THE MAYAN'S

Now considered one of the most advanced civilizations ever to exist in ancient America,

The Maya are credited with a series of astonishing breakthroughs. Their civilization endured for more than 3,000 years, from around 2,000 B.C. to 1521 A.D. Mayan history is divided into three periods: Pre-Classic, from 2000 B.C. to 250 A.D., Classic (when the Maya reached their peak), from 250 A.D. to 900 A.D. and the Post-Classic or period of decline, from 900 A.D. to 1521 A.D. when Spanish rule of Mexico began.

They were characterized by:

• monumental-style architecture set in urban and ceremonial centers.
• an empire controlled by a network of city-states with dense populations.
• a well-ordered social class system with defined occupations and trades.
• a system of hieroglyphic writing, the use of codex ( bark paper books) and a calendar.
• development of arts and sciences such as medicine.
• trade carried on within a wide sphere. Commercial routes extended from the Maya World north to Central Mexico and south as far as Panama.
• an agrarian society based on the cultivation of corn. Irrigation was practised in some areas.
• a well-defined religious system based on the cosmos and nature which required honoring the god of the sun, moon, rain and corn, for example.

Apart from social and political policies, the most dramatic achievements of the culture included a calendar which was infinitely more accurate than the Gregorian in use today, the invention of the "zero" in their mathematical system and the development of astronomy and astrology to a high science by charting the movements of the sun, moon and stars.

The Maya were also very creative and excelled in sculpture, painting, pottery and other arts. The carved facades of their temples and palaces rival those of ancient Greece and Rome and the jade artifacts, polychrome ceramics and bone carvings found at sites throughout the area are eloquent testimony to their skills.

RETURN TO ANCIENT CULTURES