Ancient Maya

The ancient Maya occupied a broad territory roughly the size of the state of New Mexico. This area is located in the southeastern parts of Mexico including the Yucatan Peninsula and most of the modern states of Chiapas and Tabasco, much of northwestern Central America, and including the nations of Guatemala and Belize and the western parts of Honduras and El Salvador. The earliest known villages appeared along the seacoasts (6000-2000 B.C) where there was an abundance of food resources which could support year-round settled life (Sharer). There are 28 Mayan languages which are all closely related. To this day there are still around four million speakers of all these languages. It is believed that the Mayans originally traveled to this area from Asia.

There are two natural settings in the land of the Maya, the highlands and the lowlands. The highlands lie above 1,000 ft which include a vast amount of volcanoes both extinct and active. The highland flora includes a domination of pines, oaks and grasses. When compared with the lowlands, the wild fauna is not especially abundant, which may have been due to dense human population (Coe). The lowland climate is hot and uncomfortable. Lakes are rare in lowlands, especially in the Yucatan Peninsula. The lowlands are rich with fauna such as deer, turkey, spider monkey’s and howler monkey’s. Some of the more dangerous fauna include the jaguar and the water loving tapir. A high monsoon forest covers the southern lowlands which are dominated by mahogany trees. In the middle and lower layers of this forest includes many fruit trees such as the avocado (Coe).

The Mayans were also skilled farmers. They were able to clear large sections of tropical rain forest and build big underwater reservoirs for the storage of rainwater (crystal). For many years the ancient Maya we thought to have relied on swidden agriculture which is a system that makes use of an extensive land area by alternately burning off each individual field, cultivating it and allowing it to remain fallow for a period of time. This was crucial for re-nitrating and replenishment of the soils nutrients. Some of the most essential foods that were part of the Maya diet were Chile peppers, corn, beans and squash. Ancient Maya relied on wild animals as a key source of protein. Such animals as deer, tapir, peccary, agouti, paca, squirrels, rabbits, turkeys and manatee (Smith).According to an article published by National Geographic, Maya rulers had a growing demand for animals of symbolic value (jaguars, white tailed deer) which suggests this is the cause of decline of big game. Archeologist Kitty Emery has studied 80,000 bones which were found in 25 Maya trash mounds. Her findings show that between the years 600 to 900 A.D. large animal remains were the most plentiful, however in later years between 900 to 1500 A.D. big game dwindled most likely caused by a multiple of factors such as over population, deforestation and a drier climate (Hearn).

Mayan civilization can be described as not one specific unified empire, rather a large number of separate entities with a common cultural background (Crystal). The Ancient Maya were a class society with strong political power lying in the hands of the hereditary elite. At the top of the non-elite Mayan social structure were the nobles who had private lands, held the more important political offices, and filled the roles of high ranking warriors, wealthy farmers and merchants. The commoners were the free workers of the population. Next were the serfs who worked the private land of the nobles. At the bottom of this social structure were the slaves who were usually aquired during war (Coe). The life-cycle of the Maya was birth, acquisition of names, puberty, marriage, and death. Each of these events being marked by a ritual. Marriages were often arranged between families while the boy and girl were still very young. Monogamy was the rule however, polygamy was permitted and seems to be more widespread among the elite, important men who could afford it, had more wives. Cross-cousin marriages were allowed however it was taboo to marry someone with the same paternal name. The son in law lived and worked in the house of his wife’s parents for six to seven years. Divorce was easy and often occurred. The men usually left their wife for trifling reasons and went on to marry another. There were men who married ten to twelve times; women had the same liberty however their first marriage was by a priest. It was a custom that if a wife was widowed, she should remain single for at least a year after the death of her husband. After which she was able to remarry without ceremony, all that was involved in this process was the man simply going to her house and if the woman gave him something to eat this indicated her acceptance (Sharer). Both men and women of the ancient Maya had their front teeth filed in various patterns. Many Mayan skulls have been discovered in which the incisors have been inlaid with small pieces of jade. Until marriage, young men painted themselves black (as well as the warriors all time). After marriage, elaborate tattooing and scarification began for both sexes.

Ancient Mayan sculpture has two basic categories, architectural sculpture and free standing monuments. The architectural sculptures are found on wall panels, steps, roof elements, and lintels. These were often intended to be viewed closely only by residents of these buildings which were mostly members of the elite class. Free standing monuments included upright stone shafts, flat, rounded or square stones and rarely boulder sculptures. These were almost always set in the plazas so that they could be viewed and appreciated by everyone, not just the elite. Limestone was very plentiful, thus it was the principal stone used in Mayan sculptures. The tools that were used for this sculpting were mainly chisels and hammer-stones.

The art of paining was used to decorate walls of important buildings. Like the architectural sculpture, these decorations were intended for the elite residents to view, and were inaccessible to the public (Sharer).

The sacred book of the Mayan religion is known as the Popol Vuh. This book contains the most literate and complete version of the creation myth. This story involves the Hero Twins whose names were Hunapu and Xbalanque. These names refer to the sun (celestial/life) and jaguar (underworld/death). The story tells of the fathers of the hero twins who had been ball players and had been sacrificed by the gods of death. One of the fathers was buried underneath the Xibalba (underworld) ballcourt, the other was decapitated and his head was hung from a calabash tree. From this tree, the head spit into one of the hands of the daughters of death, and impregnated her. Fleeing from her angry father, the pregnant girl came to earth and was sheltered by the grandmother