The Maya Area

1. The Maya Area ANTH 221: Peoples and Cultures of Mexico Kimberly Martin, Ph.D.

2. Maya Area

3. Preclassic Period

4. Maya Area - TakalikAbaj • Strong Olmec influence through middle Pre-Classic (to about 300BCE) • Earliest public architecture of fire-hardened clay • Early houses were built with cobble floors and reed-thatched roofs supported by timber poles.

5. Maya Area – TakalikAbaj

6. Maya Area – TakalikAbaj Excavation of Ball Court

7. Maya Area – TakalikAbaj

8. Maya Area – TakalikAbaj TakalikAbajOlmec Style Head TakalikAbaj Pot Belly Style

9. Maya Area – Chiapa De Corzo • Stela 2, showing the date of 7.16.3.2.13, or December 36 BCE, the earliest Mesoamerican Long Count calendar date yet found • clay cylinder seals and flat stamps than any other Formative Mesoamerican site, save Tlatilco.[14] Hieroglyphs appear on examples made around 100 BCE. • In 2008, archaeologists discovered a massive Middle Formative Olmec axe deposit • Oldest pyramid tomb yet found in North America -

10. Maya Area – Chiapa De Corzo • Large sample of clay cylinder seals and flat stamps with hieroglyphs made around 100 BCE. • Large deposit of Olmec style axes • Oldest pyramid tomb yet found in North America

11. Chiapa de Corzo Unexcavated Area

12. Chiapa de Corzo Excavation

13. Chiapa de Corzos • 1500 BC • Near Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas • Isthmian Script • Controversial translation • First evidence of writing • 450-300 BCE • First MesoAmerican Long Count Calendar Date • December 10, 36 BCE Sample of Isthmian Script from La Mojarra, Veracruz

14. Chiapa de CorzoOldest Pyramid Tomb with Woman’s Remains and Grave Goods2700 BCE

15. Classic Period

16. Yaxchilan • Sits within a loop of the Usumacinta River that forms the boundary between Mexico and Guademala. • Hunter/Farmer population in Pre-Classic • Ceremonial Center/City 350 – 810 CE (Classic Period) • Conquered Bonampak and PiedrasNegras at various times • Warred with Palenque as a rival • Associated with Tikal (the most dominant site) • We have the full dynastic sequence of leaders

17. Yaxchilan

18. Yaxchilan

19. Yaxchilan

20. Yaxchilan

21. Yaxchilan

22. Yaxchilan

23. Yaxchilan

24. Yaxchilan

25. Palenque • Medium – sized site • Finest examples of Maya architecture • Pakal the Great (K'inichJanaab' Pakal) • Began his reign at 12 years of age in 615 CE • Reigned until 683 (68 years). • His tomb one of the richest found in the Americas – Temple of the Inscriptions

26. Palenque

27. Palenque

28. Palenque

29. Palenque

30. Palenque

31. Palenque

32. Palenque

33. Palenque

34. Palenque

35. Uxmal • 700 – 1100 CE Dominant Yucatan Maya Site

36. Uxmal

37. Uxmal

38. Uxmal Grand Pyramid

39. Uxmal Puuc Architecture Style

40. Uxmal Governor’s Palace

41. Uxmal Governor’s Palace

42. Uxmal “Nunnery” Quadrangle

43. Quadrangle of the Birds

44. Uxmal Pyramid of the Magician

45. Chichen Itza • “At the mouth of the well of the Itza” (cenote) • 600 – 1000 CE • Monumental Architecture organized into three main groups • Central Group (Caracol Observatory) • Great Northern Platform (El Castillo, Ball Court, Temple of Warriors • Ossario (Ossario Pyramid) • Network of 100 paved roads (sacbeob) • Classic site with mixed ethnic influences including Tula (ChacMool) • Current theory says outside influences are from diffusion, not invasion • Chichen Itza is Late Classic, Tula is Early Post Classic, so Tula is later than CI

46. CenoteSagrado Largest Cenote near Chichen Itza Human Sacrifice Evidence, probably to Chac, Rain God (wounds consistent with sacrifice)

47. Chichen Itza

48. Chichen Itza

49. Yucatan (Puuc) Maya Uxmal (A) and Chichen Itza (I)

50. Chichen Itza