End of Mayan Civilization

What happened to the civilization of the ancient Maya?

The truth is, no one knows for sure. It is a mystery, but there are some theories about what may have caused Mayan civilization to collapse.

One theory is that the Maya were conquered or seriously reduced in power by another tribe in Central America. Another is that a natural disaster such as a hurricane, earthquake, or plague caused the decline of the Mayas. Perhaps the most plausible explanation has to do with what made it possible for Mayan civilization to begin in the first place – food.

The Maya were able to build a civilization of great cities, laws, writing, and math and science because they were able to produce a surplus of food. If food is no longer available in surplus, the civilization cannot survive.

Several things could have caused the system of food production to collapse. One, the Mayan farmers may have revolted. If the large labor force required to produce food for the entire civilization leaves the farms, that is all she wrote.

Two, the cities may have outgrown the ability of farmers to produce surplus food given the farming technologies of the day. The Mayas used slash and burn agriculture, and this tends to deplete soil fairly quickly.

Three, a particularly long drought or series of droughts could have made it impossible to grow enough food to support the Mayan cities. This theory, at least with regard to the collapse of the cities in the Yucatan, was examined in a recent National Geographic program – “Quest for the Lost Maya .” The episode examines new findings in the northern area of the Maya and what they suggest about the civilization’s demise, among other interesting insights and conclusions.

Whatever happened to Mayan civilization, its collapse is just another reminder that all civilizations eventually come to an end.

Mayan Religion

The religion of the Ancient Maya was centered on the concept of time.

The Maya were not concerned so much with time in terms of hours, minutes, or seconds. Instead, they concentrated on longer time periods such as seasons and years. This makes sense given that having expertise on when to plant and harvest crops meant the ability to sustain the civilization with plenty to eat.

The Mayas’ primary tools for time keeping were the plants, stars, moon, and of course, the sun. To keep track of all these things, the Maya had many complex calendars that tracked the cycles of different planets, constellations, the phases of the moon, and more. When all of these calendars were put together, the Maya became perhaps the most accurate keepers of time in history. In fact, in combination, the Mayan calendars were much more accurate than the calendar we use today.

The Mayan religion, like a calendar or the seasons of the year, was all about cycles. The Maya believed that everything was created and destroyed at certain points, and they believed these cycles could be calculated. The Mayan calculator suggests that the next destruction phase should begin sometime in the next years or so.

This belief in a cycle of creation and destruction is similar, at least in concept, to most other religions, including Christianity. Christians believe in a cycle of sorts--the idea of the coming of Christ and then the Second Coming. Perhaps this similarity explains why many descendants of the Maya are able to practice aspects of both Christianity and their traditional religion with such ease.

The Mayans believed in an afterlife, sort of. They believed that if a person died of old age or sickness, they would go the underworld. Basically, those people were truly dead. Those that were sacrificed, or died in other violent fashion, were able to live on the sky world. Kings were also able to go to heaven, but only after descending into the underworld first.

The Maya believed that their gods and goddesses required food as fuel to give humans things we need to survive such as sunlight, rain, and food. The Maya “fed” their gods in the form of sacrifice. Sometimes they offered animals or other foods to the gods. Other times, particularly to get rain, the Maya believed they had to give food from themselves to the gods.

Human sacrifice usually meant either offering the heart to the gods or offering blood through the process of bloodletting. When a heart was necessary, it was taken from the body of a living person by cutting open the body cavity with a stone knife. A priest then removed the heart, and it was burned. Bloodletting was practiced by many. This meant cutting or puncturing various parts of the body, soaking the blood up with paper or cloth, and then burning it. Sometimes, children (usually girls), were thrown in a cenote (well) in a ritual designed to get rain from the gods.

The Maya had 166+ gods and goddesses. Many of these gods followed the general laws of balance in nature and science—hot/cold, male/female, up/down, etc… For instance, some gods were both male and female. Or in other cases, gods came in pairs, and they were opposites of each other.

Mayan Social Classes

Much like other civilizations of the ancient world, the Mayans depended on their social classes to keep order and structure within their society.

The people at the bottom of the Mayan social ladder were the farmers and slaves. These two groups made up the base of the power pyramid of the Mayas. Most people in Mayan civilization were farmers, but their rights in society were not much better than those of slaves. Slaves were usually captured enemies or criminals from within the Mayan citizenry.

The farmers and slaves performed most of the hard labor, and of course, the farmers provided the entire society with its most important resource--food. They likely made up a bulk of the Mayan military as well.

The middle class within Mayan society was made of of professionals, bureaucrats (government workers), artisans, and merchants. They had considerably more wealth than the lower classes, and they were to be respected by the farmers and slaves as well. The middle class also served an important function in Mayan society--they provided a source of goods and services (other than food and labor) that could be exchanged in trade. They were also expected to supply some amount of free labor to the upper class, and they tended to make up the middle ranks in the Mayan military.

