Mesoamerica: Maya

World Prehistory: Class 18

Mesoamerica: Maya

ã Copyright Bruce Owen 2000

regional background

Highlands and lowlands

highlands along the southern spine or length of mesoamerica
also less pronounced mountains in the southeast part of the Yucatan peninsula: the Maya mountains

We will focus here on the "Southern lowland Maya"

where the most spectacular developments occurred
centered on an area called the Petén

The south-central part of the Yucatan peninsula: the Petén

about 300 masl (meters above sea level) (975 feet)
not flat, but few features over 50 m (160 feet) high
gentle folds or ranges of hills slope to the coast
several rivers at margins
central area is a closed basin
with swamps and shallow lakes
in many places, the water supply is so seasonal that you need to construct reservoirs to have water year-round

to the north, limestone topography

few surface rivers
cenotes (natural deep sinkholes, vertical-sided, with water at the bottom)
in most areas, water table is too low to reach by hand digging wells, so you almost have to live near a cenote

climate

fairly dry in the north (450 mm, 18 inches), dry forest and scrubland
to very wet in the Petén (1800 mm, 71 inches), up to 3,800 mm (150 inches) at base of mountains; rain forest
highly variable rainfall
marked dry season

shallow lakes dry up
drinking water becomes a problem

hot, tropical temperatures

land is actually very variable

interdigitating areas of permanently dry land and seasonally swamp or flooded land
variable soils

huge area without natural divisions (contrast to highland valleys separated by inhospitable mountains)

40 to 100 times the area of the valley of Oaxaca or the Basin of Mexico
thus lots of interacting groups, never a single relatively isolated entity as in the highlands
more possibilities for competition, conflict, boundary problems

many communities of a similar size and nature, not just one (as at San José Mogote/Monte Alban) or two (Teotihuacan and Cuicuilco)

subsistence

far more varied than in highlands; over 200 crops used for food, craft material, etc.
corn, beans and squash
pumpkin, camote (a kind of sweet potato), tomato, chile
nuts: ramon, cashew
fruits: guava, papaya, many others

Maya general cultural traits (slides)

ceremonial centers w. pyramids, courts, "palaces"
ball game, ball courts
mural painting
decorated ceramics
priests/shamans, caves
other traits will come out as we progress...

Early Preclassic Period 2450-1150 BC

contemporary with

Pre-Olmec and Initial Olmec

Rise of San Lorenzo, ceremonial centers, monuments

Oaxaca Early Formative

Rise of San José Mogote, early ceremonial architecture, economic specialization

Teotihuacan Early Horizon

possible initial appearance of one or two central sites

pollen cores from lakes in the Petén show "human disturbance" and maize from the mid 2000s BC
indications of sedentary farmers at least on the Pasión river during 1150-650 BC; this pattern was presumably developed in the preceding period, the Early Preclassic
Cuello, in northern Belize

occupied during most of the Preclassic
structures with lime-plaster floors, post construction, hearths
simple pottery forms, with painted decoration
farmed maize, root crops
hunted species that prefer disturbed areas, not deep forest
trade

jade and "greenstone" imported from at least 350 km away
stone for manos and metates (grinding stones) from 150 km away

almost no "Olmec" motifs or artifacts
thought to be lots of similar, small settlements

no centers or hierarchy
linked by variable exchange and social ties
a "net" of equivalent units

Middle Preclassic Period 1150-300 BC

contemporary with

Intermediate and Terminal Olmec

Decline of San Lorenzo, rise of La Venta, monuments, massive offerings

Teotihuacan: Zacatenco and Ticoman Periods

Rise of several large centers with public architecture

All of the lowlands occupied

immigration, or growth in place?

