End to the Mayan Civilization

The Mayan empire existed for 4,000 years, from 2600 BC to 1500 AD, and it spanned five modern day countries which include Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Belize. Mayan civilization made significant strides in astronomy, agriculture and architecture, and it prided itself on its colorful art and skilled artisans. By the end of their reign, however, the Mayans may have turned self destructive, power grabbing and environmentally abusive (Petrakis).

The end of the Mayan culture is described as very abrupt. Change came quickly to the Maya world. The great cities of the Ancient Maya stopped growing. People began to give up making vast buildings for their priests and religious purposes. It seemed as though the Mayan civilization had disappeared. Many people speculate what happened to this complex civilization. One theory is that constant warfare weakened the great cities. Another is that Maya farming destroyed the land. Geological evidence speculates that drought may have hurt the Maya as well (Garrett). Without this necessary precipitation, the Maya could not support their agriculture and would have most likely starved. The ancient culture of the Maya still lives on today. Many people still speak Mayan languages (Mueller). They also practice many old customs.

Garrett, Kenneth. "The Amazing Maya." National Geographic Explorer Sept. 2006
Science In Context. Web. 7 Dec. 2011

Mueller, Mary "Mystery of the Maya" School Library Journal 52.6 (June 2006) p81

Petrakis, John "The Fall of the Empire" The Christian Century (Dec. 26, 2006) p37.

Mayan's Architecture

Mayans also were famous for their massive temples, pyramids, and castles, which would be religious centers. Their construction relied heavily on bilateral symmetry. Each half of the building was identical. Limestone was used in most buildings. The temples had a relatively small interior compared to the mass of the structure as a whole. Their temples would house altars or stone platforms where priests would perform their sacrifices.  Behind the platforms there would be a painted representation of the god of that city. The Mayan version of a pyramid is truncated so that a temple can be built on top. There were two types of pyramids, those that were meant to be climbed and those that were not (Morley 81). The steps of these structures were too steep to climb many times they had doorways leading nowhere. The staricases lead from ground level to the temple. The number of staircases had varied. Aside from having religious functions, Mayan pyramids also had other purposes. They were build so high that their tops could be seen out of the jungle, Mayans could use them as landmarks (Gallenkamp 90). Some pyramids even house burial chambers for high ranking officials. Treasure such as jade was also found in some of the chambers. Each Mayan city had its own temples and significance. Copan, which was from the first cities to develop, had very good artists and sculptures. Copan is home to the stairway that contains more that 1,500 hieroglyphic carvings. These hieroglyphis chronicles showed the achievements of many great Mayan rulers (Tutor 75).
The Mayans were and still are a mystical civilization. The Spaniards that move in Mesoamerica wiped them out. Today the culture still exists and also ruins and ancient cities are preserved for people to visit and explore.

Gallenkamp, Charles. Maya. The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization. 3rd. ed.
New York: Viking Penguin, Inc, 1985.

Morley, Sylvanus G. The Ancient Maya. Stanford University, CA:
Stanford Univeristy Press, 1946.

Tutor, Pilar. Mayan Civilization.
Chicago: Children's Press Inc/UNESCO, 1993.

The Mayan Gods and Religion

The Mayans were very religious people; their religion regulated almost everything they did in their life's. Priests were the most important individuals in the tribes. The Mayan beleived their Gods had destroyed and recreated their earth several times, this was a main reason for always trying to please their gods with sacrifices and various other actions. Their sacrifices included various animals that had many spiritual ties to them. Each God represented something for them in one way or another. Their Supreme Being and creator of the universe was called "Hunan Ku" (Gallenkamp). The next important gods were the sun and moon gods. "Kinish Ahau" was the sun god. They beleived that the sun and moon gods were responsible for harvest and various other vital things important to their life's; statues show him wearing a headdress from ears of corn. Their were four rain gods called "Chacs", which represented rainfall, lightning, thunder, and storms. "Ixtab" was the goddess of sacrificial suicide (Henderson). Mayans beleived suicide lead to heaven. "Yum Cicil" was the god of death (Gallenkamp). He was also called "Ah Puch", the god of the underworld. Every job or activity in the Mayan life had a god or goddess.

Aesthetics in the Mayan Culture

Aesthetics was a very important part of the Mayan Culture. Although beauty through the Mayans eyes was very different from today's definition of the word. To make their heads longer, Mayan babies were squeezed between two pieces of wood. Another practice performed by the Mayans was to break their nose and reshape it, to allow it to look more hooked shape (Suart 34). Most Mayans were tanned and had black hair and eyes. Both men and women had long hair which was braided into two or four braids. They wore very little clothing. The clothing they did wear though was very decorative, with the fanciest piece of clothing being headdresses worn by nobles. Their bodies were pained differently according to tradition and occasion. Priests wore blue, warriors wore red and black, and children wore white (Morley 223).

Morley, Sylvanus G. The Ancient Maya. Stanford University, CA:
Stanford University Press, 1946.

Stuart, George The Mysterious Maya. Washington, D.C:
The National Geographic Society, 1977.

The Mayan Civilization

The Maya are one of the most well know of civilizations in mesoamerica. The Mayan originated in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., they grew rapidly around A.D. 250 in present day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras. They built on the inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, they developed astronomy, a accurate calender system, and a advanced language. The Maya were known for elaborate and well decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple pyramids, palaces and observatories which were all built without advanced tools or machines. They were also skilled farmers, they cleared large sections of tropical rain forest and built huge underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Maya were very skilled as weavers and potters, they cleared routes through jungles and swamps to make extensive trade networks with people very distant from them.

Around 300 B.C., the Maya adopted a hierarchical system of government which was ruled by nobles and kings. This civilization developed into highly structured kingdoms during the classic period of A.D. 200-900. Their society had many independent states, each with a rural farming community and large urban sites which were built around ceremonial sites.

The Mayan society started to decline around A.D. 900 when they were still a very misunderstood culture. The southern Maya abandoned their cities due to loss of resources. When the northern Maya were integrated into the Toltec society by A.D. 1200, the Maya dynasty finally came to a end, although some areas continued to thrive until the Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century.