Research Paper On Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza
Introduction
Chichen Itza is a large pre-columbian city that was built by the people of the Mayan Culture, located about 75 miles from Merida. The Mayan culture is known for its art, architecture, and astronomical systems. Their economy was based on agriculture, craft production, and trade. The Mayans had a ruling class and a complex political structure. The political system didn’t fully develop until the Classic Era. This system had a four-tiered political hierarchy, starting with the kings and his major cities. They worshiped all of the nature gods, the most important being the creator god, Itzamna. From 600 AD to 800 AD, the classic period flourished and great cities thrived before they fell. The populations grew rapidly and

The stars, moons, sun, and planets were the “gods”. They believed the Earth was the center of everything, and they believed some Maya dynasties descended from the sun and the moon. Temples were often built with astronomy in mind, aligned with the movements of planets, the sun, or the moon.
The Mayan Economy The Mayan economy was based on agriculture, craft production, and trade. Their food was provided through fields, terracing, forest gardens, managed fallows, and wild harvesting. “The Mayan farmers cultivated corn, beans, cacao, chili, maguey, bananas, and cotton, besides giving attention to bees, from which he obtained both honey and wax. Various fermented drinks were prepared from corn, maguey, and honey” (http://www.crystalinks.com/mayanagriculture.html). Crafts were made by individual families in addition to their chores. They mostly made pottery, utensils, and textiles for enjoyment as well as trade. The poorer families only made what was necessary for their family. Nobility and royalty had custom crafts specially made for them. Nobles and royals would sponsor artists to work in their own workshops and make luxury goods that were monuments for political leaders, and religious items for major

Instead of unifying their empire, the Mayan civilization had “city-states”. “City-states only ruled the surrounding area, or nearby states if they were powerful enough” (http://latinamericanhistory.about.com). The idea of “kings” wasn’t apparent until the late preclassic periods. Mayan kings claim to have descended from the gods and planets. “The Kings and royal family had important roles at public ceremonies. They channeled their connection to the Gods through sacrifices, dance, spiritual trances and hallucinogenic enemas” (http://latinamericanhistory.about.com). The Mayans political system didn’t fully develop until the Classic Era. This system had a four-tiered political hierarchy, starting with the kings and his major cities. After the major cities came small groups of vassal city-states. The third tier in the hierarchy was the affiliated villages. Finally, the fourth tier, the hamlets, cities devoted to