All have similar ceramics (Mamom style)

suggests widespread trade and/or social contacts
or possibly rapid spread of population from a single source

Late in this period, some public architecture appeared at Altar de Sacrificios; but this was exceptional for the Middle Preclassic

it is a platform 4 m (13 feet) high, facing a plaza
a neighboring site, Seibal, did not build public buildings until the next period
numerous sites in Belize did not have public architecture yet
nor did other future centers (Tikal, Uaxactún, Becan, Dzibilchaltún), which had only domestic occupations

Stratification

burials show little or no evidence of stratification

trade

jade from south
now obsidian, too

General comments

Middle Preclassic Maya society remained relatively simple, egalitarian, undifferentiated, while Olmec came and went, and highlands polities formed
but: late in this period (Middle Preclassic), the first burials in public structures appeared; so stratification was getting established

Late Preclassic Period 300 BC-250 AD

contemporary with

Teotihuacan Patlachique, Tzacualli Period, early Middle Horizon

rise of two major Basin of Mexico centers
destruction of Cuicuilco and phenomenal growth of Teotihuacán

The Olmec society had decentralized to the point where they no longer made monuments or ceremonial centers

the main features of Maya civilization were established by the middle of the Late Preclassic, say around 1 AD

polychrome pottery
jade jewelry
carved stelae and altars
elaborate stone architecture
causeways
writing on bark paper

religious/cosmological purposes (books)
political propaganda (stelae)

calendar

260 day and 365 day cyclical calendars
combination returns to starting point every 52 years

this was the occasion for rebuilding monuments, ceremonies, etc.

population grew, maybe tripling in the Late Preclassic

very rough estimate of 2 to 5 million people in eastern lowlands by 100 BC

very uniform ceramics, even more so than in the Middle Preclassic

suggests intense interaction of common people
produced by specialists
specialists were free to make pottery without local control, barriers, etc.: the goods and/or ideas crossed any political boundaries

Several (maybe numerous) town-sized centers with several thousand inhabitants each
public architecture

lots of mounds built in the Late Preclassic
perimeter ditches

large ditch surrounding a 37-ha portion of Los Cerros, Belize

implies a large labor force
maybe for defense, or to mark a boundary

causeways

go into some sites through entrances in the surrounding ditches (seven entrances at Becan)

El Mirador: largest Preclassic site
Tikal

North Acropolis largely built in the Late Preclassic
Another Late Preclassic pyramid at Tikal (5C-54) had 40,000 cubic meters of fill, and others were similar

over 30 m (100 feet) high
sides 80 m long at base (260 feet)
four stairways flanked by huge stucco masks
compare to the contemporary pyramid of the sun at Teotihuacan, which had over 1 million cubic meters of fill (25 times the volume of pyramid 5C-54)

at Tikal and other centers, broad plazas, unrestricted access, with small buildings on high platforms

suggests a few people performing rituals in a restricted, high place visible to a large crowd
this might help to legitimize the high rank of those who performed the rituals
they also began erecting stelae to honor rulers and their exploits, again presumably to legitimize their status
first clear evidence of divine kingship

bloodletting ceremonies

Writing system

appeared as early as 250 - 300 BC? (Late Preclassic)

but most of the examples we have are later

"cracked" using Diego de Landa's "alphabet"

actually a syllabary of consonant-vowel syllables
many words in Maya (which, fortunately, is still spoken!) are consonant-vowel-consonant

they were written by using the first syllable, then adding the second with the appropriate consonant and the same vowel as the first, although that vowel is not pronounced

plus "emblem" glyphs identifying cities
i.e. a mixed logographic and "C-V" syllabic system
about 800 signs, about half deciphered

archaeologists used to think that Maya writing was about mythology, ceremony, and a ritual obsession with calendrics

now we know that it was mostly about legitimizing kinship, alliances, conquests, and other political propaganda
as more is deciphered, Mayanists are putting together histories of royal families, towns, and court and military events

writing was often painted or inked in codices

screen-fold books of bark paper, bound with jaguar skin
Spanish colonial authorities burned almost all of them; only four are known to have survived
the surviving books are mostly "almanacs" of astronomical and calendrical information

writing was carved on stelae

record events in lives of real rulers and nobles

birth
ascension
conquests
marriages and alliances
sacrifices
deaths

emphasize ruler's kinship ties

especially strategic marriages to women from other lineages and cities

writing was painted or inked on ceramic vessels

owner, use, and/or contents of the vessel
mythological themes

writing was painted or inked on walls of limestone caves

relate to rituals, the underworld, etc.

