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The Maya civilization () was a civilization that existed from Ancient history to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The civilization is also noted for Maya art, architecture, Maya numerals, Maya calendar, and Maya astronomy.
The Maya civilization developed in the Maya Region, an area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. It includes the Mayan Lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. Today, their descendants, known collectively as the Maya peoples, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages, and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors.
The Archaic period, before 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture and the earliest villages. The Preclassic period () saw the establishment of the first complex societies in the Maya region, and the cultivation of the staple crops of the Maya cuisine, including maize, beans, Cucurbita, and . The first Maya city developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC. In the Late Preclassic, a number of large cities developed in the Petén Basin, and the city of Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands. Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is largely defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates. This period saw the Maya civilization develop many linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, the cities of Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful. The Classic period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a widespread political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine war, the abandonment of cities, and a northward shift of population. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, and the expansion of the aggressive Kʼicheʼ kingdom in the Guatemalan Highlands. In the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonised the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city, in 1697.
Rule during the Classic period centred on the concept of the "divine king", who was thought to act as a mediator between mortals and the supernatural realm. Kingship was usually (but not exclusively)The Ancient Maya Kinship System, Per Hage. The University of New Mexico 2003 [1] patrilineal, and power normally primogeniture. A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader as well as a ruler. Closed patronage systems were the dominant force in Maya politics, although how patronage affected the political makeup of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic period, the aristocracy had grown in size, reducing the previously exclusive power of the king. The Maya developed sophisticated art forms using both perishable and non-perishable materials, including wood, jade, obsidian, Maya ceramics, sculpted stone monuments, stucco, and finely painted murals.
Maya cities tended to expand organically. The city centers comprised ceremonial and administrative complexes, surrounded by an irregularly shaped sprawl of residential districts. Different parts of a city were often linked by sacbe. Architecturally, city buildings included , pyramid-temples, ceremonial ballcourts, and structures specially aligned for astronomical observation. The Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing. Theirs was the most advanced writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in Maya codices, of which only three uncontested examples remain, the rest having been destroyed by the Spanish. In addition, a great many examples of Maya texts can be found on Maya stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a highly complex series of interlocking ritual calendars, and employed mathematics that included one of the earliest known instances of the explicit zero in human history. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice.
The Petén region consists of densely forested low-lying limestone plain;Lovell 2005, p. 17. a chain of fourteen lakes runs across the central drainage basin of Petén.Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 46–47. To the south the plain gradually rises towards the Guatemalan Highlands.Rice and Rice 2009, p. 5. The dense Maya Forest covers northern Petén and Belize, most of Quintana Roo, southern Campeche, and a portion of the south of Yucatán state. Farther north, the vegetation turns to lower forest consisting of dense scrub.Quezada 2011, p. 17.
The littoral zone of Soconusco lies to the south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas,Lovell 2000, p. 400. and consists of a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre.Viqueira 2004, p. 21. The Maya highlands extend eastwards from Chiapas into Guatemala, reaching their highest in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes. Their major pre-Columbian population centres were in the largest highland valleys, such as the Valley of Guatemala and the Quetzaltenango Valley. In the southern highlands, a belt of volcanic cones runs parallel to the Pacific coast. The highlands extend northwards into Verapaz, and gradually descend to the east.Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 34–36.
| +Maya chronologyEstrada-Belli 2011, p. 3. ! Period !colspan="2" | Division ! Dates | ||
| Archaic | 8000–2000 BCSharer and Traxler 2006, p. 98. | ||
| Preclassic | Early Preclassic | 2000–1000 BC | |
| Middle Preclassic | Early Middle Preclassic | 1000–600 BC | |
| Late Middle Preclassic | 600–350 BC | ||
| Late Preclassic | Early Late Preclassic | 350–1 BC | |
| Late Late Preclassic | 1 BC – AD 159 | ||
| Terminal Preclassic | AD 159–250 | ||
| Classic | Early Classic | AD 250–550 | |
| Late Classic | AD 550–830 | ||
| Terminal Classic | AD 830–950 | ||
| Postclassic | Early Postclassic | AD 950–1200 | |
| Late Postclassic | AD 1200–1539 | ||
| Contact period | AD 1511–1697Masson 2012, p. 18238. Pugh and Cecil 2012, p. 315. | ||
During the Middle Preclassic Period, small villages began to grow to form cities.Olmedo Vera 1997, p. 26. Nakbe in the Petén department of Guatemala is the earliest well-documented city in the Maya lowlands,Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 214. where large structures have been dated to around 750 BC. The northern lowlands of Yucatán were widely settled by the Middle Preclassic.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 276. By approximately 400 BC, early Maya rulers were raising stelae.Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 182, 197. A developed script was already being used in Petén by the 3rd century BC.Saturno, Stuart and Beltrán 2006, pp. 1281–83. In the Late Preclassic Period, the enormous city of El Mirador grew to cover approximately .Olmedo Vera 1997, p. 28. Although not as large, Tikal was already a significant city by around 350 BC.Martin and Grube 2000, pp. 25–26.
In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu emerged as a principal centre in the Late Preclassic.Love 2007, pp. 293, 297. Popenoe de Hatch and Schieber de Lavarreda 2001, p. 991. Takalik Abaj and Chocolá were two of the most important cities on the Pacific coastal plain,Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 236. and Komchen grew to become an important site in northern Yucatán.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 275. The Late Preclassic cultural florescence collapsed in the 1st century AD and many of the great Maya cities of the epoch were abandoned; the cause of this collapse is unknown.Martin and Grube 2000, p. 8.
