Mayan Civilization (Grade 5) History & Geography - Began on the Yucatan peninsula sometime before 1500 BC. - Had a hierarchical system of government and a system of city-states. - Each city-state operated an independent feudal system with its own ceremonial center, urban areas, and rural farming community. - Over the course of 800 years, the city-states warred with each other over territory, resources, and political influence. - Constructed palaces, observatories, and pyramids that soared above the rainforest canopy. - In major cities like Tikal, there were as many as 10,000 individual structures ranging from ornate temples to thatched huts all built without metal tools, wheels, or beasts of burden. - Maya were among the first groups to understand the concept of zero. - Maya were skilled farmers, weavers and potters, and they established trade networks. - Maya believed in cycles, seasons, renewal and continuity. They saw no boundaries between heaven and earth, life and death, sleep and wakefulness. - They believed that human blood must be shed to honor the gods and keep the wheels of the cosmos turning thus many Mayan rituals and ceremonies involved bloodletting, particularly by kings who were expected to bleed for the people. - Human sacrifices were performed, but they were usually rival kings and high-born captives.
- For some unexplained reason, Mayan power began to decline about 800 AD, when southern cities were abandoned. o Disease or drought? o Cities grew too big and there was not enough land to grow corn? o They got out of step with nature and eroded what soil they had by cutting down too many trees? o Upper classes got too big and there were not enough workers to farm the land? - The Spanish arrived in the 16 th Century and by this time there were only a few great Mayan cities that were thriving. - Most of the Maya had gone back to milpa farming growing corn, beans, and squash. (CORN is the most important crop to the Maya.) - Today, there are about 7 million Maya in Central America.
Maya People and Society - Most Mayan states were ruled by a king who was considered a living god. Archaeologists have found a few queen s tombs so this leads us to believe that women occasionally ruled or ruled alongside their husbands or sons. - Hierarchy of society o Royal Family o Elite class (warriors, priests, & nobles) o Middle class (artists, scribes, and merchants) o Lower Class (uneducated masses, farmers, laborers, peasants, and servants) - Complex trade system goods grown or found in the lowlands (cotton, salt, honey, seafood, shells) were traded for things in highlands (obsidian, jade, & quetzal feathers. Especially valuable were the cacao beans, used to make chocolate. This was their form of money. Maya living near a river would ship their goods to other city-states. It is estimated that at the height of Mayan culture there may have been about 4000 canoes at sea at any one time. - The Mayan diet (and the whole Mayan world) revolved around corn. Meals usually consisted of corn tortillas, chiles, and beans. Tamales (corn ground into a powder and folded inside corn leaves and boiled) and saksa (corn porridge). For a special treat, the Maya ate popcorn. If they were rich enough, they might even have hot chocolate. - No actual pieces of Mayan cloth have survived, since fabrics rot quickly in the humid jungle. But we do know that Mayan women spent long hours weaving intricate patterns onto fabric using looms. Symbols associated with the city and the weaver s family were often incorporated into the design. - We know that men wore a woven loincloth wrapped around the waist and threaded between the legs before draping so that the ends hung in the front and the back. They also wore a pati or a cape. Women wore cotton skirts and a loose blouse called a huipil. Highest ranking citizens had the fanciest clothing decorated with brightly colored
thread, feathers, and fringe. Most people went barefoot, but the wealthy had sandals. Rulers wore jaguar skins and a headdress made from quetzal feathers. Men & women wore their hair long and tied into ponytails or braided. They also wore JEWELRY. Made form bone, feathers, and wood. - The Maya had a unique sense of beauty. Crossed eyes were considered highly attractive, and parents would tie a bead above a child s nose to encourage this trait. - Also in the name of beauty, they strapped their child s head between two boards to flatten and lengthen their skulls into the shape of a corn cob. Teeth were often filed into points or inlaid with jade. Ears were pierced to hold large jade ear spools. Tattoos were common.
