Clothing,
art 5
Bibliography 13
ABSTRACT
This
is a project about the Mayan and their impact on our society. This project Hill
describe the ayan society and the
importance of their society in today’s everyone’s lives. The project also includes current discoveries and Ruins
that have been found not many years ago. By reading this project you will learn
and know how interesting a society such as the Mayan can be and how life in
those times was and how different their culture differs from ours and what has
been inherited from the Mayans. It describes the contributions of the Mayans
that now a days are used thanks to this fabulous group of Indians. Some of the
contributions described in this project are: art, architecture, writing,
calendar, mathematics and economy.
The information for
this project was obtained from sources like books and web pages in which a
copious amount of information about this culture can be found.
The
history of the Mayans is very wide and they have been existing probable since
2000 to 1000 BC. They are most likely to be a well-known group of civilizations
in America. “The Maya civilization was never united under one governing body
like the Aztec. Instead, independent city-states shared many traits and beliefs
that categorized them as Maya. (Genry
Joil. 1998)
The theory that is generally accepted is that the
“Olmec “, Mayans’ ancestors came to America crossing the Behring Strait at
least 20,000 years ago by taking advantage of the freezing conditions that were
found in this region during certain months of the year. They probably
originated in the Yucatan Peninsula around 2600 B.C. They rose to prominence
around A.D. 250 which is today southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El
Salvador, and northern Belize. The
Europeans were not as successful nor prosperous as the Mayans. That is why this
period of time is called the “dark” age for the Eastern hemisphere habitants.
The Mayans lived six times longer than the Roman Empire and built more cities
than the Egyptians. The Olmec were a big influence for the Mayans. Ideas and inventions were inherited from the
Olmec such as astronomy, calendrical systems, and hieroglyphic writing. The
Mayan society has been well-known for their great knowledge in architecture,
building,and decorating temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, and they
did not use metal tools at all. The Mayan history is divided into three parts:
Classic Period - 300-900 AD, Post Classic Period 1000 - 1500 AD – Growth and
Ruin , Post Columbian Period Conquest and Rebellion (1500 AD).The Classic
Period was the one in which they developed their skills in architecture and
arts. They made significant discoveries in science, including the use of the
zero in mathematics. They tried to define their boundaries and established
territory in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The major
cities of the Classic period were Tikal (Guatemala), Palenque and Yaxchilán
(Chiapas, Mexico), Copán and Quirigua (Honduras). Most of the population for
most of this period lived in central lowlands of Mexico and Belize. The Mayans were warlike and raided their
neighboors for land, citizens, and captives. In the Post Classical period ,
writing and painting excelled while inscription in stone dropped off. Their
works in art were not as impressive as the Mayans from the Classical Period,
but most of the ruins found in Cancun are from this time period. This was the
period in which this culture made Contact with the Spanish. Chichen Itza (near Valladolid), Uxmal (near
Merida) and Mayanspán (west of Chichen Itza) were the three most important
cities during the Post Classic period. There were wars
between the rival groups of Mayans over territory until the region was
conquered by the Spanish. Some cities were abandoned and resettled. The Post
Colombian Period- The Mayans fought the Spanish for over twenty years, but
eventually succumbed. The Mayans were slaughtered fighting the Spanish but the
diseases brought by these last mentioned decreased the Mayan population. They
moved into villages and were forced to pay a big amount of taxes to the
Spanish. There were many wars during this time period between the invaders and
the Mayans trying to defend what was theirs. They resisted for many years but
disease and weapons used by the Europeans made them surrender. After fifty years of being independent, the
Mayan’s lands became federal territory. For about sixty years, half of the Eastern and Southern Peninsula
remained no man’s land until the coastal development began.The Mayans were
separated in a class system in which on top of everyone were the rulers or
governors, then the scribes, artists, and architects. The Mayans were
culturally divided in three sections: the Northern found in the Northern
lowlands of Mexico, was home of the Post-Classic Period Mayans. The Central
region that goes from Tabasco in the Northwest to Belize and Guatemala's
Motagua River, was home of the Classical Mayans. The Southern region is where
you can found clear evidence of the Mayan writing and this region was
influenced by the Olmec.Their government was based in an hereditary absolute
monarchy. It was run by priests, who also ruled cities, led ceremonies and
performed other various tasks. Maya priests would perform these ceremonial
services daily after climbing the hundreds of temple steps.” There is no
evidence of a priesthood and it is likely that priestly duties were performed
by the ruler.” (Julianna Kettlewell. 2004). On public occasions the king would
appear dressed with white robes decorated with gold and precious stones and
wearing quetzal plumes on his head. In their government they were divided
positions, that are the king, who was the one who was superior from everyone
and gave advice to the lords and priests. After him were the provincial
governors, then rulers of towns and then the lord who were the military
commanders. They were not paid but were responsible for maintaining their
district. At the bottom of the social triangle were the farmers or labourers.Most
Mayans were village farmers who gave two-thirds of their produce and much of
their labor to the upper classes. Farmers, merchants or artisans were called
plebeians A trade system existed through which salt, obsidian, jade, cacao,
animal pelts, tropical bird feathers, luxury ceramics and other goods flowed.
