NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
The City of Tikal Th Maya Civilization is considered on of th most advanced cultur's in th western hmis phr prior to th arrival of th utopians to America. Thy live in a region that is now th Mexican stats of Vracruz, Tabasco, Chiapas Campus, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan, and th countries of Guatemala, Black, l Salvador and th western region of Honduras. The culture is david in thr prices: Th Pr classic, that last from about 2000 B. C. to A. D. 300, th Classic, From A.
D. 300 to 900 and th Post classic covering from A. D. 900 to 1521. According to th Maya Long Count Calendar, th creation of th world taks plac in th yar A. D. 3114. The origin is links to th Olmcs, but information obtained from the traditions in Maya books lik th China Balam and th Popol Vuh, indicate thy cam from th Orient crossing th sa. The earlier Mayas were farmers living in small and dispersed villages (around 1500 BC) in constructions made of pole and thatch, but as the population increased they created cities (by AD 200) with great stone buildings, pyramids palaces, plazas and courts to play ball.
The cities were ceremonial centers, and only the high class lived there, the rest of the population lived in small farm villages next to them. In the beginning they cultivated their fields as a community, planting seeds in a hole made with a wood stick. Later they used better farming techniques, like crop rotation and fertilizers. Their main crops were corn, beans, squash, avocados and cacao, from this they made a chocolate drink. They cleared large sections of tropical rain forest for Farming and build underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater where it was scarce. Hunting and fishing was also part of their diet.
The Mayas produced fine pottery, jade carvings, gold and silver ornaments, tools made of obsidian and basaltic rock. They made clothes out of cotton fibers and from the maguey plant. To conduct interchange of goods with distant cities they made paths and routes through the jungle. As units of exchange cacao beans and copper bells were used. In science their mayor achievements include a pair of interlocking calendars, one was based on the sun and contained 365 days, it was the most accurate calendar known, until the introduction of the present Gregorian calendar we actually have in use, the second was a religious calendar used to find good or bad days. Both calendars were combined to form the name of every new day.
Another of their greatest accomplishments was the use of the concept of cero in mathematics, something most civilizations of the world at that time had no way to symbolize and they also knew the four basic arithmetic operations, which they used with a numeric system based in values of twenty. Maya astronomers were capable of doing difficult mathematical calculations, this and with constant astronomical observations they compiled tables of positions for the Moon and Venus and how to predict solar eclipses. One interesting thing is the fact about their knowledge of the wheel, which they only used it in toys. The Mayas created a complex system of writing using hieroglyphs, which they wrote using paper made from the inner bark of wild fig trees, and in carvings made in stone or wood. Their symbols represent complete words and sounds or a mixture of both. Some of their surviving writing works made in paper are called codices (Dresden Codex, Perez Codex Etc. ), we have two writings made in Quiche language but wrote in Latin, done by Mayas after the Spaniards arrival; one them, the China Balam is about rites religion, literature and past events, the second; the Popol Vuh, is the book of advise, and is considered the Mayas Bible.
In religion, the Mayas believed in many gods, the principal was Human ku, considered the creator of the world and who made the man from corn, this god was worshiped mostly by the priests. Close to the common people was Yum Kate the maize god, Can the god of rain and Kulkukan the peace god, who is represented as a feathered snake like the Quetzalcoatl of the Toltec's and Aztecs. Some of the religious ceremonies included sacrifices to please the gods, these sacrifices were conducted in the great stone pyramids, sometimes they gave less important offerings of corn, fruits or blood- The last obtained by piercing his own lips, tongue or other parts of their body- the Mayas believed that there is a soul in everything created by the gods and in the people the soul was in the blood. They had a different concept of beauty, they praised long backward sloping forehead and to obtain this look they pressed the heads of their kids between boards when only a few days old and would have objects dangled in front of their eyes in order to permanently cross their eyes.
Until the Mid- 1960 s the traditional perception of the Mayas was of a basically peaceful people, but discoveries made in their ruins and writings are exposing that arms and warfare were an important part of their life. Their history is characterized by cycles of rise and fall, cities rose to later fall in decline, only to be replaced by a new one. The early Maya organized their settlements headed by chiefs, who inherited their power. A council of chiefs governed a group of several settlements relatively close. Later they developed into structured kingdoms with large urban sites built around ceremonial centers. Every city was independent from the others with their own political government.
As it was mentioned above, the Maya reached their height in the classic period (AD 300 to AD 900). Over one hundred cities existed during this time, and some of the most advanced included: Tikal, Uaxactun, Quirigua, Copan, Palenque, Uxmal, Kabah, Old Chichen, Said, Land, Etna, and Coba (Meyer 53 - 57). A Mayan City ruler would be succeeded by his younger brother or son. This led generations of a single family to rule for hundreds of years. The Mayans had constant cultural and commercial contact from other tribes such as the Aztecs. They were with the central and coastal Mexican civilization that had influenced them and influenced other cultures (Harrison).
