E-Groups are specific structural configurations present at a number of centers in the Maya area. These complexes are oriented and aligned according to specific astronomical events (primarily the sun's solstices and equinoxes) and are thought to have been observatories. These structures are usually accompanied by iconographic reliefs that tie astronomical observation into general Maya mythology. HP Compaq HSTNN-I44C-B Battery

The structural complex is named for Group E at Uaxactun, the first documented in Mesoamerica.

Pyramids and temples. Often the most important religious temples sat atop the towering Maya pyramids, presumably as the closest place to the heavens. While recent discoveries point toward the extensive use of pyramids as tombs, the temples themselves seem to rarely, if ever, contain burials. HP Compaq HSTNN-I45C Battery

Residing atop the pyramids, some of over two-hundred feet, such as that atEl Mirador, the temples were impressive and decorated structures themselves. Commonly topped with a roof comb, or superficial grandiose wall, these temples might have served as a type of propaganda. As they were often the only structure in a Maya city to exceed the height of the surrounding jungle, the roof combs atop the temples were often carved with representations of rulers that could be seen from vast distances. HP Compaq HSTNN-I45C-A Battery

Observatories. The Maya were keen astronomers and had mapped out the phases of celestial objects, especially the Moon andVenus. Many temples have doorways and other features aligning to celestial events. Round temples, often dedicated to Kukulcan, are perhaps those most often described as "observatories" by modern ruin tour-guides, HP Compaq HSTNN-I45C-B Battery

but there is no evidence that they were so used exclusively, and temple pyramids of other shapes may well have been used for observation as well.

Ballcourts. As an integral aspect of the Mesoamerican lifestyle, the courts for their ritual ball-game were constructed throughout the Maya realm and often on a grand scale. HP Compaq HSTNN-I48C-A Battery

Enclosed on two sides by stepped ramps that led to ceremonial platforms or small temples, the ballcourt itself was of a capital "I" shape and could be found in all but the smallest of Maya cities.

The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphs from a superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing) was a combination of phonetic symbols andlogograms. HP Compaq HSTNN-I48C-B Battery

It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only writing system of the Pre-Columbian New World which is known to represent the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than a thousand different glyphs, although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning, HP Compaq HSTNN-I49C Battery

and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than around 500 glyphs were in use, some 200 of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.

The earliest inscriptions in an identifiably Maya script date back to 200–300 BC. HP Compaq HSTNN-I50C-B Battery

 However, this is preceded by several other writing systems which had developed in Mesoamerica, most notably that of the Zapotecs, and (following the 2006 publication of research on the recently discovered Cascajal Block), theOlmecs. There is a pre-Maya writing known as "Epi-Olmec script" (post Olmec) which some researchers believe may represent a transitional script between Olmec and Maya writing, HP Compaq HSTNN-I54C Battery

but the relationships between these remain unclear and the matter is unsettled. On January 5, 2006, National Geographic published the findings of Maya writings that could be as old as 400 BC, suggesting that the Maya writing system is nearly as old as the oldest Mesoamerican writing known at that time, Zapotec. HP Compaq HSTNN-I64C-5 Battery

 In the succeeding centuries the Maya developed their script into a form which was far more complete and complex than any other that has yet been found in the Americas.

Since its inception, the Maya script was in use up to the arrival of the Europeans, peaking during the Maya Classical Period (c. 200 to 900). HP Compaq HSTNN-I65C-5 Battery

Although many Maya centers went into decline (or were completely abandoned) during or after this period, the skill and knowledge of Maya writing persisted amongst segments of the population, and the early Spanish conquistadors knew of individuals who could still read and write the script. Unfortunately, HP Compaq HSTNN-IB05 Battery

the Spanish displayed little interest in it, and as a result of the dire impacts the conquest had on Maya societies, the knowledge was subsequently lost, probably within only a few generations.

At a rough estimate, in excess of 10,000 individual texts have so far been recovered, mostly inscribed on stone monuments, lintels, stelae and ceramic pottery. HP Compaq HSTNN-IB08 Battery

The Maya also produced texts painted on a form of paper manufactured from processed tree-bark, in particular from several species of strangler fig trees such asFicus cotinifolia and Ficus padifolia.^[27] This paper, common throughout Mesoamerica and generally now known by its Nahuatl-language name amatl, HP Compaq HSTNNIB12 Battery

was typically bound as a single continuous sheet that was folded into pages of equal width, concertina-style, to produce a codex that could be written on both sides. Shortly after the conquest, all of the codices which could be found were ordered to be burnt and destroyed by zealous Spanish priests, notably Bishop Diego de Landa. HP Compaq HSTNN-IB16 Battery

Only three reasonably intact examples of Maya codices are known to have survived through to the present day. These are now known as the Madrid, Dresden, and Paris codices. A few pages survive from a fourth, the Grolier codex, whose authenticity is sometimes disputed, but mostly is held to be genuine. HP Compaq HSTNN-IB18 Battery

Further archaeology conducted at Maya sites often reveals other fragments, rectangular lumps of plaster and paint chips which formerly were codices; these tantalizing remains are, however, too severely damaged for any inscriptions to have survived, most of the organic material having decayed. HP Compaq HSTNN-IB28 Battery

The decipherment and recovery of the now-lost knowledge of Maya writing has been a long and laborious process. Some elements were first deciphered in the late 19th and early 20th century, mostly the parts having to do with numbers, the Maya calendar, and astronomy. Major breakthroughs came starting in the 1950s to 1970s, and accelerated rapidly thereafter. HP Compaq HSTNN-IB51 Battery

By the end of the 20th century, scholars were able to read the majority of Maya texts to a large extent, and recent field work continues to further illuminate the content.

In reference to the few extant Maya writings, Michael D. Coe, a prominent archaeologist at Yale University, stated: HP Compaq HSTNN-IB52 Battery

"[O]ur knowledge of ancient Maya thought must represent only a tiny fraction of the whole picture, for of the thousands of books in which the full extent of their learning and ritual was recorded, only four have survived to modern times (as though all that posterity knew of ourselves were to be based upon three prayer books and 'Pilgrim's Progress')." HP Compaq HSTNN-IB55 Battery

 (Michael D. Coe, The Maya, London: Thames and Hudson, 4th ed., 1987, p. 161.)

Most surviving pre-Columbian Maya writing is from stelae and other stone inscriptions from Maya sites, many of which were already abandoned before the Spanish arrived. The inscriptions on the stelae mainly record the dynasties and wars of the sites' rulers. HP Compaq HSTNN-IB62 Battery

Also of note are the inscriptions that reveal information about the lives of ancient Maya women. Much of the remainder of Maya hieroglyphics has been found on funeral pottery, most of which describes the afterlife.

Although the archaeological record does not provide examples, Maya art shows that writing was done with brushes made with animal hair and quills. HP Compaq HSTNN-LB05 Battery

Codex-style writing was usually done in black ink with red highlights, giving rise to the Aztec name for the Maya territory as the "land of red and black".

Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts. Maya art often depicts rulers with trappings indicating they were scribes or at least able to write, such as having pen bundles in their headdresses. HP Compaq HSTNN-LB08 Battery

Additionally, many rulers have been found in conjunction with writing tools such as shell or clay inkpots. Although the number of logograms and syllabic symbols required to fully write the language numbered in the hundreds, literacy was not necessarily widespread beyond the elite classes. Graffiti uncovered in various contexts, including on fired bricks, shows nonsensical attempts to imitate the writing system. HP Compaq HSTNN-LB0E Battery

In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya used a base 20 (vigesimal) and base 5 numbering system (seeMaya numerals). Also, the preclassic Maya and their neighbors had independently developed the concept of zero by 36 BC. HP Compaq HSTNN-LB11 Battery

Inscriptions show them on occasion working with sums up to the hundreds of millions and dates so large it would take several lines just to represent it. They produced extremely accurate astronomical observations; their charts of the movements of the moon and planets are equal or superior to those of any other civilization working from naked eye observation. HP Compaq HSTNN-LB51 Battery

Uniquely, there is some evidence to suggest the Maya appear to be the only pre-telescopic civilization to demonstrate knowledge of the Orion Nebula as being fuzzy, i.e. not a stellar pin-point. The information which supports this theory comes from a folk tale that deals with the Orion constellation's area of the sky. HP Compaq HSTNN-LB52 Battery

Their traditional hearths include in their middle a smudge of glowing fire that corresponds with the Orion Nebula. This is a significant clue to support the idea that the Maya detected a diffuse area of the sky contrary to the pin points of stars before the telescope was invented.^[28] Many preclassic sites are oriented with the Pleiades and Eta Draconis, as seen in La Blanca, Ujuxte, Monte Alto, and Takalik Abaj. HP Compaq HSTNN-MB05 Battery

