mayan lowlands

mesoamerica env.

• Heterogeneous

• Important resources were circumscribed/limited but needed by everyone

  • So no choice but trade and exchange

• Sedentism due to maize agriculture

  • Staying in one place for a long time

archi and cultural main points

• Stepped pyramids, temples, ball courts

• Monuments made of stelae

  • They were propagandist and had inscriptions and rulers

• Record keeping in the form of calendars and writing systems

• Distinct regional styles, ornaments become important

• Commerce and market economies

• Shared mythology and worldview

• Political authorities were ritually based

domesticates

• The American triumvirate

  • AKA the three sisters

  • Maize, beans, squash

    • A protein filled diet

• Maize was smaller earlier on and then through selective breeding became bigger

  • During the American Neolithic

  • 10,000 to 7000 years ago

agricultural base

• 60% of worldwide foods are American domesticates

  • Globalized after Spanish conquest

• ex.

  • Maize

  • Manioc

    • Cassava

  • Potato

  • Beans

  • Pumpkin

  • Squash

  • Quinoa

  • Peanuts

    • Mexico, the Andes, the Amazon basin

  • Chili Peppers

  • Vanilla

  • Sun flower

  • Sweet potato

  • Avocado

  • Tobacco

  • Cacao

  • Pineapple

  • Tomato

  • Cotton

• Very few animals

  • Turkey

  • Muscovy duck

  • Llama

  • Alpaca

  • Dog

  • Guinea pig

  • Stingless bee

• 4 agricultural centres

  • Mesoamerica

  • Highland South America

  • Eastern North America

  • The Amazon basin

increasing complexity

• 2000 BCE

  • Emergence of sedentary villages

  • In the valley of Mexico, Gulf Coast, Maya lowlands, oaxaca valley, the Pacific Coast

• In arid regions, farmers combined maize and bean slash and burn agriculture along with foraging

  • Forested areas were cleared and burnt which adds fertilizer to the soil through the form of nitrogen

• Other areas

  • Basic canal irrigation systems

  • Raised fields in swampy locations

• No areas were dry

olmec

• On the Gulf Coast

  • Not the central Highlands

• 1800 to 500 BCE

  • 2000 years after the earliest civilizations in the old world

• Do not know the origin

  • Probably local lineages held land and those with more became powerful and built locations to express their power through ritual performance

• Earliest complex society in mesoamerica

  • Highlands, Pacific Coast and across MesoAmerica

  • Traded Obsidian, jade, Serpentine, magnetite, shells, Stingray spines, shark teeth

    • Symbols, architecture, rituals and concepts of kingship

• Centres

  • San Lorenzo

    • 1400 to 900 BCE

  • La venta

    • 900 to 400 BCE

  • Tres zapotes

    • Around 900 BC

    • the epi-olmec period

• Was not a single state but a series of chiefdoms

• Monumental platforms that supported pyramids, basalt carvings, symbolism of kingship

olmec concept of kingship

• Intermediary to gods

• Power is expressed in art forms

  • First in mesoamerica to do so

  • Rulers are put on sculpted Thrones along with other symbolism

  • Elite alongside images of the cult of the serpent

    • Sometimes the Jaguar

• Ceremonial architecture found in elite centres

  • Legitimizes the rule

san lorenzo

• 1200 to 900 BCE

• Strategically positioned to trade within and beyond the olmec region

• Traded pottery, carvings, figurines in exchange for semi precious stone like Obsidian and jade

• Main platform

  • Had 20 architectural features (mounds) along the edges

    • They had 20 day months which was related to maize agriculture

  • Built earth ridges around the platform

  • Pyramid structure and ball court built on top

  • Centre had 8 monumental stone heads

mayan sub area

• Southern Highlands

  • Made-up of geologically active east to West band of peaks and valleys

  • 300 to 800 meters above sea level

    • Causing changes in altitude

  • Temperature

    • 15 to 25°C

  • Rainfall

    • 2000 to 3000mm which is objectively high

• Lowlands

  • Subdivided

    • Southern

      • Dense broadleaf tropical rainforest

    •  central

    • eastern

    •  northern (yucatan)

      • Low scrub vegetation

  • Low lying karstic plains

    • Limestone

  • Temperature = 25 to 35°C

  • Rainfall

    • 510 to 3050mm

    • Varied greatly

 

subsistence

• Based on the three sisters

• Supplemented by fruits, vegetables, some meat and fish (wild)

• Agriculture relies on Land Management strategies that have to change through time and vary based on the region

