This show takes us to the little-known world of the
Mayan Empire. It delves into the culture, unique weaponry (like the atlatl and obsidian club), scientific achievements and mysterious disappearance of the
Mayans.
The
Maya is a
Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian
Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c.
2000 BC to
AD 250), according to the
Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state of development during the
Classic period (c. AD 250 to 900), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the
Spanish.
The Maya civilization shares many features with other
Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected in
Honduras,
Belize,
Guatemala, and western
El Salvador to as far away as central
Mexico, more than 1,
000 km (620 mi) from the central Maya area. The many outside influences found in
Maya art and architecture are thought to have resulted from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest.
The
Maya peoples survived the Classic period collapse and the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and sixteenth-century
Spanish colonization of the Americas.
Today, the Maya and their descendants form sizable populations throughout the Maya area; they maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs resulting from the merger of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideas and cultures.
Millions of people speak
Mayan languages today. In
2005 the
Rabinal Achí, a play written in the
Achi language, was declared a
Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible
Heritage of
Humanity by
UNESCO.
Scholars continue to discuss when this era of
Maya civilization began.
Discoveries of Maya occupation at
Cuello, Belize have been carbon dated to around
2600 BCE.
The people built monumental structures. The
Maya calendar, which is based on the so-called
Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, begins on a date equivalent to 11 August
3114 BC.
The most widely accepted view, as of
2010, is that the first clearly Maya settlements were established around
1800 BCE in the
Soconusco region of the
Pacific Coast[citation needed]. This period, known as the
Early Preclassic, was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines.
Important sites in the southern Maya lowlands include
Nakbe,
El Mirador,
Cival, and
San Bartolo. In the Guatemalan Highlands,
Kaminaljuyu emerged around 800 BC. For many centuries it controlled the jade and obsidian sources for the
Petén and
Pacific Lowlands. The important early sites of
Izapa,
Takalik Abaj, and
Chocolá at around 600
BCE were the main producers of Cacao. Mid-sized Maya communities also began to develop in the northern Maya lowlands during the
Middle and
Late Preclassic, though these lacked the size, scale, and influence of the large centers of the southern lowlands. Two important Preclassic northern sites include
Komchen and
Dzibilchaltun. The first written inscription in
Maya hieroglyphics also dates to this period (c. 250 BCE).
Scholars disagree about the boundaries that define the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and neighboring Preclassic Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the
Olmec culture of the
Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe--Zoque- and Zapotec-speaking peoples of
Chiapas and southern
Oaxaca, respectively. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone, and evidence suggests that these cultures and the formative Maya influenced one another. Takalik Abaj, in the Pacific slopes of Guatemala, is the only site where
Olmec features have been clearly succeeded by
Mayan ones.
Around 100 AD, a widespread decline and abandonment of Maya cities occurred -- called the Preclassic
Collapse. This marked the end of the Preclassic era.
- published: 21 Jan 2014
- views: 7350