The Maya were very interested in zenial passages, the time when the sun passes directly overhead. The latitude of most of their cities being below the Tropic of Cancer, these zenial passages would occur twice a year equidistant from the solstice. To represent this position of the sun overhead, the Maya had a god namedDiving God. HP Compaq HSTNN-OB06 Battery

The Dresden Codex contains the highest concentration of astronomical phenomena observations and calculations of any of the surviving texts (it appears that the data in this codex is primarily or exclusively of an astronomical nature). Examination and analysis of this codex reveals that Venus was the most important astronomical object to the Maya, even more important to them than the sun. HP Compaq HSTNN-OB52 Battery

In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya had measured the length of the solar year to a high degree of accuracy, far more accurately than that used in Europe as the basis of the Gregorian calendar. They did not use this figure for the length of year in their calendars, however; HP Compaq HSTNN-OB62 Battery

the calendars they used were crude, being based on a year length of exactly 365 days, which means that the calendar falls out of step with the seasons by one day every four years. By comparison, the Julian calendar, used in Europe from Roman times until about the 16th Century, accumulated an error of only one day every 128 years. HP Compaq HSTNN-UB05 Battery

The modern Gregorian calendar is even more accurate, accumulating only a day's error in approximately 3257 years.Like the Aztec and Inca who came to power later, the Maya believed in a cyclical nature of time. The rituals and ceremonies were very closely associated with celestial and terrestrial cycles which they observed and inscribed as separate calendars. HP Compaq HSTNN-UB11 Battery

The Maya priest had the job of interpreting these cycles and giving a prophetic outlook on the future or past based on the number relations of all their calendars. They also had to determine if the heavens were propitious for performing certain religious ceremonies.

The Maya practiced human sacrifice. HP Compaq HSTNN-UB18 Battery

In some Maya rituals people were killed by having their arms and legs held while a priest cut the person's chest open and tore out his heart as an offering. This is depicted on ancient objects such as pictorial texts, known as codices.Much of the Maya religious tradition is still not understood by scholars, but it is known that the Maya believed that the cosmoshad three major planes, the Earth, the underworld beneath and the heavens above. HP Compaq HSTNN-UB68 Battery

The Maya underworld is reached through caves and deep tunnels. It was thought to be dominated by the aged Maya gods of death andputrefaction. The Sun (Kinich Ahau) and Itzamna, an aged god, dominated the Maya idea of the sky. Another aged man, god L, was one of the major deities of the underworld. HP Compaq HSTNN-UB69 Battery

The night sky was considered a window showing all supernatural doings. The Maya configured constellations of gods and places, saw the unfolding of narratives in their seasonal movements, and believed that the intersection of all possible worlds was in the night sky

Maya gods had affinities and aspects that caused them to merge with one another in ways that seem unbounded. HP Compaq HSTNN-W42C Battery

There is a massive array of supernatural characters in the Maya religious tradition, only some of which recur with regularity. Good and evil traits are not permanent characteristics of Maya gods, nor is only "good" admirable. What is inappropriate during one season might come to pass in another since much of the Maya religious tradition is based on cycles and not permanence. HP Compaq HSTNN-W42C-A Battery

The life-cycle of maize lies at the heart of Maya belief. This philosophy is demonstrated on the belief in the Maya maize god as a central religious figure. The Maya bodily ideal is also based on the form of this young deity, which is demonstrated in their artwork. The Maize God was also a model of courtly life for the Classical Maya. HP Compaq HSTNN-W42C-B Battery

In the 19th century, Maya culture influenced the local forms of Christianity followed in Chan Santa Cruz.

Among the K'iche' in the western highlands of Guatemala the same traditions are used to this day, in the training of the ajk'ij, the keeper of the 260-day-calendar called ch'olk'ij.

The ancient Maya had diverse and sophisticated methods of food production. HP Compaq HSTNN-XB0E Battery

It was formerly believed that shifting cultivation (swidden) agriculture provided most of their food but it is now thought that permanent raised fields, terracing, forest gardens, managed fallows, and wild harvesting were also crucial to supporting the large populations of the Classic period in some areas. Indeed, evidence of these different agricultural systems persist today: HP Compaq HSTNN-XB11 Battery

raised fields connected by canals can be seen on aerial photographs, contemporary rainforest species composition has significantly higher abundance of species of economic value to ancient Maya, and pollen records in lake sediments suggest that corn, manioc, sunflower seeds, cotton, and other crops have been cultivated in association with the deforestation in Mesoamerica since at least 2500 BC. HP Compaq HSTNN-XB18 Battery

Contemporary Maya peoples still practice many of these traditional forms of agriculture, although they are dynamic systems and change with changing population pressures, cultures, economic systems, climate change, and the availability of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. HP Compaq HSTNN-XB21 Battery

Spanish clergy and administrators dating to the 16th century were largely familiar with ancient Maya sites, writing and calendar systems. Published writings of 16th century Bishop Diego de Landa and writings of 18th century Spanish officials spurred serious investigations of Maya sites by the late 18th century. HP Compaq HSTNN-XB24 Battery

In 1839 United States traveler and writer John Lloyd Stephens, familiar with earlier Spanish investigations, visited Copán, Palenque, and other sites with English architect and draftsman Frederick Catherwood. Their illustrated accounts of the ruins sparked strong popular interest in the region and the people, and they have once again regained their position as a vital link in Mesoamerican heritage. HP Compaq HSTNN-XB28 Battery

However, in many locations, Maya ruins have been overgrown by the jungle, becoming dense enough to hide structures just a few meters away. To help find ruins, researchers have turned to satellite imagery. The best way to find them is to look at the visible and near-infrared spectra. HP Compaq HSTNN-XB51 Battery

Due to their limestone construction, the monuments affected the chemical makeup of the soil as they deteriorated. Some moisture-loving plants stayed away, while others were killed off or discolored. The effects of the limestone ruins are still apparent today to some satellite sensors. HP Compaq HSTNN-XB52 Battery

Much of the contemporary rural population of the Yucatán Peninsula, Chiapas (both in Mexico), Guatemala and Belize is Maya by descent and primary language. HP Compaq HSTNN-XB59 Battery,HP Compaq HSTNN-XB61 Battery,HP Compaq HSTNN-XB62 Battery

With the decipherment of the Maya

With the decipherment of the Maya script it was discovered that the Maya were one of the few civilizations where artists attached their name to their work.

Maya architecture spans many thousands of years; yet, often the most dramatic and easily recognizable as Maya are the stepped pyramids from the Terminal Pre-classic period and beyond. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB05 Battery

There are also cave sites that are important to the Maya. These cave sites include Jolja Cave, the cave site at Naj Tunich, theCandelaria Caves, and the Cave of the Witch. There are also cave-origin myths among the Maya. Some cave sites are still used by the modern Maya in the Chiapas highlands. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB06 Battery

It has been suggested^[who?] that temples and pyramids were remodeled and rebuilt every fifty-two years in synchrony with the Maya Long Count Calendar. It appears now that the rebuilding process was often instigated by a new ruler or for political matters, as opposed to matching the calendar cycle. However, the process of rebuilding on top of old structures is indeed a common one. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB0E Battery

Most notably, the North Acropolis at Tikal seems to be the sum total of 1,500 years of architectural modifications. In Tikal, Yaxha and Ixlu there were twin pyramid complexes. There were nine in Tikal and one each in Yaxha and Ixlu; at Tikal they were used to commemorate the end of a 20-year k'atun cycle. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB11 Battery

Through observation of the numerous consistent elements and stylistic distinctions, remnants of Maya architecture have become an important key to understanding the evolution of their ancient civilization.

As Maya cities spread throughout the varied geography of Mesoamerica, site planning appears to have been minimal. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB16 Battery

Maya architecture tended to integrate a great degree of natural features, and their cities were built somewhat haphazardly as dictated by the topography of each independent location. For instance, some cities on the flat limestoneplains of the northern Yucatán grew into great sprawling municipalities, while others built in the hills of Usumacintautilized the natural loft of the topography to raise their towers and temples to impressive heights. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB28 Battery

However, some degree of order, as required in any large city, still prevailed.

Classic Era Maya urban design could easily be described as the division of space by great monuments and causeways. Open public plazas were the gathering places for people and the focus of urban design, while interior space was entirely secondary. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB29 Battery

Only in the Late Post-Classic era did the great Maya cities develop into more fortress-like defensive structures that lacked, for the most part, the large and numerous plazas of the Classic.