The smallest (and most wealthy and powerful) layer of Mayan social structure was the ruling noble class. The head of this class and of all the citizens in each Mayan city was the king. He was flanked by his priests and nobles. Nobility was hereditary in Mayan society.

This structure worked because the lower and middle classes believed that the upper class had been granted the right to rule by the gods. In fact, they probably believed that the nobles were somehow descendant from the gods.

Women probably were members of all three social classes depending on their family position and/or by marriage.

Mayan Farming

The Maya were expert farmers. This is important because the region that they lived in (Central America and Mexico) did not have an overabundance of game animals.

The Maya farmed mainly using the slash and burn technique. Basically, they cut down and burned the trees and foliage in the area where they wanted to plant. The ash became a natural fertilizer for their crops.

The Maya also understood the principles of crop and field rotation. That is, they knew that they could not plant the same crops in the same fields over and over again each year. They probably planted corn one year and then beans or squash the next. After a few years of this, the land was left fallow (unplanted) for up to ten years so that the soil could regain nutrients. Then the process would start all over again.

The Maya did most of their plowing by hand because there were no suitable animals in the region that they could tame and use to pull plows.

The Maya probably lived on communal farms. Several families shared the land and farmed it in cooperation with each other. Most of the crops grown in the communal farms were probably used to feed non-farming members of the societ. Each family probably also had a smaller farm or garden where they grew crops for their personal use.

Some people speculate that farm failure was part of the reason that the Mayan civilization fell apart. We are fairly sure that some of the Mayan cities were heavily populated. Perhaps the land suitable for farming near the cities was used up, and a famine helped caused the decline of the Maya. Others speculate that the farmers began moving away from the cities or were absorbed by other tribes in the region. Without a steady supply of food (and labor by the farmers during the non-growing season), the Mayan cities would not be able to sustain themselves and would wither.

The Maya - Cities

MAYAN CITIES

The cities of the Maya were the seats of power for priest-kings as well as centers for the rites and rituals of the Mayan religion. Most of the buildings in Mayan cities were government buildings, and most of these buildings were either palaces for the upper-class or temples for worshipping and offering sacrifices to the many Mayan gods. The lower classes of people typically lived outside the cities, around and on farmland.

The Maya believed that over time, everything was created and destroyed many times. Mayan cities are a good illustration of this belief. The buildings that remain standing today at Mayan sites were very likely replacements for buildings torn down over the centuries.

BUILDINGS

Mayan architecture is what many of us think of first when we hear the name of this ancient civilization, and it is no wonder considering the unique design and grandeur of the structures that remain today.

The largest structures in Mayan cities were the temples. They towered above all other buildings and were generally off limits to the general public. The height of temples served two purposes. First, it intimidated the public and showcased the power of the kings and the gods from which they claimed to receive their authority to govern. Second, they probably were intended to serve as some sort of antenna or platform to the upper-world or heaven, as we might call it today.

Temples were probably built by the farmers and slaves during the period between growing seasons. They were constructed of limestone blocks and generally had a pyramid platform with the temple structure built on top.

Palaces were built much like temples, but they were not as high. Palaces generally had many rooms and sections built around at least one courtyard.

Much of our knowledge of the Maya comes from hieroglyphics written on walls and temples. Unfortunately, many of the glyphs that might give us insight into the workings of Mayan civilization have been weathered away over the millennia.

THREE MAJOR MAYAN CITIES

Tikal

Tikal, located in Guatemala, has one of the largest Mayan building complexes remaining today. Tikal, at its height of power, had a population of 50,000 to 60,000. Tikal was probably the most populated city in the world at the time. Below are some photos from Tikal.


Mayan Temple in Tikal


Tikal - Temple of the Jaguar
photo courtesy of Bruno Girin - licensed under Creative Commons


Tikal - Depiction of a Mayan King on Temple III

Uxmal, Mexico

Uxmal was a unique Mayan city. Uxmal has a pyramid built with an oval base rather than the more common square base. The buildings were of lighter color and had fewer carvings and decorations than those of other Mayan cities.


Uxmal - Oval-based Pyramid

Chichen Itza, Mexico

Chichen Itza was the capital of the late Maya Empire.


Chichen Itza - El Castillo Pyramid
photo licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License


Chichen Itza - Mayan Ballcourt
photo licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License

The Maya Empire - an Overview

INTRODUCTION

The Maya Empire existed in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico) and parts of Guatemala and Northern Belize from about 500 BC to 1200 AD.

The foundation for Mayan civilization came from the Olmec--a civilization of Native Americans that lived along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from about 1200 BC to 600 BC.

The Maya are well known for their architecture as well as their scientific and mathematical achievements and their very accurate calendar.

The Maya were skilled farmers, potters, weavers, and they knew how to efficiently clear jungles for roads and fields.

The golden age of the Maya Empire lasted from about 200 AD to 900 AD. During this time, they had a powerful government and traded with distant peoples.