During the Early Classic, cities throughout the Maya region were influenced by the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico.Martin and Grube 2000, p. 9. In AD 378, Teotihuacan decisively intervened at Tikal and other nearby cities, deposed their rulers, and installed a new Teotihuacan-backed dynasty.Demarest 2004, p. 218. Estrada-Belli 2011, pp. 123–26. This intervention was led by Siyaj Kʼakʼ ("Born of Fire"), who arrived at Tikal in early 378. The king of Tikal, Chak Tok Ichʼaak I, died on the same day, suggesting a violent takeover.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 322. Martin and Grube 2000, p. 29. A year later, Siyaj Kʼakʼ oversaw the installation of a new king, Yax Nuun Ahiin I.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 324. This led to a period of political dominance when Tikal became the most powerful city in the central lowlands.
Tikal's great rival was Calakmul, another powerful city in the Petén Basin.Olmedo Vera 1997, p.36. Tikal and Calakmul both developed extensive systems of allies and vassals; lesser cities that entered one of these networks gained prestige from their association with the top-tier city, and maintained peaceful relations with members of the network.Foster 2002, p. 133. Tikal and Calakmul engaged in the manoeuvering of their alliance networks against each other. At various points during the Classic period, one or other of these powers would gain a strategic victory over its great rival, resulting in respective periods of florescence and decline.Demarest 2004, pp. 224–26.
In 629, Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil, a son of the Tikal king Kʼinich Muwaan Jol II, was sent to found a new city at Dos Pilas, in the Petexbatún region, apparently as an outpost to extend Tikal's power beyond the reach of Calakmul.Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 383, 387. For the next two decades he fought loyally for his brother and overlord at Tikal. In 648, king Yuknoom Chʼeen II of Calakmul captured Balaj Chan Kʼawiil. Yuknoom Chʼeen II then reinstated Balaj Chan Kʼawiil upon the throne of Dos Pilas as his vassal.Salisbury, Koumenalis & Barbara Moffett 2002. Martin & Grube 2000, p. 108. Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 387. He thereafter served as a loyal ally of Calakmul.Martin and Grube 2000, pp. 54–55.
In the southeast, Copán was the most important city. Its Classic-period dynasty was founded in 426 by Kʼinich Yax Kʼukʼ Moʼ. The new king had strong ties with central Petén and Teotihuacan.Martin and Grube 2000, pp. 192–93. Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 342. Copán reached the height of its cultural and artistic development during the rule of Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil, who ruled from 695 to 738.Martin and Grube 2000, pp. 200, 203. His reign ended catastrophically when he was captured by his vassal, king Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat of Quiriguá.Martin and Grube 2000, pp. 203, 205. The captured lord of Copán was taken back to Quiriguá and was decapitated in a public ritual.Miller 1999, pp. 134–35. Looper 2003, p. 76. It is likely that this coup was backed by Calakmul, in order to weaken a powerful ally of Tikal.Looper 1999, pp. 81, 271. Palenque and Yaxchilan were the most powerful cities in the Usumacinta River region. In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala was already a sprawling city by 300.Demarest 2004, p. 75. In the north of the Maya area, Coba was the most important capital.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 554.
Classic Maya social organization was based on the ritual authority of the ruler, rather than central control of trade and food distribution. This model was poorly structured to respond to changes, because the ruler's actions were limited by tradition to such activities as construction, ritual, and warfare. This only served to exacerbate systemic problems.Demarest 2004, p. 246. By the 9th and 10th centuries, this resulted in collapse of this system of rulership. In the northern Yucatán, individual rule was replaced by a ruling council formed from elite lineages. In the southern Yucatán and central Petén, kingdoms declined; in western Petén and some other areas, the changes were catastrophic and resulted in the rapid depopulation of cities.Demarest 2004, p. 248. Within a couple of generations, large swathes of the central Maya area were all but abandoned.Martin and Grube 2000, p. 226. Both the capitals and their secondary centres were generally abandoned within a period of 50 to 100 years.Masson 2012, p. 18237. One by one, cities stopped sculpting dated monuments; the last Long Count date was inscribed at Toniná in 909. Stelae were no longer raised, and squatters moved into abandoned royal palaces. Mesoamerican trade routes shifted and bypassed Petén.Foster 2002, p. 60.
The Postclassic Period was marked by changes from the preceding Classic Period.Arroyo 2001, p. 38. The once-great city of Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala was abandoned after continuous occupation of almost 2,000 years.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 618. Across the highlands and neighbouring Pacific coast, long-occupied cities in exposed locations were relocated, apparently due to a proliferation of Maya warfare. Cities came to occupy more-easily defended hilltop locations surrounded by deep ravines, with ditch-and-wall defences sometimes supplementing the natural terrain. One of the most important cities in the Guatemalan Highlands at this time was Qʼumarkaj, the capital of the aggressive Kʼicheʼ kingdom. The government of Maya states, from the Yucatán to the Guatemalan highlands, was often organised as joint rule by a council. However, in practice one member of the council could act as a supreme ruler, while the other members served him as advisors.Foias 2014, pp. 100–02.
Mayapan was abandoned around 1448, after a period of political, social and environmental turbulence that in many ways echoed the Classic period collapse in the southern Maya region. The abandonment of the city was followed by a period of prolonged warfare, disease and natural disasters in the Yucatán Peninsula, which ended only shortly before Spanish contact in 1511.Masson and Peraza Lope 2014. Even without a dominant regional capital, the early Spanish explorers reported wealthy coastal cities and thriving marketplaces.Masson 2012, p. 18238. During the Late Postclassic, the Yucatán Peninsula was divided into a number of independent provinces that shared a common culture but varied in internal sociopolitical organization.Andrews 1984, p. 589. On the eve of the Spanish conquest, the highlands of Guatemala were dominated by several powerful Maya states.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 717. The Kʼicheʼ had carved out a small empire covering a large part of the western Guatemalan Highlands and the neighbouring Pacific coastal plain. However, in the decades before the Spanish conquest of the Kaqchikel kingdom had been steadily eroding the kingdom of the Kʼicheʼ.Restall and Asselbergs 2007, p. 5.