At the onset of large-scale construction during the Classic Era, a predetermined axis was typically established in a cardinal direction. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB67 Battery

Depending on the location of natural resources such as fresh-water wells, or cenotes, the city grew by using sacbeob (limed causeways or "white roads") to connect great plazas with the numerous platforms that created the sub-structure for nearly all Maya buildings. As more structures were added and existing structures re-built or remodeled, HP Compaq HSTNN-FB05 Battery

the great Maya cities seemed to take on an almost random identity that contrasted sharply with other great Mesoamerican cities such as Teotihuacan and its rigid grid-like construction.

At the heart of the Maya city were large plazas surrounded by the most important governmental and religious buildings, such as the royal acropolis, great pyramid temples and occasionally ball-courts. HP Compaq HSTNN-FB18 Battery

Though city layouts evolved as nature dictated, careful attention was placed on the directional orientation of temples and observatories so that they were constructed in accordance with Maya interpretation of the orbits of the heavenly bodies. Immediately outside of this ritual center were the structures of lesser nobles, smaller temples, and individual shrines; HP Compaq HSTNN-FB51 Battery

the less sacred and less important structures had a greater degree of privacy. Outside of the constantly evolving urban core were the less permanent and more modest homes of the common people.

A surprising aspect of the great Maya structures is their lack of many advanced technologies seemingly necessary for such constructions. HP Compaq HSTNN-FB52 Battery

Lacking draft animals necessary for wheel-based modes of transportation, metal tools and even pulleys, Maya architecture required abundant manpower. Yet, beyond this enormous requirement, the remaining materials seem to have been readily available. All stone for Maya structures appears to have been taken from local quarries. HP Compaq HSTNN-I04C Battery

They most often used limestone which remained pliable enough to be worked with stone tools while being quarried and only hardened once removed from its bed. In addition to the structural use of limestone, much of their mortar consisted of crushed, burnt and mixed limestone that mimicked the properties of cement and was used as widely for stucco finishing as it was for mortar. HP Compaq HSTNN-I12C Battery

Later improvements in quarrying techniques reduced the necessity for this limestone-stucco as the stones began to fit quite perfectly, yet it remained a crucial element in some post and lintel roofs. In the case of the common Maya houses, wooden poles, adobe and thatch were the primary materials; however, instances of what appear to be common houses of limestone have been discovered as well. HP Compaq HSTNN-I39C Battery

Also notable throughout Maya architecture is the corbel arch (also known as a "false arch"), which allowed for more open-aired entrances. The corbelled arch improved upon pier/post and lintel doorways by directing the weight off of the lintel and onto the supporting posts.

Ceremonial platforms were commonly limestone platforms of typically less than four meters in height where public ceremonies and religious rites were performed. HP Compaq HSTNN-I40C Battery

Constructed in the fashion of a typical foundation platform, these were often accented by carved figures, altars and perhaps tzompantli, a stake used to display the heads of victims or defeated Mesoamerican ballgame opponents.

Palaces were large and often highly decorated, and usually sat close to the center of a city and housed the population's elite. HP Compaq HSTNN-I44C Battery

Any exceedingly large royal palace, or one consisting of many chambers on different levels might be referred to as an acropolis. However, often these were one-story and consisted of many small chambers and typically at least one interior courtyard; these structures appear to take into account the needed functionality required of a residence, as well as the decoration required for their inhabitants stature. HP Compaq HSTNN-I44C-A Battery

Such kingdoms were usually

Such kingdoms were usually no more than a capital city with its neighborhood and several lesser towns, although there were greater kingdoms, which controlled larger territories and extended patronage over smaller polities. Each kingdom had a name that did not necessarily correspond to any locality within its territory. Its identity was that of a political unit associated with a particular ruling dynasty. HP Compaq 6735B Battery

For instance, the archaeological site ofNaranjo was the capital of the kingdom of Saal. The land (chan ch’e’n) of the kingdom and its capital were called Wakab’nal or Maxam and were part of a larger geographical entity known as Huk Tsuk. Interestingly, despite constant warfare and eventual shifts in regional power, HP Compaq HSTNN-105C Battery

most kingdoms never disappeared from the political landscape until the collapse of the whole system in the 9th century AD. In this respect, Classic Maya kingdoms are highly similar to late Post Classic polities encountered by the Spaniards in Yucatán and Central Mexico: some polities could be subordinated to hegemonic rulers through conquests or dynastic unions and yet even then they persisted as distinct entities. HP Compaq HSTNN-C12C Battery

Mayanists have been increasingly accepting a "court paradigm" of Classic Maya societies which puts the emphasis on the centrality of the royal household and especially the person of the king. This approach focuses on Maya monumental spaces as the embodiment of the diverse activities of the royal household. It considers the role of places and spaces (including dwellings of royalty and nobles, HP Compaq HSTNN-C66C Battery

throne rooms, temples, halls and plazas for public ceremonies) in establishing power and social hierarchy, and also in projecting aesthetic and moral values to define the wider social realm.

Spanish sources invariably describe even the largest Maya settlements as dispersed collections of dwellings grouped around the temples and palaces of the ruling dynasty and lesser nobles. HP Compaq HSTNN-C66C-4 Battery

None of the Classic Maya cities shows evidence of economic specialization and commerce of the scale of Mexican Tenochtitlan. Instead, Maya cities could be seen as enormous royal households, the locales of the administrative and ritual activities of the royal court. They were the places where privileged nobles could approach the holy ruler, where aesthetic values of the high culture were formulated and disseminated and where aesthetic items were consumed. HP Compaq HSTNN-C66C-5 Battery

They were the self-proclaimed centers and the sources of social, moral, and cosmic order. The fall of a royal court as in the well-documented cases of Piedras Negras or Copan would cause the inevitable "death" of the associated settlement.

Maya art of their Classic Era (c. 250 to 900 CE) is of a high level of aesthetic and artisanal sophistication. HP Compaq HSTNN-C67C Battery

The carvings and the reliefs made of stucco at Palenque and the statuary of Copán, show a grace and accurate observation of the human form that reminded early archaeologists of Classical civilizations of the Old World, hence the name bestowed on this era. We have only hints of the advanced painting of the classic Maya; HP Compaq HSTNN-C67C-4 Battery

mostly what has survived arefunerary pottery and other Maya ceramics, and a building at Bonampak holds ancient murals that survived by chance. A beautiful turquoise color ('Maya Blue') survived through the centuries due to its unique chemical characteristics. Late Preclassic murals of great artistic and iconographic perfection have been recently discovered at San Bartolo. HP Compaq HSTNN-C67C-5 Battery

Such kingdoms were usually

Such kingdoms were usually no more than a capital city with its neighborhood and several lesser towns, although there were greater kingdoms, which controlled larger territories and extended patronage over smaller polities. Each kingdom had a name that did not necessarily correspond to any locality within its territory. Its identity was that of a political unit associated with a particular ruling dynasty. HP Compaq 6735B Battery

For instance, the archaeological site ofNaranjo was the capital of the kingdom of Saal. The land (chan ch’e’n) of the kingdom and its capital were called Wakab’nal or Maxam and were part of a larger geographical entity known as Huk Tsuk. Interestingly, despite constant warfare and eventual shifts in regional power, HP Compaq HSTNN-105C Battery

most kingdoms never disappeared from the political landscape until the collapse of the whole system in the 9th century AD. In this respect, Classic Maya kingdoms are highly similar to late Post Classic polities encountered by the Spaniards in Yucatán and Central Mexico: some polities could be subordinated to hegemonic rulers through conquests or dynastic unions and yet even then they persisted as distinct entities. HP Compaq HSTNN-C12C Battery

Mayanists have been increasingly accepting a "court paradigm" of Classic Maya societies which puts the emphasis on the centrality of the royal household and especially the person of the king. This approach focuses on Maya monumental spaces as the embodiment of the diverse activities of the royal household. It considers the role of places and spaces (including dwellings of royalty and nobles, HP Compaq HSTNN-C66C Battery

throne rooms, temples, halls and plazas for public ceremonies) in establishing power and social hierarchy, and also in projecting aesthetic and moral values to define the wider social realm.

Spanish sources invariably describe even the largest Maya settlements as dispersed collections of dwellings grouped around the temples and palaces of the ruling dynasty and lesser nobles. HP Compaq HSTNN-C66C-4 Battery

None of the Classic Maya cities shows evidence of economic specialization and commerce of the scale of Mexican Tenochtitlan. Instead, Maya cities could be seen as enormous royal households, the locales of the administrative and ritual activities of the royal court. They were the places where privileged nobles could approach the holy ruler, where aesthetic values of the high culture were formulated and disseminated and where aesthetic items were consumed. HP Compaq HSTNN-C66C-5 Battery

They were the self-proclaimed centers and the sources of social, moral, and cosmic order. The fall of a royal court as in the well-documented cases of Piedras Negras or Copan would cause the inevitable "death" of the associated settlement.

