Children of the Corn: Overview of Ancient Maya Culture

Figure 1: Artistic rendering of ancient Maya (Source: mayas.net)

 

Today, I am pleased to dedicate my time and energy to an ancient civilization that captured my imagination and interests and is also responsible for inspiring me to become an anthropologist: the ancient Maya (Figure 1).  The ancient Maya are considered one of the largest and most advanced Mesoamerican civilizations.  Contrary to popular belief their descendants continue to live throughout Central America and around the world, actively working to preserve and maintain their ancestral sites, customs, and beliefs.  Today’s blog post will build on previous blog posts about Maya culture, which covered their autosacrifice practices and ballgame traditions, and provide a far more robust overview of Maya culture and civilization of the past.

 

The term Maya refers to both the living populations today as well as the ancient populations of the past, whereas the term Mayan is used for the languages they have and/or continue to speak today.  It is important to be aware that there are several Mayan languages, all derived from an original Mayan protolanguage (spoken widely by all ancient Maya in the Preclassic Period).  The language grew and evolved just as the Maya themselves did.  They started out as a foraging people who beginning around 1800 B.C. started to domesticate maize and other crops and become more sedentary.  This period of time, which lasted to around A.D. 250, is known as the Maya Preclassic Period, a period characterized as the foundational time where Maya civilization and culture began to form.

The period that followed after is known as the Classic Period, which lasted from AD 250-900, and it is a time that the Maya are most recognizable.  This period is characterized by the formation of various Maya city-states, independent nations that consisted of the city and surrounding nearby geographical area, that dotted the modern Central American landscape.  Presently, around 40 Maya city-states are known, the most famous of which include Tikal, Chichén Itzá, Copan, and Palenque, but with the advent of new archaeological methods and technologies more are discovered annually.  These large urban centers included intricate architecture and structures, such as palaces, plazas, temples, stelae, ball courts, and more. 

 

Figure 2: Maya polychrome pottery (Source: Middlebury College Museum of Art)

Maya city-states were ruled by Kings who maintained their power through acting both as political and religious ruler, maintaining that they were the primary agent to communicate with the gods.  The Maya were a socially stratified people, meaning there were levels of social organization and people grouped together based on wealth and political power (or lack thereof). 

Although the Maya maintained autonomy among their city states they shared various cultural elements, as seen in their artistic endeavors.  They also crafted beautiful works of art in their pottery (Figure 2), stelae, and personal adornments, which included jade masks and feathered headdress (Figure 3).  These pieces have largely been recovered from the elaborate burials of their kings and the nobility.

 

The Maya were also well-established scientists and artisans.  They developed a complex hieroglyphic writing system that recorded much of their histories and beliefs, recorded both in stone and in paper codices (although only a few remain as most were destroyed by the Spanish Conquistadors).  They also understood and used mathematics, astronomy, and meteorology.  Astronomy (tracking of the stars and planets) and meteorology (the study of weather patterns) guided Maya agricultural and religious practices. 

 

Figure 3: Maya illustration of personal adornments (Copyright: Justin Kerr)

The Maya also practiced a complex religion, which was polytheistic, meaning they worshiped many gods.  These gods were anthropomorphic, sharing in human and animal qualities, and mirrored the natural world around them.  They identified their world as existing in three planes:  the Earth (Kab), the heavens where the gods existed (kan), and the underworld, which was a watery habitat home to various invisible deities (Xibalba).  Caves were believed to be entrances to Xibalba and rituals were performed and sacrifices left in caves to appease the spirits of the underworld.  Related to their ideological beliefs was their artificial cranial modification practices.  The Maya purposefully reshaped their skulls to form an elongated profile as they believed their gods created them from maize (corn), and to pay homage to their gods the elongated form of the skull was meant to mimic the ears of maize that they consumed daily.

 

Their influence spanned across Mesoamerica based on evidence of long-distance trade among the Maya and various other groups.  Their early contact with the Olmec is credited as providing them with much of their cultural elements, including their elaborate calendar system, and it is believed that later Maya groups who were in direct contact with the people of Teotihuacan were not only influenced but ruled by them.  Their exchanges with the Zapotecs allowed for resources to be acquired, while their interactions with the Aztec were more often than not based in military conflict.

 

Ultimately, the ancient Maya civilization fell around 900 AD, several centuries before the Spanish Conquistadors did their best to culturally erase them and their histories.  The ancient Maya civilization fell for yet to be determined reasons, but environmental degradation, a lack of resources, or warfare are credited as the primary reasons for their collapse.  Ultimately, the question of why they collapsed remains open as it can inform modern people about why such situations arise and how groups remain resilient in the face of adversity.  The modern Maya are proof of that since they continue to thrive culturally throughout the region, a testament to their greatness.

Bibliography

Herrera, J. H. (2020). Living Maya Time: The Maya. Retrieved from Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian: https://maya.nmai.si.edu/maya

History.com Editors. (2020, February 21). Maya. Retrieved from History.com: https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/maya

Jarus, O. (2017, August 23). The Maya: History, Culture & Religion. Retrieved from Live Science: https://www.livescience.com/41781-the-maya.html

Welsch, Robert Louis, et al. Anthropology Asking Questions about Human Origins, Diversity, and Culture. Oxford University Press, 2017.