Maya civilization

(noun)

A Mesoamerican culture noted for the only known, fully developed, written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for their art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems.

Related Terms

Examples of Maya civilization in the following topics:

  • The Classical Period of the Maya

    • The Classic period lasted from 250 to 900 CE and was the peak of the Maya civilization.
    • The Maya civilization participated in long distance trade with many of the other Mesoamerican cultures, including Teotihuacan, the Zapotec, and other groups in central and gulf-coast Mexico.
    • This remaking of relationships between civilizations would have then given the collapse of the Classic Maya a slightly later date.
    • In addition, the civilization of Teotihuacan started to lose its power, and maybe even abandoned the city, during 600–650 CE.
    • The Maya civilizations are now thought to have lived on, and also prospered, perhaps for another century after the fall of Teotihuacano influence.

  • Enduring Cultures

    • Contemporary with Teotihuacan's greatness was the greatness of the Maya civilization.
    • The period between 250 CE and 650 CE was a time of intense flourishing of Maya civilized accomplishments.
    • While the many Maya city-states never achieved political unity on the order of the central Mexican civilizations, they exerted a tremendous intellectual influence upon Mexico and Central America.
    • The Maya built some of the most elaborate cities on the continent, and made innovations in mathematics, astronomy, and calendrics.
    • With the decline of the Toltec civilization came political fragmentation in the Valley of Mexico.

  • Meso-American Culture

    • Meso-American civilizations were amongst some of the most powerful and advanced civilizations of the ancient world.
    • The Maya civilization was a Meso-American civilization developed by the Maya peoples in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.
    • The Maya civilization is the only known pre-Columbian society to have fully developed its own writing system.
    • The first developments in agriculture and the first villages of the Maya civilization appeared during the Archaic period prior to 2000 BCE.
    • Beginning around 250 CE, during the Classic period, the Maya civilization developed a large number of city-states linked by a complex trade network.

  • Architecture of the Maya

    • The Maya had complex architectural programs.
    • The Maya civilization which had emerged during the late Preclassic period (250 BCE-250 CE), reached its peak in the southern lowlands of Guatemala during the Classic period (250-900 CE), and shifted to northern Yucatan during the Postclassic period (900-1521 CE).
    • As the focus of Maya civilization shifted northward in the Postclassic period, a northern Maya group called the Itza rose to prominence.
    • Maya culture, late 7th century.
    • Describe the characteristic style and functional elements of Maya architecture in the Classic and Postclassic periods.

  • The Maya People

    • The Preclassic period lasted from 2000 BCE to 250 CE and saw the emergence of many distinctive elements of Mayan civilization.
    • Though the exact starting date of Mayan civilization is unclear, there were Mayan language speakers in the Southern Maya Area by 2000 BCE.
    • Speakers of a Mixe–Zoquean language, the Olmec are generally recognized as the first true civilization in the Americas.
    • The Late or Terminal Preclassic murals found in San Bartolo reflect the profound relationship between the Olmec and Maya civilizations over hundreds of years, due to the striking artistic similarit..
    • The collapse of the Preclassic Maya civilization remains a mystery and little is known as to why the major cities were abandoned around 250 CE.

  • Conclusion: Pre-Colonial Development of North America

    • Civilization in America began during the last Ice Age when nomadic Paleo-Indians migrated across Beringia.
    • After multiple waves of migration, complex civilizations arose.
    • The Maya civilization was a Meso-American civilization developed by the Maya peoples in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.
    • The first developments in agriculture and the first villages of the Maya civilization appeared during the Archaic period prior to 2000 BCE.
    • Since the early Preclassic period, Maya society was divided into elite and common classes.

  • Cultures of Mesoamerica

    • There are three cultures that dominated the pre-columbian history of Mesoamerica: the Olmec, Maya, and Aztec civilizations.
    • The Olmec civilization, which flourished from 1200–400 BCE, defines the Pre-Classical period; the Olmecs are generally considered the forerunner of all later Mesoamerica cultures including the Maya and Aztecs.
    • In Maya culture, we also see one of the earliest systems of art patronage.
    • Maya civilization was in decline by the time of the Spanish Conquest in the early 16th century, and by then the Aztecs controlled much of Mexico.
    • The Maya were among the most advanced cultures of Mesoamerica.

  • The Decline of the Maya

    • The period after the second collapse of the Maya empire (900 CE to 1600 CE) is called the Postclassic period.
    • Maya religion continued to be centered around the worship of male ancestors.
    • As the battle over control of the region waged on, the Spanish Church and government officials destroyed the vast majority of Maya texts and, with them, a large swath of knowledge about Maya writing and language.
    • Built by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization sometime between the 9th and 12th centuries CE, El Castillo served as a temple to the god Kukulkan, the Yucatec Maya Feathered Serpent deity closely related to the god Quetzalcoatl known to the Aztecs and other central Mexican cultures of the Postclassic period.
    • Explain what happened to the structure of the Maya Empire in the Postclassic period

  • Teotihuacan

    • Archaeological evidence suggests that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic city, with distinct quarters occupied by Otomi, Totonac, Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya, and Nahua peoples.
    • Although it is a subject of debate whether Teotihuacan was the center of a state empire, its influence throughout Mesoamerica is well documented; evidence of Teotihuacano presence can be seen at numerous sites in Veracruz and the Maya region.
    • Many Maya murals represent Teotihucuan and the leaders of the city during its zenith.
    • There is also evidence that at least some of the people living in Teotihuacan immigrated from those areas influenced by the Teotihuacano civilization, including the Zapotec, Mixtec, and Maya peoples.

  • Art of the Maya

    • The most sacred and majestic buildings of Maya cities were built in enclosed, centrally located precincts.
    • The Maya held dramatic rituals within the highly sculptured and painted environments of these precincts.
    • They were made in ceramic workshops and painted with Maya Blue, a dye distinctive to Maya and Aztec artists particularly.
    • The Maya painted vivid narrative scenes on the surfaces of cylindrical vases.
    • Ballplayer, Maya, from Jaina Island, Mexico, 700-900CE.