The Maya in the Late Classic and

Post Classic

Collapse and Survival

800 – 1492 AD

Lord Pacal

Great king buried in the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque

Burial covered by massive carved limestone slab depicts Pacal descending to the underworld…or was he really an ancient astronaut ascending too space in a rocket?

Not until invention of space flight in the 1960s was the sarcophagus carving of Pacal ever seen as representing anything inconsistent with other Mayan carvings and cosmology.

What do you see?

Post-Classic

A series drought episodes occurred around 700 CE.

This was followed by a drought lasting 100 years.

Stress on already exhausted agricultural fields, crowded cities, deforested urban zones.

Did the Maya see the end coming or did environmental distress catch them by surprise?

Collapse

The fall of Mayan cities from great centers of commerce and ritual with large populations to complete abandonment around 900 AD has mystified people for a long time.

However, the entire Mayan civilization did not collapse.

Abandonment of cities primarily occurred in the southern lowlands and highlands of Guatemala. Other regions of the Mayan culture continue to thrive.

Today the principal hypothesis for decline is focused on environmental factors.

Environmental Stress

The combined affects of prolonged drought, crop failures, internal war, overpopulation and civil unrest are seen as the likely cause of disintegration of Mayan culture in the southern regions and Guatemala.

The period is marked by extensive population movements north and west.

Palynological studies (pollen analysis) from cores in lakes and other sediment sources indicate a drought period of 100 years and limited crop production.

Oxygen isotope studies confirm abrupt climate changes

Gylphs indicate increased inter-city conflict and a dynamic change in the type of war, from ritualized to resource based and total.

Oxygen isotope studies reveal period of drought that coincides with Mayan decline.

Patterns

Mayan civilization was never an empire. Independent city-states shared culture, but not centralized, singular political authority.

Teotihuacan had risen to power and remained strong for four centuries, only to collapse for many of the same reasons as the Maya.

Toward late post-classic these remaining centers fell under the political and cultural influence of Toltec and later Aztec cultures.

Teotihuacan

Superpower of Mexico 300 CE – 700 CE

Rise of Tula (legendary Tollan)

Toltec poorly understood (most sites disturbed) 900-1150 AD Origins in West Mexico Aztec legends associate Toltec with militarism. Urban population reaching at least 60,000 at the

capital.

Too high in elevation to successfully cultivate cacao or cotton.

Layout similar to Teotihuacan in miniature.

Like Teotihuacán tula had Pyramids of moon and sun.

Similarities to Chichen- itza temple of warriors with colonnade.

Representation of Quetzalcoatl; as Venus god. Kukulcan.

Introduce Coantpantli to architecture.

Chocmool of Toltec style.

Quetzalcoatl like this were featured on Tula temples.

Tula. Temple with Atlantian figures. Small scale talud tablero style.

Tula pyramid. Hidalgo.

Digital reconstruction of Tula

by Antonio Serrato-Combe

Completely destroyed by 1156 AD.

Site plan of Chichen itza

Temple of the Warriors.

Here the Toltec influence is strong in during late Post-classic.

View from Temple of Warriors toward horizon. El Castillo visible.

Notes on the Toltec

Militaristic. Art exhibits formal, rigid style. Master craftsmen and artisans. Long distance trade networks maintained by

military alliances. Sea traders. Early metal workers--crafting objects in

bronze. Much admired by the Aztec.

Demise of major centers has overshadowed the reality that many Mayan centers continued in other regions and prospered.

Mayan people are not a “lost civilization,” but represent a civilization in decline and under foreign rule.

7,500,000 Maya alive today in Mexico and Guatemala

Mayan cities continue until arrival of the Spanish but with very different institutions and customs resulting from thee centuries of Toltec/Aztec influence.

Final stronghold falls to conquistadores in 1530.

Most significant changes

Innovation of the spindle whorl Molcajete (tripod grinding bowl) similar to

Teotihuacán style. Expansionism northward through conquest. By 1300 the Toltec had splintered into

small groups and abandoned most northern sites.

Neighboring regions

Michoacan, Toluca, Morelos Chollua, Valley of Puebla Tribute “states” within these sectors

provided raw goods and luxury items Alliances through marriage and trade. Trade may have reached north further than

ever. (Some suspect it reached American Southwest).

Religious traditions

Gods included: Kukulcan, as a version of Quetzalcoatl (Mayan)

Rival god: Tezcatlipoca (god of night and north)

Chichen, Uxmal and other cities of the northern lowlands, extending to Yucatan, expanded and thrived in the centuries following “the collapse.”

By 900 the Itza culture moved into Chichen and Puuc culture extended into southern Yucatan.