Its size dwarfed the Classic Maya capital of Tikal, and its existence proves that the Maya flourished centuries before the Classic Period. The Classic Period, which began around A. At its peak, the Maya population may have reached 2,, or as many as 10,, Excavations of Maya sites have unearthed plazas, palaces, temples and pyramids , as well as courts for playing the famous Maya ball game ulama , all ritually and politically significant to Maya culture. Maya cities were surrounded and supported by a large population of farmers.
The Maya were deeply religious, and worshiped various gods related to nature, including the gods of the sun, the moon, rain and corn. They were thought to serve as mediators between the gods and people on earth, and performed the elaborate religious ceremonies and rituals so important to the Maya culture. The Classic Maya built many of their temples and palaces in a stepped pyramid shape, decorating them with elaborate reliefs and inscriptions.
These structures have earned the Maya their reputation as the great artists of Mesoamerica. Guided by their religious ritual, the Maya also made significant advances in mathematics and astronomy , including the use of the zero and the development of complex calendar systems like the Calendar Round, based on days, and later, the Long Count Calendar, designed to last over 5, years. Serious exploration of Classic Maya sites began in the s. By the early to midth century, a small portion of their system of hieroglyph writing had been deciphered, and more about their history and culture became known.
Most of what historians know about the Maya comes from what remains of their architecture and art, including stone carvings and inscriptions on their buildings and monuments. The Maya also made paper from tree bark and wrote in books made from this paper, known as codices; four of these codices are known to have survived. They are also credited with some of the earliest uses of chocolate and of rubber.
One of the many intriguing things about the Maya was their ability to build a great civilization in a tropical rainforest climate. Traditionally, ancient peoples had flourished in drier climates, where the centralized management of water resources through irrigation and other techniques formed the basis of society. This was the case for the Teotihuacan of highland Mexico, contemporaries of the Classic Maya.
In the southern Maya lowlands, however, there were few navigable rivers for trade and transport, as well as no obvious need for an irrigation system. By the late 20th century, researchers had concluded that the climate of the lowlands was in fact quite environmentally diverse.
The environment also held other treasures for the Maya, including jade, quetzal feathers used to decorate the elaborate costumes of Maya nobility and marine shells, which were used as trumpets in ceremonies and warfare.
From the late eighth through the end of the ninth century, something unknown happened to shake the Maya civilization to its foundations. One by one, the Classic cities in the southern lowlands were abandoned, and by A. The reason for this mysterious decline is unknown, though scholars have developed several competing theories. Some believe that by the ninth century the Maya had exhausted the environment around them to the point that it could no longer sustain a very large population.
Other Maya scholars argue that constant warfare among competing city-states led the complicated military, family by marriage and trade alliances between them to break down, along with the traditional system of dynastic power.
As the stature of the holy lords diminished, their complex traditions of rituals and ceremonies dissolved into chaos.
They developed a written language of hieroglyphs and invented the mathematical concept of zero. With their expertise in astronomy and mathematics, the Maya developed a complex and accurate calendar system. Anthropologists and archaeologists thought Maya culture originated in the northern reaches of what is now Guatemala about BCE, and migrated north to the Yucatan Peninsula of present-day Mexico beginning around CE. No, there are millions of Mayans and Mayan speakers still inhabiting Central America today.
Scholars have suggested a number of potential reasons for the downfall of Maya civilization in the southern lowlands, including overpopulation, environmental degradation, warfare, shifting trade routes and extended drought. They have rather long arms and small hands and feet.
The average height of the men is 5 feet 1 inch and of the women, 4 feet 8 inches. The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the 14th, 15th and 16th century. They were a civilization with a rich mythology and cultural heritage.
Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home How did the Mayans live? These ancient farming methods and family traditions have persisted over the centuries and continue to be followed in many rural communities today. The southern Maya in the mountain valleys chose to unite under high-ranking chiefs of kings, but most of the lowland Maya resisted the pressure to conform, preferring tribal confederacies that recognized no power above their village patriarchs.
The Late Preclassic period witnessed the emergence of the ahau , or high king, and the rise of kingdoms throughout Maya lands. For the next thousand years the principles of kingship dominated Maya life. Within each Maya kingdom, society was organized hierarchically, including kings, nobles, teachers, scribes, warriors, architects, administrators, craftsmen, merchants, labourers, and farmers.
Besides the capital, outlying subsidiary sites ranged from sizeable towns down to hamlets and extended-family farming compounds. There may be several reasons why the Maya moved away from the small farming communities ruled by local officials to the complex kingdoms of the Classic period.
Finding ways to collect rainwater and creating more arable land for agriculture played a major role in bringing about these changes. A sizeable labour force was organized to build and maintain the waterworks reservoirs, cisterns, and canals and tend the cornfields.
0コメント