Mayan Civilization: A Unique Culture
With my background in cultural anthropology, I find the Mayan Civilization fascinating. The Mayan Civilization is what is referred to as Mesoamerican civilization. Mesoamerica is the region located in the middle latitudes of the Americas or lands of the Western Hemispheres. This includes North, South and what we call today Central America in addition to those regions and islands associated with those above. Today Mesoamerica refers to the countries of Central America and nine Southwestern States of Mexico. The Mesoamerican region includes Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Vera Cruz and Yucatan.
The Mayan Civilization is recognized for the only pre-Columbian society with a fully written language in addition to a sophisticated mathematical and astronomical system. The Mayan Civilization is marked by periods of development. It was established during what is called the Pre-classic period reached their apex in the Classic period from the years 250 to 900 and continued to the arrival of the Spanish, which is the post classic period.
The pre classic period of Mayan Civilization is noted to have started around the 10 millennium BC where the first Mayan region was inhabited. This period is marked by sedentary communities. These communities also created clay figurines from firing pottery. The introduction of ceremonial architecture is noted to have begun around 1000 BC with the building of simple burial mounds.
During the classic period, which is 250 to 900, the development of urbanism amongst the Mayan Regions flourished. Large-scale construction occurred during the classic period as well as monumental inscription. Intellectual and artistic development also surfaced on a large scale particularly in the Mayan southern lowland regions. The most notable architecture at this period was the pyramids and palaces and carved stone slabs. The Carved stone slabs were called tetun or stone trees by the Mayan. The tetun were covered with hieroglyphics depicting the rulers, their genealogy, their military conquests and accomplishments. The classic period was also a period where the Mayan traded with other groups that were near and distant to their civilization. The goods they used in trade were salt, cacao, seashells, jade and obsidian. It is not exactly known why the Mayan Civilization collapsed between the 8th and 9th centuries. Ecological reasons that may have contributed to the fall of its empire were environmental disasters, epidemic disease and climate changes. Non-envoirmental factors included foreign invasion, peasant revolts and the collapse of trade routes. It took the Spanish conquistadors 170 years to fully take control of Mayan territories of the Yucatan Peninsula and the Guatemalan Highlands. The Spanish had a harder time bringing the Mayans under control because of the many separate states the Mayans had. The Spanish had to subdue the independent Mayan areas each with their own resistance one by one. This was different than the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Incas because there was no localized area to control. Each region had its controlling center. The Aztec and Incas were centralized unlike the Mayan Empire. Another deterrent to the Spanish Domination of the Mayan Lands was the fact that the Mayan lands were not rich in silver and gold which was the Conquistadors main reason for colonial domination in that region.
Mayan Civilization Ancient Maya History
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