Maya Art & Technology - The Maya far famous for their spectacular architecture. - There are many temples, palaces, and pyramids that still stand today. - A trademark of the Maya was the corbel arch, which was achieved by stepping each successive block from opposite sides closer to the center. Each city state had its own style of corbel.
- Maya produced astonishingly vivid and detailed artwork. Almost all of their meticulous hand-painted, folding bark books were destroyed by Friar Diege de Landa in 1549. But, we can still admire their artwork on temple walls, stone carvings, and pottery. - Maya kings would commission artists to record the history of their city-states and glorify its leaders. Scenes may have shown the king performing heroic feats, defeating enemies, or talking with noble ancestors. - Sometimes rulers would commission huge sculptures of themselves to show their god-like powers, and create a larger-than-life personality. - The upper classes also liked to se themselves on art. They may have scenes painted on jugs or jars.
- Maya also had a system of hieroglyphs. They developed a complex written language that could convey pretty much anything that could be said or thought. Scribes would record important names and dates as well as significant conflicts and alliances. But this ancient language has not given up its secrets easily.
- One of the most fascinating things is that the deciphering of these ancient hieroglyphs has only happened in the last 30 or so years. Archaeologists are still debating what these ancient symbols mean or are trying to tell us. There is still so much to translate! - The Maya were among the first to understand the importance of zero. They developed a twenty-based counting system (perfect for fingers and toes ) Unlike the Roman counting system which could be used only by the educated classes, the Maya system was simple enough to be used by peasants in the market place and sophisticated enough o cope with the complex calculations of architects and astronomers. - The Maya LOVED astronomy. They were fascinated by time and measuring its passage. Many Mayan cities had their own observatory with small windows to help them track the movement of heavenly bodies. Markers inside the observatories would allow them to predict astronomical events such as solstices, equinoxes, and eclipses. - Battles were planned by the rising of Venus, thought to be the sun s twin and a war god. Temples were aligned to catch the play of light at the equinox. Still today, crowds flock to Chichen Itza to watch the descent of the Feathered Serpent.
- To the Maya, the Milky Way was the World Tree, a giant ceiba tree with its branches in the thirteen layers of the heavens, its trunk in the Middleworld (the world of men) and its roots on the nine cold and watery levels of Xibalba, the Maya Underworld.
Maya Rituals & Beliefs - Who were the ancient Maya? If we re honest, we really still don t know. In 1549, a Spanish monk named Diego de Landa took it upon himself to collect up all their hundreds (some say thousands) of precious hand-painted, folding bark books and in one of the most despicable acts, he burned them. So, until recently, everything we knew about the Maya came form books that managed to escape his burnings. - In 1550 another Spanish priest Francisco Ximenez translated the Maya creation story, the Popol Vuh into the Latin Alphabet. It is about the story of the hero twins who defeat the Death Lords in the Underworld and bring their father s head back to earth. - The Maya believed that each day brought its own degree of good and bad fortune. - Weddings were often arranged by matchmakers and the date of the wedding was determined by the stars. - Maya loved festivals and rituals and ceremonies! They played a ball game called pitz. Many ball courts were considered to be portals to the underworld and were build in low-lying areas. The game was so important to the Maya the Hero Twins played it in the Popol Vuh. Sometimes the rival city-states slugged out their differences in a ballgame and the losing team was executed.
- The game was played almost like quiddich with a 20lb hard rubber ball being thrown through hoops.
- Death rituals were important to the Maya. Bodies were placed with the head pointing north to align with the compass points (N,S,E,W) The dead were buried with an array of different objects including ceramics, jade, seashells, and obsidian. It is believed that when a ruler dies, they would serve as a liaison between the gods and the Mayan people. Maya City-States - The homelands of the Maya were divided into three regions: the northern lowlands, the central lowlands, and the southern highlands. - The Maya had no central power base. Each city-state had its own ruler, its own warriors, and its own territorial ambitions. - By the time the Spanish arrived in the 1500 s most of the cities had been abandoned. The Maya fought their last battle against the Spanish in 1696 at what is now the island city of Flores. THE END