April 26, 2005

The History of the Maya Civilization

By: Francisco J. Collazo

Introduction: The Maya Civilization was an ancient Native American culture that resented one of the most advanced civilizations in the western hemisphere before the arrival of Europeans. The people known as the Maya lived in the region that is now eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. The Maya culture reached its highest development from about 300 A.D. to 900 A.D. The Maya built massive stone pyramids, temples, sculptures and accomplished complex achievements in mathematics and astronomy, which were recorded in hieroglyphs (a pictorial form of writing).

After 900 A.D. the Maya mysteriously declined in the southern lowlands of Guatemala. They later revived in the north on the Yucatán Peninsula and continued to dominate the area until the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Descendants of the Maya still form a large part of the population of the region. Although many have adopted Spanish ways, a significant number of modern Maya maintain traditional cultural practices.

What defines the Maya? The Maya civilization was never united under one governing body like the Aztec. Instead, independent city-states shared many traits and beliefs that categorized them as Maya. In addition to their writing system, they had a calendar system that consisted of a Long Count divided into five cycles, along with a 260-day ritual cycle and a 365-day solar calendar. They had a comprehensive knowledge of naked-eye astronomy and charted the movements of the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the constellations through the night sky, and marked the position of the sun along the horizon.

Maya’s Comparison with Other Countries: Compared to other civilizations, these guys were smart. They were so far ahead of their time- with special calendars, games with rules, and an alphabet so complex that only the highest kings and priests knew every symbol. OK, so that wasn't the "ahead of their time" that you were thinking of. Maybe time traveling, living on Pluto, and/or having a robot do your homework is advanced. But in that time period, things like robots weren't even imagined. Things like calendars and writing systems were cool, advanced, and "wow."

Pre-Classic Period: Many aspects of Maya civilization developed slowly through a long Pre-classic period, from about 2000 B.C. to 300 A.D. By the beginning of that period, Mayan-speaking Native Americans were settled in three adjacent regions of eastern and southern Mexico and Central America; the dry, limestone country along the north coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula; the inland tropical jungle in the Petén region of northern Guatemala; and an area of volcanic highlands and mountain peaks in southern Guatemala near the Pacific Ocean.

The earliest Maya were farmers who lived in small, scattered villages of pole and thatch houses. They cultivated their fields as a community, planting seeds in holes made with a pointed wood stick. Later in the Pre-classic period, they adopted intensive farming techniques such as continuous cultivation involving crop rotation and fertilizers, household gardens, and terraces. In some areas, they built raised fields in seasonal swamps. Their main crops included maize (corn), beans, squash, avocados, chili peppers, pineapples, papayas, and cacao, which were made into a chocolate drink with water and hot chilies.

The women ground corn on specially shaped grinding stones and mixed the ground meal with water to make a drink known as atole or to cook as tortillas (flat cakes) on flat pottery griddles. The Maya also drank balche made from fermented honey mixed with the bark of the balche tree. Rabbits, deer, and turkeys were hunted for making stews. Fishing also supplied part of their diet. Turkeys, ducks, and dogs were kept as domesticated animals.

When they were not hunting, fishing, or in the fields, Maya men made stone tools, clay figurines, jade carvings, ropes, baskets, and mats. The women made painted pottery vessels out of coiled strands of clay, and they wove ponchos, men’s loincloths, and women’s skirts, out of fibers made from cotton or from the leaves of the maguey plant. They also used the bark of the wild fig tree to make paper, which they used primarily for ceremonial purposes. Since the Maya had neither draft animals nor wheeled vehicles, they carried goods for trade over the narrow trails with tumplines (backpacks supported by a strap slung across the forehead or chest) or transported them in dugout canoes along the coasts and rivers.

The early Maya probably organized themselves into kin-based settlements headed by chiefs. The chiefs were hereditary rulers who commanded a following through their political skills and their ability to communicate with supernatural powers. Along with their families, they composed an elite segment of society, enjoying the privileges of high social rank. However, these elites did not yet constitute a social class of nobles as they would in the Classic period. A council of chiefs or elders governed a group of several settlements located near one another. The council combined both political and religious functions.

Like other ancient farming peoples, the early Maya worshiped agricultural gods, such as the rain god and, later, the corn god. Eventually they developed the belief that gods controlled events in each day, month, and year, and that they had to make offerings to win the gods’ favor. Maya astronomers observed the movements of the sun, moon, and planets, made astronomical calculations, and devised almanacs (calendars combined with astronomical observations). The astronomers’ observations were used to divine auspicious moments for many different kinds of activity, from farming to warfare.

Rulers and nobles directed the commoners in building major settlements, such as Kaminaljuyú, in the southern highlands, and Tikal, in the central lowlands of the Petén jungle. Pyramid-shaped mounds of rubble topped with altars or thatched temples sat in the center of these settlements, and priests performed sacrifices to the gods on them. As the Pre-classic period progressed, the Maya increasingly used stone in building. Both nobles and commoners lived in extended family compounds.

During the Pre-classic period the basic patterns of ancient Maya life were established. However, the period was not simply a rehearsal for the Classic period but a time of spectacular achievements. For example, enormous pyramids were constructed at the site of El Mirador, in the lowlands of Guatemala. These pyramids are among the largest constructions in the ancient Maya world. By about 400 B.C. El Mirador was a major population center that served as the seat of a powerful chiefdom.

The highland and the lowland regions were in close contact at this time. Obsidian, a smooth volcanic rock used to make weapons and tools, from highland Guatemala has been found at El Mirador, and a sculptural style that originated in the Pacific lowland region of Chiapas and Guatemala was common in the southern highlands. Kaminaljuyú was the most powerful chiefdom of the highlands, and it probably controlled the flow of obsidian to the lowlands. Control of this important resource allowed Kaminaljuyú to dominate trade networks. Economic and political institutions during this period were more advanced in the southern highland area.

Guatemala Influence: The fishing and farming villages which emerged on Guatemala's Pacific coast as early as 2000 B.C. were the forerunners of the great Maya civilization which dominated central America for centuries, leaving its enigmatic legacy of hilltop ruins. By 250 A.D., the Early Classic period, great temple cities were beginning to be built in the Guatemalan highlands, but by the Late Classic period (600-900 A.D.) the center of power had moved to the El Petén lowlands. Following the mysterious collapse of the Maya civilization, the Itzaes also settled in El Petén, particularly around the present-day site of Flores.

Spanish Invasion: When Pedro de Alvarado came to conquer Guatemala for the king of Spain in 1523, he found the faded remnants of the Maya civilization and an assortment of warring tribes. The remaining highland kingdoms of the Quiché and Cakchiquel Maya were soon crushed by Alvarado's armies, their lands carved up into large estates and their people ruthlessly exploited by the new landowners. The subsequent arrivals of Dominican, Franciscan and Augustinian friars could not halt this exploitation, and their religious imperialism caused valuable traces of Mayan culture to be destroyed.

Independence from Spain came in 1821, bringing new prosperity to those of Spanish blood (creoles) and even worse conditions for those of Mayan descent. The Spanish Crown's few liberal safeguards were now abandoned. Huge tracts of Mayan land were stolen for the cultivation of tobacco and sugar cane, and the Maya were further enslaved to work that land. The country's politics since independence have been colored by continued rivalry between the forces of the left and right -- neither of which has ever made it a priority to improve the position of the Maya.

Classic Period: Classic Maya civilization became more complex in about ad 300 as the population increased and centers in the highlands and the lowlands engaged in both cooperation and competition with each other. Trade and warfare were important stimuli to cultural growth and development. The greatest developments occurred in the Petén jungle and surrounding regions of the lowlands where major city-states, such as Tikal, Palenque, Piedras Negras, and Copán, arose and developed from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D.

Society became more complex, with distinct social classes developing. Families of nobles formed a hereditary ruling class that stood apart from the common Maya. At the top of society, a hereditary king ruled over each Maya city. Kings were similar to the earlier ruling chiefs except that they formed a distinct social class along with other nobles. Under the direction of their kings, who also performed as priests, the centers of the lowland Maya became densely populated jungle cities with vast stone and masonry temple and palace complexes. The core area of Tikal, for example, covered about 9 sq km (about 3 sq mi) and included about 2700 structures with an estimated population of 11,300. The total area of Tikal, including the core, peripheral, and rural areas, is estimated at 314 sq km (121 sq mi) with an estimated population of 92,000.

During the Classic period, warfare was conducted on a fairly limited, primarily ceremonial scale. Maya rulers, who were often depicted on stelae (carved stone monuments) carrying weapons, attempted to capture and sacrifice one another for ritual and political purposes. The rulers often destroyed parts of some cities, but the destruction was directed mostly at temples in the ceremonial precincts; it had little or no impact on the economy or population of a city as a whole. Some city-states did occasionally conquer others, but this was not a common occurrence until very late in the Classic period when lowland civilization had begun to disintegrate. Until that time, the most common pattern of Maya warfare seems to have consisted of raids employing rapid attacks and retreats by relatively small numbers of warriors, most of whom were probably nobles.

