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The Classic Maya

Explore the slow development of Maya civilization, from resource concentration to population growth, and their settlement patterns. Learn about the socio-political organization, regions, and agriculture practices of the Maya people.

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The Classic Maya

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  1. TheClassic Maya Development Agriculture Settlement Patterns and Population Size

  2. Development • Slow, gradual change. • Did not develop overnight. • Due to several factors • Resource concentration • population growth • beginnings of cultural variability • development of ideologies • Migration of ideas from other cultures

  3. Socio-Political Organization • Small Kingdoms, No centralized state. • Succession of regional centers • Not really dominant over neighbors • Although some exceptions at different times.

  4. Regions

  5. Pacific Coastal Plain • Izapa, Mexico • elaborate stone carvings • Abaj Takalik, Guatemala • ”pot-belly” boulders that have been incised with fat human figures (carved after 500 B.C.) • Monte Alto • collosal heads (contact with Olmec?), also pot belly boulders.

  6. Izapa • Izapa Stela 5, the largest and most complex stela at the site, depicts an enormous World Tree that bisects the composition. • The tree stretches from a watery basal layer at the bottom to a celestial band at the top. A series of mythic and quasi-historical scenes appear on either side of the tree, while the bodies of two zoomorphic beasts frame the scene on either side. http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/a_ah/dir/precol/izapa.htm

  7. Southeast Periphery • Copan, Honduras • evidence of interaction with western areas of MesoAm during the PreClassic (700-500 B.C.).

  8. Copan http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/maya/copan.htm

  9. Court of the Stelae http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/maya/gcourt.htm

  10. Copan Ballcourt http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/maya/bcourt.htm

  11. The hieroglyphic staircase is the longest known Mayan hieroglyphic inscription, tracing the lineage of Copan's kings back to the founder, Yax Kuk Mo. Its inscriptions are more worn-down than those on most of the stelae and, in order to prevent further erosion, it is now protected by an enormous tarp. Hieroglyphic Staircase http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/maya/hcourt.htm

  12. Stela M and its associated altar stand at the foot of the staircase,it is a portrait of the fifteenth ruler of Copan, "Smoke Shell" whoalso finished and dedicated the hieroglphic staircase. Stela M was dedicated in 756 A.D. (9.16.5.0.0), three years after the dedication of the staircase. Stela M http://www.misericordia.edu/users/davies/maya/hcourt.htm

  13. Southeastern Highlands • Chalcuapa • one of the important highland centers,important for trade in pottery. • Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala • expansive religious architecture from 400 B.C. to A.D. 100.

  14. Southern Maya Lowlands • Tikal, Guatemala • Tikal investigations in the 1950s, national park around the site. • 300 B.C. to 300 A.D. developed into a huge city. • Uaxactun, Guatemala • basic chronological sequence of pottery for area.

  15. Tikal http://www.destination360.com/tikal/guide.htm

  16. Yucatan Peninsula and Belize • Cerros • exploited marine resources, adopted kingship by 50B.C. Cerros Main Temple http://www.northernbelize.com/pg2/imagepages/pg2_03.html

  17. Cerros, Belize Structure 5C-2nd was built on the edge of the water and decorated with monumental masks that flank the elongated central staircase. http://www.northernbelize.com/pg2/imagepages/pg2_02.html

  18. Agriculture • Patterns • Previously thought that Maya practiced cultivation similar to 16th c descendants (i.e. Slash/Burn). • Thus, it was believed that that was why no major centers developed. • Additional research discovered that increased population caused them to shift from small scale cultivation to more intensive cultivation.

  19. Localized intensive agriculture • Proposed by Warwick Bray • gardening took place in zones of good water sources.

  20. Expansive Cultivation (900 B.C.) • Shifting cultivation-Slash/Burn • corn farming with swidden or slash/burn, family of five needs 3,000 pounds of corn per year. • lie fallow for 4-8 years, so use up a lot of land if population expands. • but, 150-200 people per square mile can be supported with shifting cultivation. • Doesn’t explain how supported Classic Mayan population.

  21. Wetland cultivation (Extensive-Intensive) • Maya increasingly pressed by population. • Swamps were being drained and drainage canals built., located with radar imagery. • The largest cities are located on the edges of these swamps.

  22. Settlement Patterns and Population Sizes • No direct evidence for census material, so use indirect means. • Counting house mounds • Volumetric assessments of the masses of formal architecture in the civic centers.

  23. House Structures • Small platforms of clay, earth and stone. • Thatched roofs, wattle and daub. • Lowlands areas seem that peak population was Late Classic (A.D. 1000) • Volumetric Assessments • The larger and more numerous the more people needed to build them. • Peaks during Late Classic as well.

  24. Oneonta in Belize!!! • http://employees.oneonta.edu/walkerr/homepage/Belize%20pics/Trippics.htm

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