Since the Neolithic revolution, humans began to adopt a new process towards new practices, such as intensive agriculture, religion, rituals, etc. With technological advances, as well as ideological ones, early societies started to acquire a socio-political framework similar to the one in place in our current society. One of the societies that was well perceivable due to its large influence in Meso America, and their large territory was the Mayan society. In fact, during their most prosper centuries (250- 900 C.E.), the Mayas were able to expand their cultural, ideological and religious systems across Mexico and nearby countries. However, one question is often raised in the field of anthropology: Why do archaeologists consider the Mayan society either a chiefdom or a civilization? According to several researchers of that matter, the Mayan society was a civilization, because they possessed many characteristics exclusive to a state. By examining their intensive agriculture techniques, their centralized government, and their large foods surpluses, it can be seen that they had the main traits required for a society to be called a civilization. Nevertheless, these were not the only traits of a state that the Mayas possessed; they only generated several others, such as large territories, cities, a state religion, social stratification, monumental architecture, advances in knowledge, writing/counting systems and a standing army. The subsequent will describe how those features are representative of a state, rather than a chiefdom.
Initially, the Mayas covered a large territory during their peak period (250-900 C.E.) that consisted in southern Mexico (primarily the states of Tabasco, Yucatán, Campeche, Chiapas and Quintana Roo), western...
... middle of paper ...
...is is that the reservoir canals were connected to the raised fields. The main crops that they cultivated were: sunflower, cotton, maize and beans (Webster, 2002, p. 95).
Works Cited
Aveni, A. F. (2001). Time, Number, and History in the Maya World. Kronoscope, 1(1/2), 29-61 . doi:10.1163/156852401760060919. (WRITING SYSTEMS AND ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE)
Harrison, P. D. (2012). A MARVEL OF MAYA ENGINEERING: WATER MANAGEMENT ATTIKAL. Expedition, 54(2), 19-26. ( AGRICULTURE)
Sharer, R. (2012). WHO WERE THE MAYA? Expedition, 54(1), 12-16.
Thompson, Eric, J. (1966). The rise and fall of the Maya civilization. Norman, OK, U.S.A: University of Oklahoma Press.
Webster, D. (2002). The fall of the ancient Maya. New York, NY, U.S.A: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Webster, D. (2000). The Not So Peaceful Civilization: A Review of Maya War. Journal Of World Prehistory, 14(1), 65-119.
It is very likely that most people have heard about the Mayan Civilization in one way or another. Whether fictitious or factual, this ancient culture iw idelt recognized. The Mayan people lived from about 250 to 900 CE in Mesoamerica. Which includes modern day Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and parts of southern Mexico.These people had many remarkable achievements, all of which can fit under the categories of scale, genius effort, and significance. These achievements include an advanced trade system, an amazing understanding of numbers, and the ability to design and build cities that are still mostly standing today. However, their most impressive achievement is their complex calendars.
Before the end of the 20th century archeologist began making progress in translation of the ancient writing. Discoverers believed to have solved the mystery of the Maya when archeologists J.Eric Thompson, after conducting many excavations, concluded the people of Tikal were peaceful and free from conflict. After his analysis of the hieroglyphs believe declared the Maya people were spiritual and used Tikal as ceremonial site. As studies of the Maya people continued translation of the hieroglyphs went undispu...
Medina, Laurie Kroshus. 2003 ‘Commoditizing Culture – Tourism and Maya Identity’. Michigan State University, USA. pp 353-368
Forgotten and lost, this city laid wrapped in vegetation, covered with forest it once commanded. Its temples as side trees, webbed with vines, and walls of ferns. Tropical rain lashing at the crumbling surfaces of stone architecture built by armies of workers. The darkness of the night guided by owls and the day by parrot shrieks. Statues of gods lay along the remaining stone hedges. It was not till 1839 the American lawyer John Lloyd Stephens and English artist Fredrick Caterwood, rediscovered the magnificence of the Tikal Mayan civilization. Development in the Mayan society began with hunters and gatherers leading to sedentary life and agriculture. Then early Maya civic then the highest point of the Tikal at middle Maya civilization.
When the Spanish began to arrive in Mexico and in Central America in the early 15th century, one of the many civilizations they found was the Maya. The Maya, building upon the Olmec culture, were located in present-day Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, southern Mexico, and the Yucatan Peninsula. Even though they had many similarities, the Maya were separated by language differences. Because of that they were organized into city-states. Since there wasn’t a single city-state powerful enough to impose a political structure, the period from 200 A.D. to the arrival of the Spanish was characterized by the struggle of rival kingdoms for dominance.
