Show:
Maya culture and environment
Agriculture
Writing systems
Royals
Sustainability and collapse
100

True or false - the ancient Maya saw themselves as a unified political and ethnic group.

False - the ancient Maya did not see themselves as a unified political or ethnic group

  • “Maya” is a modern term, later applied to the broader region by outsiders
  • They share a common cultural and linguistic heritage
100

What was the most celebrated and religiously significant crop that the ancient Maya cultivated?

Maize (corn)

100

True or false - the Maya invented writing.

False - The Maya did not invent writing, but they did develop the most sophisticated writing system in the Americas.

100

What is Altar Q?

  • Altar Q was a monument commissioned by the 16th and last ruler of Copan
  • Four sides of the altar show the 16 rulers of Copan in clear succession, with 16th ruler receiving tokens of office from the founder, K’inich Yaax K’uuk’ Mo’. 
  • Contrary to the clean line of succession suggested by the monument, the 16th ruler’s claims to the throne were weak, and the Copan dynasty broke down after he died
100

True or false - the Classic Maya collapse impacted cities and villages equally.

False - cities struggled and were abandoned because kings failed to adapt to environmental/political changes, but archaeological evidence suggests smaller villages (like Chan, Belize) made it through the collapse events without discernible signs of social stress.

200
Why were many Postclassic Maya settlements founded on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula?
  • Long-distance trade by boat became very important during the Postclassic - settlements like Tulum operated as trading ports / fortresses
  • Salt production facilities
200

Lidar found that vast portions of the landscape of Caracol were covered with what kind of agricultural feature?

Terraces - used for intensive cultivation in a low-density urban agricultural system

200

What are emblem glyphs?

Hieroglyphs linked to a particular kingdom, like a seal or crest. Major cities had their own emblem glyphs and used them to describe their relationships and interactions in hieroglyphic texts - they have been used to reconstruct alliances, wars, and overall political history

200

Name two characteristics of Maya rulers.

  • Lived in elaborate palaces in capital cities, 
  • performed rituals to ensure cosmic harmony and communicate with divine forces. 
  • Undertook military campaigns against rival city-states. 
  • Commissioned large-scale building projects, like roads and pyramids, and monuments that commemorated their accomplishments. 
  • In death enshrined in lavish tombs.
200

How did the city of Tikal keep its artificial reservoirs clean?

Zeolite and quartz filtration system

Some reservoirs were lined with clay to stabilize pH

Water lilies - emulating natural wetland ecosystems

Restricting settlement adjacent to reservoirs

300

This region of the Maya area is the source of jade and obsidian.

Maya highlands - rugged mountains and significant volcanic activity

300

What does archaeology at Cerén, El Salvador, tell us about ancient Maya agricultural systems?

  • Cerén, El Salvador – eruptions covered the village with volcanic ash
  • Archaeology at Cerén shows that houselot gardens contributed diverse crops to the diet, and that manioc was a previously unrecognized staple crop for the Maya, cultivated in fields at the edge of the village
300

Who was Diego de Landa and what was his role in the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphs?

  • 16th century Spanish friar who burned Maya codices in retaliation for what he perceived to be heresy. 
  • As punishment, he was required by the Spanish Crown to create an account of Maya culture and society (Relaciones de las cosas de Yucatán)
  • The account included his attempt at an alphabet of Yucatec Maya hieroglyphs, created with a Maya interlocutor. 
  • It was actually a syllabary, but that wouldn't be discovered until the breakthrough of Yuri Knorosov in the mid 20th century.
300

What do we know about the 13th ruler of Copan, aka 18 Rabbit?

18 Rabbit – 13th ruler of Copan

  • Greatest patron of the arts in Copan's history. 
  • Proclaimed Copan to be one of four great polities of the Maya area, along with Calakmul, Palenque, and Tikal. 
  • Flurry of monuments showed him as a god, with powerful divine associations, riding the cosmic turtle, etc.
  • But he was unexpectedly captured and beheaded by rival at subordinate center Quirigua – likely with backing from Calakmul (rival of Tikal, Copan’s more powerful ally). 
  • The abrupt end to his reign was followed by a hiatus (years-long pause in texts, monuments at Copan)
300

What was the last Postclassic Maya capital? 

  • Mayapán – 1200-1450, united the provinces of the Yucatán Peninsula in a system of joint rule
  • When Mayapán collapsed, the peninsula broke back down into rival provinces
  • Spanish conquistadors went on to exploit these factional rivalries during the conquest
400

Why were cenotes important to the ancient Maya of the northern lowlands?

  • The northern lowlands are dry and lack surface water features (e.g., rivers) found in the southern lowlands. 
  • But the flat bedrock plain is perforated in places with sinkholes that reach the water table (cenotes). 
  • These features were created by the asteroid impact at Chicxulub millions of years ago. 
  • Cenotes were the main source of fresh water, and also considered important portals to the underworld and sites of ritual activity (e.g., Cenote of Sacrifice at Chichén Itzá)
400

What was the "myth of the milpa" and what were its implications for Maya civilization?