Lowland Maya centers were true cities with large resident populations of commoners who sustained the ruling elites through payments of tribute in goods and labor. They built temples, palaces, courtyards, water reservoirs, and causeways. Walls, floors, and other surfaces in a lowland Maya city were smoothly covered with red or cream-colored limestone stucco, which shone brilliantly in the tropical sun. Sculptors carved stelae, which recorded information about the rulers, their family and political histories, and often included exaggerated statements about their conquests of other city-states.

Geographical Boundaries of Mesoamerica: Mesoamerican cultures were among the most developed of ancient civilizations; they created a calendar to measure time, numerals to calculate finances and astronomy, glyphs to chronicle the lives of rulers, tables charting the movement of planets, and architecture that rival other ancient cultures in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Geographical boundaries of the ancient Maya empire sad through the countries of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras and the five Mexican states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas (see map below), a total area is around 500,000 square kilometers. The ancient Maya civilization lasted for 4,000 years, yet it is often dismissed because, even though the Mayas built huge stone temples and pyramids, they lacked metal tools and didn't use the wheel or beasts of burden. But the early Mesoamericans fashioned tools harder than steel, and discovered the concept of zero (something that escaped the Greeks and Romans).

Mesoamerican Map

Mesoamerican cultures and histories overlap and influenced each other through trade and commerce, architecture, astronomy, mythology, and so on.  Mesoamericans had and wanted different resources, which led to the development of extensive trade networks that knit together regional economies. People in the highlands wanted salt, honey and cacao beans from the lowlands, and bird feathers and jaguar skins from the forests. People in the lowlands wanted jade, obsidian, basalt and grinding stones from the mountains, to carve monuments, figurines, masks, and jewelry.

Europeans arrived in 1519, and within a short period of time, much of Mesoamerica’s great cities and ceremonial centers were left in ruins as Spaniards scoured the land for gold. Native peoples were enslaved and Christianized, and the Aztec Empire, the last great indigenous civilization, dissolved. Life in Mesoamerica changed forever as military clashes, forced labor, and European diseases such as smallpox, measles, and typhus devastated the population who had no immunity.

By 1521, most of the region was subdued and Spanish colonization was without effective opposition. Converted to Christianity by their conquerors, native laborers and artisans erected Roman Catholic shrines and churches. During 300 years of Spanish rule, indigenous peoples and meztizos - people of mixed Spanish and native ancestry - struggled for freedom. Rebellions met with little success until 1821, when New Spain, or Mexico, became the first territory in the region to win independence. Powerless and poor through 500 years of colonization, neo-colonization, dictatorship, and revolution, over 30 million indigenous Mesoamerican survivors still retain their languages, folkways, and the desire for freedom, self-determination, social and economic opportunities enjoyed by the descendants of the Maya civilization.

Ancient Kingdoms: Unlike the Aztec, the ancient Maya were not empire builders. Instead, they formed independent polities. Their common culture, calendar, mythology and spiritual view of the world united them as Maya – True People, Halach Winik.

Each polity was ruled by it’s own dynastic nobility. The Maya ruling class claimed a divine lineage — theirs was the bloodline of the gods. No doubt there were alliances between polities, cemented by marriage and trade agreements. A vast network of paved routes and rivers, including the vast Usumacinta, facilitated trade and travel between the cities.

During the Classic Period, great cities thrived in the Peten area, including Tikal, Uaxactun, Caracol, Copan, Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Calkmul and Palenque. Apparently they fell victim to their own success. Some believe that populations grew faster than their agricultural system could sustain them, and the elite class grew top-heavy with would-be heirs. Warfare, originally engaged in to capture sacrificial victims, escalated into to a way of life. Artistic pursuits were abandoned in lieu of armaments. Within a generation the majestic Classic civilization had fallen apart. The Maya people abandoned their cities along with their embattled leadership, and started anew. By the time of the Spanish Conquest, the Maya had reorganized themselves into thousands of agrarian, communal-based clans throughout the Yucatan.

Contrary to the "Divide and Conquer" maxim, it was the Maya’s fractured political structure that thwarted attempts by the Conquistadors to conquer them. Cortez could take down the entire Aztec Empire by simply toppling Tenochttilan. But conquest of the Maya would require winning battles with hundreds of individual clans scattered throughout the Yucatan. The campaign of foreigners to dominate and assimilate the Maya continues today, from the blatant attacks of government backed paramilitary gangs, and the intimidation of military troop build-ups, to the more insidious destruction of their culture by seemingly well-intentioned missionaries.

Throughout centuries of trials and tribulations, the Maya people have withstood the ravages of natural and manmade disasters. Along the way they have had to modify their religious and political systems as needed to survive. And yet, through it all, the Maya have retained a culture that is both unique and admirable. While pharmaceutical giants

rush to rob them of their ancient medicinal knowledge, and oil-hungry nations contrive to steal the black blood in their underworld, and archaeologists search the ruins of their kingdoms for ancient remains, perhaps we are missing the greatest treasure the Maya have to offer us – that strength that sustains them; that resilience that resurrects them after every possible tragedy; that communal pride that binds them; that Maya way of life.

Maya Cultural Tips: Shaping your head.

Unfortunately, if you're reading this, it's already too late for you to take this step - it has to be done at birth. The Maya would bind a newborn infant's head between two boards for several days. This pressure was sufficient to reshape the skull on a permanent basis, leaving it elongated and backswept. The process would have no effect on intelligence because the brain has a great deal of plasticity in infancy, and would simply accommodate itself to the new shape.

It is thought that this was done to make the head resemble an ear of corn, the Maya staple crop, and the substance, according to The Popol Vuh, from which all humankind was originally created. The corn god himself was often depicted with this sort of elongated head, with a husk attached to it.

Of course, it was always possible, even with head shaping, that your profile wouldn't have that sleek, straight elegance the Maya so much admired. But in such cases, there was a cosmetic creation to help you out: the nose bridge. What these Mesoamerican equivalents of modern day glue-on fingernails were made of, I don't know. But they served the same purpose of filling in a gap for beauty's sake. (Many thanks to Sam Edgerton for putting me on to this.)

Arranging your Eyes, Decorating your Teeth, Piercing and Tattooing: Eye rearrangement is another thing that it's probably too late for you to manage. The Maya found a slight degree of cross-eyed ness attractive. To achieve this they would hang a ball of resin so that it fell between their children's eyes, in the hope that this would bring about the desired effect.

But even if you can't have the proper head and eyes, you can still have your incisors were inlayed with pyrite, obsidian, or jade, and your ears, nose, and lips pierced to accommodate jewelry made from jade, shells, wood, etc. And don't forget tattoos and body painting.

Headgear: Headgear varied from locale to locale, but one rule always seemed to hold true: the bigger the hat, the more important the head underneath it. One of the four on the left belonged to the loser in a battle - not really very hard to guess which one, is it?

Dress Tips: If you are a woman of the aristocracy, you can wear the most richly woven huipil you can find or a skirt covered with macramé-like knots and fringe (see the Moon Goddess' costume). For men, jaguar pelts from head to toe are clearly the mark of a successful Maya Ahaw. (In the Bonampak murals, you can always recognize the ruler because he's the only one wearing nifty jaguar-skin sandals.) And remember, you can never have too much jade or too many quetzal feathers in your outfit.

Bloodletting: Bloodletting was an important part of this, both as a sacrifice to the gods and a way of calling forth the vision serpent, from whose mouth ancestors from the other world would appear and speak. In the picture above the Lady Zok of Yaxchilan, holding a bowl of paper soaked with her own blood, sees her vision serpent arise from another bowl of bloody paper. Emerging from the serpent's open jaws is the founder of her husband's lineage.

How was the Bloodletting Done? A woman might run a rope through her tongue, while a man might cut his penis with a sharp object. In the picture above, Bird Jaguar of Yaxchilan holds a bone awl in preparation, while one of his junior wives, Lady Balam already has the rope through her tongue. A bowl of paper sits conveniently positioned to catch the blood of both.

Occasion for Bloodletting: What sort of occasion might call for such ritual bloodletting? Immanent warfare is one example; Lady Zok was shown helping her husband pare for battle with blood still staining her mouth. Accession of a new ruler or the birth of an heir is another; Bird Jaguar and Lady Balam were making their sacrifice after the birth of a son, Chel Te, to his senior wife, Lady Great Skull. Important dates, such as k'atun endings were also appropriate occasions for the ritual. Bloodletting continued into Post-classic times. The Madrid Codex shows bloodletting performed by driving sharp objects through the ears.

Games: "Take me out to the ball game..." has been a pretty popular song in America. Do you think that the Maya Indians sang that song? Probably! They had a game that was close to basketball. It was played basically like this:

• The object of the game is to get the most points.
• You hit the ball through a hanging stone ring to score.
• You can only touch the ball with your forearms, knees, hips, and shoulders.
• The ball cannot touch the ground.
• There are two teams playing.
• Both teams wear heavy padding.

A Unique View of the Universe: The ancient Maya had a complex pantheon of deities whom they worshipped and offered human sacrifices. Rulers were believed to be descendants of the gods and their blood was the ideal sacrifice, either through personal bloodletting or the sacrifice of captives of royal blood. The Maya vision of the universe is divided into multiple levels, above and below earth, positioned within the four directions of north, south, east and west. After death, the soul was believed to go to the Underworld, Xibalba (shee bal bah), and a place of fright where sinister gods tested and tricked their unfortunate visitors.