The final two decades of the 19th century saw the birth of modern scientific archaeology in the Maya region, with the meticulous work of Alfred Maudslay and Teoberto Maler.Demarest 2004, pp. 37–38. By the early 20th century, the Peabody Museum was sponsoring excavations at Copán and in the Yucatán Peninsula.Demarest 2004, p. 38. In the first two decades of the 20th century, advances were made in deciphering the Maya calendar, and identifying deities, dates, and religious concepts.Demarest 2004, p. 39. Since the 1930s, archaeological exploration increased dramatically, with large-scale excavations across the Maya region.Demarest 2004, p. 42.
In the 1960s, Mayanist J. Eric S. Thompson promoted the ideas that Maya cities were essentially vacant ceremonial centres serving a dispersed population in the forest, and that the Maya civilization was governed by peaceful astronomer-priests.Demarest 2004, p. 44. These ideas began to collapse with major advances in the decipherment of the script in the late 20th century, pioneered by Heinrich Berlin, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, and Yuri Knorozov.Demarest 2004, p. 45. With breakthroughs in understanding of Maya script since the 1950s, the texts revealed the warlike activities of the Classic Maya kings, undermining the view of the Maya as peaceful.Foster 2002, p. 8.
During the Late Preclassic, the Maya political system coalesced into a theocracy form, where elite ideology justified the ruler's authority, and was reinforced by public display, ritual, and religion.Oakley and Rubin 2012, p. 81. The divine king was the centre of political power, exercising ultimate control over administrative, economic, judicial, and military functions. The divine authority invested within the ruler was such that the king was able to mobilize both the aristocracy and commoners in executing huge infrastructure projects, apparently with no police force or standing army.Oakley and Rubin 2012, p. 82. Some polities engaged in a strategy of increasing administration, and filling administrative posts with loyal supporters rather than blood relatives.Foias 2014, p. 162. Within a polity, mid-ranking population centres would have played a key role in managing resources and internal conflict.Foias 2014, p. 60.
The Maya political landscape was highly complex and Maya elites engaged in political intrigue to gain economic and social advantage over neighbours.Chase and Chase 2012, p. 265. In the Late Classic, some cities established a long period of dominance over other large cities, such as the dominance of Caracol over Naranjo for half a century. In other cases, loose alliance networks were formed around a dominant city.Chase and Chase 2012, p. 264. Border settlements, usually located about halfway between neighbouring capitals, often switched allegiance over the course of their history, and at times acted independently.Foias 2014, p. 64. Dominant capitals exacted tribute in the form of luxury items from subjugated population centres. Political power was reinforced by military power, and the capture and humiliation of enemy warriors played an important part in elite culture. An overriding sense of pride and honour among the warrior aristocracy could lead to extended feuds and vendettas, which caused political instability and the fragmentation of polities.Foias 2014, p. 167.
Maya political administration, based around the royal court, was not bureaucratic in nature. Government was hierarchical, and official posts were sponsored by higher-ranking members of the aristocracy; officials tended to be promoted to higher levels of office over their lives. Officials are referred to as being "owned" by their sponsor, and this relationship continued even after the death of the sponsor.Foias 2014, p. 224. The Maya royal court was a vibrant and dynamic political institution.Jackson 2013, pp. 142, 144. There was no universal structure for the Maya royal court, instead each polity formed a royal court that was suited to its own individual context.Jackson 2013, p. 144. A number of royal and noble titles have been identified by translating Classic Maya inscriptions. Ajaw is usually translated as "lord" or "king". In the Early Classic, an ajaw was the ruler of a city. Later, with increasing social complexity, the ajaw was a member of the ruling class and a major city could have more than one, each ruling over different districts.D'Arcy Harrison 2003, p. 114. Paramount rulers distinguished themselves from the extended nobility by prefixing the word kʼuhul to their ajaw title. A kʼuhul ajaw was "divine lord", originally confined to the kings of the most prestigious and ancient royal lines.Martin and Grube 2000, p. 17. Kalomte was a royal title, whose exact meaning is not yet deciphered, but it was held only by the most powerful kings of the strongest dynasties. It indicated an overlord, or high king, and was only in use during the Classic period.D'Arcy Harrison 2003, p. 114. Martin and Grube 2000, p. 17. By the Late Classic, the absolute power of the kʼuhul ajaw had weakened, and the political system had diversified to include a wider aristocracy, that by this time may well have expanded disproportionately.Jackson 2013, pp. 4–5.
A sajal was ranked below the ajaw, and indicated a subservient lord. A sajal would be lord of a second- or third-tier site, answering to an ajaw, who may himself have been subservient to a kalomte. A sajal would often be a war captain or regional governor, and inscriptions often link the sajal title to warfare; they are often mentioned as the holders of war captives.Jackson 2013, pp. 65–66. Sajal meant "feared one".Jackson 2013, p. 12. The titles of ah tzʼihb and ah chʼul hun are both related to scribes. The ah tzʼihb was a royal scribe, usually a member of the royal family; the ah chʼul hun was the Keeper of the Holy Books, a title that is closely associated with the ajaw title, indicating that an ajaw always held the ah chʼul hun title simultaneously.D'Arcy Harrison 2003, pp. 114–15. Other courtly titles, the functions of which are not well understood, were yajaw kʼahk' ("Lord of Fire"), tiʼhuun and ti'sakhuun. These last two may be variations on the same title,Jackson 2013, pp. 13–14. and Mark Zender has suggested that the holder of this title may have been the spokesman for the ruler.Jackson 2013, p. 15. Courtly titles are overwhelmingly male-oriented, and in those relatively rare occasions where they are applied to a woman, they appear to be used as honorifics for female royalty.Jackson 2013, p. 77. Titled elites were often associated with particular structures in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of Classic period cities, indicating that such office holders either owned that structure, or that the structure was an important focus for their activities.Jackson 2013, p. 68. A lakam, or standard-bearer, was possibly the only non-elite post-holder in the royal court. The lakam was only found in larger sites, and they appear to have been responsible for the taxation of local districts.