stratification

burials with clear variation in grave goods

including stingray spines used for bloodletting autosacrifices

by piercing tongue, penis, etc., sometimes pulling through a cord with knots or spines attached, to draw modest amounts of blood
an unpleasant responsibility of high status!

shells
jade ornaments and beads
pottery in special forms only for burials

some burials in "public" settings reinforce the idea of an elite class

corbel-vaulted chambers
murals on tomb walls

fine craft production, literacy, architecture, etc. imply occupational specialization, which imply variation, stratification in status

potters, stonecutters, painters, stucco sculptors, scribes, flintknappers, etc.

near the end of the period ("terminal Preclassic" or "protoclassic")

some centers were abandoned (El Mirador, for example)
others flourished
no obvious reasons: maybe political
Becan, central Yucatan, built a massive defensive ditch and wall

19 ha enclosed by a ditch 5 m deep, 10 m wide (16 x 32 feet), with an embankment on the inside, forming a 12 m high barrier (39 feet)
would have had a wooden palisade on top to make it even more formidable
suggesting that the end of the Preclassic was a time of conflict...

Early Classic Period 250-500 AD

contemporary with

Teotihuacan Middle Horizon

Teotihuacan was the largest, and probably most sacred, center in Mesoamerica during the Early Classic
Teotihuacan expaned to Kaminaljuyu, and had some sort of contact with Tikal, Copan, and other sites

At Tikal, Teotihuacan warriors flanked the ruler Stormy Sky on a stela commemorating his ascension to the throne

suggested that Stormy Sky had some Teotihuacan connection or support
but he was apparently the son of the previous ruler (Curl Nose), so this was not a conquest
the supporters could have been either from Teotihuacan, or from the Teotihuacan outpost at Kaminaljuyu

Teotihuacan motifs on some local pottery at Tikal suggest Mayas adopting some Teotihuacan ideas
Tikal pyramid 5D-43 in hybrid Maya-Teotihuacan style, good, central location
burials with Teotihuacan goods, especially green obsidian, at numerous sites

the Maya started carving stone stelae with pictures, writing, and dates

already an old tradition in Oaxaca
these initially appeared in the Peten lowlands
mostly commemorate dynastic events

ascensions
marriages
treaties
conquests
NOT tribute or economic transactions, but kingship and politics

suggests that the state was not deeply involved in direct taxation or redistribution?

settlements

don't fit the usual concept of "cities"

pretty much all the habitable spaces in the Maya lowlands had house mounds scattered over them; the "cities" were just areas where the house mounds were denser
these denser parts were sometimes bounded by ditches or linear mounds, probably for palisades
and they usually had monumental architecture in central areas: temples, pyramids, plazas, "palaces", with stelae set up
old idea of "empty ceremonial centers" is no longer accepted

concentrations of house platforms

with stone or perishable walled structures on top, hard plaster floors kept clean
storage pits associated with individual house mounds

centers got to be quite large (several tens of thousands of inhabitants, at least, in Early Classic)

but much lower density than highland cities
house mound groups had space for kitchen gardens or orchards right around them, even close to the monumental architectural core

stratification

great variation in house size and elaboration
obsidian mostly in high-status households
burials had considerable variation in goods, especially imports
occupational specialization

now included additional specialties, such as "dentists" (tooth inlayers), weavers, scribes, bark-cloth makers, feather workers, etc.

nature of rule

many monuments and building complexes were built in flurries of activity lasting only a few decades, followed by long lulls in building

suggests shifting political strategies and success of individual leaders, rather than stable, established institutions

murals show violence and chaos associated with accession of rulers
suggestion that there is a lot of propaganda here:

rulers sought legitimacy
but may not have kept it for long

monumental architecture at this point was still open and ritual-oriented; later it became more restricted and "administrative"

generalizations

the lowlands were never dominated by a single center; always numerous important, competing centers
centers were never as markedly different from other sites as in the highlands: no real "primate" hierarchies
so probably always a lot more interaction in multiple directions
frequent abandonments, realignments, conquests: rule was unstable, compared to long-lived centers like Teotihuacan
so it isn't surprising that there was lots of evidence of warfare

stelae
murals
taking of captives commemorated

A quick summary of the subsequent Maya events...
Late Classic Period (600 AD - 810 AD)

