The History of the Mayans - Essay Example

Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Mayan History Contents Contents 0 1.Introduction 1 2.Life in Tikal AD 378 2 3.Conclusion 5 4.Bibliography 6 1. Introduction The history of the Mayans can be considered as the well known Mesoamerica’s classical civilizations and it can be traced back from the origin of Yucatan in 2600 B.C. The Mayan’s rose into prominence in A.D 250 in a province at present known as El Salvador, Southern Mexico and Guatemala. Historical time periods at the time of Mayans is captured and archived in the form of the name of the emperor along with the year number such as Tikal AD 378, Quirigua AD 738 and Copan AD 775 and many more. The Mayan nation was a homogenous group of inhabitants with a decentralized form of political leadership and they imbibed and developed their culture from their neighbors by absorbing their key cultural concepts in their traditions. Mayans had organized their city into states and had common beliefs and values spread across their civilization. They had rich knowledge of numerology, arts, astronomy and religion which formed the foundation of their beliefs. Evidently, Mayan history has been one that has been culturally rich and has been intertwined with articulate political and social organization. (Traxler) This paper seeks to present an incisive and comprehensive outlook on the Mayan History. In this paper I will be an imaginary Mayan living in Tikal in AD 378 as a farmer versed with concrete knowledge of agriculture, politics, religion and the Mayan system of writing. I will give a description of the Mayan sites that I am living in, my rulers and my interaction with other Mayans. 2. Life in Tikal AD 378 The word Tikal in the Mayan language has the meaning “the water hole”. Apparently, during the era of our grandfathers, Tikal was regarded by travelers and hunters as an ancient reservoir site and it is presumed that the name “Tikal” could have resulted from the intentions and the will of the rulers of the city who wanted the city to be identified and recalled by the name Tikal. Tikal lies at the centre of the Mesoamerican region in the Mayan area; it is approximately 40 miles away from the present day Guatemala City. As an inhabitant of Tikal, I discovered that the topography of this city is a ridge of limestone which rises above the swampy low lands and the clusters of architecture are present on the high ground interlinked through the raising of causeways that are spread in the swamps. (Love). Our city is typically a small hierarchical state headed by hereditary rulers of the dynastic line of Tikal. The inhabitants of Tikal in AD 378 are approximately 90,000 and the population is increased rapidly. Our leader is Chak Tok Ich'aak I AD 378. He is also known as great paw, great jaguar paw and jaguar paw. He has taken over the kingdom of Tikal from Lady Une' B'alam AD 359. Great jaguar paw is succeeded by Yax Nuun Ayiin who is also referred as Carl Snout AD 379. As inhabitants of Tikal, we put emphasis on the centralized kingdom. We consider the dwelling of the royalty and nobles as highly sacred place, thus these dwellings embody diverse activities that are sacred to the Mayans. Chak Tok Ich’aak as our ruler is highly authoritative and he manages key matters of the city. For instance, he has declared and organized war against errant neighboring territories. He is also the key decision maker. Residents of Tikal show great respect to the kingdom of the great jaguar paw. (Drew) Mayans believe in the cyclical nature of time. The ceremonies and rituals that we conduct are somewhat related to terrestrial and celestial cycles that are inscribed in our Mayan calendar. The work of interpreting these cycles is solely left to the priest, who in turn gives a prophetic outlook on the past or the future in reference to the quantity of relations that are reflecting in the calendar. The priests also determine if the celestial matters and the heavens are suitable for conducting certain religious rituals. We practice human sacrifice as a ritual to our gods. During these rituals, people are sacrificed with their legs and arms held by one priest and another priest cuts open the chest of that person, thereby removing his heart and offering it to god. In most cases, the priest preferred to use children as the sacrifice as they believed to be pure. (Grube) It is our belief that the cosmos comprises of three main planes namely the sky, the earth and the underworld. We believe that the underworld is inhabited by the aged gods of death; this plane can be reached through ball courts and caves. We consider the night sky as a window that portrays deities and supernatural occurrences. Religion and the performance of ritual are highly regarded practices that form the core of the Mayan culture. (Culbert). Pyramids and temples in our locality are rebuilt or remodeled after every fifty two years this is in accordance with the Mayan long count calendar. In some cases, the rebuilding is instigated by a new ruler for political reasons rather than the