Destruction of the World: The Mayas believed that the world had been created five times and destroyed four times; this eschatology became the fundamental basis of Mesoamerican religion from 900 A.D. on when it was adopted by the Toltecs. Most of the Mayan gods were reptilian and they all had dual aspects, that is, each god had a benevolent aspect and a malevolent aspect. The Mayas believed in an elaborate afterlife, but heaven was reserved for those who had been hanged, sacrificed, or died in childbirth. Everyone else went to xibal, or hell, which was ruled over by the Lords of Death.

Place of Mirror Philosophy: Journey back to a time when gods spoke with men and one of the world's greatest civilizations flourished. This is Place of Mirrors – a place where people look at life, and their place in it, from a very different perspective. Yet, there is something of us to be found in this place. Even as the tiniest atom is a reflection of the solar system, which is a reflection of the universe, so we are all mirror images of one another.

Rabbit in the Moon: The shadows on the surface of the full moon can serve as a sort of cultural inkblot test. In the US, we talk about "the man in the moon." But when the Maya looked at the same shades of dark and light, they saw a pattern that resembled a leaping rabbit. The Moon Goddess was often portrayed holding her special pet, a large rabbit, in her arms.

Maya Religion: Mayan religion is obsessed with time. In order to correctly orient oneself to the cycles of time, one must be able to calculate these cycles with great accuracy. To this end, the Mayas developed a number of calendrical systems. At the center was the tzolkin, or sacred calendar, which consisted of 260 days; this calendar worked on two cycles, a cycle of 13 numbered days and a cycle of 20 named days. These two cycles would repeat themselves every 260 days.

In addition, they had the tun, or ceremonial calendar, which was 360 days long plus five concluding, unlucky days. Another calendar was the katun, which was a cycle of 20 tuns. They also used a Venus calendar (584 days), a half-year lunar calendar, and cycles of the sky gods. In combination, these calendars made the Mayans the most accurate reckoners of time before the modern period reaching an accuracy of being one day off every 6000 years (which is far more accurate than our calendar). All the days of these calendars in their incredible complexity served as astronomical almanacs that rigidly controlled behavior and religious ceremony. It is not unfair to say that Mayan life was one long continuous cycle of religious ceremonies.

Religious Ceremonies: Religious ceremonies involved several aspects: dancing, competition, dramatic performances, prayer, and sacrifice. The gods required nourishment from human beings in order to work. While sacrifice often involved foodstuffs, the bulk of sacrifice involved some form of human sacrifice. The majority of this human sacrifice was blood-letting, in which a victim, usually a priest, voluntarily pierces a part (or parts) of their body; usually their tongue, ears, lips, or penis—and "gives" blood to the gods. The higher one's position in the hierarchy, the more blood was expected. Some ceremonies demanded the living heart of a victim, in which case the victim was held down by the four chacs at the top of a pyramid or raised platform while the nacon made an incision below the rib cage and ripped out the heart with his hands. The heart was then burned in order to nourish the gods.

Gods of the Mayans: There is a vast pantheon of gods worshiped by the Maya. Different areas had different gods, and some were more important in one area than in another. Each location would also have its special patron god. There was probably some sense of competitiveness between locations, where they felt that their patron god was stronger or more beneficent that others. When one area overtook another through war or politics, they would impose the worship of their favorite gods on their subjects.

Some of the gods that archaeologists and anthropologists have identified are:

Hunab Ku - The Sume Deity - The Creator God

Cizin - Death God - (an ancient God of violent sacrifice, such as decapitation)

Chac - Rain God - rain and lightning

Itzamna - Aged God - priestly knowledge, divination, writing

Hun Hunahpu - Maize God - (one of the Hero twins)

Xbalanque - (pronounced schpah-len-kay) the other Hero Twin of the "Popol Vuh" - the Maya creation story

Kin or Kinich Ahau - Sun God - a younger version of Itzamna

Ik - Wind and Hurricane God

Chack Chel or Ixchel - old Goddess - fearsome genetrix - old Goddess of fertility and birth.

Rainbow Goddess - patron of weavers

Young Moon Goddess - patron of fertility and love

Kawil - (pronounced Kah-wheel) God of Rulers - patron of dynastic descent, fire and lightning (also called Bolon Dzacab)

Jaguar Gods - Lords of the underworld - associated with caves, night, hunting (shamans often are depicted transforming into jaguars)

The Olmec - worshipped were jaguars - a combination of human and jaguar

Ek Chuah - patron of merchants

Pauahtun - four Gods who hold up the sky

Hun Batz and Hun Chuen - (Monkey Gods) patrons of scribes

The Maya Pantheon

First Mother and First Father: The First Mother and First Father are the Creator Couple described in the Popol Vuh. All the other gods who subsequently came into being were the offspring of this couple. The First Mother, the Moon Goddess, was born six years before the First Father, Hun Nal Ye. Also known as the Maize God and the Plumed or Feathered Serpent, the First Father was responsible for overseeing the new creation of the cosmos.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque: These Hero Twins overcame the forces of death, paving the way for the conception of humans. They are usually shown wearing red and white cloth headbands, a symbol of Maya ruler ship. The face of Hunahpu serves as a glyph for the day name ahau, meaning king.

The Patrons of Writing: The Hero Twins had two older brothers who were jealous of the twins and did everything they could to make their younger brothers' lives difficult. The Hero Twins changed their brothers into monkeys and they became the patron gods of scribes.

The Maize God: Like the Sun God, the Maize God is associated with life and death. He follows the path across the sky, descends into the Underworld, is reborn, and returns to the Sky World. The flattened and elongated forehead of this deity is often accentuated by a partly shaven head and eyebrows, leaving patches of hair on the top of his head, which resembles a ripened ear of corn. The Maya elite practice changing the shape of their off-springs' skulls to resemble the Maize God's elongated head by tying two boards front and back against the infant's head.

Itzam-Yeh: The Celestial Bird, also known as the Serpent Bird and Seven-Macaw, Itzam-Yeh is associated with the four corners of the world. He also marked the four corners of the temple, thereby establishing the sacred mountain's summit.

Itzamná: Lord of the Heavens. Itzamná, or "Lizard House" is a high-ranking god who was the first shaman and diviner; the word itz can mean shaman, a person who could open the portals to the spirit world. The Maya elite considered him an ancient form of the omnipotent, sume deity. Kings and shamans contacted Itzamná to plead with him to open the way so sacred nourishment would flow into the world to sustain humanity. He is also the inventor of writing and the patron of learning and the sciences.

K'awil: The god of sustenance. K'awil is associated with royal power, which originates with the gods. He often appears on scepters clasped by rulers during ritual ceremonies and when they ascend to the throne.

The Jaguar Sun God: Almighty God the Sun dwells in the highest levels of heaven. When he traces the path of the sun across the sky in the daytime, his name is Kinich Ahau. When the sun falls into the West Door and enters the Underworld, he becomes the fearsome Jaguar God.

Ix Chel, Lady Rainbow: Wife to the high god Itzamná, she oversees weaving, medicine, and childbirth. Like the First Mother, she is a moon goddess, who is depicted sitting in a moon sign holding a rabbit.

Chac: The Rain God and Cosmic Monster, Chac is a dragon-like monster with a crocodilian head and deer ears. Since he exists on the perimeter of the cosmos, this cosmic monster marks the path between the natural and supernatural worlds. In the creation story, Chacs were placed at the four corners of the world. They bring the rains by shedding their blood; they create thunderbolts by hurling down their stone axes. Chac was also the name given to Maya elders who assisted at ceremonies and sacrifices.

The Lords of Death: Many Maya gods dwell in the underworld. The Lords of Death are depicted as skeleton people or ugly bloated beings wearing ornaments such as disembodied eyes taken from the dead.

The Witz monster: The Witz monster is the symbol of the living mountain. Images of this creature were placed on temples to transform them into sacred, living mountains. He is depicted with a zoomorphic face, a huge gaping mouth, and a stepped cleft in the center of his forehead. The open mouth became the entry into the mountain.

Maya Region: The Maya culture flourished and continues to exist in a region of Mexico and Central America often referred to as Mesoamerica. This encompasses the Yucatan peninsula (Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche) and Tabasco and Chiapas of sent day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and the western parts of Honduras and El Salvador. Geographically the region is broken into the lowlands and highlands.

The Lowlands: The lowlands are a limestone shelf bordered on the north and west by the Gulf of Mexico and on the east by the Caribbean Sea. The northern lowland climate is hot, and the rainy season, from May through October, often brings insufficient rainfall. Permanent rivers and lakes are virtually nonexistent and only cenotes (large sinkholes filled with rainwater), provide precious water. The southern lowlands consist of rainforest and savannas where the mighty Usumacinta River feeds lakes and rivers.

The Highlands: The highlands are a wide swathe of mountains and valleys of the Sierra Madre, bounded on the south by a narrow coastal plain and the Pacific Ocean. Although subject to tsunamis, volcanoes and earthquakes, the soil is fertile and the climate pleasantly cooler than the lowlands. The rainy season is between May and November, and rainfall in June and October.