Teotihuacan was in decline and collapse by the beginning of the Late Classic

It had lost contact with Kaminaljuyu, no Teotihuacan goods were traded into the Maya region, and Teotihuacan people did not appear on Maya stelae or ceramics

population grew dramatically

increasing density in areas that had been occupied in the Early Classic
and spilling into new areas that had been sparsely populated before

monuments were built in greater numbers and in greater size than before, at many sites

dwarfing the constructions of the Early Classic
at Tikal, for example, they built a new "Twin Pyramid Complex" every 20 years (as a calendrical ritual renewal)

each complex included two large pyramids, a gallery building with nine doors, and an enclosed plaza with stelae and an altar
and this was just one of the projects on-going at any given time in this one city

huge expenditures of labor

temples continued to be built, but construction of "palaces" overwhelmed them

completely different design, with long, narrow halls or series of rooms, opening out through many doors on the long side, often onto a wide staircase
thought to be high-status residences (although there are no kitchens detectable) and/or administrative buildings
in some cases, like Uaxactun A-V, the palace structures were added near temple(s) and eventually, with repeated rebuildings, literally engulfed the sacred architecture
suggesting increasing administrative activities, and a growing upper class of at least partially secular leaders

ceramic styles (fashions?) changed rapidly and dramatically, in contrast to the three centuries of virtually unchanging Early Classic ceramics

suggesting a growing, competitive economy

lots of fine craft goods were produced in the cities

some suggest that they were for export, trying to take advantage of the power vacuum and demand left by the collapse of Teotihuacan

warfare became more common in murals and sculpture, often with bound prisoners wearing the insignia of high rank

Terminal Classic Period (810 AD - 910)

It was typical for Maya cities to erect a monument celebrating the end of each 20-year calendrical period called a katun

the erection of these monuments peaked in 790 AD, with 19 cities so far known to have dedicated one
in 810 AD, 12 cities set up stelae
in 830 AD, 3 did
in 889 AD, just one hundred years after the height of stela carving, the last monument with a Maya long count date was erected. There would never be another.
in Tikal, from 700 to 830 AD, the bulk of the architecture visible today was built; in the following 70 years, a few minor platforms and benches were added to existing buildings, but not a single new one was constructed
it appears that the entire city of Tikal was abandoned except for a small remnant population living in and around the palaces

for the first time, garbage piled up in and around the palaces
when buildings collapsed, they were not repaired, but people kept living next to the rubble
population is estimated to have fallen to 10% or less of what it had been less than a century before
the remaining people apparently continued to practice Maya religion, but forgot many of the details, resetting old stelae in ways that violate earlier systematic rules, sometimes with the writing upside-down

by the end of the Terminal Classic, even the small remnant population was gone, and the Maya sites in the Peten returned to the jungle
the timing and details varied from city to city, but they all succumbed eventually
depopulation over 100 years need not require a massive die-off; it can be caused by reductions in birth rates
why?

most explanations focus on excessive growth in many senses
overpopulation put a strain on the farmland

overfarming with shorter fallow periods then led to severe erosion, reducing output, and requiring even shorter fallows to keep producing...

an "arms race" in monument construction sucked up more and more labor that could have been used to produce food in more intensive regimes

some of the increased building might have been an attempt to satisfy the gods as things got worse - while instead putting an even greater strain on the lower class...

the difference between rich and poor got greater and greater, as the resources were getting scarcer, possibly leading to unrest
high population density and food scarcity would have made the society vulnerable to disease
rising militarism would have been encouraged by, and might have worsened, these trends
some people imagine many of the lowland Maya simply moving to the northern, drier part of the Yucatan Peninsula, which did indeed flourish in the Postclassic Period

or maybe these were just the only ones left, after the core collapsed...

the potential for a parallel to modern times is hard to ignore.