Different factions may have existed in the royal court. The kʼuhul ahaw and his household would have formed the central power-base, but other important groups were the priesthood, the warrior aristocracy, and other aristocratic courtiers. Where ruling councils existed, as at Chichen Itza and Copán, these may have formed an additional faction. Rivalry between different factions would have led to dynamic political institutions as compromises and disagreements were played out. In such a setting, public performance was vital. Such performances included Maya dance, presentation of war captives, offerings of tribute, human sacrifice, and religious ritual.Foias 2014, p. 226.
From as early as the Preclassic period, the ruler of a Maya polity was expected to be a distinguished war leader, and was depicted with trophy heads hanging from his belt. In the Classic period, such trophy heads no longer appeared on the king's belt, but Classic period kings are frequently depicted standing over humiliated war captives.Foster 2002, p. 143. Right up to the end of the Postclassic period, Maya kings led as war captains. Maya inscriptions from the Classic show that a defeated king could be captured, tortured, and sacrificed.Foster 2002, p. 144. The Spanish recorded that Maya leaders kept track of troop movements in painted books.Webster 2000, p. 66.
The outcome of a successful military campaign could vary in its impact on the defeated polity. In some cases, entire cities were sacked, and never resettled, as at Aguateca.Foias 2014, pp. 167–68. In other instances, the victors would seize the defeated rulers, their families, and patron gods. The captured nobles and their families could be imprisoned, or sacrificed. At the least severe end of the scale, the defeated polity would be obliged to pay tribute to the victor.Foias 2014, p. 168.
There is some evidence from the Classic period that women provided supporting roles in war, but they did not act as military officers with the exception of those rare ruling queens.Foster 2002, p. 145. By the Postclassic, the native chronicles suggest that women occasionally fought in battle.
The Maya engaged in long-distance trade across the Maya region, and across greater Mesoamerica and beyond. As an illustration, an Early Classic Maya merchant quarter has been identified at the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan, in central Mexico.Foster 2002, p. 322. Within Mesoamerica beyond the Maya area, trade routes particularly focused on central Mexico and the Gulf coast. In the Early Classic, Chichen Itza was at the hub of an extensive trade network that imported gold discs from Colombia and Panama, and turquoise from Los Cerrillos, New Mexico. Long-distance trade of both luxury and utilitarian goods was probably controlled by the royal family. Prestige goods obtained by trade were used both for consumption by the city's ruler, and as luxury gifts to consolidate the loyalty of vassals and allies.
Trade routes not only supplied physical goods, they facilitated the movement of people and ideas throughout Mesoamerica.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 660. Shifts in trade routes occurred with the rise and fall of important cities in the Maya region, and have been identified in every major reorganization of the Maya civilization, such as the rise of Preclassic Maya civilization, the transition to the Classic, and the Terminal Classic collapse. Even the Spanish Conquest did not immediately terminate all Maya trading activity;Foster 2002, p. 319. for example, the Contact period Manche Chʼol traded the prestige crops of cacao, annatto and vanilla into colonial Verapaz.Caso Barrera and Aliphat Fernández 2006, pp. 31, 36. Caso Barrera and Aliphat Fernández 2007, p. 49.
The Maya had no pack animals, so all trade goods were carried on the backs of porters when going overland; if the trade route followed a river or the coast, then goods were transported in canoes.Foster 2002, p. 323. A substantial Maya trading canoe made from a large hollowed-out tree trunk was encountered off Honduras on Christopher Columbus's fourth voyage. The canoe was broad and was powered by 25 rowers. Trade goods carried included cacao, obsidian, ceramics, textiles, and copper bells and axes.Foster 2002, p. 324. Cacao was used as currency (although not exclusively), and its value was such that counterfeiting occurred by removing the flesh from the pod, and stuffing it with dirt or avocado rind.Foster 2002, p. 325.
The Maya exhibited a preference for the colour green or blue-green, and used the same word for the colours blue and green. Correspondingly, they placed high value on apple-green jade, and other greenstones, associating them with the sun-god Kinich Ahau. They sculpted artefacts that included fine and beads, to carved heads weighing .Miller 1999, pp. 73–75. The Maya nobility practised dental modification, and some lords wore encrusted jade in their teeth. Mosaic funerary masks could also be fashioned from jade, such as that of Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal, king of Palenque.Miller 1999, p. 75.
Maya stone sculpture emerged into the archaeological record as a fully developed tradition, suggesting that it may have evolved from a tradition of sculpting wood. Because of the biodegradability of wood, the corpus of Maya woodwork has almost entirely disappeared. The few wooden artefacts that have survived include three-dimensional sculptures, and hieroglyphic panels.Miller 1999, pp. 78–80. Stone Maya stelae are widespread in city sites, often paired with low, circular stones referred to as altars in the literature.Miller 1999, pp. 9, 80. Stone sculpture also took other forms, such as the limestone relief panels at Palenque and Piedras Negras.Miller 1999, pp. 80–81. At Yaxchilan, Dos Pilas, Copán, and other sites, stone stairways were decorated with sculpture.Miller 1999, pp. 80–81. Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 340. The hieroglyphic stairway at Copán comprises the longest surviving Maya hieroglyphic text, and consists of 2,200 individual glyphs.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 340.