Cultural Divisions: Culturally the area is divided into three sections: the northern, central and southern regions. The earliest evidence of the Maya civilization is found in the southern region. At Izapa carvings depict gods that were the cursors of the Classic deities and at Kaminaljuyú glyphs on stelea foreshadow the Maya writing system. The area was clearly influenced by the Olmec.

The central region includes the southern lowlands, from Tabasco in the Northwest to Belize and Guatemala's Motagua River region in the southeast. Here is where the Classic Maya flourished, along the Usumacinta River and throughout the Petén.

The Maya populated the northern region, which encompasses the northern lowlands, in the Late Classic period, when influence from central Mexico created a hybrid Maya/Toltec culture, and was home to the Maya well into the Post-Classic period.

It is generally believed that what we recognize as the ancient Maya culture began around 300 A.D. as an offshoot of the Olmec civilization. The central Mexican city of Teotihucan traded with the Maya and its influence can clearly be seen in some Maya sites, such as Tikal. In fact, the collapse of Teotihucan in the sixth century had a notable effect on the Maya, causing a virtual standstill of new construction for several decades.

Between 600 A.D. and 800 A.D., the classic Maya flourished in the southern lowlands. Then, for what may prove to be a multitude of reasons, the great Maya centers of the southern lowlands fell into ruin – abandoned and left to be reclaimed by the surrounding rainforest. Many theories have been proposed to explain this "collapse" including: over-population, extensive warfare, revolt of the farmer/laborer class, or any number of devastating natural disasters. Whatever the reason, its effect was contained to the central region and the northern lowlands continued to prosper during what is called the Late Classic period. During this time there was an infusion of the Mexican/Toltec culture that is evident in sites such as Chichén Itza and Uxmal.

By the time of the Conquest, the Maya civilization was in its Post Classic phase and had reverted to an essentially Maya culture in scattered city-states. It was this lack of cohesion that would thwart the Spaniard's attempts to conquer the Maya.

Although the Maya have endured depression and persecution in one form or another for the past 500 years, more than 6 million descendants still maintain a culture that is distinctly Maya in areas of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.

THE ANCIENT MAYA
	MAYA AREA	MESOAMERICA
-CLASSIC PERIOD
2500-1200 BC	Cenote Maní	Tlatilco
1200-300 BC	Loltun Nakbé	San Lorenzo La Venta
300BC-250 AD	El Mirador	Cuicuilco
CLASSIC PERIOD
250-600 AD	Uaxactun Kohunlich Dzibanché	Teotihuacan Monte Alban
600-800 AD	Yaxchilan Tikal Palenque Copan Coba	Tajin Cholula
800-1000 AD	Tonnina Uxmal	Xoxhixalco Cacaxtla
POST-CLASSIC PERIOD
1000-1250 AD	Chichén Itza	Tula Mitla
1250-1519 AD	Mayapan Tulum Tayasal	Tenochititlan

Maya Writing: The Maya of Central America and Southern Mexico developed hieroglyphic writing, as found in inscriptions and codices dating apparently from about the beginning of the Christian era, that ranks "probably as the foremost intellectual achievement of -Columbian times in the New World." Maya number systems and chronology are remarkable for the extent of their early development. Perhaps five or six centuries before the Hindus gave a systematic exposition of their decimal number system with its zero and principle of local value, the Maya in the flatlands of Central America had evolved systematically a vigesimal number system employing a zero and the principle of local value.

In the Maya number system found in the codices the ratio of increase of successive units was not 10, as in the Hindu system; it was 20 in all positions except the third. The Maya developed a highly complex system of writing, using pictographs and phonetic or syllabic elements. A complete discussion of their writing system is beyond the scope of this paper. Their writing was highly sophisticated; probably only members of the higher classes were able to read their symbols. The Maya carved these symbols into stone, but the most common place for writing was probably the highly perishable books they made from bark paper, coated with lime to make a fresh white surface. These "books" were screen-folded and bound with wood and deer hide. They are called codices, codex is singular. Because of their perishable nature and zealous Spanish book burning, only four codices remain today.

The contents of the codices must have varied, but some of them were evidently similar to astronomic almanacs. We have examples of a Venus table, eclipse tables in a codex in Dresden. There is a codex in Paris that seems to contain some kind of Maya Zodiac, but if it is and how it must have worked are still unknown. Another major example of Maya almanacs are sent in the Madrid Codex. The fourth codex is called the Grolier and was authenticated as late as 1983. These codices probably contained much of the information used by priests or the noble class to determine dates of importance or seasonal interest. We can only speculate as to whether or not the Maya developed poetry or drama that was committed to paper. The codices probably kept track of dynastic information as well.

Scientific Achievements: Although Maya builders possessed many practical skills, the most distinctive Maya achievements were in abstract mathematics and astronomy. One of their greatest intellectual achievements was a pair of interlocking calendars, which was used for such purposes as the scheduling of ceremonies. One calendar was based on the sun and contained 365 days. The second was a sacred 260-day almanac used for finding lucky and unlucky days. The designation of any day included the day name and number from both the solar calendar and the sacred almanac.

The two calendars can be thought of as two geared wheels that meshed together at one point along the rim, with the glyphs for the days of the sun calendar on one wheel and the glyphs for the days of the sacred almanac on the other. With each new day the wheels were turned by one gear. Combining the name for the sun calendar day with the name for the sacred almanac day formed the name for each day.

The Maya, like the Aztecs, believed there had been four ages prior to our own. Gilbert was able to relate the first of these to Atlantis and investigated certain prophecies relating to this fabled civilization. It seems that the serpent religion, which the early Spanish conquistadors attempted to eradicate, may well owe its origins to survivors of this lost race, some of whom went to Egypt and some to Central America. The original Quetzalcoatl, whose name means 'plumed serpent' and who was identified with the planet Venus, probably lived at the start of the fourth age, around 3114 BC and initiated a highly ethical religion of penance. This later degenerated into human sacrifice: physical hearts instead of emotions being offered to the sun.

Other prophets of the same name lived later and Cortes was mistaken for his reincarnation. The Mayan calendar points to 22 December 2012 as being the end of our sent age. Changes around that time to the sun's magnetic field could have consequences for us all. Perhaps we are already witnessing the beginnings of this change with the desertification of more and more land. This seems to have happened in a more

localized way at the time of another sun spot minima, leading to the collapse of the Mayan civilization. They are ruined; jungle cities are a warning to us all.

Astronomy: Maya astronomers could make difficult calculations, such as finding the day of the week of a particular calendar date many thousands of years in the past or in the future. They also used the concept of zero, an extremely advanced mathematical concept. Although they had neither decimals nor fractions, they made accurate astronomical measurements by dropping or adding days to their calendar. For example, during 1000 years of observing the revolution of the planet Venus, which is completed in 583.92 days, Maya astronomers calculated the time of the Venusian’s year as 584 days. The Maya method of reckoning time involved counting forward from a hypothetical fixed point and pre-existing the date in time periods based on the number 20 and counted in intervals of 1, 20, 360, 7200, and 144,000 days. Such dates appear on carved stone monuments dating to as early as the late Pre-classic period, and they are prevalent throughout the lowlands on monuments from the Classic period.

The Maya were quite accomplished astronomers. Their primary interest, in contrast to "western" astronomers, were Zenial Passages when the Sun crossed over the Maya latitudes. On an annual basis the sun travels to its summer solstice point, or the latitude of 23-1/3 degrees north.

Most of the Maya cities were located south of this latitude, meaning that they could observe the sun directly overhead during the time that the sun was passing over their latitude. This happened twice a year, evenly spaced around the day of solstice.

The Maya could easily determine these dates, because at local noon, they cast no shadow. Zenial passage observations are possible only in the Tropics and were quite unknown to the Spanish conquistadors who descended upon the Yucatan peninsula in the 16th century. The Maya had a god to resented this position of the Sun called the Diving God.

Venus Observations: Venus was the astronomical object of greatest interest. I think it possible that the Maya knew it better than any civilization outside Mesoamerica. They thought it was more important than the Sun. They watched it carefully as it moved through its stations--it takes 584 days for Venus and the Earth to line up in their previous position as compared to the Sun. It takes about 2922 days for the Earth, Venus, the Sun, and the stars to agree.

The pattern of Venus is usually reckoned at Inferior Conjunction, that time when Venus passes between the Sun and the Earth. A diagram of this situation can be seen on the left.

During this period, Venus cannot be seen from Earth. It disappears for a short period that averages eight days. When it first rises after inferior conjunction, that is when it was first spotted in the morning sky, called heliacal rising because it is rising with the sun, was the most important position of Venus.

After rising, Venus will reach its greatest brilliancy then its greatest elongation west, moving quickly (in retrograde motion) away from the Sun. After that it will remain visible for about 260 days in the morning sky until it reaches superior conjunction. At this point Venus is on the opposite side of the Sun as we view it from Earth. It becomes dim, until it dips back under the horizon, only to appear on the opposite side of the sun an average of 50 days later. It then rises as a evening star and remain in the night sky about 260 days until it goes through its eastern elongation point and greatest brilliancy before arriving at Inferior Conjunction again.

