The Mayan Civilization: Mesoamerican America

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. The Maya civilization extended throughout the present-day southern Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and the Yucatán Peninsula states of Quintana, Campeche and Yucatán. The Maya area also extended throughout the northern Central American region, including the present-day nations of Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras and extreme northern El Salvador. The Maya area is generally divided into three loosely defined zones: the southern Pacific lowlands, the highlands, and the northern lowlands. The Maya highlands include all of elevated
terrain in Guatemala and the Chiapas highlands. The southern lowlands lie just south of the highlands, and incorporate a part of the Mexican state of Chiapas, the south coast of Guatemala, Belize and northern El Salvador. The northern lowlands cover all of the Yucatán Peninsula, including the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo, the Petén Department of Guatemala, and all of Belize. Parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas are also included in the northern lowlands. The Mayas numbered in the millions, they created a multitude of kingdoms and small empires, built monumental palaces and temples, engaged in grandiose ceremonies, and developed an elaborate hieroglyphic writing system. The social basis of this exuberant civilization was a large political and economic intersocietal network (world system) extending throughout the Maya region and beyond to the wider Mesoamerican world. The political, economic, and culturally dominant ‘core’ Maya units of the Classic Maya world system were located in the central lowlands, while its corresponding dependent or ‘peripheral’ Maya units were found along the margins of the southern highland and northern lowland areas. But as in all world systems, the Maya core centers shifted through time, starting out during Preclassic times in the southern highlands, moving to the central lowlands during the Classic period, and finally shifting to the northern peninsula during the Postclassic period. In this Maya world system the semi-peripheral (mediational) units generally took the form of trade and commercial centers.

POLITICAL SYSTEM Like other civilizations, the Maya had rulers and a ruling class, and their political structure was complex.
Their kings were powerful and claimed to be descended from the Gods and the planets. The Maya culture began around 1800 B.C. in the lowlands of the Yucatan and southern Mexico. For centuries, their culture slowly advanced, but as of yet they had no concept of kings or royal families. It wasn't until the middle to late preclassic periods(300 B.C. or so) that evidence of kings began to appear at certain Maya sites. The founding King of Tikal's first royal dynasty, Yax Ehb' Xook, lived sometime in the Preclassic period. By 300 A.D., kings were common and the Maya began building stelae to honor them: large, stylized stone statues which describe the King, or "Ahau," and his accomplishments. The Maya Kings claimed descent from the Gods and planets, laying claim to a quasi-divine status, somewhere between humans and Gods. A Maya king was groomed from birth to rule. A prince had to pass through many different initiations and rites. As king, he was supreme head of the military and was expected to fight and participate in any armed conflicts entered into by his city-state. He also had to participate in many religious rituals, as he was a conduit between humans and the Gods. Kings were allowed to take multiple
wives. Mayan's laws were very, very strict.
It did not matter who you were but if you committed a crime you would be punished. Some of the punishments were things like a fine, or having all of your possessions sold or auctioned , or being sold into slavery or possibly getting thrown into a jail for a very long time.Mayan law was pretty fair. If you committed a lesser crime, your hair would be cut short. Short hair was a sign of disgrace. The Mayans believed that criminals did not act on their own but were being controlled by evil spirits. Although they believed this, criminals were still being punished. The most serious offense was murder and the punishment. They collected evidence and presented it before reaching their final decision. If you committed a crime, and you were found guilty after a judge had heard your case, you would be punished. Punishments were either getting all your possessions sold into auction, hair cut short, death, heavy fines, getting thrown into jail or sold into slavery. If your punishment was death, the most often way die was to be thrown off a
cliff.

MAYAN ECONOMIC SYSTEM the Mayan economy was based on food and agriculture. Farmers acted as a big part of the economy since they're the ones that brought in food for the civilization. Farmers gave up portion's of each crop, or paid with other items such as salt, cloth, honey, fruit, and domestic animals to the government and also used them to buy and trade goods. Cacao and cotton were grown as cash crops, and were also used to trade. The only animals they raised were turkeys, guniea pigs, ducks, and edible dogs. Bees were also raised to produce honey for themselves or for TRADE, and worked by LABOR.
Currency: The Maya used several different mediums of exchange. In the trading of food commodities the barter system was typically used for large orders: Cacao beans, marine shells were used as exchange media, although calling them "currency" is a bit strong, since the production of any of them wasn't controlled by a specific government. For more expensive purchases gold, jade and copper were used as a means of exchange.

Mayan culture

The Maya social classes are a system of social organization. It is divided in: ahau (king)
Nobles: under the ahau in the social classes was the nobility. This class, also known as almehenob consisted of the positions of the local magistrates and executives, town counselors, deputies ah holpopob (who assisted local lords in governmental affairs) and the tupiles (policemen) priests: also called the ahkin. The priests performed "activities of ritual, sacrifice, divination, astronomical observation, chronological calculations, hieroglyphic writings, religious instruction, management of the monasteries". In addition to these responsibilities, the priest assisted the ajaw with regards to politics as well. merchants and artists: The Merchants who sold and traded with different cities and an Artisan who made the pottery and designed buildings and temples. The Maya were accomplished traders. They traveled by sea, river and well-constructed roads to trade with other city-states. peasants and slaves: Then there were the peasants. Men were farmers and used the slash and burn agricultural method. Women had duties in the household. Some peasants were asked to be slaves of the king. This was decided by the nobles.