Maya art of their Classic Era (c. 250 to 900 CE) is of a high level of aesthetic and artisanal sophistication. HP Compaq HSTNN-C67C Battery

The carvings and the reliefs made of stucco at Palenque and the statuary of Copán, show a grace and accurate observation of the human form that reminded early archaeologists of Classical civilizations of the Old World, hence the name bestowed on this era. We have only hints of the advanced painting of the classic Maya; HP Compaq HSTNN-C67C-4 Battery

mostly what has survived arefunerary pottery and other Maya ceramics, and a building at Bonampak holds ancient murals that survived by chance. A beautiful turquoise color ('Maya Blue') survived through the centuries due to its unique chemical characteristics. Late Preclassic murals of great artistic and iconographic perfection have been recently discovered at San Bartolo. HP Compaq HSTNN-C67C-5 Battery

With the decipherment of the Maya script it was discovered that the Maya were one of the few civilizations where artists attached their name to their work.

Maya architecture spans many thousands of years; yet, often the most dramatic and easily recognizable as Maya are the stepped pyramids from the Terminal Pre-classic period and beyond. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB05 Battery

There are also cave sites that are important to the Maya. These cave sites include Jolja Cave, the cave site at Naj Tunich, theCandelaria Caves, and the Cave of the Witch. There are also cave-origin myths among the Maya. Some cave sites are still used by the modern Maya in the Chiapas highlands. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB06 Battery

It has been suggested^[who?] that temples and pyramids were remodeled and rebuilt every fifty-two years in synchrony with the Maya Long Count Calendar. It appears now that the rebuilding process was often instigated by a new ruler or for political matters, as opposed to matching the calendar cycle. However, the process of rebuilding on top of old structures is indeed a common one. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB0E Battery

Most notably, the North Acropolis at Tikal seems to be the sum total of 1,500 years of architectural modifications. In Tikal, Yaxha and Ixlu there were twin pyramid complexes. There were nine in Tikal and one each in Yaxha and Ixlu; at Tikal they were used to commemorate the end of a 20-year k'atun cycle. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB11 Battery

Through observation of the numerous consistent elements and stylistic distinctions, remnants of Maya architecture have become an important key to understanding the evolution of their ancient civilization.

As Maya cities spread throughout the varied geography of Mesoamerica, site planning appears to have been minimal. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB16 Battery

Maya architecture tended to integrate a great degree of natural features, and their cities were built somewhat haphazardly as dictated by the topography of each independent location. For instance, some cities on the flat limestoneplains of the northern Yucatán grew into great sprawling municipalities, while others built in the hills of Usumacintautilized the natural loft of the topography to raise their towers and temples to impressive heights. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB28 Battery

However, some degree of order, as required in any large city, still prevailed.

Classic Era Maya urban design could easily be described as the division of space by great monuments and causeways. Open public plazas were the gathering places for people and the focus of urban design, while interior space was entirely secondary. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB29 Battery

Only in the Late Post-Classic era did the great Maya cities develop into more fortress-like defensive structures that lacked, for the most part, the large and numerous plazas of the Classic.

At the onset of large-scale construction during the Classic Era, a predetermined axis was typically established in a cardinal direction. HP Compaq HSTNN-DB67 Battery

Depending on the location of natural resources such as fresh-water wells, or cenotes, the city grew by using sacbeob (limed causeways or "white roads") to connect great plazas with the numerous platforms that created the sub-structure for nearly all Maya buildings. As more structures were added and existing structures re-built or remodeled, HP Compaq HSTNN-FB05 Battery

the great Maya cities seemed to take on an almost random identity that contrasted sharply with other great Mesoamerican cities such as Teotihuacan and its rigid grid-like construction.

At the heart of the Maya city were large plazas surrounded by the most important governmental and religious buildings, such as the royal acropolis, great pyramid temples and occasionally ball-courts. HP Compaq HSTNN-FB18 Battery

Though city layouts evolved as nature dictated, careful attention was placed on the directional orientation of temples and observatories so that they were constructed in accordance with Maya interpretation of the orbits of the heavenly bodies. Immediately outside of this ritual center were the structures of lesser nobles, smaller temples, and individual shrines; HP Compaq HSTNN-FB51 Battery

the less sacred and less important structures had a greater degree of privacy. Outside of the constantly evolving urban core were the less permanent and more modest homes of the common people.

A surprising aspect of the great Maya structures is their lack of many advanced technologies seemingly necessary for such constructions. HP Compaq HSTNN-FB52 Battery

Lacking draft animals necessary for wheel-based modes of transportation, metal tools and even pulleys, Maya architecture required abundant manpower. Yet, beyond this enormous requirement, the remaining materials seem to have been readily available. All stone for Maya structures appears to have been taken from local quarries. HP Compaq HSTNN-I04C Battery

They most often used limestone which remained pliable enough to be worked with stone tools while being quarried and only hardened once removed from its bed. In addition to the structural use of limestone, much of their mortar consisted of crushed, burnt and mixed limestone that mimicked the properties of cement and was used as widely for stucco finishing as it was for mortar. HP Compaq HSTNN-I12C Battery

Later improvements in quarrying techniques reduced the necessity for this limestone-stucco as the stones began to fit quite perfectly, yet it remained a crucial element in some post and lintel roofs. In the case of the common Maya houses, wooden poles, adobe and thatch were the primary materials; however, instances of what appear to be common houses of limestone have been discovered as well. HP Compaq HSTNN-I39C Battery

Also notable throughout Maya architecture is the corbel arch (also known as a "false arch"), which allowed for more open-aired entrances. The corbelled arch improved upon pier/post and lintel doorways by directing the weight off of the lintel and onto the supporting posts.

Ceremonial platforms were commonly limestone platforms of typically less than four meters in height where public ceremonies and religious rites were performed. HP Compaq HSTNN-I40C Battery

Constructed in the fashion of a typical foundation platform, these were often accented by carved figures, altars and perhaps tzompantli, a stake used to display the heads of victims or defeated Mesoamerican ballgame opponents.

Palaces were large and often highly decorated, and usually sat close to the center of a city and housed the population's elite. HP Compaq HSTNN-I44C Battery

Any exceedingly large royal palace, or one consisting of many chambers on different levels might be referred to as an acropolis. However, often these were one-story and consisted of many small chambers and typically at least one interior courtyard; these structures appear to take into account the needed functionality required of a residence, as well as the decoration required for their inhabitants stature. HP Compaq HSTNN-I44C-A Battery

Water and civilization

Water and civilization were vitally connected in ancient Mesoamerica. Archaeologist and specialist in pre-industrial land and water usage practices, Vernon Scarborough, believes water management and access were critical to the development of Maya civilization.^[32] HP Compaq 491278-001 Battery

Critics of the drought theory wonder why the southern and central lowland cities were abandoned and the northern cities like Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Cobacontinued to thrive.^[33] One critic argued that Chichen Itza revamped its political, military, religious, and economic institutions away from powerful lords or kings.^[34] HP Compaq 491279-001 Battery

Inhabitants of the northern Yucatán also had access to seafood, which might have explained the survival of Chichen Itza and Mayapan, cities away from the coast but within reach of coastal food supplies.^[35] Critics of the drought theory also point to current weather patterns: much heavier rainfall in the southern lowlands compared to the lighter amount of rain in the northern Yucatán. HP Compaq 491654-001 Battery

Drought theory supporters state that the entire regional climate changed, including the amount of rainfall, so that modern rainfall patterns are not indicative of rainfall from AD 800 to 900. LSU archaeologist Heather McKillop found a significant rise in sea level along the coast nearest the southern Maya lowlands, coinciding with the end of the Classic period, and indicating climate change.HP Compaq 491657-001 Battery

David Webster, a critic of the megadrought theory says that much of the evidence provided by Gill comes from the northern Yucatán and not the Southern part of the peninsula, where Classic Maya civilization flourished. He also states that if water sources were to have dried up, then several city-states would have moved to other water sources. HP Compaq 496897-001 Battery

The fact that Gill suggests that all water in the region would have dried up and destroyed Maya civilization is a stretch, according to Webster.^[37]

A study published in Science in 2012 found that modest rainfall reductions, that amount to only 25 to 40 per cent in annual rainfall, may have been the tipping point to the Mayan collapse. HP Compaq 500764-001 Battery

Based on samples of lake and cave sediments in the areas surrounding major Mayan cities, the researchers were able to determine the amount of annual rainfall in the region. The mild droughts that took place between AD 800-950 were enough to rapidly deplete seasonal water supplies in the Yucatán lowlands, where there are no rivers. HP Compaq 500765-001 Battery

Some ecological theories of Maya decline focus on the worsening agricultural and resource conditions in the late Classic period. It was originally thought that the majority of Maya agriculture was dependent on a simple slash-and-burn system. Based on this method, the hypothesis of soil exhaustion was advanced by Orator F. Cook in 1921. HP Compaq 501870-001 Battery

Similar soil exhaustion assumptions are associated with erosion, intensive agricultural, and savanna grass competition.

