02_Ch16: Peoples and Empires in the Americas: Maya Kings and Cities

FQ: To what degree are the Maya comparable to the great civilizations of the Old world?
Timeline: 3
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16
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C.

Main Idea: In the Americas, social complexity and sophistication were integral traits of many Native American peoples, but none displayed
this better than the Maya. The Maya developed a highly complex civilization based on city-states and elaborate religious practices. Similarity
of religion, language, and beliefs/ values support a general claim that Native American cultures dont truly disappear, they, instead, develop
into the succeeding society.

CCSS

I. Vocabulary
A. Pictographs
Written language whose content meaning is substantially derived from pictures (Icons) that are
visually similar to the content focus. Pictographs were useful for recording history, conducting business,
and maintaining genealogy and landholding records.
Pictographs were also used in the Mexica counting system. This system was based on the
number 20. A picture of a ag indicated 20 items; a r tree represented 20 times 20 items, or 400; and a
pouch indicated 400 times 20 items, or 8000.
Mayan written language was more complex and advanced, though it's clear that it had a
pictographic root as well.

B. Slash & Burn Agriculture
A common agricultural tradition in forested areas of Mesoamerica and Amazonia. Forested areas
are cleared for cultivation by cutting (slashing) brush and setting controlled res. The accumulation of
ash acts as a soil enriching component that initially contributes to high agricultural yields. Over time,
however, soils become depleted, and in the case of cleared rainforests, the soil quickly becomes
agriculturally useless.

II. Maya
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The Maya are probably the most recognizable of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica.

A. Context
1. Time: 2600 B.C. Present
Its important for us to avoid confusing the Old and New World use of the term Classical. This term refers to
different time periods depending on the hemisphere civilization. In the context of pre-Columbian Native America,
the following applies:
! Pre-Classic = Before 300 CE
! Classic = 300 - 900 CE (The height of Mayan Civilization)
! Post Classic = 900 - 1519 CE
2. Place: Originating in the Yucatn, they rose to prominence in present-day southern Mexico,
Guatemala, northern Belize and western Honduras.
3. Circumstance: Building on the inherited innovations and ideas of earlier civilizations such as
the Olmec, the Maya developed a complex society that accepted all elements of civilized life as
basically religious in nature.

B. Politics & Society
1. ~80 Independent city-states. Cities were centers of ritual & rule. Ruled by a mortal king with
priestly duties. This is similar to the Sumerian civilization, but different from the ancient Egyptian.
2. Hierarchy: Mayan King, Priests, Aristocracy, Artisans, Commoners & Peasants
3. Pyramids: Serve a ritualistic purpose. These temples are the focal point of communal
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worship. Like the Sumerian Ziggurat, the Mayan pyramid was centrally located within the city. Mayan pyramids
3 4
Access the slide show via the course website for this and other sections of this lesson. 1
Pyramids were "Articial Mountains" => Mountains were home for gods. 2
As with other Mesoamerican peoples. 3
Unlike the Egyptian pyramid, which often laid beyond a citys borders. 4
02_Ch16: Peoples and Empires in the Americas: Maya Kings and Cities
were intended to be used often as evidenced by the stairs built into the design.
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C. Religion
A supernatural world view permeated Mayan life.
1. Polytheistic
2. Ballgame- A cosmic battle between competing, but complementary, forces in nature. Good &
evil, night & day, feast & famine, etc.
3. Nature is imbued with spiritual force/ power.
4. Sacrices (blood and non-blood) are a human method of impacting the divine and inuencing
the divine will.
D. Achievements & Contributions
1. Calendrical Systems (The Calendar Round)
The ancient Maya and other Mesoamericans used a 52-year pattern (a calendar round),
composed of two cycles which t together like cogwheels, each with unequal numbers of teeth.
"It was used to name individuals, predict the future, decide on auspicious dates for battles,
marriages, and so on. Each single day had its omens and associations, ...[passage of the] days
was like a perpetual fortune-telling machine, guiding the destinies of the Maya."

a. 260-day Count: We are unsure why the Maya settled on the number 260. It might
relate to the period of human gestation or the interval between the planet Venus'
emergence as evening star and morning star. Regardless of where it comes from, the
260-day cycle is the rst in the Calendar Round. It is made by inter-meshing the number
symbols (dots for units and bars for ves) from 1 - 13 with the glyphs for twenty days
named after deities who carry time across the sky.
Since it still keeps track of time, priests today continue to use this "Tzolkin"
calendar (also known as Sacred Calendar, the Earth Calendar, the Sacred Almanac, and
the Count of Days) for divination.

b. Vague Year or Haab: A 365 day secular (agricultural) calendar. It is a solar calendar
(named "vague" because it only approximates the 365+ day calendar) is composed of 18
months with 20 days in each. The 20th day makes use of the Maya's concept of zero
since, instead of its being numbered 20, it is described as the day of the seating of the
following month (0). At the end of the 18 months, an unlucky ve day period (Uayeb) is
intercalated.

c. Days are named according to both of these calendars (Tzolkin and Haab), so a day
could be 1 Imix 1 Pop (1 Pop being the Maya New Year), but it would take 52 Vague
years (18,980 days) before 1 Imix would line up again with 1 Pop. One problem with this
system (called the Calendar Round) is that it only keeps track of events during its 52-
year cycle, and makes no provision for keeping track of events in earlier or future cycles.

2. Astronomy: Very accurate charting of celestial objects (movement across the sky).
3. Glyph Writing: A complex writing system with pictographic roots. It can be used for recording
numerical data, chronological data, and thought.
4. Architecture: Massive pyramidal structures (temple-pyramids). In addition, the Maya were
noted for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial complexes which, in addition to pyramids,
would include palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools.
5. Complex social system organized hierarchically.
6. Built sizable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater.
7. Developed the concept of zero. Co-evolved with Gupta civilization.
8. Developed a wood-pulp paper. Co-evolved with Han dynasty.

III. Summary: Why it matters now.
Descendants of the Maya still occupy the same territory.

Materials/Sources: Refer to the course website for additional materials and assignments.

World History: Patterns of Interaction

In addition, earlier pyramids have been found underneath the top layer of 'newer' pyramids. 5
02_Ch16: Peoples and Empires in the Americas: Maya Kings and Cities

Slide Presentation

Credit to the following (former) students for gathering data incorporated into this lesson:
Jimmy Wang, Kevin Teoh, & Nandita Garud from May 2001.