Maya civilizationMaya languages | Maya peoplesarchitecture | calendar | writingmythology | religion | human sacrifice| societyMaya historyMaya collapseSpanish conquest of YucatánThe Maya civilization is a Mesoamerican civilization noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas as come up as its spectacular art monumental architecture and sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Preclassic period many of these reached their apogee of development during the Classic period (c. 250 to 900) and continued throughout the Postclassic period until the arrival of the Spanish. At its arrive at it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world. The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing epigraphy and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however their civilization fully developed them. Maya affect can be detected as far as central Mexico more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are open in Maya art and architecture which are thought to prove from change and cultural exchange rather than enjoin external conquest. The Maya peoples never disappeared neither at the measure of the Classic period decline nor with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and the subsequent Spanish colonization of the Americas. Today the Maya and their descendants create sizable populations throughout the Maya area and maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs that are the prove of the merger of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideologies (and structured by the almost be adoption of Roman Catholicism). Many different Mayan languages act to be spoken as primary languages today; the Rabinal Achí a compete written in the Q'eqchi' language was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.// Geographical positionThe geographic extent of the Maya civilization known as the Maya area extended throughout the southern Mexican states of Chiapas. Tabasco and the Yucatán Peninsula states of Quintana Roo. Campeche and Yucatán. The Maya area also extended throughout the northern Central American region including the present-day nations of Guatemala. Belize. El Salvador and western Honduras. As the largest sub-region in Mesoamerica it encompassed a vast and varied adorn from the mountainous regions of the Sierra Madre to the semi-arid plains of northern Yucatán. Climate in the Maya region can vary tremendously as the low-lying areas are particularly susceptible to the hurricanes and tropical storms that frequent the Caribbean. The Maya area is generally divided into three loosely defined zones: the southern Maya highlands the southern (or central) Maya lowlands and the northern Maya lowlands. The southern Maya highlands include all of elevated terrain in Guatemala and the Chiapas highlands. The southern lowlands lie just north of the highlands and incorporate the Petén of northern Guatemala. Belize. El Salvador and the southern portions of the Mexican states of Campeche and Quintana Roo. The northern lowlands adjoin the remainder of the Yucatán Peninsula including the Puuc hills. History PreclassicWhile the Maya area was initially inhabited around the 10th millennium BC the first clearly “Maya” settlements were established in approximately 1800 BC in Soconusco region of the Pacific Coast. This inform in time known as the Early Preclassic was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines. Archaeological evidence suggests the construction of ceremonial architecture in Maya area by approximately 1000 BC. The earliest configurations of such architecture be of simple burial mounds which would be the precursors to the stepped pyramids subsequently erected in the Late Preclassic. Prominent Middle and Late Preclassic settlement zones are located in the southern Maya lowlands specifically in the Mirador and Petén Basins. Important sites in the southern Maya lowlands consider Nakbe. El Mirador. Cival and San Bartolo. Mid-sized Maya communities also began to create in the northern Maya lowlands during the Middle and Late Preclassic though these lacked the size scale and influence of the large centers of the southern lowlands. Two important Preclassic northern sites include Komchen and Dzibilchaltun. There is some disagreement about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and neighboring Preclassic Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Olmec grow of the Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe-Zoque– and Zapotec–speaking peoples of Chiapas and southern Oaxaca respectively. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone and evidence suggests that these cultures and the formative Maya influenced one another. ClassicThe Classic period (c. 250–900) witnessed the peak of large-scale construction and urbanism the recording of monumental inscriptions and a period of significant intellectual and artistic development particularly in the southern lowland regions. They developed an agriculturally intensive city-centered empire consisting of numerous independent city-states. This includes the well-known cities of Tikal. Palenque. Copán and Calakmul but also the lesser known Dos Pilas. Uaxactun. Altun Ha and Bonampak among others. The Early Classic settlement distribution in the northern Maya lowlands is not as clearly known as the southern govern but does consider a number of population centers such as Oxkintok. Chunchucmil and the early occupation of Uxmal. The most notable monuments are the pyramids they built in their religious centers and the accompanying palaces of their rulers. The palace at Cancuen is the largest in the Maya area though the place interestingly lacks pyramids. Other important archaeological remains consider the carved stone slabs usually called stelae (the Maya called them tetun or "tree-stones") which interpret rulers along with hieroglyphic texts describing their genealogy military victories and other accomplishments. The Maya 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 as come up as with more distant non-Mesoamerican groups. For example archaeologists found gold from Panama in the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza. Important trade goods included cacao salt sea shells jade and obsidian. The Maya "change"For reasons that are still debated the Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into change state during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter. This change state was coupled with a cessation of monumental inscriptions and large-scale architectural construction. Although there is no universally accepted theory to inform this “collapse,” current theories fall into two categories: non-ecological and ecological. Non-ecological theories of Maya change state are divided into several subcategories such as foreign invasion peasant revolt and the change of key trade routes. Ecological hypotheses include environmental disaster epidemic disease and climate dress. Postclassic periodDuring the succeeding Postclassic period (from the 10th to the early 16th century) development.
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