Each Maya City governed it's surrounding area and some large cities each controlled one or more smaller cities. All of these cities served as cultural, religious, and spiritual centers for the Mayan people and rulers. Culture was a very important aspect of Mayan life. The Mayas favorite way to express their pride and religious devotion was to build the temples, pyramids, and buildings that would form large cities. One temple, The Pyramid of the Sun, was larger than any pyramid in Egypt. The Mayan workers who constructed these dwellings often decorated the walls with many pictures and symbols that would tell anything from a persons life to an important religious belief or tale.
Cities that flourished during the Classic period were located in current day Guatemala and were led by the large city of Tikal, which had many pyramid-temples that rose over two 200 high. These pyramid-temples contained numerous carved slates that acted as time markers and reign recorders. When the Mayan Empire collapsed, these cities, which can be compared to the city-states of ancient Greece, collapsed also and were lost from memory forever. Another part of the Mayans culture that made them far more advanced than most other ancient civilizations was the development of their educational methods. Many of their cities were war-torn, their crops destroyed, and their civilization in chaos. This era marked the beginning of the post classic period (AD 900 AD 1500 s). (Gallencamp) During the post-classic period, many civil wars plagued the Maya.
On top of that, the Toltec, a warring people took over Mayan cities and made Chichen-Itza their capital (Gallencamp 7). The Mayan culture survived though, and soon the Toltec were absorbed in Mayan civilization. In AD 1519, Hernando Cortez came to present day Mexico and took over the Maya (Meyer 20). He defeated their armies, conquered their cities, and changed their culture. He banned the old religion and tried to introduce the Mayans to Christianity.
One of the Spanish bishops, Diego de Landa, ordered all Mayan texts burned. Only four books survived and today are in museums. In AD 1542, the Mayans were completely in the hands of the Spanish. The magnificent cities were deserted and became overgrown with jungle and thicket, and the most advanced civilization in North American history disappeared after over two thousand years of dominance. The Mayas central philosophy was a belief of time going cycles and the fear of the day the world would come to an end. The Mayans believed there had been four ages prior to our own.
The Mayan believed that the sun, which they nourished with sacrifices, would one day no longer send its life force, therefore bringing an end to the fifth and last age of man (Cotterell). The Maya were an incredible civilization. Nobody knows exactly why the empire had fallen. Maybe it was when the peasants got sick of the priests telling them what to do and had abandoned villages, causing the collapse.
There could have been many other reasons such as plague, natural disasters, soil exhaustion and other agricultural problems, internal warfare, foreign invasions or the rebelling of peasants. Whatever factors led to the collapse, their net result was a weakening of Maya social, economic, and political systems to the point where they could no longer support large populations. The Mayan people had accomplished many things that few other ancient civilizations have accomplished, including their ability to write, have a good comprehension of astronomy, and still survive the changing world for many years. In our times the modern Maya base their living in the agriculture, they live in communities organized around central villages and almost all are of Catholic religion, but they still believe in their native pre-Columbian Gods. There are close to 2 millions Mayas living in Mexico and Central America, who spoke not less than 24 different dialects.
There is an enormous amount of things still waiting to be discovered in the ruins of Mayas, just as an example, lets see the area of Tikal, where according to the archeologists they must work another 100 years to investigate what lies under the central area which is being studied since 1956. Listen structure, find with lim stucco, wr th hallmark of ancient Maya architecture. Th Maya dvl opd several unique building innovations, including th cool arch which was a fal's arch archive by shipping ach successive block, from opposite sids, close to th cntr, and card at th pak. Tombs wr of nasa within or both Maya structure. Frequently nw tmpl's wr built ovr xi sting structure. A honeycomb roof comb toward about many structure, providing a bas for print past that was th Maya quivalnt of th billboard.
In addition to tmpl's, most Maya sits had multi-room structure that probably said as royal place as wll as cntr's for government affairs. Historically significant vote, such as accessions, th capture or sacrifice of royal victims and th completion of th twenty yar kate call, wr record on ston still and table. Without may tools, bast's of burn, or vn th whl th Mayans wr abl to construct vast citi's across a hug june landscape with an amazing dgr of architectural perfection and variety. Thy wr not as wll for labor and highly decorated colonial architecture, including tmpl-pyramids, place and observatories, all built without may tools. Th art of th Maya, as with very civilization, is a relation of the lifestyle and culture. Th art was composed of donation and painting upon page and past, carvings in wood and ston, clay and stucco models, and term cotta figures from molds.
Th technical process of may working was also highly dvl opd but as th resources wr search, thy only card ornaments in this maya. Many of th grat programs of Maya art, inscriptions, and...
Free research essays on topics related to: classic period, large cities, mayas, maya, ancient civilizations
Research essay sample on Ancient Civilizations Classic Period