Goods from the highlands were traded with those of the lowlands. Obsidian was
made into tools and weapons. People Esther bartered goods directly or exchanged
them for cacao beans. The Maya farmer 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 prapared from corn,
maguey, and honey. Children were dependent of their parents until they had
reached an age to get married. The only children who were educated were the
ones from the nobility.The plebeians children were educated by them. Only
different gender persons could get married and marriage could only happen
between certain degree of relationship as now a days. The clothes they wore
were totally different from today’s
clothes.Man only wore a cotton breechcloth wrapped around the middle and
sometimes with a short sleeved shirt. Women wore a skirt and a shirt. Their
hair was plaited in long tresses. Both,
man and women wore sandals. They usually had their body and face painted but
were characterized by being personally very neat and clean.The Mayan were a
high skilled civilization and evidences
for this are their interest in stone, stucco, jade, bone, pottery. Pottery was
used for household uses and wood was used along the coast to build canoes.
Their stools were made of stones.The Mayans did not use any iron except for
gold ornaments and copper utensils brought from other countries. The art in
which the Mayans are best known for is their architecture. Mayan art has been
characterized by a great complexity Mayans architects used arch like structures
with sides that extend inward until they meet at the top. They liked to express
themselves artistically. Their works were made out of shell, bone and decorated
with cotton textiles colourfully. All the structures built by the Mayans were
in honor of their gods. All temples were built in large open areas elevated
above the city so every citizen could view the religious ceremonies. Their
architectural creation were perfect even if they did not have metal tools.
Their temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories were extremely decorated, The
interior walls were also frequently covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions
carved in the stone or wood, or painted upon the plaster.The Mayans made
crystal skulls sculptures with the shape of human skulls. Behind this skulls
there was a meaning for everyone and now a days they are very valuable and are
only displayed in very important museums like in Greece, Egypt and France.
There are legends that say that Mayans keep skulls secretly hidden from the
rest of the world.They supposedly contain encoded information. The Mayan
writing system was a combination of phonetic symbols and ideograms. It was
often called hieroglyphics because it resembled the Egyptian writing system but
were actually codices. The theme of a codex (pik hu'un, in Maya), could be
linked to religion, astronomy, the agricultural cycles, history, or prophecies.
Codices were made out of paper just as modern books.
The paper they made was from the inner bark of fig
trees, called kopó in Mayan. They used
some other materials too like cotton cloth and maguey paper but the Mayans
preferred kopó. The Mayan writing system is highly sophisticated. Only the
people in the nobility were able to read their symbols. Mayans recorded their
work on wood and stone. Unfortunately the Spanish after conquering the Mayan
regions burnt all of their works that were in books. Now a days only four
codices remain. The only codices
remaining are: The Dresden
Codex, The Madrid Codex, The Paris Codex, The Grolier Codex. The information
contained in these codices was used by priests or the noble class to determine
dates of importance or seasonal interest. The codices probably kept track of
dynastic information as well. “The contents of the codices must have varied,
but some of them were evidently similar to astronomic almanacs” (Rolando
Ramirez. 1997) After the Spanish burnt their books the Mayans wanted to
preserve the remaining books so they chose to bury them. Researchers have found
codices but because of the humidity in the Mayan region, only fragments remain.
Only talented people were assigned to make the codices and they received the
titles ah ts'ib and ah who which means scribes and painters. “The Maya vision
of the universe is divided into multiple levels, above and below
earth,positioned within the four directions of north, south, east and west.
