1. Do now: Begin MC Questions Homework: Maya comparison
Objective: Students will be able to evaluate the strengths (Golden Age) and weaknesses (decline and fall) of Mayan Civilization.
Question of the Day: Should the Maya be considered a classical civilization?
Do now: Begin MC Questions
Homework: Maya comparison

2. Mayan Civilization Pre-Classic(2600 B.C.E-250 B.C.E)
Classic (250 C.E-900 C.E)
Mayan Collapse
Post-Classic period ( C.E)

3. Where are they located?

6. COMMON FEATURES OF CLASSICAL CIVILIZATIONS
The three areas of classical civilizations developed their own beliefs, lifestyles, political institutions, and social structures. However, there were important similarities among them:
Patriarchal family structures - Like the river valley civilizations that preceded them, the classical civilization valued male authority within families, as well as in most other areas of life.
Agricultural-based economies - Despite more sophisticated and complex job specialization, the most common occupation in all areas was farming.
Complex governments - Because they were so large, these three civilizations had to invent new ways to keep their lands together politically. Their governments were large and complex, although they each had unique ways of governing
Expanding trade base - Their economic systems were complex. Although they generally operated independently, trade routes connected them by both land and sea.

7. Political Fragmentation
Densely populated urban and ceremonial centers
No city-state ever succeeded in creating a unified empire
Ruled by "state shamans" who could mediate with divine
Tikal was the most important political center of the Mayan realm at its height
Tikal's population was around 50,000 people, with 50,000 more in hinterland (The land directly adjacent to and inland from a coast.)

8. Intensive Agricultural Practices
Necessary to provide the subsistence needs of a large population : environment of Maya lowlands was limiting in terms of landforms, thin soils, seasonal drought, an absence of permanent natural water sources
The Maya established one of the largest and most complex civilizations in the New World before modern times.
Sophisticated agricultural practices included TERRACING: creation of amount of arable land by flattening slopes, capturing soils, and controlling water runoff in areas where erosion prevents cultivation

9. Mesoamerican Trade
As the Eastern Hemisphere became increasingly reliant upon trade, the civilizations of Mesoamerica were developing networks as well
About the time of the height of Rome and the Han (c. 1st – 3rd centuries C.E.), the Mayan civilization began its Classical Age on the Yucatan peninsula

10. Mesoamerican Trade
The Mayan and other Mesoamerican civilizations started an extensive network of trade known as the Turquoise Road
Named after the lucrative trade commodity
Sometimes referred to as the Scarlet Macaw after the colorful bird of the region
Trade would eventually extend from the Yucatan to the Anasazi of modern SW United States

11. Mesoamerican Trade
The Turquoise Road:
The Scarlet Macaw:

12. Mayan Society Leader Farmers/slaves
Land divided into city - states (major city and surrounding towns) were headed by a ruler who was often a priest
Frequent warfare; capture & sacrifice of prisoners
Mostly involved in agriculture
Large-scale human engineering projects: swamp drainage, terracing, water management system
Supported a substantial elite and artisan class
What was life like in the Mayan Civilization?
Leader
Nobles
Trade/warriors
Farmers/slaves

13. Mayan Society What was life like in the Mayan Civilization?
Mayan civilization had unique ideas of beauty
Crossed Eyes: Considered particularly beautiful
Babies were given objects to stare at to encourage crossed eyes
High, flat, sloping forehead
Tied boards to babies foreheads

14. Mayan Beliefs Polytheistic (more than one god)
Gods were not good or evil,
Religious ceremonies closely tied to natural cycles ( moon phases, seasons, etc.)
Religious ceremonies consisted of singing, dancing, competitions, dramatic performances, and some human sacrifice
Human sacrifice usually voluntary
Participants gives blood or pieces (arms, tongue, eye, etc) to the god
What did Mayan People believe?