Much of Mayan history is marked by the tearing down and rebuilding of their city-states over the years.

In about 1200 AD, the Mayan civilization basically merged with the Toltec people for reasons that are currently unknown.

Today, many descendants of the Maya still live in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. They practice many of the same traditions of the Maya, combined with those that were brought by the Spanish after Cortes arrived in Mexico in the 1500s.

CITIES and BUILDINGS

Mayan cities were not planned communities like those of Ancient Rome or other civilizations of the Old World. They were built sort of at random as directed by Mayan priests.

One of the largest cities was Tikal. Tikal was home to upwards of 60,000 people and, at its height, had over 10,000 buildings. Some of the buildings of Tikal still stand today.

Some Mayan cities were built away from fresh water sources, so underground reservoirs were built to supply fresh water during the dry season.

Many of the buildings that remain today are temples. These pyramid shaped structures were built much like the early pyramids of Egypt. Like Egypt, many of these pyramids were used as tombs for high priests. The priests were buried with treasure offerings (statues, jade, etc...)

Most of these temples were aligned so that at the equinoxes (first days of spring and autumn), a certain area or room of the temple would fill with light. The temple at the city of Chicen Itza in Mexico was built so that at the equinoxes, an optical illusion was created that made it appear as if Quetzalcoatl (the feathered serpent god) was coming down the steps of the pyramid to Earth.

FARMS AND FARMING

The Maya were expert farmers. They cleared jungle and forests by slash and burn (cutting down the trees and then setting them on fire.)

The Maya lived mainly off of maize (corn), but they also planted squash, beans, and tobacco. After using a field for two years, the Maya let it go fallow (unplanted) for ten years. This let the nutrients in the soil come back so that crops would grow well in it.

The farmers usually lived in a village outside of a larger city. The village had thatched-roof huts made of mud. The men tended the fields and built huts. Women cooked, made clothes, and raised the family. After the harvest, many farmers went to the city to help build temples and other buildings.

SOCIAL CLASSES

At the top of Mayan society were the king, his chiefs, priests, and other nobles.

The second level of society consisted of teachers, scribes, warriors, architects, lower-ranking government officials, merchants, and craftsmen.

At the bottom of the Mayan social ladder were the farmers and slaves.

RELIGION

The Maya worshipped over 166 gods and goddesses. Most of them were connected to nature and astronomy.

Priests were very important to Mayan society. They decided when crops should be planted and when and where cities should be built.

The Maya offered human and animal sacrificed to the gods in the hope that power would be given to them in return.

Kings and their wives offered their own blood to the gods. They would cut themselves and soak their blood onto paper. The paper was then burned. The smoke was believed to go to the heavens, and the Maya believed that the gods would return power to kings.

Ordinary people were usually buried under their houses with food in their mouths. Buried with them were religious objects and everyday tools.

Priests and kings were buried with treasures and books. Sometimes nobles were cremated.

WRITING

The Maya used hieroglyphics (pictures representing words or syllables.)

Generally, the only people in Mayan society that could read and write were priests and scribes. Priests believed that part of their power came from their ability to communicate with the gods in writing.

Priests and astronomers kept a codex (book). The codices were made of deer hide or paper and were covered on the outside by plaster. Only a very few codices have ever been found because in the 1500-1600s, the Spanish burnt them with the belief that they were the work of the devil. Fortunately, some Mayan dictionaries have been found. These help historians to translate codices and Mayan writing found on temples.

MATH

We use a base-10 as our number system. Mayan math was a system based on 20. Many Maya could work math problems. They learned math because it was often necessary to do their jobs.

Here are a few examples of Mayan numbers.



Check out this site for an interactive Mayan math calculator.

THE MAYAN CALENDAR

The Mayan calendar was extremely complex. They used months with 20 days, and they had two separate calendar years, a 260-day-year for religious purposes and a 365-day-year for agriculture.

THEORIES ABOUT THE DECLINE OF THE MAYA

About 900 AD, the Mayan civilization began to slowly shrink. Here are a few theories for the decline of Mayan civilization.

The cities became so large that they used up all the good farmland. This caused starvation and disease.

Wars with other tribes

The civilization could not support the expensive temples and tombs of the nobles and priests. The temples got bigger and bigger because nobles tried to out do each other, much like the pharaohs of Egypt did with the pyramids.

Farmers and slaves escaped and moved to the hills to get away from being used for human sacrifice to the gods.

Whatever the case, by about 1200 AD, the Maya Empire was all but gone.

DESCENDANTS OF THE MAYA

Today there are about 6-million descendants of the Maya living in 31 different groups in Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. Each group speaks a different language, but all their languages are related to the Ancient Mayan tongue.

Modern Maya are still excellent farmers, weavers, and craftsmen. Most of them practice a religion that has elements of the Ancient Mayan religion combined with Roman Catholicism.