More recent investigations have shown a complicated variety of intensive agricultural techniques utilized by the Maya, explaining the high population of the Classic Maya polities. HP Compaq 513129-121 Battery

Modern archaeologists now comprehend the sophisticated intensive and productive agricultural techniques of the ancient Maya, and several of the Maya agricultural methods have not yet been reproduced. Intensive agricultural methods were developed and utilized by all the Mesoamerican cultures to boost their food production and give them a competitive advantage over less skillful peoples. HP Compaq 513129-141 Battery

These intensive agricultural methods included canals, terracing, raised fields, ridged fields, chinampas, the use of human faeces as fertilizer, seasonal swamps or bajos, using muck from the bajos to create fertile fields, dikes, dams, irrigation, water reservoirs, several types of water storage systems, hydraulic systems, swamp reclamation, HP Compaq 513129-421 Battery

swidden systems, and other agricultural techniques which have not yet been fully comprehended.^[42] Systemic ecological collapse is said to be evidenced by deforestation, siltation, and the decline of biological diversity. HP Compaq 532497-221 Battery

In addition to mountainous terrain, Mesoamericans successfully exploited the very problematic tropical rainforest for 1,500 years.^[43] The agricultural techniques utilized by the Maya were entirely dependent upon ample supplies of water. The Maya thrived in what to most peoples would be uninhabitable territory. Their success over two millennia in this environment was "amazing." HP Compaq 532497-241 Battery

Anthropologist Joseph Tainter wrote extensively about the collapse of the Southern Lowland Maya in his 1988 study, The Collapse of Complex Societies. His theory about Mayan collapse encompasses some of the above explanations, but focuses specifically on the development of and the declining marginal returns from the increasing social complexity of the competing Mayan city-states. HP Compaq 532497-421 Battery

During the succeeding Postclassic period (from the 10th to the early 16th century), development in the northern centers persisted, characterized by an increasing diversity of external influences. The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatán continued to flourish for centuries more; some of the important sites in this era were Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Edzná, and Coba. HP Compaq 572186-001 Battery

After the decline of the ruling dynasties of Chichen and Uxmal, Mayapan ruled all of Yucatán until a revolt in 1450. (This city's name may be the source of the word "Maya", which had a more geographically restricted meaning in Yucatec and colonial Spanish and only grew to its current meaning in the 19th and 20th centuries). HP Compaq 572187-001 Battery

The area then degenerated into competing city-states until Yucatán was conquered by the Spanish.

The Itza Maya, Ko'woj, and Yalain groups of Central Peten survived the "Classic Period Collapse" in small numbers and by 1250 reconstituted themselves to form competing city-states. The Itza maintained their capital at Tayasal (also known as Noh Petén), HP Compaq 572188-001 Battery

an archaeological site thought to underlay the modern city ofFlores, Guatemala on Lake Petén Itzá. It ruled over an area extending across the Peten Lakes region, encompassing the community of Eckixil on Lake Quexil. The Ko'woj had their capital at Zacpeten. Postclassic Maya states also continued to survive in the southern highlands. HP Compaq 572189-001 Battery

One of the Maya nations in this area, theK'iche' Kingdom of Q'umarkaj, is responsible for the best-known Maya work of historiography and mythology, the Popol Vuh. Other highland kingdoms included theMam based at Huehuetenango, the Kaqchikels based at Iximche, the Chajoma based at Mixco Viejo^[21] and the Chuj, based at San Mateo Ixtatán. HP Compaq 572190-001 Battery

Shortly after their first expeditions to the region, the Spanish initiated a number of attempts to subjugate the Maya who were hostile towards the Spanish crown and establish a colonial presence in the Maya territories of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan highlands. HP Compaq 572191-001 Battery

This campaign, sometimes termed "The Spanish Conquest of Yucatán", would prove to be a lengthy and dangerous exercise for the conquistadores from the outset, and it would take some 170 years and tens of thousands of Indian auxiliaries before the Spanish established substantive control over all Maya lands. HP Compaq 583256-001 Battery

Unlike the Aztec and Inca Empires, there was no single Maya political center that, once overthrown, would hasten the end of collective resistance from the indigenous peoples. Instead, the conquistador forces needed to subdue the numerous independent Maya polities almost one by one, many of which kept up a fierce resistance. HP Compaq 586031-001 Battery

Most of the conquistadors were motivated by the prospects of the great wealth to be had from the seizure of precious metal resources such as gold orsilver; however, the Maya lands themselves were poor in these resources. This would become another factor in forestalling Spanish designs of conquest, as they instead were initially attracted to the reports of great riches in central Mexico or Peru. HP Compaq 6530B Battery

The Spanish Church and government officials destroyed Maya texts and with them the knowledge of Maya writing, but by chance three of the pre-Columbian booksdated to the post classic period have been preserved.^[which?][22] These are known as the Madrid Codex, The Dresden Codex and the Paris Codex. HP Compaq 6535B Battery

The last Maya states, the Itza polity of Tayasal and the Ko'woj city of Zacpeten, were continuously occupied and remained independent of the Spanish until late in the 17th century. They were finally subdued by the Spanish in 1697.

A typical Classic Maya polity was a small hierarchical state (ajawil, ajawlel, or ajawlil) headed by a hereditary ruler known as an ajaw (later k’uhul ajaw). HP Compaq 6730B Battery

Nancy Gonlin, and David Webster

Nancy Gonlin, and David Webster uses a technique called obsidian hydration. The technique allowed them to map the spread and growth of settlements in the Copán Valley and estimate their populations. Between 400 and 450 AD, the population was estimated at around six-hundred people. This rose to a peak of twenty-eight thousand between 750 and 800 AD - larger than London or Paris at the time. HP Compaq 408545-741 Battery

Population then began steady decline. By 900 AD, the population had fallen to fifteen thousand, and by 1200 AD the population was again less than 1000 in Copán.

Some 88 different theories or variations of theories attempting to explain the Classic Maya Collapse have been identified.^[5] HP Compaq 408545-761 Battery

 From climate change to deforestation to lack of action by Mayan kings, there is no universally accepted collapse theory, although drought is gaining momentum as the leading explanation.^[6]

The archaeological evidence of the Toltec intrusion into Yucatán in Seibal, Peten suggests to some the theory of foreign invasion. HP Compaq 409357-001 Battery

The latest hypothesis states that the southern lowlands were invaded by a non-Maya group whose homelands were probably in the gulf coast lowlands. This invasion began in 9th century and set off, within 100 years, a group of events that destroyed the Classic Maya. It is believed that this invasion was somehow influenced by the Toltec people of central Mexico. HP Compaq 409357-002 Battery

However, most Mayanists do not believe that foreign invasion was the main cause of the Classic Maya Collapse; they postulate that no military defeat can explain or be the cause of the protracted and complex Classic Collapse process. Teotihuacan influence across the Maya region may have involved some form of military invasion, HP Compaq 412779-001 Battery

however it is generally noted that significant Teotihuacan-Maya interactions date from at least the Early Classic period, well before the episodes of Late Classic collapse.^[7]

Dr Michel Peissel believes that the well documented conquest of Yucatán in the 9th century by the Chichen Itza polity, HP Compaq 415306-001 Battery

led to the rerouting along coastal sea routes of most of the (cacao) trade that used to transit through (and enrich) the major inland cities, which were ruined overnight, as were those of the silk road when Portuguese traders began to transfer silk by ship to Europe from China and Japan. HP Compaq 418867-001 Battery

Peissel's theory, validated by several scholars, explains why the collapse was not general and also why at the time of the collapse of lowland cities other towns flourished - most of them along the new routes opened up by the Chichen Itza maritime traders. To prove the feasibility of this transfer from overland trade routes to the sea, HP Compaq 418871-001 Battery

Dr Peissel with three Mexican archeologists and ten companions travelled 650 kilometers in 1988 on a sea-going Maya dugout from Chunyache in Quintana Roo (Mexico) to the upper reaches of the Mojo River in Belize.^[8]

Archaeological evidence indicates that Maya building and expansion projects were at their peak from c. HP Compaq 441675-001 Battery