The Maya made daytime observations of Venus. Venus had a psychological effect upon the Maya and other Mesoamerican cultures, it has been shown that the Maya were timing some of their wars based on the stationary points of Venus and Jupiter. Humans were sacrificed on first appearance after Superior Conjunction when Venus was at its dimmest magnitude but they most feared the first Heliacal Rising after Inferior Conjunction.

Dresden Codex: Most native Mesoamerican documents were destroyed in the early years of the Spanish occupation, but a few priceless books and relics did survive the destruction, either having been hidden by the Indians or exported back to Europe as presents for the King. The most important of these was what is now called the Dresden Codex, named after the town in whose library it was lodged. Maya Indians who once ruled over much of Central America, the ruins of their once grand civilization littering the jungle, wrote this strange book, inscribed with unknown hieroglyphs.

In 1880 a brilliant, German scholar, who was working as a librarian in Dresden, turned his attention to this codex. By a process of extraordinary detective work he cracked the code of the Mayan calendar making it possible for other scholars and explorers to translate the many dated inscriptions to be found on buildings, stelae and other ancient Mayan artifacts. He discovered that the Dresden Codex itself was concerned with astronomy providing detailed tables of lunar eclipses and other phenomenon. These were so accurate that they put our own calendar to shame. He also found evidence for a curious "magic number"- 1,366,560 days, which could be factorized in a number of ways and which harmonized the cycles of Venus and Mars with two "yearly" cycles also used by the Maya: the sacred tzolkin of 260 days and the Haab of 365 days.

However, he also found that they had another system of counting the days relative to a starting date, called the Birth of Venus and now known to be 13 August 3114 B.C. This calendar was divided into "months" or uinals of twenty days, "years" or tuns of 360 days and longer periods of 7200 days, the katun and 144,000 days, the baktun. The number 13 was magically important to them and they believed that, starting from the Birth of Venus, after 13 of these longest periods, or baktuns, the world would come to an end. In the Dresden Codex, the Maya had an almanac that displayed the full cycle of Venus. They counted five sets of 584 days that is 2,920 days is approximately 8 years or 5 repetitions of the Venus cycle. In the Dresden Codex, the Maya had an almanac that displayed the full cycle of Venus.

Sun: The Maya evidently thought quite a bit about the Sun, and they watched it trace out a path along the ecliptic. They followed it year round, presumably following its path along the horizon as well. At Chichen Itza, during sunset a sun serpent rises up the side of the stairway of the pyramid called El Castillo on the day of spring and Autumn Equinox. It tells us that the Maya noted, not only the extremes of the Sun at the Solstices, but also the Equinoxes when the Sun appeared to rise due East or due west. In addition to the Zenial Passages mentioned earlier, ecliptic observations must have been a major portion of Maya solar observing.

Moon: The Maya had a lunar component to their calendric inscriptions. After giving the pertinent information on the date according to the Maya calendar the typical Maya inscriptions contain a lunar reckoning. The lunar count was counted as 29 or 30 days, alternating. The lunar synodic period is close to 29.5 days, so by alternating their count between these two numbers the moon was carefully meshed into the calendric sequence as well. Their lunar knowledge was permissive for they also made eclipse dictions, an almanac for predicting them is contained in the Dresden Codex.

Ecliptic: The Maya portrayed the Ecliptic in their artwork as a Double-Headed Serpent. The ecliptic is the path of the sun in the sky, which is marked by the constellations of fixed stars. Here the moon and the planets can be found because they are bound, like the Earth, to the sun. The constellations on the ecliptic are also called the zodiac. We don't know exactly how the Maya saw fixed constellations on the ecliptic, but we have some idea of the order in some parts of the sky. We know there is a scorpion, which we equate with our own constellation of Scorpius. I believe they used the claws of Libra.

It has also been found that Gemini appeared to the Maya as a pig or peccary, (a nocturnal animal in the pig family.) Some other constellations on the ecliptic are identified as a jaguar, at least one serpent, a bat, a turtle, a xoc monster--that is, shark, or a sea monster. The Pleiades were seen as the tail of the rattlesnake and is called, "Tz'ab."

Milky Way: The Milky Way itself was much venerated by the Maya. They called it the World Tree, which was resented by a tall and majestic flowering tree, the Ceiba. The Milky Way was also called the Wakah Chan. Wak means "Six" or "Erect." Chan or K'an means "Four," "Serpent" or "Sky." The World Tree was erect when Sagittarius was well over the horizon. At this time the Milky Way rose up from the horizon and climbed overhead into the North. The star clouds that form the Milky Way were seen as the tree of life where all life came from. Near Sagittarius, the center of our galaxy, where the World Tree meets the Ecliptic was given special attention by the Maya. A major element of the World Tree includes the Kawak Monster, a giant head with a kin in its forehead. This monster was also a mountain or witz monster. A sacrificial bowl on its head contains a flint blade resenting sacrifice, and the Kimi glyph that resents death.

The Ecliptic is sometimes resented as a bar crossing the major axis of the world tree, making a form that is similar to the Christian Cross. On top of the World Tree we find a bird that has been called, the Principal Bird deity, or Itzam Ye. There is also evidence that shows the Sun on the World Tree as it appeared to the Maya at Winter Solstice.

During the months of winter, when the so-called "Winter" Milky Way dominates the sky, it was called the "White Boned Serpent." This part of the Milky Way passed overhead at night during the dry season. It is not brilliant like the star clouds that dominate the sky North of the equator during the months of Summer, but observers at dark locations will easily see the glow. Here the Ecliptic crosses the Milky Way again, near the constellation of Gemini, which was the approximate location of the Sun during Summer Solstice. It is possible that the Kawak monster head resented the jaws of the White-Boned Serpent.

Politics and Cosmology: The Maya Kings timed their accession rituals in tune with the stars and the Milky Way. They celebrated k'atun endings approximately every twenty years. At the end of the 20-year k'atun period, Maya rulers regularly erected a stela, called a stone tree, to commemorate the event. On stone stela they depicted themselves at the time of these ceremonies dressed in costumes that contained the symbols that were associated with the World Tree. Their headdresses contained the Principal Bird Deity; in their arms they held a so-called ceremonial bar that resented the double-headed serpent of the ecliptic. By wearing the costume elements of the World Tree the Maya ruler linked himself to the sky, the gods and that essential ingredient, life.

In addition, it has been found that when the k'atun ending coincided with certain planetary positions the Maya went to war to obtain captives. The cosmology of the Maya was a living, religious philosophy that permeated their lives to a degree that might seem excessive to modern people. They were astute observers, sensitive to the cyclical nature of the sun, moon and planets.

Hieroglyphic Writing: The Maya developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing to record not only astronomical observations and calendrical calculations, but also historical and genealogical information. Many recent advances have occurred in the decipherment of the Mayan script. These breakthroughs made it possible to conclude that Mayan hieroglyphs were a mixture of glyphs that resent complete words and glyphs that resent sounds, which were combined to form complete words. Scribes carved hieroglyphs on stone stelae, altars, wooden lintels, and roof beams, or painted them on ceramic vessels and in books made of bark paper.

Mathematics

Mayam Numerals: The Maya of Central America used a zero hundreds of years before 876 AD, its earliest known use in India. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they found that the abacus was in use in both Mexico and Peru.

Instead of ten digits like we have today, the Maya used a base number of 20. Base twenty was also used in their calendar, developed by astronomers for keeping track of time.  They used a system of bar and dot as "shorthand" for counting. A dot stood for one and a bar stood for five.

In the following table, you can see how the system of dots and bars works to create Mayan numerals and the equivalent Roman numerals 0-19.

0	1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19

Because the base of the number system was 20, larger numbers were written down in powers of 20. We do that in our decimal system too: for example 32 is 3*10+2. In the Maya system, this would be 1*20+12, because they used 20 as base.

Numbers were written from bottom to top. Below you can see how the number 32 was written:

20's	(1)
1's	(12)

It was very easy to add and subtract using this number system, but they did not use fractions. Here's an example of a simple addition:

8000's
400's
20's		+		=
1's
	9449	+	10425	=	19874

As you can see, adding is just a matter of adding up dots and bars! Maya merchants often used cocoa beans, which they laid out on the ground, to do these calculations.

Mathematics Using a Vigesimal System: Maya mathematics constituted the most sophisticated mathematical system ever developed in the Americas. The Maya of Central America used a zero hundreds of years before 876 A.D., its earliest known use in India. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they found that the abacus was in use in both Mexico and Peru. Instead of ten digits like we have today, the Maya used a base number of 20. Base twenty was also used in their calendar, developed by astronomers for keeping track of time.  They used a system of bar and dot as "shorthand" for counting. A dot stood for one and a bar stood for five.

The Maya counting system required only three symbols: a dot resenting a value of one, a bar resenting five, and a shell resenting zero. These three symbols were used in various combinations, to keep track of calendar events both past and future, and so that even uneducated people could do the simple arithmetic needed for trade and commerce. That the Maya understood the value of zero is remarkable - most of the world's civilizations had no concept of zero at that time.

The Maya used the vigesimal system for their calculations - a system based on 20 rather than 10. This means that instead of the 1, 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 of our mathematical system, the Maya used 1, 20, 400, 8,000 and 160,000.