The largest Maya sculptures consisted of architectural façades crafted from stucco. The rough form was laid out on a plain plaster base coating on the wall, and the three-dimensional form was built up using small stones. Finally, this was coated with stucco and moulded into the finished form; human body forms were first modelled in stucco, with their costumes added afterwards. The final stucco sculpture was then brightly painted.Miller 1999, p. 84. Giant stucco masks were used to adorn temple façades by the Late Preclassic, and such decoration continued into the Classic period.Estrada-Belli pp. 44, 103–04.
The Maya had a long tradition of mural painting; rich polychrome murals have been excavated at San Bartolo, dating to between 300 and 200 BC.Saturno, Stuart and Beltrán 2006, 1281–82. Walls were coated with plaster, and polychrome designs were painted onto the smooth finish. The majority of such murals have not survived, but Early Classic tombs painted in cream, red, and black have been excavated at Caracol, Río Azul, and Tikal. Among the best preserved murals are a full-size series of Late Classic paintings at Bonampak.Miller 1999, pp. 84–85.
Flint, chert, and obsidian all served utilitarian purposes in Maya culture, but many pieces were finely crafted into forms that were never intended to be used as tools.Miller 1999, p. 83. Eccentric flints are among the finest lithic artefacts produced by the ancient Maya.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 45. They were technically very challenging to produce, requiring considerable skill on the part of the artisan. Large obsidian eccentrics can measure over in length.Williams 2010. Their actual form varies considerably but they generally depict human, animal and geometric forms associated with Maya religion.SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Eccentric flints show a great variety of forms, such as crescents, crosses, snakes, and scorpions.Thompson 1990, p. 147. The largest and most elaborate examples display multiple human heads, with minor heads sometimes branching off from larger one.Miller 1999, p. 228.
Maya textiles are very poorly represented in the archaeological record, although by comparison with other pre-Columbian cultures, such as the Aztecs and the Andean region, it is likely that they were high-value items.Miller 1999, pp. 86–87. Scraps of textile have been recovered, but the best evidence for textile art is where they are represented in other media, such as painted murals or ceramics. Such secondary representations show the elite of the Maya court adorned with sumptuous cloths, generally these would have been cotton, but jaguar pelts and deer hides are also shown.Miller 1999, p. 87.
Ceramics are the most commonly surviving type of Maya art. The Maya had no knowledge of the potter's wheel, and Maya vessels were built up by coiling rolled strips of clay into the desired form. Maya pottery was not glazed, although it often had a fine finish produced by burnishing. Maya ceramics were painted with clay slips blended with minerals and coloured clays. Ancient Maya firing techniques have yet to be replicated.Miller 1999, p. 86. A quantity of extremely fine ceramic figurines have been excavated from Late Classic tombs on Jaina Island, in northern Yucatán. They stand from high and were hand modelled, with exquisite detail.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 378. The Ik-style polychrome ceramic corpus, including finely painted plates and cylindrical vessels, originated in Late Classic Motul de San José. It includes a set of features such as hieroglyphs painted in a pink or pale red colour and scenes with dancers wearing masks. One of the most distinctive features is the realistic representation of subjects as they appeared in life. The subject matter of the vessels includes courtly life from the Petén region in the 8th century AD, such as diplomatic meetings, feasting, bloodletting, scenes of warriors and the sacrifice of prisoners of war.Reents-Budet et al. 2007, pp. 1417–18.
Bone, both human and animal, was also sculpted; human bones may have been trophies, or relics of ancestors.Miller 1999, p. 78. The Maya valued Spondylus shells, and worked them to remove the white exterior and spines, to reveal the fine orange interior.Miller 1999, p. 77. Around the 10th century AD, metallurgy arrived in Mesoamerica from South America, and the Maya began to make small objects in gold, silver and copper. The Maya generally hammered sheet metal into objects such as beads, bells, and discs. In the last centuries before the Spanish Conquest, the Maya began to use the Lost-wax casting to casting small metal pieces.Miller 1999, p. 76.
One poorly studied area of Maya folk art is graffiti.Hutson 2011, p. 403. Additional graffiti, not part of the planned decoration, was incised into the stucco of interior walls, floors, and benches, in a wide variety of buildings, including temples, residences, and storerooms. Graffiti has been recorded at 51 Maya sites, particularly clustered in the Petén Basin and southern Campeche, and the Chenes region of northwestern Yucatán. At Tikal, where a great quantity of graffiti has been recorded, the subject matter includes drawings of temples, people, deities, animals, banners, litters, and thrones. Graffiti was often inscribed haphazardly, with drawings overlapping each other, and display a mix of crude, untrained art, and examples by artists familiar with Classic-period artistic conventions.Hutson 2011, pp. 405–06.
The ceremonial centre of the Maya city was where the ruling elite lived, and where the administrative functions of the city were performed, together with religious ceremonies. It was also where the inhabitants of the city gathered for public activities. Elite residential complexes occupied the best land around the city centre, while commoners had their residences dispersed further away from the ceremonial centre. Residential units were built on top of stone platforms to raise them above the level of the rain season floodwaters.Olmedo Vera 1997, p. 35.
Wood was used for beams, and for , even in masonry structures.Foster 2002, pp. 238–39. Throughout Maya history, common huts and some temples continued to be built from wooden poles and thatch. Adobe was also applied; this consisted of mud strengthened with straw and was applied as a coating over the woven-stick walls of huts, even after the development of masonry structures. In the southern Maya area, adobe was employed in monumental architecture when no suitable stone was locally available.