730 to 790 (specifically during the k'atun), with constant enlargement and building and without any machines or beneficial tools to assist them. During this same time period, signs foreshadowing the collapse of Maya civilizations were beginning to appear. The majority of the burden was placed on peasant workers in the cities, like Tikal and Copan, with a seemingly endless construction, making ball courts and other buildings bigger. HP Compaq 443884-001 Battery

One theory, supported by J. Eric S. Thompson, attributes the collapse of the classic Maya to a hypothesized revolution among these lower Maya social classes. As life became more burdensome, work began to "undermine the religious development and collective enterprise of ordinary people", according to this line of thinking. HP Compaq 443885-001 Battery

The increased burden of work may have caused people to abandon their values and revolt against the elite of society, specifically the priest-rulers, since the Maya were believed to be theocratic and thus ruled by the priests. This might help explain the abrupt collapse of elite functions, as well as unfinished buildings and ceremonial centers. HP Compaq 446398-001 Battery

Since the collapse of various civilizations occurred at various times, it is believed that the revolts of individual groups were a part of a unplanned and impulsive series. In the civilization of Piedras Negras, for example, there seemed to be some sort of violence during this time period that was displayed through various palace buildings being set on fire and a throne being destroyed. HP Compaq 446399-001 Battery

While this seems to be a revolt between the peasants and the priests, the model being called the "priest-peasant" model, it was later discovered that kings ruled during the Pre Classic and Classic period within the Maya social classes rather than priests.^[9]

Even though these theories seemed to be a good explanation of the sudden collapse of the Maya civilizations, it still contains problems. HP Compaq 451085-121 Battery

First of all, Thompson's theory does not answer the question of where all the inhabitants went. David Webster believed that the population should have increased, instead of decreasing because of the lack of elite power. Second, it is not understood why the governmental institutions were not remade following the revolts, which actually happened under similar circumstances in places like China. HP Compaq 451085-141 Battery

Third, after a study was done by Elliot Abrams, he came to the conclusion that buildings, specifically in Copan, did not actually need the extensive amount of time and workers to complete the constructions. However, when Thompson had developed this theory, it was during a time period in which the archaeological evidence showed that there were fewer Maya people then as are now HP Compaq 451085-661 Battery

known.^[10] Revolutions, peasant revolts, and social turmoil change things, and often are followed by foreign wars, but they run their course. There are no documented revolutions that caused wholesale abandonment of entire regions.It has been hypothesized that the decline of the Maya is related to the collapse of their intricate trade systems, especially those connected to the central Mexican city of Teotihuacán. HP Compaq 451086-001 Battery

Preceding improved knowledge of the chronology of Mesoamerica, Teotihuacan was believed to have fallen during AD 700–750, forcing the "restructuring of economic relations throughout highland Mesoamerica and the Gulf Coast".^[11] This remaking of relationships between civilizations would have then given the collapse of the Classic Maya a slightly later date. HP Compaq 451086-121 Battery

However, after knowing more about the events and the time periods that they occurred, it is now believed that the strongest Teotihuacan influence was during the 4th and 5th centuries. In addition, the civilization of Teotihuacan started to lose its power, and maybe even abandoned the city, during AD 600–650. HP Compaq 451086-161 Battery

This differs greatly from the previous belief that Teotihuacano power decreased during AD 700–750.^[12] But since the new decline date of AD 600–650 has been accepted, the Maya civilizations are now thought to have lived on, and also prospered “for another century and more”^[13] than what was previously believed. Rather than the decline of Teotihuacan directly preceding the collapse of the Maya, their decline is now seen as contributing “to the 6th century ‘hiatus’”. HP Compaq 451086-621 Battery

The disease theory is also a contender as a factor in the Classic Maya Collapse. Widespread disease could explain some rapid depopulation, both directly through the spread of infection itself and indirectly as an inhibition to recovery over the long run. According to Dunn (1968) and Shimkin (1973), infectious diseases spread by parasites are common in tropical rainforest regions, such as the Maya lowlands. HP Compaq 451086-661 Battery

Shimkin specifically suggests that the Maya may have encountered endemic infections related to American trypanosomiasis, Ascaris, and some enteropathogens that cause acute diarrheal illness. Furthermore, some experts believe that, through development of their civilization (that is, development of agriculture and settlements), HP Compaq 451568-001 Battery

the Maya could have created a "disturbed environment," in which parasitic and pathogen-carrying insects often thrive.^[15] Among the pathogens listed above, it is thought that those that cause the acute diarrheal illnesses would have been the most devastating to the Maya population. HP Compaq 456864-001 Battery

This is because such illness would have struck a victim at an early age, thereby hampering nutritional health and the natural growth and development of a child. This would have made them more susceptible to other diseases later in life. Such ideas as this could explain the role of disease as at least a possible partial reason for the Classic Maya Collapse. HP Compaq 456865-001 Battery

Mega-droughts hit the Yucatán Peninsula and Petén Basin areas with particular ferocity, for several reasons:

1. Thin tropical soils, which decline in fertility and become unworkable when deprived of forest cover;^[17]

Regular seasonal drought, drying up M+D surface water;^[18] HP Compaq 458640-542 Battery

The colonial Spanish officials accurately documented cycles of drought, famine, disease, and war, providing a reliable historical record of the basic drought pattern in the Maya region.^[19]

Climatic factors were first implicated in the Collapse as early as 1931 by Mayanists Thomas Gann and J.E.S. Thompson.^[20] HP Compaq 464119-142 Battery

In The Great Maya Droughts, Richardson Gill gathers and analyzes an array of climatic, historical, hydrologic, tree ring, volcanic, geologic, lake bed, and archeological research, and demonstrates that a prolonged series of droughts most likely caused the Classic Maya Collapse.^[21] The drought theory provides a comprehensive explanation, HP Compaq 464119-143 Battery

because non-environmental and cultural factors (excessive warfare, foreign invasion, peasant revolt, less trade, etc.) can all be explained by the effects of prolonged drought on Classic Maya civilization.^[22]

Climatic changes are, with increasing frequency, found to be major drivers in the rise and fall of civilizations all over the world.^[23] HP Compaq 464119-162 Battery

Professors Harvey Weiss of Yale University and Raymond S. Bradley of the University of Massachusetts have written: "Many lines of evidence now point to climate forcing as the primary agent in repeated social collapse."^[24] In a separate publication, Weiss illustrates an emerging understanding of scientists: HP Compaq 464119-361 Battery

"Within the past five years new tools and new data for archaeologists, climatologists, and historians have brought us to the edge of a new era in the study of global and hemispheric climate change and its cultural impacts. The climate of the Holocene, previously assumed static, now displays a surprising dynamism, which has affected the agricultural bases of pre-industrial societies. HP Compaq 464119-362 Battery

The list of Holocene climate alterations and their socio-economic effects has rapidly become too complex for brief summary."

 The drought theory holds that rapid climate change in the form of severe drought brought about the Classic Maya collapse. According to the particular version put forward by Gill in The Great Maya Droughts, HP Compaq 464119-363 Battery

"[Studies of] Yucatecan lake sediment cores ... provide unambiguous evidence for a severe 200-year drought from AD 800 to 1000 ... the most severe in the last 7,000 years ... precisely at the time of the Maya Collapse."

Climatic modeling, tree ring data, and historical climate data show that cold weather in the Northern Hemisphere is associated with drought in Mesoamerica. HP Compaq 482962-001 Battery

Northern Europe suffered extremely low temperatures around the same time as the Maya droughts. The same connection between drought in the Maya areas and extreme cold in northern Europe was found again at the beginning of the 20th century. Volcanic activity, within and outside Mesoamerica, is also correlated with colder weather and resulting drought, as the effects of the Tambora volcano eruption in 1815 indicate.^[28] HP Compaq 484786-001 Battery

Mesoamerican civilization provides a remarkable exception: civilization prospering in the tropical swampland. The Maya are often conceived as having lived in a rainforest, but technically, they lived in a seasonal desert without access to stable sources of drinking water.^[29] The exceptional accomplishments of the Maya are all the more remarkable because of their engineered response to the fundamental environmental difficulty of relying upon rainwater rather than permanent sources of water. HP Compaq 484787-001 Battery

 “The Maya succeeded in creating a civilization in a seasonal desert by creating a system of water storage and management which was totally dependent on consistent rainfall.”^[30] The constant need for water kept the Maya on the edge of survival. “Given this precarious balance of wet and dry conditions, even a slight shift in the distribution of annual precipitation can have serious consequences.”^[31] HP Compaq 490306-001 Battery

Maya civilization

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The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-ColumbianAmericas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to AD 250), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, HP Compaq 360482-001 Battery

many Maya cities reached their highest state of development during the Classic period (c. AD 250 to 900), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish.