  • Canals

    • In the swampland to provide drainage

  • Raised fields

    • Piling sediment above water level along the edges of lakes or swampy areas

    • Began in the first Millennium BCE

  • Wetland farming

  • Terraces

    • Slopes to trap soil from erosion

    • How they harvested forest fruit

  • Milpas

  • Managed forests

  • Household gardens

• Allowed for a major increase in population

  • 8 to 10 million people by 800 AD

• Evidence gathered through aerial photos, traditional survey, lidar

• Rich environment due to fish, water lilies, birds, insects, reptiles

aguada feniz

• 1200 to 800 BCE

  • Very early on in the civilization

• Tabasco region of Mexico

  • East of the olmec

• Found through lidar in 2020

• Oldest monumental construction found in the Mayan area

• One of the largest in mesoamerica

• Made of earth and clay

• Ceremonial complex

  • E group assemblage at the centre

    • Astronomical observatory

    • East to West orientation

  • North-south aligned

  • Artificial T shaved platform with ramps

  • 20 mounds lining the exterior representing the months in the 260 day calendar

• Communally built

• Other similar complexes in the region

  • Between the olmec heartland and Mayan lowlands

• Similar pottery found in southern Mayan region showing they probably had interaction

• Similar layout to San Lorenzo and la venta

san bortolo mural

• During the end of the middle pre classic and the start of the late preclassic

• Modern day Guatemala

• 400 to 200 BCE

• Oldest Mayan mural

• Shows 9 figures

  • Maize God

    • Central figure

    • Depicted as defoliation of the corn plant

  • Part of his creation story

    • Life death and renewal

    • Symbolic of Maize agricultural cycle

  • Related to myths found in the Gulf Coast

  • Shows the coronation of a ruler

    • It was probably named in the glyphs

• The glyphs have not been deciphered

el mirador

• 300 BCE to 150CE

  • Late preclassic

• 13.5 kilometers from the nakbe

• Largest centre in the region as of 350 BCE

• Core includes platforms on natural rise is surrounding by low lying swamp (bajos) that is rich of nutrients

  • Multi terraces

  • Topped by three buildings

    • Triadic groups

    • One large structure flanked by two smaller structures facing the shared courtyard

• La danta

  • Stucco relief shows the first known images of the poul vuh

    • hero twins who defeat lord of underworld to get back the maize god (his sons)

• Includes the largest pyramids ever built by the mayans

• Extensive network of roads (sacbes)

mayan cosmology

• World is square

• Made of 3 worlds

• Underworld

  • Watery

  • 9 levels

  • World of the gods, demons, ancestors

  • Made of caves

• Middle world

  • Stoney

  • Floats in the sea on the back of a crocodile like animal (caiman) or turtle

• Upper world

  • Sky

  • Held by 4 gods located in the cardinal directions

  • Most important one is the caiman who sheds blood as rain

  • Story arch of heaven has 13 levels

    • Includes gods and supernatural beings

• 3 realms are linked together through the world tree

  • Used to move between the other worlds

  • Waka Chan

others worlds

• Determine the fate of the living

• Needs to be nourished by the living

• Mayan kings and Queens were shamans who could access it through ritual performance

  • Through dressing like them or bloodletting (auto sacrifice)

  • Bloodletting causes them to be lightheaded so they enter an altered state

    • Through Obsidian, Stingray spines, ropes made of thorns

    • Ensures the success of the living

      • In return the king is owed tribute through labour, goods, the devotion of the people

    • Nourished the other world

    • Let on to paper that was then burned, God communicate through smoke

      • Opens the world tree which is a portal to the other worlds

      • To seek advice and favor from ancestors

• Kings are portrayed as the world tree

popol vuh

• Mythology and history of the kiche people of highland Guatemala

  • Creation myth

  • The exploits of the hero twins

• Translates to " book of the community or book of council"

• Transcribed by a Dominican priest in 1701

mayan number systems

• 20 based

  • vigesimal

• Independently invented 0

• Could add, subtract, multiply, divide

• Three main symbols

  • dot = 1

  • bar = 5

  • shell = 0

calendars

• Sacred Almanac

  • aka the zolcin calendar

  • 260 day calendar

• Solar calendar

  • 365.242 days

  • Similar to the Gregorian calendar which is 365.2425

  • High tech calculation shows it to be 365.2422

    • Mayans are more accurate

• Intermeshed both calendars for a 52 year cycle

• used by Mayans and other mesoamerican civilizations

maya classic period

• 250 to 900 AD

mayan city states

• Never unified

• Independent but shared culture, iconography, religion

• elites had a shared language but diff. city states had separate languages too

• Ended due to competition and warfare

• Thousands of cities

  • One every 10 kilometers

• Each had a civic and ceremonial core made of temples, royal palaces, plazas, causeways, monuments