Maya numbers, including calendar dates, were written from bottom to top, rather than horizontally. As an example of how they worked, three was resented by three dots in a horizontal row; 12 was two bars with two dots on top; and 19 was three bars with four dots on top. Numbers larger than 19 were resented by the same kind of sequence, but a dot was placed above the number for each group of 20. Thirty-two, for example, consisted of the symbols for 12, with a dot on top of the whole thing resenting an additional group of 20. The system could thus be extended infinitely.

The Maya set of mathematical symbols allowed even uneducated people to add and subtract for the purposes of trade and commerce. To add two numbers together, for example, the symbols for each number would be set side by side, and then collapsed together to make a new single number. Thus, two bars and a single dot resenting 11 could be added to one bar for five, to make three bars and one dot, or 16.

The Maya considered some numbers more sacred than others. One of these special numbers was 20, as it resented the number of fingers and toes a human being could count on. Another special number was five, as this resented the number of digits on a hand or foot. Thirteen was sacred as the number of original Maya gods. Another sacred number was 52, resenting the number of years in a "bundle", a unit similar in concept to our century. Another number, 400, had sacred meaning as the number of Maya gods of the night.

The Maya also used head glyphs as number signs. The number one, for example, is often depicted as a young earth goddess; a god of sacrifice, and so on resents two. These are similar to other glyphs resenting deities, which has led to some confusion in decoding the glyphs. To further confuse things, number glyphs were sometimes compounds. The number 13, for example, could be written using the head glyph for 10 plus the head glyph for three. Numerical head glyphs could also be combined with the usual dots, bars and shells.

Mathematics was a sufficiently important discipline among the Maya that it appears in Maya art such as wall paintings, where number scrolls, which trail from under their arms, can recognize mathematics scribes or mathematicians. Interestingly, the first mathematician identified as such on a glyph was a female figure.

Example: Like our numbering system, they used place values to expand this system to allow the excision of very large values. Their system has two significant differences from the system we use: 1) the place values are arranged vertically, and 2) they use a base 20, or vigesimal, system. This means that, instead of the number in the second position having a value 10 times that of the numeral (as in 11 - 1 × 10 + 1 × 1), in the Mayan system, the number in the second place has a value 20 times the value of the numeral. The number in the third place has a value of (20)², or 400, times the value of the numeral.

This principle is illustrated in the chart below.

Sometimes this number will be exssed in the shorthand 3.10.6.13.17 in writings on the Mayan numeration system, especially when discussing dates that are recorded in stelae or monuments. Using this system for exssing numbers has 2 advantages: 1) large numbers can be easily exssed, so long time periods can be recorded; and 2) simple arithmetic can be easily accomplished, even without the need for literacy among the population. In the marketplace, sticks and pebbles, small bones and cacao beans, or other items readily at hand can be used to exss the numbers in the same way that they are exssed on the monuments or in the books of the upper classes. Simple additions can be performed by simply combining 2 or more sets of symbols (within their same set). This is shown below.

For more complicated arithmetic, you must simply remember that you borrow or carry only when you reach 20, not 10, as shown below.

It is important to note that this number system was in use in Mesoamerica while the people of Europe were still struggling with the Roman numeral system. That system suffered from serious defects: there was no zero (0) in the system, and, as opposed to the Mayan system, the numbers were entirely symbolic, without direct connection to the number of items resented.

It is not known whether a system was developed for multiplication and division.

The decimal mathematical system widely used today originated by counting with the fingers a person has. Counting with the fingers and toes started the Maya vigesimal system. So it is based on groups of twenty units. Just as the decimal system goes by 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, etc., the Maya vigesimal system goes 1, 20, 400, 8000, 160000, etc. While in the decimal system there are ten possible digits for each placeholder [0 - 9], in the Maya vigesimal system each placeholder has a possible twenty digits [0 - 19]. For example, in the decimal system 31 = 10 * 3 + 1 while in the vigesimal system 31 = 20 + 11. The Maya discovered and used the zero. Their zero is represented by an ovular shell.

Architecture: Limestone structures, faced with lime stucco, were the hallmark of ancient Maya architecture. The Maya developed several unique building innovations, including the corbel arch which was a false arch achieved by stepping each successive block, from opposite sides, closer to the center, and capped at the peak. Tombs were often encased within or beneath Maya structures. Frequently new temples were built over existing structures. A honeycombed roof comb towered above many structures, providing a base for painted plaster that was the Maya equivalent of the billboard.

In addition to temples, most Maya sites had multi-roomed structures that probably served as royal palaces as well as centers for government affairs. Historically significant events such as accessions, the capture or sacrifice of royal victims and the completion of the twenty-year katun cycle, were recorded on stone stelae and tablets. One of the Maya's unique contributions to architecture is the Korbel Arch, also called the Maya Arch, which was formed by projecting stone blocks out from each side of a wall until they met forming a peak. This technique was a handy substitute for a true arch.

Calendar to Keep Track of Time: Priests created three main types of calendars. The civil calendar was based on the solar cycles or the cycles of the sun. Mayans only had 365 days on this calendar, no leap year days. The Long Count had a special system that kept track of long spans of time such as centuries or decades. At religious and ceremonial events, the Sacred Calendar was used. It was based on the lunar or the moon cycles.

The Maya Indians in Central America, living on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala (where Maya languages are still spoken), created an extensive civilization, which peaked around the years 1200-1450. They developed an early system of symbolic writing ("glyphs") and simple mathematics, using a system like ours (including the zero!) based not on the number 10 but on 20. They did not, however, use fractions.

Their astronomy was well developed, and they noted the "zenial days" when the Sun was directly overhead ("at zenith") and a vertical stick cast no shadow. Their year had 365 days, but in the absence of leap years it slowly shifted with respect to the solstices. That year was divided into 18 named "months" of 20 days each (numbered from 0 to 19), plus the "short month" of Wayeb, whose days were considered unlucky.

Yucatan does not experience summer and winter the way middle latitudes do (e.g. Europe or most of the US), and therefore the Maya calendar was not strongly tied to the seasons the way ours is. The planet Venus received major attention, and its cycles were accurately measured by Maya astronomers. In addition the Maya also observed a "ritual year" of 260 days, consisting of 20 named "long weeks" of 13 numbered days each.

When it came to mathematics, time and calendars, the Maya were geniuses. Believing that time repeated itself in cycles, they devised two calendars, one ritualistic, which was used for religious celebrations and astrological dictions, and the other a solar calendar. Both calendars were based on the calculation that a year had a little more than 365 days, a more precise system than the Gregorian calendar. Following the movement of the sun, moon and stars with such accuracy, the Maya were able to predict such mystifying phenomena as eclipses and the Spring and Autumn equinoxes.

Virtual Calendar: The Maya kept time with a combination of several cycles that meshed together to mark the movement of the sun, moon and Venus. Their ritual calendar, known as the Tzolkin, was composed of 260 days. It pairs the numbers from 1 through 13 with a sequence of 20 day-names. It works something like our days of the week pairing with the numbers of the month. Thus you might have 1-Imix (similar to Sunday the 1st) followed by 2-Ik (just as you would have Monday the 2nd). When you get to 13-Ben, the next day would start the numbers over again, thus 1-Ix, 2-Men, etc. It will take 260 days before the cycle gets back to 1-Imix again (13 x 20).

The 20 day-names, meaning and symbol can vary in different Maya languages. Also, each day can be repreresented with more elaborate glyphs known as "Head Variants" - a formal writing system that can be loosely compared to our script alphabet versus our print alphabet. The Tzolkin calendar was meshed with a 365-day solar cycle called the "Haab." The calendar consisted of 18 months with 20 days (numbered 0-19) and a short "month" of only 5 days that was called the Wayeb and was considered to be a dangerous time. It took 52 years for the Tzolkin and Haab calendars to move through a complete cycle.

The 20-day Cycle: The symbols shown below resent the 20 day-names and are identified with their Yucatec names, pronunciation and approximate translation. The name, meaning and symbol can vary in different Maya languages. Also, each day can be resented with more elaborate glyphs known as "Head Variants" -- a formal writing system that can be loosely compared to our script alphabet versus our print alphabet.

IMIX ee mesh water lily, world	IK' eek' wind	AK'BAL ok bol night-house	K'AN k' on maize
CHIKCHAN cheek chon snake	KIMI kee me death	MANIK' ma neek'  hand	LAMAT la mot Venus
MULUK' mul ok' water	OK ak dog	CHUEN chew in monkey	EB eb tooth
BEN ben reed	IX eesh jaguar	MEN men eagle	KIB keeb soul
KABAN kah bon earth	ETZ'NAB ehts' nob flint, knife	KAWAK kah wok storm	AHAW ah how  Lord

The Tzolkin calendar was meshed with a 365-day solar cycle called the "Haab." The calendar consisted of 18 months with 20 days (numbered 0-19) and a short "month" of only 5 days that was called the Wayeb and was considered to be a dangerous time. It took 52 years for the Tzolkin and Haab calendars to move through a complete cycle.
These are the Mayan words for periods of time:

Day = Kin (keen)
Month of 20 days = Uinal (wee nal)
Year of 360 days = Tun (toon)
20 Tuns = K'atun (k' ah toon)
20 K'atuns = Baktun (bock toon)

Wheel Invention: The Maya also invented the wheel but, dismissing its usefulness, only used it for children's toys.