15. Mayan Beliefs What was the role of priests in Mayan society?
Believed priests could talk to gods
Most daily life directed by priests
Decided: when to plant, who could marry, sometimes leaders
Mayan people believed in an afterlife
Heaven was reserved for people who died in sacrifice, childbirth or hanged
Hell or xibal was for everyone else

16. Mayan Beliefs What did Mayan People believe?
Believed in the underworld, the sky and the Earth
Knowing the past meant knowing the cycle of the present and knowing the present provided information for knowing the future
This focus on time led to development of sophisticated calendars and time keepers: they interwove a solar year of 365 days and a ceremonial calendar of 260 days
After an interval of 52 solar years, the ceremonial & solar Mayan calendars returned to their respective starting points. The end of a cycle would bring monumental change.
What did Mayan People believe?

17. Mayan Civilization Most complex writing system in the Americas
What are some contributions the Mayan civilization made to the world?
Most complex writing system in the Americas
Development of advanced mathematical system based on units of 20 (vigesimal)
Art and architecture
Temple building
City development
Pyramids, palaces, public plazas

18. Hieroglyphics
Each picture had its own meaning. The Maya could write in full sentences and even stories. A story was made by drawing several pictures together. The Maya covered their cities and buildings with hieroglyphs carved into the stone.  Most Mayas could read some hieroglyphs. But priests and nobles were probably the only people who knew the whole language.  The Maya carved these symbols into stone, and made books from tree bark.  They would take one strip of bark and fold it over and over to make pages. These "books" were wrapped with wood and deer hid. Each image was first outlined with black ink made of a coal base. The first drawing was done with a tool made from the thorns of the maguey cactus or from chips and bones of small animals including birds. Brushes were made of animal hair. Using color to illustrate the codices was not done just for looks. Colors and shades of colors meant a lot  The Maya gave a special meaning to each color, which they related with gods, nature and the sky. People thought the writers were in touch with the gods. The codices were considered sacred. The books were kept in special rooms inside temples and important buildings.

19. Number System
Instead of ten digits like we have today, the Maya used a base number of 20 in their mathematics. They also used a system of bars and dots as "shorthand" for counting. A dot stood for one and a bar stood for five. It was very easy to add and subtract using this number system. They did not use fractions. Adding is just a matter of adding up dots and bars.  Maya merchants often used cocoa beans, which they laid out on the ground, to do these calculations.

20. The Indian civilizations of South and Central America have a rich musical culture. Flutes, including panpipes and whistles were most important. Rattles, scraper and drums were also used. There is no evidence of stringed instruments at all! A whistle flute, sometimes called a fipple flute is a flute blown from the end. Air is sent through a simple mouthpiece against the sharp edge of a hole cut in the pipe below the mouthpiece. It can be made of clay, wood cane. Finger holes make more than one pitch possible. M U S I C M A Y N

21. Mayan Arts
They carved jade into figures and jewelry and also used jade to make masks. And they did this without metal tools.
Their terra cotta figurines and polychrome vases are admired not only because they are very old, but as fine works of art. This vase is from Campeche from about 1,400 years ago.

22. Mayan Architecture
Temple of Kukulkan, Chichen Itza, Mexico

23. Mayan Ball Game http://ballgame.org/main.asp
The Mayan Ball game was the first organized game in the history of sports. The Mayan Ball Game was not only an exciting and dangerous sport, it was also a complex ritual based on religious beliefs. Often people were killed as part of this ritual. Mayans believed the only way to keep life happy and growing was to sacrifice a valuable human being.

24. Mayan Accomplishments: compared to other classics?
Political- city states (Palenque,Tikal,Chichen Itza), ceremonial centers, formidable military, prisoners of war, priest-kings(divine)
Economic- regional trade, merchants, use of numeric system, currency (cocoa beans), slavery, agricultural products (corn, tomato, beans, etc.)
Religious- polytheistic (animism), Creation myth(apocalypse ) in Mayan Codices, sacrifices and offerings
Intellectual/Artistic- terrace farming, slash/burn, musical instruments, Maya ball game, astronomy, calendar, engineering( temples, ceremonial centers),