matching of cycle of calendar. The task of rebuilding old structures is common feature in our locality. For instance, the most notable structure in Tikal is the North Acropolis; this structure has overtime undergone numerous architectural modifications. In our city, there are about seven twin pyramid complexes that commemorate the close of Baktun, a season in our calendar. Most of the structures found in Tikal have stylistic distinctions and numerous elements that embody the Mayan culture. (Webster) In Tikal, we are fortunate to be living on the fertile and uplands soil as this has enabled us to practice farming and get agricultural yields and we have flourished some intensive agricultural mechanisms that are, to a large extent are more advanced in comparison to the slash and burn methods that are adopted by other cities. The farmers in Tikal use sophisticated and diverse methods of food production. Formerly, we used to practice shift cultivation since it is considered convenient by most farmers. However, with the passage of time, we have realized that, for us to get more agricultural yields, we need a method that is more apt to cultivate our sloppy fields. Over time, we have also realized the importance of cultivating fields, wild harvesting, managing fallows, terraces and forest for supporting the entire population of our city. Our main agricultural product comprises of corn, cotton, sunflower and manioc. Over the course of time, as farmers, we adapted to dynamic systems of farming due to cultural influences, climate change, population pressure and the availability of farming techniques. (Skidmore). Although, we dominate the east and west routes for trading our goods, this does not free us from the various challenges faced by all the cities in Mesoamerica. We have our own set of problems as well as our city does not have any primary water source due to the absence of lakes, rivers and springs in the city’s vicinity and we are dependent on the rain for our water needs. We store the rain water in ten major water reservoirs and due to this; we have to use it judiciously. Nonetheless, tireless efforts from leaders and residents have, over the course of time, has ensured that residents are adequately supplied with water from the seasonal rainfall. At some occasions, our dependence on the seasonal rainfall leaves us vulnerable to the prolonged drought seasons and as farmers, we are pushed to the wall. (Webster) My interaction with other populates of my city is based on class of living or the kind of occupation that one is involved in. During this period, there exist class differences and classifications. Class classifications are determined by elitism, ownership and position in society. For instance, privileged, in our period, is a person that is versed with knowledge in mathematics, architecture, astronomy and literacy writing. Elites interact with other elites and avoid the company of laymen. The affluent on the other hand interacts with their affluent counterparts, their interactions occurring particularly during moon and other key festivities. As a farmer, during this period my interactions are mainly with other farmers. During our interactions, we exchange ideas related to farming practice. Consequently, our interactions facilitate the trade or exchange of farm products. (Culbert) 3. Conclusion The Mayan history is regarded as the well known Mesoamerica’s classical civilizations. The Mayans established a common culture by developing elements and absorbing key cultural concepts from their neighbors. The Mayans are organized into city states nevertheless they shared common beliefs that revolved around their pre-existing knowledge on numerology, arts, astronomy and religion. Life in Tikal as a Mayan is characterized by a number of distinctive cultural elements. As a farmer in Tikal we practice diverse methods in food production and our main challenge lies on the over dependence of seasonal rainfall. Our city is typically a small hierarchical state headed by hereditary rulers, in this period our city is ruled by Chak Tok Ich’aak or the great jaguar. Our religious practices are characterized by human sacrifice and many other rituals to the gods. Evidently, the Mayan history is one that is culturally rich and is intertwined with articulate political and social organization. 4. Bibliography Culbert, T. Patrick. The Classic Maya collapse. University of New Mexico Press, 1977. Drew, David. The Lost Chronicles of the Maya Kings. University of California Press, 2002. Grube, Nikolai. Chronicle of the Maya kings and queens: deciphering the dynasties of the ancient Maya. Thames & Hudson, 2008. Love, Michael. "Recent Research in the Southern Highlands and Pacific Coast of Mesoamerica." Journal of Archaeological Research (2007): 275-328. Skidmore, Joel. "The Cascajal Block: The Earliest Precolumbian Writing." Precolumbia Mesoweb Press (2006). Traxler, Loa P. The ancient Maya. Stanford University Press, 2006. Webster, David L. The Fall of the Ancient Maya: Solving the Mystery of the Maya Collapse. Thames & Hudson , 2002. Read More