Mayan Society

​Many of the cultures that we have today have evolved from past events. Such as language it was something that became known throughout the years. Some of the languages that came from that were English, Spanish, German, and Latin to name a few. These languages were derived more past civilizations. One important civilization that is known for having great success is the Mayan civilization. The Mayan civilization is known for many things like they fully developed written language, art, architecture, math and some other factors. Historians have said that they don’t know an exact date of when this civilization rose up but they do mention that it flourished for about 2000 years. Although staring in 250 AD it is said that it was the start of their high point and it continued until the arrival of the Spanish in 1524. The Maya area covers southern Mexico and northwestern Central America. According to Sharer the area is divided into three regions: the Pacific coastal plain to the south, the highlands in the center, and the lowlands to the north. Even though these three regions were under the same civilization they all practiced different religious rituals. Religion plays a big role in every civilization. Some civilizations tend to praise more than one god and they always mention that what they have is thanks to their god. When they see things going wrong they often say that their god is punishing them because they did something that the god/s did not like. This tends to be the same

The Maya were a people from Middle America, which includes modern Guatemala, Southern Mexico, and Northern Belize (Editors). The Maya civilization was considered to be “one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica,” (Maya). “The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork,” (Maya). They also gave mankind the modern calendar (Jarus, Maya). The Mayans were a very advanced people, but one of the most important things in the Mayan culture was their religion/god worshipping rituals.

The priestly class lived in the cities, while the general population lived away in small farming villages. The priests would carry out daily religious duties, particularly sacrifices, and the peasants would gather periodically for religious ceremonies and festivals. They built the ceremonial centers in a specific design for religious practices. They constructed tall pyramid temples, warren-like single story palaces, and a ball court that was surrounded by a broad central plaza. The architectural features of the Mayan pyramids include towering roofs, corbel vaults, and elaborate embellishment with stucco reliefs (Palfrey 2). It is amazing to imagine the detail that the Mayans were able to create in their architecture with only primitive tools. For the Mayans, science and religion were linked. Time was extremely important and their agriculture and religious ceremonies required a system that could record time.

The Mayan civilization in all stages has been based on agriculture. Indian corn or maize was domesticated from a wild grass in central Mexico about 7,000 years ago and sustained most sedentary Indian civilizations from that time. In the humid areas, a surplus of water and rapid growth of trees and vines encouraged the slash-and-burn farming method.

The Mayans employed tactics resemblent to our modern ones, they used technology to fix problems in an attempt to terraform their environment to meet their needs. They used things like Dams to store water and slash-and-burn agriculture to produce their crops. However, due to their location in Central America there was very little arable land for them to work on However, as they continued to grow in size, they were forced to increase their slash and burn techniques, which contributed to topsoil erosion and provided a logistical crisis for the Mayans regarding how they would feed their people. However because of the practices they relied upon, they never invested in things like terracing, or future proofing in the case of disaster.

The Mayans were hardworking people who lived in Mesoamerica. A thousand years ago before the spanish arrived, the maya built a great civilization. What many seem to question is what was so remarkable about what this group did.The four criterias scale, genius, physical effort and significance will be examined to see which was actually remarkable. People today argue over which Mayan achievement was the greatest - the trade network, numbers, calendars, and city-buildings , however true to say is that the building cities was the achievement that set the group off to great contributions.

In addition, Cecil explains that a group of University of Florida scientists concluded that the time period of the Maya collapse, approximately 900 A.D., represented the driest time in the Mayan region for a 7,000 year period. This conclusion offered a theory that there was exceptional drought precisely at the time of the decimation of the Mayan civilization (Cecil, 2011).