Palaces are usually arranged around one or more courtyards, with their façades facing inwards; some examples are adorned with sculpture.Christie 2003, p. 316. Some palaces possess associated hieroglyphic descriptions that identify them as the royal residences of named rulers. There is abundant evidence that palaces were far more than simple elite residences, and that a range of courtly activities took place in them, including audiences, formal receptions, and important rituals.Christie 2003, p. 315.
As well as E-Groups, the Maya built other structures dedicated to observing the movements of celestial bodies. Many Maya buildings were aligned with astronomical bodies, including the planet Venus, and various constellations.Šprajc 2018 The Caracol structure at Chichen Itza was a circular multi-level edifice, with a conical superstructure. It has slit windows that marked the movements of Venus. At Copán, a pair of stelae were raised to mark the position of the setting sun at the equinoxes.
The Catholic Church and colonial officials, notably Bishop Diego de Landa, destroyed Maya texts wherever they found them, and with them the knowledge of Maya writing, but by chance four uncontested Maya codices dated to the Postclassic period have been preserved. These are known as the Madrid Codex, the Dresden Codex, the Paris Codex and the Maya Codex of Mexico (previously known as the Grolier Codex, which was of disputed authenticity until 2018).Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 126. Foster 2002, p. 297. Archaeology conducted at Maya sites often reveals other fragments, rectangular lumps of plaster and paint chips which were codices; these tantalizing remains are, however, too severely damaged for any inscriptions to have survived, most of the organic material having decayed.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 129. In reference to the few extant Maya writings, Michael D. Coe stated:
Most surviving pre-Columbian Maya writing dates to the Classic period and is contained in stone inscriptions from Maya sites, such as stelae, or on ceramics vessels. Other media include the aforementioned codices, stucco façades, frescoes, wooden lintels, cave walls, and portable artefacts crafted from a variety of materials, including bone, shell, obsidian, and jade.
The Maya script was in use up to the arrival of the Europeans, its use peaking during the Classic Period.Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 120, 123. In excess of 10,000 individual texts have been recovered, mostly inscribed on stone monuments, lintels, stelae and ceramics.Kettunen and Helmke 2008, p. 6. The Maya also produced texts painted on a form of paper manufactured from processed tree-bark generally now known by its Nahuatl-language name amatl used to produce codex.Miller and Taube 1993, p. 131.Tobin 2001. The skill and knowledge of Maya writing persisted among segments of the population right up to the Spanish conquest. The knowledge was subsequently lost, as a result of the impact of the conquest on Maya society.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 120.
The decipherment and recovery of the knowledge of Maya writing has been a long and laborious process.Coe 1994, pp. 245–46. Some elements were first deciphered in the late 19th and early 20th century, mostly the parts having to do with Maya numerals, the Maya calendar, and astronomy.Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 135–36. Major breakthroughs were made from the 1950s to 1970s, and accelerated rapidly thereafter.Foster 2002, pp. 271–72. By the end of the 20th century, scholars were able to read the majority of Maya texts, and ongoing work continues to further illuminate the content.Macri and Looper 2003, p. 11.Kettunen & Helmke 2014, p. 9.
Although Mayan text may be laid out in varying manners, generally it is arranged into double columns of glyph blocks. The reading order of text starts at the top left (block A1), continues to the second block in the double-column (B1), then drops down a row and starts again from the left half of the double column (A2), and thus continues in zig-zag fashion. Once the bottom is reached, the inscription continues from the top left of the next double column (C1). Where an inscription ends in a single (unpaired) column, this final column is usually read straight downwards.
Individual glyph blocks may be composed of a number of elements. These consist of the main sign, and any affixes. Main signs represent the major element of the block, and may be a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, or phonetic sign. Some main signs are abstract, some are pictures of the object they represent, and others are "head variants", personifications of the word they represent. Affixes are smaller rectangular elements, usually attached to a main sign, although a block may be composed entirely of affixes. Affixes may represent a wide variety of speech elements, including nouns, verbs, verbal suffixes, prepositions, and pronouns. Small sections of a main sign could be used to represent the whole main sign. Maya scribes were highly inventive in their usage and adaptation of glyph elements.Kettunen & Helmke 2014, pp. 24–25.
Although not much is known about Maya scribes, some did sign their work, both on ceramics and on stone sculpture. Usually, only a single scribe signed a ceramic vessel, but multiple sculptors are known to have recorded their names on stone sculpture; eight sculptors signed one stela at Piedras Negras. However, most works remained unsigned by their artists.Foster 2002, p. 278.
The basic number system consists of a dot to represent one, and a bar to represent five.Foster 2002, p. 248. By the Postclassic period a shell symbol represented zero; during the Classic period other glyphs were used.Foster 2002, p. 248. Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 101. The Maya numerals from 0 to 19 used repetitions of these symbols. The value of a numeral was determined by its position; as a numeral shifted upwards, its basic value multiplied by twenty. In this way, the lowest symbol would represent units, the next symbol up would represent multiples of twenty, and the symbol above that would represent multiples of 400, and so on. For example, the number 884 would be written with four dots on the lowest level, four dots on the next level up, and two dots on the next level after that, to give 4×1 + 4×20 + 2×400 = 884. Using this system, the Maya were able to record huge numbers. Simple addition could be performed by summing the dots and bars in two columns to give the result in a third column.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 101.
The basic unit in the Maya calendar was one day, or kʼin, and 20 kʼin grouped to form a winal. The next unit, instead of being multiplied by 20, as called for by the vigesimal system, was multiplied by 18 in order to provide a rough approximation of the solar year (hence producing 360 days). This 360-day year was called a tun. Each succeeding level of multiplication followed the vigesimal system.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 102.