The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction andcultural diffusion that characterized the region. HP Compaq 360483-001 Battery

Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected from Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and western El Salvador to as far away as central Mexico, more than 1,000 km (620 mi) from the Maya area. HP Compaq 360483-003 Battery

Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest.

The Maya peoples never disappeared, neither at the time of the Classic period decline nor with the arrival of the Spanishconquistadores and the subsequent Spanish colonization of the Americas. HP Compaq 360483-004 Battery

Today, the Maya and their descendants form sizable populations throughout the Maya area and maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs that are the result of the merger of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideas and cultures. Millions of people speak Mayan languages today; the Rabinal Achí, a play written in the Achi language, was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005. HP Compaq 360484-001 Battery

The Maya civilization extended throughout the present-day southern Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, and the Yucatán Peninsula states of Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán. The Maya area also extended throughout the northern Central Americanregion, including the present-day nations of Guatemala, Belize, northern El Salvador and western Honduras. HP Compaq 361909-001 Battery

The Maya area is generally divided into three loosely defined zones: the southern Pacific lowlands, the highlands, and the northern lowlands. The Maya highlands include all of elevated terrain in Guatemala and the Chiapas highlands. The southern lowlands lie just south of the highlands, and incorporate a part of the Mexican state of Chiapas, the south coast of Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador. HP Compaq 361909-002 Battery

The northern lowlands cover all of the Yucatán Peninsula, including the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo, the Petén Department of Guatemala, and all of Belize. Parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas are also included in the northern lowlands. HP Compaq 364602-001 Battery

There is some dispute^[who?] about when this era of Maya civilization began. Discoveries of Maya occupation at Cuello, Belize have been carbon dated to around 2600 BC.This level of occupation included monumental structures. The Maya calendar, which is based around the so-called Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, begins on a date equivalent to 11 August 3114 BC. HP Compaq 365750-001 Battery

However the most widely accepted view, as of 2010, is that the first clearly Maya settlements were established around 1800 BC in the Soconusco region of the Pacific Coast^{[citation needed]}. This period, known as the Early Preclassic,^[4] was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and firedclay figurines. HP Compaq 365750-003 Battery

Important sites in the southern Maya lowlands include Nakbe, El Mirador, Cival, and San Bartolo. In the Guatemalan Highlands Kaminaljuyu emerged around 800 BC. For many centuries it controlled the jade and obsidian sources for the Petén and Pacific Lowlands. The important early sites of Izapa, Takalik Abaj, and Chocoláat around 600 BC were the main producers of Cacao. HP Compaq 365750-004 Battery

Mid-sized Maya communities also began to develop in the northern Maya lowlands during the Middle and Late Preclassic, though these lacked the size, scale, and influence of the large centers of the southern lowlands. Two important Preclassic northern sites includeKomchen and Dzibilchaltun. The first written inscription in Maya hieroglyphics also dates to this period (c. 250 BC). HP Compaq 367457-001 Battery

Scholars disagree about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and neighboring Preclassic Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec culture of the Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe–Zoque- and Zapotec-speaking peoples of Chiapas and southern Oaxaca, respectively. HP Compaq 372771-001 Battery

Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone, and evidence suggests that these cultures and the formative Maya influenced one another.^[7] Takalik Abaj, in the Pacific slopes of Guatemala, is the only site where Olmec and then Maya features have been found.

Around 100 AD, there was widespread decline and abandonment of Maya cities - called the Preclassic Collapse. This marked the end of the Preclassic era. HP Compaq 372772-001 Battery

The Preclassic Period in Maya history stretches from the first Maya settlements until 250 AD. The major cites of this period were Kaminaljuyu and El Mirador. By the end of the Preclassic, the city state of El Mirador had united the southern Maya lowlands. However, from 100 to 300, this empire began to decline, HP Compaq 381373-001 Battery

and the city was eventually abandoned. It is likely, but by no means certain, that the rulers of El Mirador became the Kan dynasty of Calakmul,^[1] where they would regrow to become one of the two dominant powers of the Classic Maya period, along with their rival Tikal. HP Compaq 381374-001 Battery

The roots of Maya civilization remain obscure, but archeology, linguistics, and modern science grant us enough tantalizing clues to allow us to loosely sketch out a broad picture. By 2000BC, speakers of the Mayan Languages had already occupied the southern Maya area. HP Compaq 382553-001 Battery

It appears that around this time the Maya people began to transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a culture based around agricultural villages. The process appears to have been a gradual one. Analysis of bones from early Maya grave sites indicate that, although maize had already become a major component of the diet (under 30% at Ceullo, Belize) by this time, HP Compaq 383220-001 Battery

fish, meat from game animals, and other hunted or gathered foods still made up a major component of the diet.^[2] Along with the gradual development of agriculture, basic forms of pottery began to appear, with simple designs and some slipped vessels. Around this time, the Olmec culture began to emerge in nearby Tabasco, HP Compaq 383510-001 Battery

granting the early Maya an important trading partner and beginning a period of prolonged contact that would have profound effects on Maya society.

By around the year 1000BC, centuries of agricultural village life had begun to form the beginnings of a complex society: Prestige goods such as obsidian mirrorsand jade mosaics began to appear, increasing the demand for more extensive trade. HP Compaq 385843-001 Battery

Canals and irrigation schemes demanding coordinated human effort began to appear with increasing complexity and scale. Gradually, villages began to include central plazas and earthen mounds, occasionally enhanced by masonry. For instance, the site of La Blanca featured a central mound more than seventy-five feet tall and contained a masonry fragment strongly resembling a head in the distinctive Olmec style. HP Compaq 385895-001 Battery

Carved stone stele also began to appear during this period, adorned with portraits of rulers but still devoid of writing. Warfare appears to have intensified during this period, as evidenced by advanced weaponry, rulers beginning to be portrayed as warriors, and the appearance of mass graves and decapitated skeletons. HP Compaq 393549-001 Battery

Beginning around 900BC, the Pacific coastal region fell under the dominance of the La Blanca statelet, which collapsed around 600BC, to be replaced by a polity centered around the El Ujuxte site. Another early statelet was probably based at the site of Chalchuapa, a town with extensive earthen mounds arranged around several plazas. HP Compaq 393652-001 Battery

However, it was likely ruled by the first true Maya city-state, Kaminaljuyu. Lying within modern-day Guatemala City on the shores of Lake Miraflores, Kaminaljuyu developed a powerful government structure that organized massive irrigation campaigns and built numerous intricately carved stone monuments to its rulers. HP Compaq 395790-001 Battery

These monuments clearly depict war captives and often show the rulers holding weapons, indicating the Kaminaljuyu polity engaged in active warfare, dominating the Guatemalan highlands for centuries. Kaminaljuyu's main export was the essential resource obsidian, a beautiful volcanic glass that easily fractured into sharp edges, HP Compaq 395790-003 Battery

providing arrowheads, knives, and other weapons as well as prestige goods like mirrors.

Although it is difficult to firmly identify the ethnicity of a people from meager archeological remains, it appears that during this period the Maya began a systematic northward expansion, occupying the Petén Basin where such cities as El Mirador, HP Compaq 395790-132 Battery

 Tikal, Calakmul, and Tayasal would be built. The dominant site of these early colonists was Nakbe in the El Mirador basin, where the first attested Maya ballcourt and sacbeob (stone causeways) were built. The rulers of Nakbe constructed several stone platforms and erected intricately carved stone and stucco monuments. HP Compaq 395790-163 Battery

During this period, the Olmec culture reached its zenith, centered around the capital of La Venta in modern-day Tabasco near the early Maya centers. Speakers of a Mixe–Zoquean language, the Olmec are generally recognized as the first true civilization in the Americas. Their capital city of La Venta contains extensive earthworks and stone monuments, including several of the distinctive Olmec stone heads. HP Compaq 395791-001 Battery

The Olmec share several features with later Maya culture, including extensive jaguar-worship, a diet dominated by maize, and the use of the cacao plant. Several words entered Mayan from a Mixe–Zoquean language, presumably due to Olmec influence. These words include the word ajaw, meaning "lord," and kakaw, which has become the English words "cacao" and "chocolate." HP Compaq 395791-002 Battery

Most of these borrowings relate to prestige concepts and high culture, indicating that the Middle Preclassic Maya were deeply impressed and influenced by their northwestern neighbors.

The Late Preclassic saw the rise of two powerful states that rival later Classic Maya city-states for scale and monumental architecture, Kaminaljuyu in the highlands and El Mirador in the lowlands. HP Compaq 395791-003 Battery

The late or terminal Preclassic murals found in San Bartolo provide important information regarding mythology and royal inauguration ritual around 100 BC.