Social Structure: There was a distinct class system in ancient Maya times. Between the ruling class and the farmer/laborer, there must have been an educated nobility who were scribes, artists and architects. Evidence of their skill and innovation remains in works of stone, stucco, jade, bone, pottery, obsidian and flint. There is no evidence of a priest-hood, and it is likely that priestly duties were performed by the ruler.

Agriculture and Diet: While the Maya diet varies, depending on the local geography, maize remains the primary staple now as it was centuries ago. Made nutritionally complete with the addition of lime, the kernels are boiled, ground with a metate and mano, then formed by hand into flat tortillas that are cooked on a griddle that is traditionally supported on three stones. Chile peppers, beans and squash are still grown in the family farm plot (milpa) right along with the maize, maximizing each crop's requirements for nutrients, sun, shade and growing surface. Agriculture was based on slash and burn farming which required that a field be left fallow for 5 to 15 years after only 2 to 5 years of cultivation. But there is evidence that fixed raised fields and terraced hillsides were also used in appropriate areas.

Chiles in the Diet: The Maya have a word for it, and that's not surprising considering the importance of chiles in their daily fare. Aristocratic Maya may have had venison, turkey and seafood to add substance to their diet, but the less lordly folk subsisted on a diet of corn, chiles, and beans, and the poorest might have found beans hard to come by. Chiles were not just a source of flavoring, but a vital part of daily nutrition, so important that after the Conquest, pious Mayan converts to Christianity gave up chiles for Lent. And they figure largely in Maya cuisine to this day. (After many years, I still vividly remember buying a piece of fresh pineapple from a street vendor in Merida and discovering that what appeared to be pretty red sugar coating was in fact . . . something else entirely.)

Mesoamerican peoples found other uses for chiles: according to Sophie Coe's excellent book America's First Cuisines, gourds filled with burning chiles were used in warfare in much the same way bees were, and exposure to chile smoke was a punishment for children.

Capsaicin, the molecule that provides peppers with their hotness, can be detected by taste even when diluted1 part to 11 million. But there's another side to capsaicin that isn't widely known; it is a powerful neurotoxin. When administered at dosages between 0.025% and 0.075%, it can temporarily vent sensory nerves from producing neurotransmitters, and has been successfully used as a local painkiller by arthritis sufferers. At higher concentrations, the function of sensory nerves are not just incapacitated, but also permanently destroyed. In fact, a large enough dose of capsaicin can knock out most of the sensory nerves in the body, causing permanent numbness and a host of other unpleasant conditions. For safety's sake, the US FDA has set the highest permissible concentration for medicinal purposes at 0.075%. If you eat a habanera pepper straight, you may well be exceeding this level. (If you are a US citizen, turn yourself in to the Federal authorities at once.)

Now that chiles have gained so much popularity around the world, it seems to me that we could all use just one word to exss that familiar reaction to getting just a little too much. So the next time you take a big bite of that jalapeno-laced burrito or that extra-spicy vindaloo, just throw back your head and cry out, "HOOOYOOB!!!"

Agriculture Impact on the Economy: The Mayas, like others forced to cultivate tropical rain forest, practiced slash and burn agriculture. Because growth is so rapid in tropical rain forests, the nutrients provided by dead plants and animal feces gets used up very quickly. Rain forest soil, surprisingly, is remarkably unfertile for agriculture. In slash and burn agriculture, the Mayans would cut down a swath of forest, burn the felled trees and plants for fertilizer, and then cultivate the plot. Now as then the Mayans did not employ sophisticated fertilization techniques, so the plot of land would be exhausted in two to four years (some archaeologists estimate that it may have taken as long as seven years if the Mayans weeded by hand rather than using tools).

What all this means is that it takes an immense amount of land to support a family—among the Maya, it probably required at least seventy acres for every five people. The population, then, throughout the Classic Period was very small.

Seasonal Periods: Slash and burn agriculture (called milpa by the Mayas) is also labor intensive. Modern-day Native Americans in Guatemala who employ this agriculture spend about 190 days every year in agricultural work. Despite this labor, you can see that at least 170 days are left over (almost half of a year) for other types of labor. This excess time was used in the Classic period in the building and maintenance of cities as well as the extensive production of artwork and the agricultural labor necessary to support the priestly populations in the cities.

Society: Maya population was in general very small, and very few of the Mayas permanently lived in the urban centers. The central reason for this is the nature of agriculture in tropical rain forest. We know almost nothing of Mayan society beyond the social division between the priests and the peasants. Mayan society had several strata: rulers, priests, commoners, and slaves. The extent to which the rulers were differentiated from the priests is unknown. At the top of the Mayan hierarchy was the halach uinic ("True Man") whose position was hereditary. The halach uinic ruled both domestic and foreign affairs with the help of a council. Lesser chiefs ruled smaller social units.

 In the religious hierarchy, the head was called Ah Kin Mai ("The Highest One of the Sun") who ruled over all the priests below him (called Ah Kin , "The One of the Sun"). There were two special priestly functions involved in human sacrifice: the chacs, who were elderly men who held down the victim, and the nacon, who cut the living heart from the victim.

Contributing Factors to the Maya Empire Collapse: From about A.D., 790 to 889, Classic Maya civilization in the lowlands collapsed. Construction of temples and palaces ceased, and monuments were no longer erected. The Maya abandoned the great lowland cities, and population levels declined drastically, especially in the southern and central lowlands. Scholars debate the causes of the collapse, but they are in general agreement that it was a gradual process of disintegration rather than a sudden dramatic event.

Numerous Factors: A number of factors were almost certainly involved, and the precise causes were different for each city-state in each region of the lowlands. Among the factors that have been suggested are natural disasters, disease, soil exhaustion and other agricultural problems, peasant revolts, internal warfare, and foreign invasions. Whatever factors led to the collapse, their net result was a weakening of lowland Maya social, economic, and political systems to the point where they could no longer support large populations. Another result was the loss of inestimable amounts of knowledge relating to Maya religion and ritual.

Poisoned Fields: Poisoned fields contributed to the collapse. Along with factors such as war and changes in the environment, scientists now believe irrigation techniques played an important role in Mashkan-shapir's collapse. The same process that allowed farming in this region also eventually made it impossible to farm. Irrigation has a Catch-22: if irrigation water is allowed to sit on the fields and evaporate, it leaves behind mineral salts. If attempts are made to drain off irrigation water and it flows through the soil too quickly, erosion becomes a problem. Scientists believe that Mashkan-shapir's collapse was caused in part by destruction of the fields by mineral salts. When mineral salts concentrate in the upper levels of the soil, it becomes poisonous for plants.

In Mesopotamia, irrigation was essential for crop production. The rivers were higher than the surrounding plain because of built-up silt in the riverbeds, so water for irrigation flowed into the fields by gravity. Once the water was on the fields, it could not readily drain away because the fields were lower than the river. As the water evaporated, it not only left its dissolved mineral salts behind, but also drew salts upward from lower levels of the soil. Over time, the soil became toxic and would no longer support crops. By about 2300 B.C., agricultural production in Mesopotamia was reduced to a tiny fraction of what it had been. Many fields were abandoned as essentially useless. Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets tell of crop damage due to salts.

Post Collapse Period: After the collapse in the central and southern lowlands, Maya civilization continued and even flourished in the northern lowlands of Yucatán and in the southern highlands of Guatemala. The decline of the older powers in the south led to unprecedented growth in the Yucatán Peninsula and the rise of a number of new cities in that region. Among these were Uxmal, Sayil, and Labna, characterized by a distinctive architectural style known as Puuc, which features elaborate mosaic decoration (A.D. 900 to 1521). The city-states of Yucatán were ruled by a hereditary halach uinic (also called ahau) who was also the highest religious authority. The halach uinic had very broad powers. He formulated domestic and foreign policy and appointed batabs (lesser lords), who administered the surrounding towns and villages. Local councils made up of clan leaders aided the batabs. Other local Maya officials collected taxes and kept order. Post-classic merchants and professional craft workers composed a kind of middle class.

Institution of Priests: A high priest, known as ahaucan, conducted major ceremonies and was in charge of the education of priests and nobles. He was assisted by a hierarchy of priests who took part in ceremonies, kept vigils in the temples, performed healing rituals, taught, and served as oracles for the gods. Although similar features and patterns existed in the Classic political structure, the institution of priesthood appears only in the Post-classic.

Putun Generation: At the same time, during the 9th century, a new group of Maya, known as the Putun (or Chontal) Maya, began to arrive in Yucatán from their homeland in the Gulf Coast region of Mexico. The Putuns were warriors and traders without equal in the Maya area. At first they were interested in trade along rivers and overland routes. Eventually they became seafaring people whose merchants plied coastal trade routes around the peninsula and beyond in canoes. These large oceangoing canoes traveled the coast transporting huge loads of heavy and bulky goods much more efficiently than was possible in earlier times. Italian-Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus encountered such a canoe off the Caribbean coast of Honduras on his fourth voyage to the Americas in 1502.

