wk 10 mysterious maya pt 1 oct 22

October 22nd

The Maya

King Pakal’sjade burial

mask

Tikal, Guatemala

Pyramids at Giza, Egypt

Building an experimental pyramid,in the film “This Old Pyramid”

Carving on the lid of the sarcophagus(stone casket) of King Pakal, Palenque

Erich Von Daniken believes that the carvingShows Pakal beaming up to a space ship.

Artist’s rendition of Maya city of Tikal, 700 AD

Cityscape in Apocalypto

Scene from the movie “Star Wars”, the ruin here is the ancient Maya city of Tikal

Main activities for today’s class

We will answer the question “Who are the Maya?”

We will talk about why the Maya are seen to be so mysterious and then show thatthe Maya are in fact not that mysterious

We talk about one particular mystery (What happened to the ancient Maya?) anduse inquiry in the social sciences to resolve this mystery

Modern Maya (2002) Ancient Maya (700 AD)

Maya language family contains 31 modern languages

Italian: Differenza

Spanish: Diferencia

French: Difference

Romance language family(it is called “Romance” because it developed from Latin, the language of ancient Romans)

The word “difference” in Romance languages

The word “eight” in Mayan languages

Yukatek: Ox

Quiche: Ux

Chorti: Uax

Who are the Maya?

--A large group of ancient and modern people that --speak a Maya language --live in the northern part of Central America

(Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico) --share a heritage based on farming corn

slash and burn agriculture

digging stickfor planting

seeds

Core of Maya cuisine

agouti

White-tailed deer

“apple” snail(Pomacea)

Other foods eaten by the earliest Maya

Basic houses of the Maya

Feature 262: early house floor from Cuello, Belize, 700 BC

By 300 BC, somevillages have developedinto massive cities such as El Mirador,Guatemala

In these cities, religion ishuge (largest buildings aretemples). Religion isa source of power.

The Mayamaize god(Hunahpu)

Birth of the maizegod from a turtle shell

The Mayarain god

(Chac)

The face ofChac on thecorner of a

building

Blood sacrifice depicted on walls of the ruins of San Bartolo, 200 BC

By 300 AD, Maya culturehits full stride with theemergence of powrefulkings (as seen in tombs,carvings, and texts)

Maya tombat Rio Azul

Tomb of Pakal,at Palenque

Photo of Pakal’s burial

Tikal city center

Pyramid of the magician, Uxmal

Rosalila temple,Copan, Honduras

King Pakal’sjade burialmask, Palenque

Jade burial mask, Calakmul

Pottery produced by attached specialists in workshops located within Palaces

Copan Stela A

Copan

WaxaklahunUbah K’awil(18 are thefaces of theGod K’awil)(695-738)

Copan

Copan Stela A

Copan

CopanStela A,reverse

WaxaklahunUbah K’awil(18 are thefaces of theGod K’awil)(695-738)

Structure10L-26

Structure 10L-26 andThe Hieroglyphic Stairway,constructed by Copan’s 14th Ruler, K’akJoplah Chan K’awil, after the13th ruler, WaxaklahunUbah K’awil, was capturedand in battle with the rival kingdomof Quirigua

Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious

2) Advanced ancient culture in the middle of a rain forest

3) Mysterious writing, difficult to decipher --leads to mistaken ideas, such as the idea that the Maya were peaceful

4) The ancient Maya appear to have disappeared. What happened to them?

1) Many people believe the claims about ancient spaceships

We will show that all of these mysteries have been solved. In other words, the Mayawere and are a very exciting group of people, but they are not more mysterious thanany other group of people.

In summary, the Maya have the most attractive art and architecture of the new world, anda very complex writing system. They seem more intellectually and aesthetically gifted than other new world cultures.


Erich Von Daniken believes that the carvingShows Pakal beaming up to a space ship.


The serpent’s mouth: a portal between the world of the livingand the world of the ancestors


The equipment that opens the portal:stingray spice for blood letting, shellas symbol of blood, bowl/incense burnerto contain and enliven the blood


The world tree: this is what links the two sidesof the portal.


Double headed snake: symbol of rulership as wellas the sky, place of ancestors. Shows the directionin which Pakal is traveling


Conclusion: The carving on the lid of Pakal’s sarcophagus does not depict a spaceship.The carving on the lid shows a local Maya belief about how deceased rulers travel tothe sky to join the ancestors.

