The Mayas occupied a very large territory that includes the present states of Quintana Roo (Tolum and Coba), Yucatan (Uxmal and Chichen Itza), Campeche (Palenque), parts of Tabasco and Chiapas, and the countries of Belize, parts of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The area is quite varied geographically: the Highlands in the south, the Central Maya Area, and the adjacent valleys of the North. The names of the archeological sites that we are visiting are named in the parentheses.
The ancient Mayas were members of different ethnic groups sharing similar cultural and physical characteristics with some local variations which arose from a single, "proto-Maya" group that had settled in Guatemala. Over time, this group broke up, migrated, and developed different languages from the common mother language. Later migrations resulted in the formation of the very large Mayan territory. These migrations also established contacts with other civilizations who shared cultural information, some of which the Maya adopted. Mayan history is divided into periods or phases of which there are three major ones each with subdivisions that encapsulate particular events, contacts, and cultural/artistic developments. The earliest of these is the Pre-Classic which begins around 2500 BCE and is characterized by the division into ethnic groups and the appearance of the first ceramics. This is the time when these peoples were becoming agriculturalists and settling in small villages. With the beginning of settled agriculture, the population increased and the first cities appeared. The development of cities is key to what historians define as "civilization." This also developed in other areas of the world with settled agriculture enabling the development of the earliest civilizations in the Nile, Tigris Euphrates, Indus, and Yellow River Valleys.
As I said, there were contacts with other peoples, so that this civilization did not develop in isolation. It is thought by many that contacts with the Olmecs were very close and that the Olmec culture is a kind of "Mother culture" to the Maya. The Olmecs created many religious ideas, symbols, and cultural and artistic elements that other MesoAmerican cultures, including the Maya adopted and built upon. The mathematical and calendar systems, for example, are two of these.
By the end of the Pre-Classic phase, the Maya had developed complex ceremonial/religious centers and a hierarchical social structure with clear social divisions. This period lasts until about 200 CE. The Classic phase or period is the time that the Mayan civilization reaches its peak. During the early part of the Classic Period, the influence of the Teotihuacan culture from central Mexico was considerable. Numerous cities arose and complex social, economic, and political systems developed. Cultural and scientific developments reached a pinnacle and most of the cities flourished. During the later part of the Classic period, the "Maya collapse" occurred. Why it happened is probably due to a combination of factors that have been theorized such as a prolonged drought, invasions by outside groups, depletion of the soil, internecine conflicts, etc. Cultural collapses in other parts of the world occurred for a similar confluence of social, political, and natural causes. For the Maya this meant that most of their cities were abandoned. It is only in the North of the Yucatan that we see that contact with groups from central Mexico enabled a revitalization of culture to some extent and enabled centers in that area to continue to survive for one hundred more years. One of these cities was Tulum, which we visited on Wednesday. Another is Chichen Itza, which we will visit on Monday.
To be continued... Lynda
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