  • They shared their gods but each would favor a different one

  • Own kings and Queens and royal dynasties

• Surrounded by towns, villages, Hamlets, rural areas which was a continuum of the settlement

classic mayan society

• Large divide between elites and commoners

• King = supreme ruler

  • Divine but not to the extent of Pharaohs

  • Mediates between the mortal realm and the gods in the other worlds

  • Passed down through lineages unless someone managed to kill the king

• Kin groups were ranked

  • Tiers of elites

    • Overlord

    • Divine Lord

    • Subservient Lord or regional governor

    • Neighborhood head

• Specialization increased as population increased

  • Resulted in the middle class made of artisans, merchants, traitors, low ranking priests, soldiers, bureaucrats

• Commoners were the vast majority and farmers

mayan cities

• true Urban core

• Different elements symbolize different things

  • Temples = caves

  • Pyramids = mountains

  • stelae = forests

    • Records history of kings and political events

    • don’t know if commoners could read the monuments

• The main Power Points of the landscape and portals into the other worlds

• Connects kings to deities

• Provided urban services, places of commerce and residents for up to 100,000 people

  • Neighborhoods provided face to face contact

  • Lived in plazuela

    • Multiple structures that share a central patio

classic mayan city states

• 600 AD

  • Dozens

  • 4 main for each region

    • Tikal

    • calakmul

    • palenque

    • copan

• Each ruled over the surrounding hinterland

• Rival centres fought each other for economic dominance and caused downfall

  • At some point had alliances but they dissolved

  • Cause periods of fluorescence and decline

3 main dynasties of early classic

• kan'ul

  • at dzibanche

  • later capital moved to calakmul

• suutz

  • at naatchun

• mutul

  • at tikal

• Main rivalry in the southern Mayan lowlands was between the main superpowers

  • tikal and calakmul

early classic tikal

•  one of the largest regional capitals in the southern Mayan lowlands

• Home of the mutul dynasty

• At peak had a population of 45,000 to 62,000 people

• 120km ^2

• Economic powerhouse

• ` controlled trade routes from the Highlands and the coast

  • Highlands: Obsidian and greenstone

  • Coast = Stingray spines and salt

  • caused them to encircle calakmul

• Most well known ruler

  • chak tok ich'aak

kan’ul

• In the 6th and 7th century

• dzibanche

• Divine rulership

• First known ruler is named

  • yuknoom ch'een I

• They conquer tikal in 562 AD with the assistance of caracol who is a former tikal vassal

  • Destroys the tikal-teotihuacan alliance

• Throne moves to calakmul in 636

  • Causes a civil war in dzibanche

entrada

• 378 to 550 AD

• Influence moves from the central Highlands to the lowland and highland areas

• Dynastic disruption at tikal

  • A vassal of a warlord arrives in 378 AD

    • sihyaj k'ahk

  • The same day chak tok ich'aak dies

  • sihyaj k'ahk installs the son of the warlord on the throne

• but tikal is still an economic powerhouse

• Then calakmul establishes alliances

• 6th cent.

  • Other powers try to reverse the encirclement

late classic period

• calakmul apogee and decline

• 636 calakmul peaks

• yuknoom ch'een II rules until he dies in 686

  • He expanded to naranjo in the east, el Peru waka and the West and to dos pilas And Cancuen in the South

  • This effectively encircles tikal

• His son takes over and in 695 is defeated by the tikal jasaw chan k'awaii

  • This is recorded on a wooden lentil at a temple in calakmul

  • Which starts the decline

• jasaw chan k'awaii's son defeats the naranjo and el-peru waka in 744

  • Completely collapsing calakmul Henry gaining access to the east West trade route

  • he then shifts his focus to the north in the late 8th century

terminal classic

• Southern Mayan collapse

• 800 to 830

• Period of upheaval

• Pyramid constructions, erection of Stella, production all declined

• Issues

  • High population and low sustainability

  • Drought

  • Warfare

  • Political instability

• Divine kingship is abandoned causing major social reorganization

• Some places were quickly abandoned but most experienced compression

  • elite and the poorest commoners leave first while the middle class and land holders stayed for several more generations

• By 10th century most lowlands abandoned and move north to the northern lowlands

• City is like chichen itza, uxmal, ek balam rise