After death, the soul was believed to go to the Underworld, Xibalba (shee bal
bah), a place of fright where sinister gods tested and tricked their
unfortunate visitors.” (Ellie Crystal. 1995) For the Mayans every color had a
meaning and was related to something like nature and the cosmos. The Mayans had
a great interest in astronomy they closely observed the Sun, Venus, the Moon,
and Earth and all the movements this had. “The Maya made daytime observations
of Venus. Venus had a psychological effect upon the Maya and other Mesoamerican
cultures, it has been shown that the Maya were timing some of their wars based
on the stationary points of Venus and Jupiter. Humans were sacrificed on first
appearance after Superior Conjunction when Venus was at its dimmest magnitude
but they most feared the first Heliacal Rising after Inferior Conjunction.”
(Michel Berger.2004).The codices were books that told us how much the Mayan
knew about the Sun, the Moon and the most important planets. They observed how
the Sun moved over the Earth and also
could determine when eclipses would occur, it was easier for them to determine
this because of their location. The
Mayans liked to give names for everything and they had God for almost
everything they would praise all kinds of things. The god representing the
position of the Sun was called the Diving God.
All the observations they made were passed from generation to
generation. Their astronomy was most likely related to their religion. But books the had made before were helpful
and had a meaning for their astronomy. The Dresden Codex is one of them. They
display the full cycle of Venus around the Earth. They counted five sets of 584
days, that is 2,920 days is approximately eight years or five repetitions of
the Venus cycle. The Mayans believed that the Earth was flat and was divided in
four corners each one assigned a cardinal direction with a color, east-red;
north-white; west-black; south-yellow, green was the center. They believed that in each corner there was
a jaguar and each jaguar held up the sky. Also that life came from The Milky
Way, a sort of tree representing the world.They believed that The Milky Way
rose up from the horizon and climbed overhead tothe North and that it were all
came from. The Dresden Codex contains information about the Mayan Calendar,
their dating system, astronomy, hieroglyphic texts, their calculation system
and many information about their gods and rituals. By observing the movements of
the Moon, The Sun and other bodies the Mayans realized there were cycles in the
Cosmos. Still, now a days the Mayan
astronomy for some scientists is a puzzle with no clues or answers. From this
observations they came up with a calendar that could
accurately measure the solar year within days. “The Maya kept time with a
combination of several cycles that meshed together to mark the movement of the
sun, moon and Venus. “ (Michel Berger. 2004)The "Calendar Round" is
like two gears that inter-mesh, one smaller than the other.One of the 'gears'
is called the tzolkin, or Sacred Round. The other is the haab, or Calendar
Round. This consists of thirteen months, each twenty days long and five rest
days making 365 days just like our calendar. As the wheels turned the Mayans’ years passed. A day was called a
"kin", and still is today. A twenty day month was a
"uinal",one solar year was a "tun", twenty “tuns” a
"katun", and twenty “katuns” were a "baktun" . The Mayans
had a calendar composed of 260 days, known as the Tzolkin. It pairs the numbers
from one through thirteen with a sequence of the twenty day-names. Itworks
something like our days of the week pairing with the numbers of the month. Each
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berger, Michel “Mayan Astronomy” The Mayan Astronomy
page 1st volume (1995) :6 Michel B’s Home Page 10 Nov. 2004 < http://www.michielb.nl/maya/venus.html>
Crystal, Ellie
“Mayan History” Ancient and lost
civilizations 1st volume (1995):Cristal Links 10 Nov. 2004 < http://www.crystalinks.com/mayanhistory.htm>
Flaherty, Thomas. The Magnificient Maya. Time- Life Books : Virginia , 1993.
Joil, Genry “
Maya” Ancient civilizations 1st volume (1998) :1 The Mayans 10 Nov. 2004 < http://www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-society.html>
Kettlewell, Julianna. Maya Culture ´ahead of its time
´ BBC NEWS 8 May 2004 : 1. Encarta
Encyclopaedia. 10 November 2004 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3693671.stm>
Lopez, Cinthia. La Civilizacion Maya. Honduras: Tegucigalpa,
1993
Meyer, Carolynn, and Challenkamp, Charles. The
Mystery of the Ancient Maya. Atheneum: Canada, 1985.
Núñez, Melissa. Vida de los Mayas y Civilizaciones
olvidadas. Honduras : Tegucigalpa, 2000
Ramirez,
Rolando “Copan” The Ruins page 3rd volume (1997): 8 Copan Ruins 10 Nov. 2004 < http://www.honduras.net/copan/>