Trading Post: Ports of trade, such as Xicalanco (now in Tabasco, Mexico), served as international meeting places that attracted not only Maya but also traders from highland Mexico to the west and Central America to the south. Wealthy Maya merchants organized expeditions that traveled great distances in fleets of canoes or over well-constructed stone roads and causeways. Along the routes they built warehouses for goods and rest houses for their carriers. The need to protect the trade networks led the Putuns to develop very aggressive military forces.

Putun Influence: Ethnically Maya, the Putuns adopted many stylistic influences from central Mexico in their art and architecture. Especially common was the image of the feathered serpent resenting the deity known as Quetzalcoatl in Mexico and as Kukulcan to the Maya. One very powerful Putun group, the Itzá, founded their capital at Chichén Itzá.

The Itzá brought their Mexicanized Maya culture to Chichén Itzá in the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula. During their rule, Mexican-influenced cultures produced certain changes in the traditional Maya way of life. In the social structure military lords rose in power, and the institution of a formalized priesthood separated from political rulers. This change was echoed in religion, in which the feathered serpent-god Kukulcan dominated all others. The use of human sacrifice in worship became increasingly important. There were also new forms of sacrifice; the Itzá threw victims into a sacred cenote, or natural well, along with offerings of pottery, gold, jade, and other valuables. This cenote, in fact, determined the location of Chichén Itzá and was responsible for the city’s importance as a pilgrimage center.

Mayapan Became the Dominant State: In about 1221, Mayapán, which became the dominant state in the northern lowlands, conquered Chichén Itzá. Mayapán was smaller than Chichén Itzá but more densely settled. Among its 3500 buildings were houses for nobles and commoners, and it was surrounded by a fortified stonewall 8 km (5 mi) long to protect it against neighboring groups. Structures were packed very tightly in the 4 sq km (1.5 sq mi) area of this walled city. Warlords and merchants continued to gain in importance, and the continual call to arms took up the time of the common people, who spent less and less time on their crafts. Architecture, pottery, and carvings of the period are crude in comparison to those of earlier periods. Finally, in about 1450, a competing lineage defeated the rulers of Mayapán, and the entire peninsula fell into civil war. The following 100 years of warfare left the Maya vulnerable to the invading Spaniards.

Spanish Conquest: The first Spaniards to encounter the Maya were a party of shipwrecked sailors who landed in Yucatán in 1511. Next came the expedition of Francisco Fernández de Córdoba in 1517. In 1527 Francisco de Montejo attempted to conquer Yucatán, and in 1546 his son succeeded. By 1524 Spanish explorer Pedro de Alvarado had conquered the southern highland area, which had also fallen into tribal warfare. Spanish domination of the entire Maya region was achieved in 1697, when the small group of Maya in the central Petén area was conquered by Martin de Ursua, the Spanish governor of the Yucatán. Many Maya were killed or died of European diseases that the Spanish brought with them. The Spanish forced most of the remainder to labor on Spanish farms or in gold and silver mines.

The modern descendants of the Maya still live as peasant farmers throughout the Maya region. They speak a mixture of Mayan and Spanish. One group, the Lacandón people of Mexico, still retains some ties with the past. They make pilgrimages with copal burning incense pots to worship the old gods among the ruins of ancient pyramids and temples.

Summary: The people known as the Maya lived in the region that is now eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. The Maya civilization was never united under one governing body like the Aztec. They had a comprehensive knowledge of naked-eye astronomy and charted the movements of the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and the constellations through the night sky, and marked the position of the sun along the horizon. Many aspects of Maya civilization developed slowly through a long -classic period, from about 2000 B.C. to 300 A.D.

Later in the Pre-classic period, they adopted intensive farming techniques such as continuous cultivation involving crop rotation and fertilizers, household gardens, and terraces. The early Maya probably organized themselves into kin-based settlements headed by chiefs. Maya population was in general very small, and very few of the Mayas permanently lived in the urban centers. The chiefs were hereditary rulers who commanded a following through their political skills and their ability to communicate with supernatural powers.

The astronomers’ observations were used to divine auspicious moments for many different kinds of activity, from farming to warfare. The fishing and farming villages which emerged on Guatemala's Pacific coast as early as 2000 B.C. were the forerunners of the great Maya civilization which dominated central America for centuries, leaving its enigmatic legacy of hilltop ruins. By 250 A.D., the Early Classic period, great temple cities were beginning to be built in the Guatemalan highlands, but by the Late Classic period (600-900 A.D.) the center of power had moved to the El Petén lowlands.

Following the mysterious collapse of the Maya civilization, the Itzaes also settled in El Petén, particularly around the sent-day site of Flores. When Pedro de Alvarado came to conquer Guatemala for the king of Spain in 1523, he found the faded remnants of the Maya civilization and an assortment of warring tribes. Independence from Spain came in 1821, bringing new prosperity to those of Spanish blood (creoles) and even worse conditions for those of Mayan descent. The Spanish Crown's few liberal safeguards were now abandoned.

Classic Maya civilization became more complex in about 300 A.D. as the population increased and centers in the highlands and the lowlands engaged in both cooperation and competition with each other. Mesoamerican cultures were among the most developed of ancient civilizations. Europeans arrived in 1519, and within a short period of time, much of Mesoamerica’s great cities and ceremonial centers were left in ruins as Spaniards scoured the land for gold. By 1521, most of the region was subdued and Spanish colonization was without effective opposition.

Converted to Christianity by their conquerors, native laborers and artisans erected Roman Catholic shrines and churches. Unlike the Aztec, the ancient Maya were not empire builders. Eye rearrangement is another thing that is probably too late for you to manage. The Maya found a slight degree of cross-eyed ness attractive. They used the headgear to distinguish their leaders from the other members of the community -- the bigger the hat, the more important the head underneath it. Bloodletting was an important part of this, both as a sacrifice to the gods and a way of calling forth the vision serpent, from whose mouth ancestors from the other world would appear and speak.

The Maya game used for entertainment was close to basketball. The ancient Maya had a complex pantheon of deities whom they worshipped and offered human sacrifices. The Mayas believed that the world had been created five times and destroyed four times. The Place of Mirrors – a place where people look at life, and their place in it, from a very different perspective. Mayan religion is obsessed with time. In order to correctly orient oneself to the cycles of time, one must be able to calculate these cycles with great accuracy. Religious ceremonies involved several aspects: dancing, competition, dramatic performances, prayer, and sacrifice. There is a vast pantheon of gods worshiped by the Maya. It is generally believed that what we recognize as the ancient Maya culture began around 300 A.D. as an offshoot of the Olmec civilization.

Although the Maya have endured depression and persecution in one form or another for the past 500 years, more than 6 million descendants still maintain a culture that is distinctly Maya in areas of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. The Maya of Central America and Southern Mexico developed hieroglyphic writing. In the Maya number system found in the codices, the ratio of increase of successive units was not 10 as in the Hindu system; it was 20 in all positions except the third.

Although Maya builders possessed many practical skills, the most distinctive Maya achievements were in abstract mathematics and astronomy. One of their greatest intellectual achievements was a pair of interlocking calendars, which was used for such purposes as the scheduling of ceremonies. One calendar was based on the sun and contained 365 days. The second was a sacred 260-day almanac used for finding lucky and unlucky days. The designation of any day included the day name and number from both the solar calendar and the sacred almanac.

The Maya, like the Aztecs, believed there had been four ages prior to our own. Venus was the astronomical object of greatest interest. Most native Mesoamerican documents were destroyed in the early years of the Spanish occupation, but a few priceless books and relics did survive the destruction, either having been hidden by the Indians or exported back to Europe as presents for the King. The Maya evidently thought quite a bit about the Sun and they watched it trace out a path along the ecliptic.

The Maya had a lunar component to their calendric inscriptions. The Maya portrayed the Ecliptic in their artwork as a Double-Headed Serpent. The Milky Way itself was much venerated by the Maya. The Maya Kings timed their accession rituals in tune with the stars and the Milky Way. The Maya developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing to record not only astronomical observations and calendrical calculations, but also historical and genealogical information.

The Maya of Central America used a zero hundreds of years before 876 A.D., its earliest known use in India. Maya mathematics constituted the most sophisticated mathematical system ever developed in the Americas. The Maya counting system required only three symbols: a dot resenting a value of one, a bar resenting five, and a shell resenting zero. The Maya used the vigesimal system for their calculations -- a system based on 20 rather than 10.

Limestone structures, faced with lime stucco, were the hallmark of ancient Maya architecture. There was a distinct class system in ancient Maya times. While the Maya diet varies, depending on the local geography, maize remains the primary staple now as it was centuries ago. Chiles were not just a source of flavoring, but a vital part of daily nutrition, so important that after the Conquest, pious Mayan converts to Christianity gave up chiles for Lent. The Mayas, like others forced to cultivate tropical rain forest, practiced slash and burn agriculture. In slash and burn agriculture is labor intensive, the Mayans would cut down a swath of forest, burn the felled trees and plants for fertilizer, and then cultivate the plot. A Maya family required about seven acres for every five people.

Spanish domination of the entire Maya region was achieved in 1697 when the small group of Maya in the central Petén area was conquered by Martin de Ursua, the Spanish governor of the Yucatán. They speak a mixture of Mayan and Spanish.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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