25. Comp Maya and…
During the classical Age, both the Maya and Greece were made up of decentralized political structures known as city- states, both utilized monumental building to illustrate polytheistic beliefs, however, Greece’s Mediterranean naval power would connect diverse cultures and climates while the Maya would be regionally isolated along the Yucatan peninsula.
From 600 B.C.E-600 C.E both the Maya and Classical India were fragmented geographically which contributed to the formation of city-states, they advanced mathematically by developing the concept of zero as a place holder for trade. Engineering and astronomy, however, the Maya were inclined to enforce their beliefs utilizing human sacrifice while Classical India were more tolerant under Asoka’s Rock Pillar Edicts
Classical Persia and Maya were both engaged in long distance trade to finance their respective governments, however the Maya were decentralized under city-states while the Persia’s bureaucratic administration through satrapies were more consolidated in Persepolis. Persia was far more tolerant of other faith through the Cyrus cylinder while the Maya’s engaged in human sacrifice to appease their Gods Poly vs mono)
The Classical Maya and China from 600 B.C.E-600 C.E were similar in the Zhou dynasty by the fragmented regional configuration of city-states, both engaged in monumental building in trading centers like Chang ‘an and Tikal, however China’s establishment of the Silk Route under Han Wu It would facilitate a vast trading network while the Maya’s were limited throughout Mesoamerica.
In the Classical Age the Maya was decentralized with regional theocratic city-states in Tikal and Palenque while Rome was a centralized Republic then Empire. The Maya independently innovated astronomy and mathematics while Rome was the heir to the Hellenistic philosophy. Rome and Maya, however, both engineered monumental irrigation systems which may have contributed to their decline in the end

26. End of the Mayan Civilization
Why did the Mayan Civilization end?
Rapid collapse in the century after a long-term drought began in 840 CE - population dropped by at least 85%
Extremely rapid population growth after 600 CE outstripped resources
Political disunity and rivalry prevented a coordinated response to climatic catastrophe
Warfare became more frequent
It took 170 years for the Spanish to get control of Mayan lands.
Mayans remained independent until the 1700s
Other theories?
Mayan culture, language, and art still practiced

27. Jared Diamond’s Collapse Theory
Government fails to respond to the following 5 points
Damaged Environment
Deforestation and erosion
Climate Change
Draught
Hostilities
Fought amongst themselves
Politics
Competition among kings and nobles that led to chronic war and erecting monuments instead of solving problems
Trade
Trade with external societies was not a factor because of their seclusion
They traded amongst themselves… or

28. Ancient Aliens?

29. The primitive Maya had no large animals and wheel to build architectural advanced buildings
In spite of their geographic challenges the Maya built the most complex pyramid structures standing today illustrating their magnificent engineering skill despite no large draft animals and wheels ( for levers and pulleys

30. The pagan Mayan religion was violently ritualistic incorporating human sacrifice
Their religion priests to develop great knowledge of astronomy, writing and accurate calendars to explain the natural world

31. The Mayan had no real writing as they lacked a specific alphabet to create a literate society
Their glyph system is just being figured out by scholars to illustrate their mathematical, astronomical and knowledge of human anatomy despite being altered by Spanish conquerors, warfare and the jungle reclaiming itself

32. The Mayan had a quite basic trading network bartering goods for goods
Their extensive trade between city-states like Tikal, Palenque and Chichen Itza illustrated a complex pattern of trade including goods like cacoa, corn, feathers, gems and other items suggesting that their 10 million strong population was more that subsistence(barely adequate) in agriculture.

33. The contributions of the Maya were more comparable to ancient rather than classical civilizations
While they lacked large draft animals, iron metallurgy and the wheel, the Mayas advanced astronomy, mathematics, and architecture well above those of the river valley civlizations

34. The calendars created by the Maya were specifically for basic agricultural purposes  
Their accurate calendars were also for astronomical purposes identifying eclipses, meteor showers and planetary allignments as well as calendars for astrology, and religious purposes ( in other words they had many different types of calendars to serve different purposes)

35. The Maya were a vulgar uncivilized people who enslaved many to work and/or sacrifice  
Their art, architecture, music, and writing suggest not only their advancement but that their 800 years of stability and contributions in overcoming geographic adversity suggest that they have earned the distinction of being called a classical civilization