1) Many people believe the claims about ancient spaceships

2) Advanced ancient culture in themiddle of a rain forest

Reasons why the Ancient Maya are saidto be mysterious

slash and burn agriculture

Advantage of rivers: --predictable water for irrigation --flood provide nutrients

Agriculture along the Nile

The Maya had few rivers, lots of swamps

The problem: Slash and burn agriculture does not support a large population…

To build this, you need a large population

Raised field agriculture

The mystery of the rainforest civilization: how did the Maya support a large population?Answer: they had forms of agriculture that were more intensive than slash and burn

Raised fieldsalong the edges

of a swamp

Agricultural terraces atthe city of Caracol,Belize

The mystery of the rainforest civilization: how did the Maya support a large population?Answer: they had forms of agriculture that were more intensive than slash and burn

Terraces to prevent soilerosion

Terracesat Caracol

2) Advanced ancient culture in the middle of a rain forest


Conclusion: It is unusual to have an advanced culture in a rainforest, but not mysterious.We now know that the Maya used a number of intensive farming techniques thatsustained the high populations necessary to support an advanced culture.



Constantine Rafinesque (1783-1840)Transylvania University professor,

Lexington, KY, 1819-1826

= 5

October14th



Glyphs highlighted in red are calendrical glyphs.

They give the impression that Mayahsitory was about the passage oftime, not war.

Moat surrounding the centerof Becan

Bonampakmurals

Yaxchilan lintel 6: Bird Jaguar and ally capture two enemies(grabbing one of them by the hair)

Yaxchilan lintel 17 Early 20th century rendering



Conclusion: Though hieroglyphs have been difficult to decipher, there is nothing unusuallymysterious about what the Maya wrote. Hieroglyphic inscriptions talk about warfare, thelives of kings, relations between cities, religious ceremonies, the passage of time, and theobjects on top of which the hieroglyphs were written.



1. Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question

Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences

3. Evaluating evidence

2. Recognizing multiple answers to a question or a problem

5. Exploring the ethical implications of differing approaches, methods or conclusions

4. Developing potential solutions to problems based on sound evidence and reasoning




--Did they disappear or just move elsewhere?

--If they disappeared, what does this mean?

They died outThey became less visible






--If they moved, where did they go?






--What has caused Maya culture to change between 900 AD and today?

--Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question



--If they moved, where did they go?

--What caused them to disappear and to move elsewhere?


--What similarities exist between contemporary Maya and ancient Maya?


Northern Yucatan, Guatemalan Highlands, Belize



--Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question


--What caused them to disappear and to move elsewhere?

--Recognizing multiple answers to a question or a problem

DroughtForeign invasionInternal warfare

--Evaluating evidence

--Evaluating evidence

Drought expectations

You would see paleo-ecological evidence of less rainfall

You would see deterioration of nutrition (skeletons in burials should indicatepeople dying young, would stunted growth, and more disease)

Foreign invasion expectations

Yes, there was bad health

There is such evidence but some cities were abandoned before drought

but there was also bad health before drought

You would see find a big increase in artifacts from foreign areas

No such increase was found

Internal warfare expectations

You would see lots of fortifications, at both big sites and small sites

Aguateca

Commoner settlements move to hilltops and defend themselves with walls

3. Evaluating evidence

Drought expectations

You would see paleo-ecological evidence of less rainfall

You would see deterioration of nutrition (skeletons in burials should indicatepeople dying young, would stunted growth, and more disease)

Foreign invasion expectations

Yes, there was bad health

There is such evidence but some cities were abandoned before drought

but there was also bad health before drought

You would see find a big increase in artifacts from foreign areas

No such increase was found

Internal warfare expectations

You would see lots of fortifications, at both big sites and small sites

Yes, there are such fortifications but only in some parts of the Maya area

4. Developing potential solutions to problems based on sound evidence and reasoning

Drought may play a role in some cases, internal warfare may play a role in other cases

1. Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good questionAspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences

3. Evaluating evidence2. Recognizing multiple answers to a question or a problem

5. Exploring the ethical implications of differing approaches, methods or conclusions4. Developing potential solutions to problems based on sound evidence and reasoning

Modern Maya (2002) Ancient Maya (700 AD)

The Maya did not “disappear”: there are 7 million Maya living today. Rather, they migratedand changed. To say that the ancient Maya disappeared is to deny a connection betweenmodern and ancient Maya, thus robbing modern people of a proud heritage.

wk 10 mysterious maya pt 1 oct 22

Documents

maya culture

modern maya

thatthe maya

ancient maya city of

maya language family

ndthe maya tikal

texts maya tomb

local maya belief