In addition, the Division of Historical Research was also terminated in 1958, much to Kidder’s disappointment. Despite not being able to bring his grand plan for the Maya project into fruition, Kidder’s vision for the direction of the Carnegie Maya excavation program was still impressive in its attempt to incorporate an interdisciplinary research approach into archaeology. In addition, the archaeological data for the Maya excavation under Kidder was still very impressive in the amount of substance. There was enough data collected to construct an area chronology chart of the site. New discoveries about Maya’s relationship with other New World cultures were unearthed, and the earlier concept of “Old” and “New” Mayan empires were proven incorrect with the discovery that Petén and Yucatan occupations appeared at the same time (Greengo 1968, 323).
Carlsen, Robert. The War for the Heart & Soul of a Highland Maya Town. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.
A rich and diverse culture is what Guatemala is known for. It’s a mixture of the Spanish that conquered it and the indigenous people. Before it was conquered in the 16th century, it had a thriving people called the Mayans. The Mayan civilization is split into three different time periods called the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period. The Preclassic period consisted mostly of small villages of farmers. The Classic period is when the Mayans were at the height of their civilization. Many sites in Guatemala show just how thriving these people were. It lasted until 900 AD when it all of the sudden collapsed. Many of the cities were abandoned and many were killed off by a drought. The Postclassic period brought on many new cities, but none had the greatness of those of the Classic period. This period lasted until the Spanish conquered them beginning in 1915.
Diamond, Jared M. (2005) "The Maya Collapses.” Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Viking, 157-77.
In the Central America, most notably the Yucatan Peninsula, are the Maya, a group of people whose polytheistic religion and advanced civilization once flourished (Houston, 43). The Maya reached their peak during the Classic Period from around CE 250 to the ninth century CE when the civilization fell and dispersed (Sharer, 1). Although much has been lost, the gods and goddesses and the religious practices of the Classic Maya give insight into their lives and reveal what was important to this society.
In the fertile valleys or high plateaus the Mayas, Incas, and Aztecs built communities and villages practicing sedentary lifestyles. They had for the most part “permanent, intensive agriculture.” (Lane and Restall 2012) This allowed them to produce complex foods that benefitted the villages because it made them possible but it also resulted in social stratification. “Agricultural activities of the majority allowed a minority to live and work as artisans, merchants, warriors, nobles and royalty – permitting the development of writing, metallurgy, bureaucracy, and other features of high civilization.” More specifically, the Mayans were able to create the most complete of the three Mesoamerican writing systems, “one that was still used in the early sixteenth century.” (Lane and Restall 2012) They were also able to expand, but their expansion would also be their demise. Because they were so large -- filled with regional kingdoms and empires -- the Spanish were easily able to conquer
The Mayan civilization was located in southeastern Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. One of the first American civilizations, it lasted from about 1000 B.C.-1542 A.D. Their civilization flourished during the Sixth Century. They built many temples and over forty cities. The Mayan population consisted of almost fifteen million people who were all living in one of the many cities. The Mayan people were extremely religious and believed in multiple gods which meant they were polytheistic. Their most commonly worshiped god was the Maize God, or god of corn, as corn was the most grown and most relied on crop. The Mayans grew all of their own food so they needed to have useful farming methods. The one they used most often was the slash and burn method, which involved cutting down trees and burning them to make the soil fertil which was necessary to grow crops. This method worked for many years, but soon started to backfire. The Mayans were ahead of their time, but that did not prevent their mysterious decline which occurred between the years 800 A.D.-900 A.D. Although it is not known exactly why the powerful empire fell, but there are various probable theories. The mysterious decline of the Mayans may have been caused by
Pyburn, K. Anne, and Traci Ardren. "The Fall Of The Ancient Maya: Solving The Mystery Of The Maya Collapse." Latin American Antiquity 16.2 (2005): 225-226. Academic Search Premier.
The Maya culture has a long history that started in about 1000 BC. The history of the Maya is divided up into four different time periods: The Middle Preclassic Period, Late Preclassic Period, Classic Period, and Postclassic Period. The Middle Preclassic Period was when the small areas started to become city-like in the way that they started to build larger temples. The Late Preclassic Period was when the cities began to expand with paved roads and massive pyramids. The Classic Period was the time the Maya civilization hit it’s peak. Populations were growing rapidly and the structure of politics was formed. The Postclassic Period was when warfare was on the rise and cities were being abandoned(Coe 2005). This paper will focus on the Classic Period due to the fact that that is the greatest time period in Maya history.
In every successful ancient civilization, there is always a driving force that cultures and educates their society. 4,000 years ago, the Mayans dominated the regions of South America in what is now known as Mexico, El Salvador, the Honduras, Belize, and Guatemala. The Mayans were consisted of several city-states that shared language, religion and traditions. They became wealthy by their domestication of agricultural, skilled potters, weavers, architects and painters; they were also one of the most highly developed civilization everywhere in the world when it came to their logical development especially Mathematics, medication, and astronomy. Their ways of life seem to be less aggressive and more imaginative than other large civilization of this time period. The Maya religions seem to have been made up of thirteen heavens and nine underworlds ruled by the nine lords of the nights. Apparently, there was conflict between the sky gods and those of the underworld.