The 260-day tzolkʼin provided the basic cycle of Maya ceremony, and the foundations of Maya prophecy. No astronomical basis for this count has been proved, and it may be that the 260-day count is based on the pregnancy. This is reinforced by the use of the tzolkʼin to record dates of birth, and provide corresponding prophecy. The 260-day cycle repeated a series of 20-day-names, with a number from 1 to 13 prefixed to indicated where in the cycle a particular day occurred.
The 365-day haab was produced by a cycle of eighteen named 20-day winals, completed by the addition of a 5-day period called the wayeb. The wayeb was considered to be a dangerous time, when the barriers between the mortal and supernatural realms were broken, allowing malignant deities to cross over and interfere in human concerns. In a similar way to the tzʼolkin, the named winal would be prefixed by a number (from 0 to 19), in the case of the shorter wayeb period, the prefix numbers ran 0 to 4. Since each day in the tzʼolkin had a name and number (e.g. 8 Ajaw), this would interlock with the haab, producing an additional number and name, to give any day a more complete designation, for example 8 Ajaw 13 Keh. Such a day name could only recur once every 52 years, and this period is referred to by as the Calendar Round. In most Mesoamerican cultures, the Calendar Round was the largest unit for measuring time.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 107.
As with any non-repeating calendar, the Maya measured time from a fixed start point. The Maya set the beginning of their calendar as the end of a previous cycle of bakʼtuns, equivalent to a day in 3114 BC. This was believed by the Maya to be the day of the creation of the world in its current form. The Maya used the Long Count Calendar to fix any given day of the Calendar Round within their current great Piktun cycle consisting of either 20 bakʼtuns. There was some variation in the calendar, specifically texts in Palenque demonstrate that the piktun cycle that ended in 3114 BC had only 13 bakʼtuns, but others used a cycle of 13 + 20 bakʼtun in the current piktun.Carter 2014 "A single passage on a Late Classic hieroglyphic panel at Palenque makes two further points clear; first, that the count of bakʼtuns will accumulate to 19, as before the present era, before the number in the piktuns place will change; and second, that that number will change to 1, not to 14, just as the bakʼtuns did in 2720 BC. In other words, all piktuns except the present one contained 20 bakʼtuns, but the current one contains 33; all previous kalabtuns, the next place up, contained 20 piktuns, but the current kalabtun contains 33 of those. Presumably the same pattern obtains for the rest of the higher places. This staggered resetting of the higher-order cycles, so jarringly unexpected from a contemporary, Western perspective, suggests an attitude towards time more numerological than mathematical. 13 and 20, after all, are the key numbers of the tzolkʼin, so it is fitting that they should be incorporated into the Long Count at enormous temporal scales." Additionally, there may have been some regional variation in how these exceptional cycles were managed.Van Stone 2011
A full long count date consisted of an introductory glyph followed by five glyphs counting off the number of bakʼtuns, katʼuns, tuns, winals, and kʼins since the start of the current creation. This would be followed by the tzʼolkin portion of the Calendar Round date, and after a number of intervening glyphs, the Long Count date would end with the Haab portion of the Calendar Round date.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 110.
The Maya measured the 584-day Venus cycle with an error of just two hours. Five cycles of Venus equated to eight 365-day haab calendrical cycles, and this period was recorded in the codices. The Maya also followed the movements of Jupiter, Mars and Mercury. When Venus rose as the Morning Star, this was associated with the rebirth of the Maya Hero Twins.Foster 2002, p. 260. For the Maya, the heliacal rising of Venus was associated with destruction and upheaval. Venus was closely associated with warfare, and the hieroglyph meaning "war" incorporated the glyph-element symbolizing the planet.Foster 2002, p. 262. Sight-lines through the windows of the Caracol building at Chichen Itza align with the northernmost and southernmost extremes of Venus' path. Maya rulers launched military campaigns to coincide with the heliacal rising or cosmical rising of Venus, and would also sacrifice important captives to coincide with such conjunctions.
Solar and lunar eclipses were considered to be especially dangerous events that could bring catastrophe upon the world. In the Dresden Codex, a solar eclipse is represented by a serpent devouring the kʼin ("day") hieroglyph.Finley, Michael John Eclipses were interpreted as the sun or moon being bitten, and lunar tables were recorded in order that the Maya might be able to predict them, and perform the appropriate ceremonies to ward off disaster.
The Maya viewed the cosmos as highly structured. There were thirteen levels in the heavens and nine in the underworld, with the mortal world in between. Each level had four cardinal directions associated with a different colour; north was white, east was red, south was yellow, and west was black. Major deities had aspects associated with these directions and colours.
Maya households interred their dead underneath the floors, with offerings appropriate to the social status of the family. There the dead could act as protective ancestors. Maya lineages were patrilineal, so the worship of a prominent male ancestor would be emphasised, often with a household shrine. As Maya society developed, and the elite became more powerful, Maya royalty developed their household shrines into the great pyramids that held the tombs of their ancestors.
Belief in supernatural forces pervaded Maya life, from the simplest day-to-day activities such as cooking, to trade, politics, and elite activities. Maya deities governed all aspects of the world, both visible and invisible.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 92. The Maya priesthood was a closed group, drawing its members from the established elite; by the Early Classic they were recording increasingly complex ritual information in their hieroglyphic books, including astronomical observations, calendrical cycles, history and mythology. The priests performed public ceremonies that incorporated feasting, bloodletting, incense burning, Maya music, ritual dance, and, on certain occasions, human sacrifice. During the Classic period, the Maya ruler was the high priest, and the direct conduit between mortals and the gods. It is highly likely that, among commoners, shamanism continued in parallel to state religion. By the Postclassic, religious emphasis had changed; there was an increase in worship of the images of deities, and more frequent recourse to human sacrifice.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 722.
