The Classic Maya Period

The Classic Maya Period

Building a civilization in a rain forest

• The Classic Maya period was from 300 AD to 900 AD.

• The Roman Empire was beginning its decline

• The Byzantine empire was at its peak

• Muhammad was born and Islam began to spread

Building a civilization in a rain forest

• Temple I in Tikal, present day Guatemala

• Step pyramid 130 feet high

• Built for Lord Cacao, who reigned in the eighth century

• One of the largest and most impressive Mayan ceremonial centers

Slash and Burn

• How do you feed large cities of people in the rain forest?

• You cut down the vegetation and burn it. This releases nutrients into the soil for agriculture

• You can grow corn, squash and beans for two or three years, then let the forest reclaim the land

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Intensive and permanent agricultural practices

• Archaeologists have learned that the Maya were innovative farmers? In the swampy lowland areas of the Yucatán, seasonal flooding, low soil fertility, and high water tables all make farming a challenge. The Maya cultivated swampy land using a system of raised fields and canals that was low maintenance, all natural, extremely productive, and, most important, sustainable.



Intensive and permanent agricultural practices

• Raised fields worked like this: Maya farmers dug canals through the swamps, piling the excess soil onto the inner fields, which raised them two to four feet (0.6 to 1.2 meters) and reduced waterlogging. The canals served the dual purpose of providing irrigation and natural fertilizer. A few times each season the Maya harvested water plants from the canals and spread them on the fields to further enrich the soil. The irrigation and fertilizing resulted in an extended growing season for crops grown on the raised fields.



Maya Social and Political Organization

• This mural shows the sacrifice of war captives on a temple staircase, overseen by the eighth-century ruler Chaan-Muan. The two captives sitting on the lower staircase bleed from their fingers in what may have been a ritual wounding prior to sacrifice. On the center of the upper stair, a captive gestures before Chaan-Muan, who looks to his war captains at left.

Social and Political Organization

• Lord

• Nobles

• Priests

• Merchants and Artisans

• Peasants

• Slaves

Noteworthy Achievements of the Maya

• The Ball Game• Mathematics• Calendars• Astronomy• Heiroglyphics

(writing system)• Legends• Architecture


• The Ball Game

The Maya Twin myth of the Popol Vuh establishes the importance of the game as a symbol for warfare intimately connected to the theme of fertility. The story begins with the Hero Twins' father, Hun Hunahpu, and uncle, Vucub Hunahpu, playing ball near the underworld, Xibalba. The lords of the underworld became annoyed with the noise from the ball playing and so the primary lords of Xibalba, One Death and Seven Death, sent owls to lure the twins to the ballcourt of Xibalba, on the western edge of the underworld. Despite the danger the brothers fall asleep and are captured and sacrificed by the lords of Xibalba and then buried in the ballcourt. Hun Hunahpu is decapitated and his head hung in a fruit tree, which bears the first calabash gourds. Hun Hunahpu's head spits into the hands of a passing goddess who conceives and bears the Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. -


• The Ball Game

The Hero Twins eventually find the ballgame equipment in their father’s house and start playing, again to the annoyance of the Lords of Xibalba, who summon the twins to play the ballgame with all its trials and dangers. In one notable episode, Hunahpu is decapitated by bats. His brother uses a squash as Hunahpu's substitute head until his real one, now used as a ball by the Lords, can be retrieved and placed back on Hunahpu's shoulders. The twins eventually go on to play the ballgame with the Lords of Xibalba, defeating them. However, the twins are unsuccessful in reviving their father, so they leave him buried in the ballcourt of Xibalba.


• Mathematics



Maya math is based on having 3 different symbols or digits in 20 different arrangements for counting.

The numbers are written vertically (up and down) rather than across as we do in our decimal system.

The Maya understood the need for zero as a place holder writing large numbers


• Calendars

• The Mayan calendar has a long and deep history. But its premise is quite simple. Maybe not as simple as our Roman calendar, however. One of the defining characteristics of our Roman calendar is that it is based on various cycles. From minutes, to hours, days, weeks, months - we divide our calendar into increments that repeat on their own cycle.

• For example, each hour has a first minute, each week has a Monday, each year has a first of January, and so on. However, it's not every year that a Monday is also the first of January - this occurs only every seven years or so. The Mayan calendar works on a similar premise.


• Calendars

Here is a visual that helps explain the way the calendar system works:

http://history.howstuffworks.com/central-american-history/mayan-calendar2.htm


• Architecture - the Corbeled Arch was unique to

Maya architecture using stones on either side of the opening project farther and farther inward, bridging the two sides at the top with a capstone.

• HeiroglyhphicsSea Shell used as Ink

Pot, the Glyph is read as: ku'ch sab'ak, meaning "It is an ink-carrier "



• AstronomyMaya knowledge of astronomy

led to their sophisticated calendar system and provided seasonal information for the farmers.

This is the “skywatcher” glyph



Documents

The Classic Maya Period