REFLEXIONES

MAYA THINKERS AND CREATORS

July 10, 2010

The Maya civilization is noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems.

Initially established during the period c. 2000 BC to 250 AD, many Maya cities reached their highest state development during the period c. 250 AD to 900 AD, and continued throughout until the arrival of the Spanish. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world Pyramids and temples were built in more than 40 cities, each with a population of about 20,000 people.

Houses

Excavations at Dzibilchaltún near Mérida revealed house sites from 1000 BC that resemble today's houses in rural regions. The same style of construction--wattle-and-daub walls in an oval shape with a thatched roof of palmetto fronds and little furniture--serves the native Maya, who continue to resist the dilution of their culture.

The design of the native house from antiquity is reproduced in stone as a decorative art motif in the Puuc style at such sites as Uxmal and Labná (800- 1000).

Agriculture

The Mayan civilization in all stages has been based on agriculture. Native corn was domesticated from a wild grass in central Mexico about 7,000 years ago and sustained most sedentary civilizations from that time.

In the slash-and-burn farming method, the farmer cleared the cornfield by cutting bushes and girdling the trees, usually near the end of the rainy season, allowing the piled brush to dry under the hot sun of the dry season. Then the wood was burned and the ashes scattered among the stumps. A mattock of stone or wood to scoop the earth into a hummock and a fire-hardened pointed stick to poke a hole for the seed were used. The milpa is a system of planting different species of vegetables (corn, tomatoes, squash, beans) cyclically to enrich the soil with the remains of the previous crop

Culture

The productivity of the corn farmer sustained the Mayan civilization. It has been estimated that as many as 150 days a year were free from daily drudgery in the fields. This surplus time was utilized by the nobility and the priests in a stratified society to build the cities, pyramids, and temples. There was sufficient leisure to support skilled craftsmen in arts and crafts. The Maya workers who constructed the great stone structures and decorated the walls with artistic embellishment, however, were unaided by draft animals and wheeled carts. The lords of the land oversaw civic matters, while the priests conducted religious rituals, pursued intellectual studies, and corrected the calendar.

Sacbés

Archaeologists trace transition routes through Palenque in Chiapas, via Mirador and Rio Bec in Quintana Roo, and around Cobá, where a network of causeway roads called sacbés connect distant cities.

Sacbé, plural Sacbeob, or "white ways", are raised paved roads built by the Maya Civilization. Most connect temples, plazas, and groups of structures within ceremonial centers or cities, but some longer roads between cities are also known. The term "white road"; is because they were originally coated with limestone stucco which was placed over stone and rubble fill.

Many sacbeob can be seen by modern visitors to Maya sites; perhaps the most familiar is the one in Chichén Itzá running from the main group around El Castillo to the Sacred Cenote which is traveled on by thousands of tourists daily. Few of the longer roads still exist in their entirety.

A well known sacbé connects Uxmal with Kabah which is marked by corbel arches at either end. The 100km long road connecting the ancient cities of Cobá and Yaxuná was for decades the longest known to archaeologists. The remains of an even longer route have recently received the attention of archaeologists.

This long sacbé apparently ran from the site of Ti'ho (modern Mérida), through such sites as Aké and Izamal to the near modern Puerto Morelos a total distance of some 300 km.

While the sacbeob in the Yucatán are the best known, they are documented throughout the Maya area. In modern times, some of the ancient sacbeob have been used as bases or incorporated into modern highways and railway lines.

Chultunes

The physical environment of the peninsula of Yucatán is lowland and limestone, arid and covered with desert scrub. Water is scarce and seasonal, draining underground via sinkholes and subterranean streams. Where the water table reaches the surface or the limestone layer can be breached, a cenote, or well, provides water for settlement and cultivation. Chultunes are man-made cisterns lined with plaster to catch rainwater runoff.

Chichén Itzá

In Chichén Itzá, El Castillo, or the Pyramid of Kukulcán, the "feathered serpent" in the Nahuatl language of the Toltecs and Mexicas, is the outstanding feature (1000-1200). It heralds the coming of the Toltecs from Central Mexico and their dominance of the Maya of Old Chichén (800-1000).

The themes of art and architecture duplicate Tula, the original capital in the highlands of Central Mexico, with emphasis on the images and symbols of the feathered serpent. The Quetzalcoatl portal supported the lintel over the entrance to the Temple of the Warriors, and the memoirs of the associated military orders of Jaguar and Eagle are carved into the Court of the Thousand Columns.

The head, body, and tail of the creator deity - the giver of corn and civilization - outline the grand staircase rising to the temple atop El Castillo. The use of Chacmools - the bearers of messages to the pantheon of deities - so prominent at Chichén Itzá, was introduced by the Toltecs of Tula from Central Mexico.