The Maya society underwent a drastic climate change, and were given little understanding on how to live around it. Climate can do a lot to a population within hours of a day, as weather is what survival surrounds. The Classic Maya was well adapted to the heavy rainfall they received, in fact, much of their agriculture and culture surrounded. So it would seem ironic that a heavy drought would be the root cause of their disappearance, and yet this was the case. Peter deMenocal analyzed a wide range of data from all over the world, looking for a link which connected human communities with natural disasters especially droughts. He found that despite there being other possible situation to the collapse of the Classic Maya society, it wasn’t possible for them to be the sole reason and thus, reasoning that the enduring climatic situation which was presented to the society during the time was truly

The Mayans would have had to clear the hills of trees and prepared the land for crops and upon doing so they inadvertently created a merciless cycle, where soil erosion that was high in acidity, would run down the hillsides into the valley and destroy the crops there. The shortage of food and the burden it caused on farmers ultimately led to anarchy as they revolted against the leaders. Diamond additionally uses archaeology to suggest that the high prevalence of droughts which effected their civilizations, can be confirmed with the evidence of evaporation that is preserved in the sediment in the lake beds. Lastly, Diamond discusses how political issues, such as their preoccupations with war and the construction of statues and monuments opposed planning long term viable sustainability for there people may have contributed to their

Located in what is known as Meso-America and over 1,000 miles from the equator, the Mayans inhabited what is known as a “seasonal tropical forest.” This area contained dry seasons,unpredictable rain, and low elevation in many places. The question Diamond tries to address and answer in this chapter is, just how did ”the New World 's most advanced Native American civilization before European arrival” come to an end if it was so successful? He uses his 5-Point Framework to try and answer this. To start the Mayans severely damaged their environment through deforestation, slash and burn farming, erosion, and exhausting the soil. The Maya experienced drought after drought combined with continues climate change which had a harsh effect on the beginnings of the Mayan collapse. The society as a whole was divided into smaller kingdoms that were constantly as war which led to increased food shortages as so much food was needed to feed the armies. They didn’t rely much on trade so relations with friendly neighbors didn’t contribute much to their fall. Another contributing factor was the population, it grew so quickly it essentially outgrew its resources. And lastly the fifth point in Diamonds framework, a society 's response to problems. Why did the leaders and kings notice these issues and attempt to solve them? Diamond explains simply that they were to

Agriculture was the basis of the economy of the Mayan and corn was the principal food.(Voorhies 324) Other crops included avocados, tomatoes, and chili peppers. They cultivated an enormous variety of plants.(Foley 20)

The Classical Maya was lost to the archaeological records until the last 200 years due to it’s abandonment. When the Mayans left there great cities, thick vines and jungles overtook the great monuments they once built. But in the last 200 years, in depth research has lead to breakthroughs into what the Classic Maya was like. The earliest Mayans were agriculturalist, growing crops such as corn (maize), beans, squash and cassava. The Mayans also invented a very accurate calendar, a math code using 0’s, constructed buildings still intact today, and a writing system that took decades to decode. The Mayans were situated in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), modern-day Guatemala, Belize, parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador. Due to their location on the

Massive temples hidden in the jungles of the Yucatan, mysterious stone stelas, and cryptic calendars eluding to advanced knowledge of the stars and mathematics are just some of the artifacts originating from the “Classic Maya” period (200 CE-900 CE). However, these popular items should not be the only defining characteristics of a society that dominated the Mesoamerican region for nearly a millennia. Dynastic lines, similar to those found in European houses, were important elements during this period in places like Palenque, Tikal, and Calakmul. Additionally, the Maya experienced violent and consistent warfare between localized powers and the backbone of their society, agriculture, suffered through several multi-year droughts. These factors

Many decades ago, northern Central America and southern Mexico cultures developed complex political and social ranks. Researchers today know this region as Mesoamerica, known for its rich soil, abundant amount of rainfall, and agriculture. (Judge & Langdon, 2012) The Mesoamericans, Aztec and Mayan tribes, developed into complex civilizations for multiple reasons. These societies were advanced and complex for their time in areas, such as architecture, agriculture, militarism, and education. Each had unique religion and political systems as well. The rise and fall of both were due to several factors.

Above the primary agriculturalists and soldiers were the skilled artisans, who functioned within Mayan society not only to produce functional