal and Copán disappeared. Warfare in the 700s had broken out among the Mayan city-states, which also led to the Mayan decline. It disrupted trade and the economy. Also, an increase in population and over-farming may have destroyed the environment, which led to famine, disease, and food shortages.
Advanced Technology of the Maya
Video by Anessa Petteruti
Page from Mayan Codex
http://en..org/wiki/Maya_civilization