"Myth of the milpa" - a now disproven model for ancient Maya agricultural systems

  • From the colonial period into the present, Maya farmers mostly relied on a form of agriculture known as milpa
  • Slash-fire, swidden, extensive form of agriculture – milpa requires a lot of land
  • Selecting a wooded parcel, felling vegetation, and letting it dry
  • Controlled burning, then planting maize, beans, and squash in the plot
  • After 1-2 seasons, shifting to repeat in another wooded parcel
  • When 20th century ethnographers and archaeologists began working in the Maya area, they saw farmers practicing milpa and assumed ancient farmers also depended on milpa
  • If this assumption was correct, then the Maya would not have been able to support large urban populations.
400

What was Tatiana Proskouriakoff's breakthrough discovery about the Maya hieroglyphic record?

Proskouriakoff was discovered that Maya texts were recording dynastic histories. Along with the discoveries made by other scholars, this breakthrough showed that hieroglyphic texts were not myths or religious narratives, or nonhistorical calendrical symbols (the dominant view of leading scholars in the early 20th century) – they were political histories.

400

Imagine you are excavating under the floor of a Classic period Maya royal palace and you find a pottery vessel containing stingray spines, human finger bones, and human teeth with jade inlays. Interpret what this means.

  • Cache - the stingray spine was likely used in a bloodletting ritual (reciprocity, sacrifice), and the fingers/teeth were likely the remains of a royal ancestor gathered to be reburied under the floor of the house
  • Caches and burials sanctified houses and brought them to life (animism) 
  • Ancestors buried under the floor of houses - affirmed multigenerational connections between royal lineage and the palace, a sign of dynastic continuity
400

What factors contributed to the Classic Maya collapse? Name at least three. 

  • Severe reductions in rainfall - century-long drought conditions
  • Drought exacerbated political conflict and increased warfare (wars recorded in monuments, fortifications)
  • Rapid deforestation for agriculture and plaster production made the droughts worse and contributed to soil erosion/depletion
  • Water shortages undermined political leadership and farmers' reasons for subjecting themselves to royal demands
500

Why is there a strong association between royal power and water lilies in Classic Maya iconography?

  • To keep reservoirs clean, the Maya emulated wetland biospheres
  • Water lilies are regarded as a visible sign of clean water - sensitive plants that only grow in shallow, clean, still water without too much algae.
  • They restrict sunlight, prevent algae, and inhibits evaporations. 
  • They provide food and habitat for the natural predators of small flying pests. 
  • Association of clean water, water lilies, and royal power is strongly represented in Maya iconography as a result - Maya royals based their power in their role as providers of clean water.
500

Describe Puleston's ramón hypothesis and its impact on the study of ancient Maya agriculture.

  • Puleston’s ramón hypothesis at Tikal
  • Survey beyond Tikal's central core led Puleston to notice an association between ramón (breadnut) trees and house mounds, as well as bedrock pits (chultuns). 
  • Ramón was known to be a famine food of the contemporary Maya, but Puleston wondered if it might have been more important in ancient times. 
  • He systematically documented the relationship between living ramón trees and ancient house mounds
  • Conducted an experiment to make chultuns and test how well they stored different foods. Ramón nuts lasted the longest.
  • Puleston theorized that ramón could have been a staple for a dense urban population. 
  • Even though later archaeologists moved away from the hypothesis, its legacy remains – it opened the possibility of dynamic, diverse agricultural systems – an important early challenge to the “myth of the milpa.”
500

How did the Maya calendar work?

  • Tzolk’in – 260 day sacred cycle used for religious ceremonies, madeup of 13 numbers x 20 day names
  • Haab - 365 day solar calendar for secular and agricultural uses, madeup of 18 months x 20 days + 5 unlucky days
  • Dates could be expressed by noting the day’s position in both cycles
  • Since this combination repeated every 52 years, the Maya also used a more precise “long count” to reckon time from the mythical day of creation - August 11, 3114 BCE
500

What do we know about the founder of the Copan dynasty?

  • Founder (K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’) – claimed to come from Teotihuacan, with its associations of military and cultural prestige. 
  • He founded a state in the Copan Valley, and married a local elite woman to legitimize his rule.
  • He was an experienced warrior - several healed fractures from battle wounds
  • Strontium isotope analysis showed that he wasn't really from Teotihuacan - he had actually grown up in the Maya lowlands, close to Tikal (likely an ambitious noble/minor royal)
  • Asserting a Teotihuacano identity was an attempt to legitimize his dynastic claims
  • Copan soon became Tikal’s most critical ally in the south, especially in its ongoing competition with main rival Calakmul
500

The success of Classic Maya royals was determined by their success as water managers - explain what this means. 

  • Extreme seasonality in Maya lowlands - wet and dry seasons
  • Powerful kings could attract thirsty farmers in the dry season of agricultural down time by providing them with water, captured and stored in urban water management systems (canals, reservoirs, etc.)
  • Reservoirs integrated subjects during the dry season and provided the means for kings to collect tribute
  • Even at its most stable, this system was vulnerable – variation in rainfall, damage from flooding, timing planting schedules, etc. – all required careful management
  • Royals had nothing to keep their subjects when the reservoirs failed during the droughts of the Classic Maya collapse – they were ultimately water managers