The story of the mysterious lost civilization that suddenly collapsed for an unknown reason has captured the popular imagination for well over a century. HP Compaq 395791-132 Battery

What is not as widely known is that there were actually two "collapses," one at the end of the Preclassic and a more famous one at the end of the Classic. ThePreclassic "collapse" refers to the systematic decline and abandoning of the major Preclassic cities such as Kaminaljuyu and El Mirador in around 100 AD. HP Compaq 395791-142 Battery

A number of theories have been proposed to explain this "collapse", but there is as little consensus here as there is for the causes of the more famous "collapse" between the Classic and Postclassic periods.

There are actually more than thirty different Maya languages spoken today, but we now know that the Maya elite of the Classic and Postclassic periods wrote (and presumably spoke as well) HP Compaq 395791-251 Battery

in a lingua franca known as Ch'olan. This written language closely matches a linguistic reconstruction of a region in the Maya lowlands loosely matching the Classic Maya heartlands, so it is possible that there were some cities where this was not merely an elite language. However, written Ch'olan changed very little over the centuries, far less than the spoken vernacular must have changed, HP Compaq 395791-261 Battery

so it is likely that this was a separate elite language. Furthermore, we do know that Ch'olan was used for writing in the Classic cities of the Yucatán, where the common people almost certainly spoke an early form of Yucatec. Interestingly, recent work by Frederico Fahsen suggests that Ch'olan was the language used for writing at Kaminaljuyu, HP Compaq 395791-661 Battery

indicating that this lingua franca is a legacy of the Middle Preclassic dominance of this first of Maya states, where Maya writing may well have originated. This lingua franca undoubtedly contributed to the relatively strong cultural cohesion of the Maya throughout the ages and assisted in communication between the different city states, dramatically affecting the culture of the Maya for centuries. HP Compaq 395791-741 Battery

The Classic period (c. AD 250–900) witnessed the peak of large-scale construction and urbanism, the recording of monumental inscriptions, and a period of significant intellectual and artistic development, particularly in the southern lowland regions. ^[9] They developed an agriculturally intensive, city-centered civilization consisting of numerous independent city-states - some subservient to others. HP Compaq 395794-001 Battery

This includes the well-known cities of Caracol, Tikal, Palenque, Copán, Xunantunichand Calakmul, but also the lesser known Lamanai, Dos Pilas, Cahal Pech, Uaxactun, Altun Ha, and Bonampak, among others. The Early Classic settlement distribution in the northern Maya lowlands is not as clearly known as the southern zone, HP Compaq 395794-002 Battery

but does include a number of population centers, such as Oxkintok, Chunchucmil, and the early occupation of Uxmal.During this period the Mayas numbered in the millions, they created a multitude of kingdoms and small empires, built monumental palaces and temples, engaged in grandiose ceremonies, and developed an elaborate hieroglyphic writing system. HP Compaq 395794-261 Battery

The social basis of this exuberant civilization was a large political and economic intersocietal network (world system) extending throughout the Maya region and beyond to the wider Mesoamerican world. The political, economic, and culturally dominant ‘core’ Maya units of the Classic Maya world system were located in the central lowlands, HP Compaq 396751-001 Battery

while its corresponding dependent or ‘peripheral’ Maya units were found along the margins of the southern highland and northern lowland areas. But as in all world systems, the Maya core centers shifted through time, starting out during Preclassic times in the southern highlands, moving to the central lowlands during the Classic period, HP Compaq 397809-001 Battery

and finally shifting to the northern peninsula during the Postclassic period. In this Maya world system the semi-peripheral (mediational) units generally took the form of trade and commercial centers. ^[11]

The most notable monuments are the stepped pyramids they built in their religious centers and the accompanying palaces of their rulers. HP Compaq 397809-003 Battery

The palace at Cancuén is the largest in the Maya area, though the site, interestingly, lacks pyramids. Other important archaeological remains include the carved stone slabs usually called stelae (the Maya called them tetun, or "tree-stones"), which depict rulers along with hieroglyphic texts describing their genealogy, military victories, and other accomplishments.^[12] HP Compaq 397809-242 Battery

The Maya civilization participated in long distance trade with many of the other Mesoamerican cultures, including Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, and other groups in central and gulf-coast Mexico, as well as with more distant, non-Mesoamerican groups, for example the Taínos in the Caribbean. Archeologists have also found gold from Panama in the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza. HP Compaq 398650-001 Battery

Important trade goods included cacao, salt, seashells, jade, and obsidian.

The Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into decline during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter. This decline was coupled with a cessation of monumental inscriptions and large-scale architectural construction.^[14] No universally accepted theory explains this collapse. HP Compaq 398680-001 Battery

Non-ecological theories of Maya decline are divided into several subcategories, such as overpopulation, foreign invasion, peasant revolt, and the collapse of key trade routes. Ecological hypotheses include environmental disaster, epidemic disease, and climate change. There is evidence that the Maya population exceeded the carrying capacity of the environment including exhaustion of agricultural potential and overhunting of megafauna. HP Compaq 398854-001 Battery

 Some scholars have recently theorized that an intense 200-year drought led to the collapse of Maya civilization.^[16] The drought theory originated from research performed by physical scientists studying lake beds,^[17] ancient pollen, and other data, not from the archaeological community. Newer research from 2011, HP Compaq 398874-001 Battery

with use of high-resolution climate models and new reconstructions of past landscapes, suggests that converting much of their forest land into cropland may have led to reduced evapotranspiration and thus rainfall, magnifying natural drought.^[18] A study published in Science in 2012 found that modest rainfall reductions, amounting to only 25 to 40% in annual rainfall, HP Compaq 398875-001 Battery

may have been the tipping point to the Maya collapse. Based on samples of lake and cave sediments in the areas surrounding major Maya cities, the researchers were able to determine the amount of annual rainfall in the region. The mild droughts that took place between AD 800 and 950 were enough to rapidly reduce open water availability. HP Compaq 398876-001 Battery

A further paper in the same journal supports and extends this conclusion based on isotope analysis of minerals in a stalagmite. It argues that high rainfall between 440 and 660 CE allowed the Maya to flourish in the first instance, and that while mild droughts in the following years led to extensive warfare and the decline of Mayan civilisation, it was a prolonged period of drought between 1020 and 1100 CE that was ultimately fatal. HP Compaq 408545-001 Battery

The Classic Maya Collapse refers to the decline of the Mayan Classic Period and abandonment of the Classic Period Maya citiesof the southern Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica between the 8th and 9th centuries. This should not be confused with the collapse of the Preclassic Maya in the 2nd century AD. HP Compaq 408545-141 Battery

The Classic Period of Mesoamerican chronology is generally defined as the period from AD 300 to 900, the last 100 years of which, from AD 800 to 900, are frequently referred to as the Terminal Classic.^[1] The Classic Maya Collapse is one of the biggest mysteries in archaeology. What makes this development so intriguing is the combination of the cultural sophistication attained by the Maya before the collapse and the relative suddenness of the collapse itself. HP Compaq 408545-142 Battery

The highly advanced Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into decline during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter. Archaeologically, this decline is indicated by the cessation of monumental inscriptions and the reduction of large-scale architectural construction. HP Compaq 408545-241 Battery

A number of Maya cities, however, did not collapse, and Maya civilization continued until 1697 when the Spanish conquered Tayasal, the last independent city-state. In fact, after the "collapse," the Maya of the northern Yucatán prospered, and the Chichen Itza state built an empire that briefly united much of the Maya region. Because parts of Maya civilization unambiguously continued, a number of scholars strongly dislike the term "collapse."^[2] HP Compaq 408545-261 Battery

Regarding the proposed collapse, E. W. Andrews IV went as far as to say, "in my belief no such thing happened."The Maya often recorded dates on monuments they built. Few dated monuments were being built around 500 AD - around 10 per year in 514 AD, for example. A steady increase made this number 20 by 672 AD and 40 by around 750 AD. HP Compaq 408545-262 Battery

After this, the number of dated monuments begins to falter relatively quickly, collapsing to 10 by 800 AD and to 0 by 900 AD. Likewise, recorded lists of kings complement this analysis. Altar Q shows a reign of kings from 426 AD to 763. One last king not recorded on Altar Q was Ukit Took, "Patron of Flint", who was likely a usurper. HP Compaq 408545-621 Battery

The dynasty likely collapsed entirely shortly thereafter. In Quirigua, twenty miles north of Copán, the last king Jade Sky began his rule between 895 and 900, and throughout the Maya area all kingdoms similarly fell around that time. ^[4]

A third piece of evidence of the progression of Maya decline gathered by Ann Corinne Freter, HP Compaq 408545-721 Battery