Customs: Mayan families lived all together (parents, children, grandparents). Men and older boys worked on farming, hunting, cropping, fishing, women and older girls worked on clothes, making food, raising children, and getting firewood and water. When a member of the family died, they buried them in graves under their houses, while wealthier families buried them in tombs with their precious belongings. Mayans worshiped their ancestors and their Gods (Itzamna, Kukulcan, Bolon Tzacab, and Chac), and sacrificed humans for them. During the sacrifice, they would rip out the person's heart and offer it to the Gods, or throw people off cliffs. Mayans also frequently had festivals to worship the Gods, and wore costumes that resembled them. They did dances to insure the growth of crops. They had a Mayan calendar, wholar year of 365 days, divided into 18 months, 20 days each, and ending in 2012. Other customs are that people put a rope and a toy or rock to put their babies eyes crossed which was fashion back then.

Music: The Mayas loved music and dance. They had over 5,000 dances. Dancing was a huge part of religious ceremonies. Musicians played wooden flutes and trumpets made from wood, seashells, or clay, and drums made from turtle shells

Games: The Maya had a ball game called Pok-A-Tok. It was played on an odd shaped field. The object of the game was to move a hard rubber ball without the use of hands or feet. The losing team was usually sacrificed.

Food: It is known that the Mayas enjoyed chocolate. They had it in many forms from a frothy drink to a pulpy mush.The Mayas referred to chocolate as "The Drink of the Gods." They had other food such as cornmeal, maize, black beans, roasted meat, rabbit stew, turkey and meat.

Writing: Maya words were in hieroglyphs, each picture with its own meaning. Unlike other ancient central American civilizations, the Maya could write in full sentences and even stories. A story could be made by drawing several pictures together. The Maya covered their cities and buildings with hieroglyphs carved into the stone. Most Mayas could read some hieroglyphs although priests and nobles were probably the only people who knew the whole language. Maya also wrote in books made out of the soft inner bark of a type of fig tree. They would take one strip of bark and fold it over and over to make pages. The Maya would write with quills made from turkey feathers. Language
"a" is "ah" "x" is "sh"
"e" is "eh" "i" is "ee"
"o" is "oh" "oo" is a longer "oh"
"u" is "oo" "c" is "k"

Mayan English
Bix a belex? Hi, how are you?
Maloob I'm fine,OK.
Yum Botic Thank you.
Mixba You're welcome.
Tu'x ka binex? Where are you going
Jewelry: The Mayas wore many different forms of jewelry. The most common was jade. Jade was worn in beads, earrings, and ear spools. Jade was also one of the materials that the Mayas traded. The Mayas also wore gold.
Architecture: Long ago the pre-Columbian Mayans built highly complex cities and mammoth structures without the invention of the wheel or domesticated animals(Benson 40). Their limited architectural and engineering knowledge enabled them to strengthen their civilization by creating wondrous religious centers. The information that I found was so extensive that I decided to focus on their pyramids and temples. The term "pyramid" is a geometric reference to the shape of these construction. The Mayan version of the pyramid is truncated so that a temple can be built on the top(Stierlin99). The ancient Mayans built two types of pyramids, those that were meant to be climbed and those that were not. The first type was used for holding sacrificial rituals. The other type was not meant to be touched and was sacred. The steps on theses structures were too steep to climb and many times they had doorways leading to nowhere. During their rituals, the priests would ascend the pyramid from the earth to the sky by means of staircases. They believed that this brought them closer to the gods(Stierlin 98). These staircases lead from ground level to the temple. The number of staircases that the pyramids had varied, but there were typically two or four. Many times there would be a platform connecting the steps somewhere near the middle of the pyramid so that the priest-king could stop and do a part of his ritual before continuing to the top(Stierlin 98). Aside from having religious functions, Mayan pyramids also had other purposes. The pyramids were built so high that their tops could be seen protruding out of the jungle. Because of this, the Mayan people were able to use them as landmarks. That was not the only significance of building them so high though. They also served as a reminder that the gods were ever present(Hernandez 13). Some pyramids even house burial chambers for high ranking officials. Housed inside these mammoth structures were small burial rooms. There were narrow corridors that led to these chambers(Hernandez 21). These burial chambers often contained treasures such as jade(Hernandez 13). Aztec pyramids were comparatively similar to ones of the Maya. One exceptionis that the Aztecs often built two or more temples at the top while the Mayan pyramids generally had one.
Like the Mayan pyramids, their temples were important because of their ritual value. The temples were constructed in the same style as Mayan huts(Stierlin 99). They had a relatively small interior compared to the mass of the structure as a whole(Sharer 196). The Mayans never did find a balance between the two(Stierlin 99).
Mayan temples, similar to those of the Aztecs, normally housed altars or stone platforms where the priests would perform thier sacrificial rituals to their god. On the wall behind the platform there would be a painted representation of the god of that city. The people of each Mayan city paid homage to their own god(Stierlin 100).
There was a strong religious and astrological connection to the building endeavors of the Mayans. For example, they might build a temple in a specific location so that if you faced the front you would be looking south to see the path of the Jaguar. The sun, rising in the east and setting in the west, would circle the temple. The steps to the temple would be placed exactly in the middle so that the priest would be in better touch with the gods. Some building also possessed daily and yearly time functions. Mayan buildings also have a metaphoric value. The Mayans believed that the pyramids were representations of mountains: temples represented caves to the underworld, doorways represented monster mouths and both were decorated accordingly.

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