Archaeologists painstakingly reconstruct these ritual practices and beliefs using several techniques. One important, though incomplete, resource is physical evidence, such as dedicatory caches and other ritual deposits, shrines, and burials with their associated funerary offerings.Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 91–92. Maya art, architecture, and writing are another resource, and these can be combined with ethnography sources, including records of Maya religious practices made by the Spanish during the conquest.
Important rituals such as the dedication of major building projects or the enthronement of a new ruler required a human offering. The sacrifice of an enemy king was the most prized, and such a sacrifice involved decapitation of the captive ruler, perhaps in a ritual reenactment of the decapitation of the Maya maize god by the death gods. In AD 738, the vassal king Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat of Quiriguá captured his overlord, Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil of Copán and a few days later ritually decapitated him. Sacrifice by decapitation is depicted in Classic period Maya art, and sometimes took place after the victim was tortured, being variously beaten, scalped, burnt or disembowelled.Miller and Taube 1993, p. 96. Another myth associated with decapitation was that of the Hero Twins recounted in the Popol Vuh: playing a ballgame against the gods of the underworld, the heroes achieved victory, but one of each pair of twins was decapitated by their opponents.Gillespie 1991, pp. 322–23.
During the Postclassic period, the most common form of human sacrifice was heart extraction, influenced by the rites of the Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico; this usually took place in the courtyard of a temple, or upon the summit of the pyramid.Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 752. In one ritual, the corpse would be skinned by assistant priests, except for the hands and feet, and the officiating priest would then dress himself in the skin of the sacrificial victim and perform a ritual dance symbolizing the rebirth of life. Archaeological investigations indicate that heart sacrifice was practised as early as the Classic period.Tiesler and Cucina 2006, p. 493.
Itzamna was the creator god, but he also embodied the cosmos, and was simultaneously a solar deity; Kʼinich Ahau, the day sun, was one of his aspects. Maya kings frequently identified themselves with Kʼinich Ahau. Itzamna also had a night sun aspect, the Night Jaguar, representing the sun in its journey through the underworld.Demarest 2004, p. 181. The four supported the corners of the mortal realm; in the heavens, the performed the same function. As well as their four main aspects, the Bakabs had dozens of other aspects that are not well understood.Demarest 2004, p. 182. The four Chaacs were Weather god, controlling thunder, lightning, and the rains.Demarest 2004, pp. 182–83. The nine lords of the night each governed one of the underworld realms. Other important deities included the moon goddess, the maize god, and the Hero Twins.Demarest 2004, pp. 181–83.
The Popol Vuh was written in the Latin script in early colonial times, and was probably transcribed from a hieroglyphic book by an unknown Kʼicheʼ Maya nobleman.Miller and Taube 1993, p. 134. It is one of the most outstanding works of indigenous literature in the Americas. The Popul Vuh recounts the mythical creation of the world, the legend of the Hero Twins, and the history of the Postclassic Kʼicheʼ kingdom. Deities recorded in the Popul Vuh include Hun Hunahpu, believed by some to be the Kʼicheʼ maize god,Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 729. and a triad of deities led by the Kʼicheʼ patron Tohil, and also including the moon goddess Awilix, and the mountain god Jacawitz.Christenson 2007, pp. 61n65, 228n646. Miller and Taube 1993, p. 170. Carmack 2001, pp. 275, 369.
In common with other Mesoamerican cultures, the Maya worshipped feathered serpent deities. Such worship was rare during the Classic period,Miller and Taube 1993, p. 150. but by the Postclassic the feathered serpent had spread to both the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan Highlands. In Yucatán, the feathered serpent deity was Kukulkan,Miller and Taube 1993, p. 142. among the Kʼicheʼ it was Qʼuqʼumatz.Christenson 2007, pp. 52–53n20. Kukulkan had his origins in the Classic period War Serpent, Waxaklahun Ubah Kan, and has also been identified as the Postclassic version of the Vision Serpent of Classic Maya art.Freidel, Schele and Parker 1993, pp. 289, 325, 441n26. Although the cult of Kukulkan had its origins in these earlier Maya traditions, the worship of Kukulkan was heavily influenced by the Quetzalcoatl cult of central Mexico.Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 582–83. Likewise, Qʼuqʼumatz had a composite origin, combining the attributes of Mexican Quetzalcoatl with aspects of the Classic period Itzamna.Fox 2008, pp. 60, 121, 220.
The basic staples of the Maya diet were maize, beans, and squashes. These were supplemented with a wide variety of other plants either cultivated in gardens or gathered in the forest. At Joya de Cerén, a volcanic eruption preserved a record of foodstuffs stored in Maya homes, among them were chilies and . Cotton seeds were in the process of being ground, perhaps to produce cooking oil. In addition to basic foodstuffs, the Maya also cultivated prestige crops such as cotton, cacao and vanilla. Cacao was especially prized by the elite, who consumed chocolate beverages.Foster 2002, p. 310. Cotton was spun, dyed, and woven into valuable textiles in order to be traded.Foster 2002, pp. 310–11.
The Maya had few domestic animals; dogs were domesticated by 3000 BC, and the Muscovy duck by the Late Postclassic.Foster 2002, pp. 311–312. were unsuitable for domestication, but were rounded up in the wild and penned for fattening. All of these were used as food animals; dogs were additionally used for hunting. It is possible that deer were also penned and fattened.Foster 2002, p. 312.
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