Astronomy and Numbers

Special structures as the Caracol at Old Chichén had an astronomical purpose. They were operated by the priests to devise and maintain a calendar more accurate than any except the Gregorian. The Maya invented a numerical system that involved the concept of zero, which was positional like the decimal system but based on 20 instead of 10. The symbols were dot-and-bar combinations and hieroglyphs. Scholars developed a system of hieroglyphic writing similar to the ideographic type of the ancient Egyptians

Arches

Architecture achieved distinction in the Mayan cities of Yucatán, though the designers and builders were restricted by the technical limitations of the corbelled arch as compared to the Roman arch. The Roman model features a keystone, which affords wide coverage of space, whereas the corbelled arch contains a capstone, which allows only narrow spaces.

The huge arch approaching Kabah on the causeway from Uxmal is the largest in the Maya region, and the great gate at Labná is balanced with native huts in stone. A temple at Labná atop an unrestored mound illustrates Mayan construction methods: a one-room interior vaulted with a corbelled arch appears to be two stories high and is heightened still more by a roof comb for prestige. The roof comb exhibits an open lattice to reduce air pressure during windstorms.

Puuc

The Puuc style, named for a region of low limestone hills in northern Yucatán, is characterized by an unadorned lower level that contrasts sharply with an elaborately sculptured upper level. Examples are the Nunnery Quadrangle and the governor's palace. It is possible that the stone columns, or cylinders, also featured in this art style represent posts and wickerwork of the daub-and-wattle native huts.

Uxmal

Uxmal (750-1000) is distinguished by the Temple of the Magician, which was rebuilt five times to comply with century cycles every 52 years according to the rounds of the lunar and solar calendars. The tracery of Kukulcán, or "feathered serpent" in the Mayan tongue, is intertwined through the mosaic of fretwork on the upper wall of the Nunnery Quadrangle

Many buildings of Yucatan in the Puuc style are decorated with the face of Chac, the Mayan rain god, an all-important deity in a society dependent on agriculture. Chac can be recognized by an elephant tusk nose. Sometimes there are three or four Chacs stacked over a doorway, giving security in numbers and on the corners of buildings with eyes surveying two sides at the same time..

Classical Mayan Civilization

Mayan communities were supported by productive economies, based upon agriculture but heavily involved in handicrafts and long distance trade.

Mayan women were respected and sometimes honored. As keepers of households and experts in handicrafts, they did all of the weaving and alone produced the highly artistic pre-wheel pottery, for which the Mayans are famous.

Calendar and writing

The two most enduring achievements of the Maya were their calendar and their writing system. The Mayas perfected a solar calendar with eighteen months of 20 days each and a five-day period for religious festivals. Using an ingenious cyclical system of notation known as the "long count," they were able to date events of the distant past for accurate record-keeping and astronomical observations. For non-numerical records, they combined pictographic and glyphic symbols, which have only recently been deciphered.

Their remarkable accomplishments in mathematics, astronomy, and writing were more than matched by their truly magnificent art and architecture. The plaza of each Mayan community was marked by at least one pyramid, topped by a temple. With their terraced sides and horizontal lines, these buildings demonstrated a prevailing sense of proportion. The highly stylized sculpture which decorated their terraces is regarded by some authorities as the world's finest, even though Mayan sculptors accomplished their intricate carving with only stone tools.

Murals

The Maya also developed mural painting to a high art. Even their lesser arts, such as weaving, ceramics, and jewelry making, reveal aesthetic sense, subtlety of design, and manipulative skills superior to artistic creations in many other high civilizations. The murals at Bonampak are a fine example of these skills

Communications

The Maya Empire conceived its monumental highway system to satisfy the need

to maintain a rapid communication system between the various cities and the remote corners of its immense territory. The well-designed road system could sustain an agile mail transfer system through runners.

THE MAYA ARE PRESENT TODAY. The Southeast region of Mexico which includes, Tabasco, Campeche, Chiapas and Yucatan; Guatemala, Honduras and Belice are provide abundant examples of the many architectural jewels of past Maya presence. The population of these areas have strong genetic components and cultural heritage of a past civilization. Different Maya languages and dialects are spoken throughout. The milpa is still a traditional agricultural system. The farmers’ housing in some areas is reminiscent of the thatch roofed cross ventilation abodes depicted in codices; and many of the cultural traditions remain in place; cenotes are still being used throughout. Over twenty centuries of Maya dialogue with the land and the skies is still sustaining the development of this astonishing culture.