Maya Test Review

Maya

Modern term applied by outsiders to area with common cultural and linguistic heritage

Many Postclassic Maya settlements were founded _____ because

coast of the yucatan peninsula, trading ports and salt production

Source of jade and obsidian

maya highlands, mountains and volcanoes

cenotes importance

northern lowlands lack surface water except cenotes that were created by an asteroid, main source of freshwater, portal to underworld

water lilies significance

sign of clean water, prevent algae, feed predators of small pests, royals based power in providing clean water

most important crop

maize

Caracol

Lidar found terrace farming for low density urban agriculture

Ceren

Volcanic ash preserved, houselot gardens with diverse crops including drought resistant manioc as staple at edge of village

myth of milpa

modern assumption that ancient used slash and burn, which would not have supported large urban populations

Puleston

ramon hypothesis at Tikal, survey beyond core showed ramon growing on house mounds and chultuns, famine food of contemporary maya, experiment showed ramon preserved in chultuns, could have been urban staple food, challenge to myth of milpa

Maya writing

Did not invent writing but most sophisticated system in Americas

emblem glyphs

like kingdom crests. Major cities used to describe relationships and interactions in hieroglyphics, used to reconstruct political history

Diego de landa

spanish friar who burned maya codices, had to create account of maya culture as punishment, included attempt at yucatec maya alphabet

Yuri Knorosov

discovered de landa’s alphabet actually a syllabary

Tatiana Proskouriakoff

Discovered maya texts were dynastic histories not religious, showed maya were historical

Maya calendar

260-day Tzolk’in for religion, 365-day solar Haab for secular and agriculture, together repeat every 52 years; Long Count tracks absolute time from creation date.

Altar q

Commissioned by 16th ruler of Copan, show rulers in succession with 16th receiving tokens of office from founder, yet dynasty broke down after he died

Maya rulers traits

palaces in capitals, rituals for cosmic harmony, military campaigns against rivals, large scale building projects like roads pyramids monuments, buried in tombs

18 Rabbit

13th ruler of Copan, patron of the arts, monuments show him with divine associations, captured and beheaded at secondary center, followed by hiatus in texts/monuments at Copan

4 maya polities

Copan, Calakmul, Palenque, Tikal

Cache

Pottery buried under floor. Stingray spine for bloodletting, fingers show connection to ancestor, brought house to life in animism, multigenerational connections

Founder of Copan dynasty

Claimed to be from Teotihuacan for legitimacy, married local elite woman, warrior, not actually from teotihuacan but Maya lowlands by Tikal, Copan and Tikal became allies with rival Calakmul

Impact of Classic Maya collapse

Cities abandoned bc kings not adapt to environmental changes, smaller villages survived without social stress

Tikal reservoirs

Zeolite and quartz filtration, some lined with clay for pH, water lillies emulate natural wetland, restrict settlement adjacent to reservoirs

Last postclassic Maya capital

Mayapan, united Yucatan provinces in joint rule 1200-1450, after collapse breakdown to rival provinces, Spanish exploited factional rivalries

Factors of Classic Maya collapse

Drought exacerbated political conflict, rapid deforestation for agriculture and plaster productions worsened drought and erosion, water shortages undermined royal legitimacy so farmers left

Classic Maya rulers as water managers

Lowlands had extreme wet/dry seasons, kings attracted farmers in dry season with urban water management systems, system vulnerable to changes in rain, reservoirs failed during drought