The Maya developed a culture in pre-Colombian Central America that can justifiably be described as high culture. It had its heyday in a period from long BC. until well into the 16th century. This Maya culture consisted of many individual city-states. We can still see the remains of vanished Maya cities in the jungle today. The people were masters of ceramic art, possessed a complex pantheon of gods – and were the only ones in Central America to develop a complete writing system and a comprehensive calendar system:
The geography of the Maya
The Maya lived in what is now Guatemala, Belitze and Chiapas, a Mexican state, as well as western Honduras and El Salvador. Your country covered 35,000 km2 and was therefore the size of today’s Federal Republic of Germany. The extent of the country from north to south was about 900 km2, with a maximum width of 550 km2. Today’s archaeologists divide the area into three parts: north, central and south zones. This classification was made because of the ecological differences and the differences in building style that often result from this.
north zone
Centrally located in the northern part is the Yucatan peninsula, on which cities of the so-called Puuc or Bec style are located. This monotonous tableland consists of bare limestone karst in the north. Only slowly does it turn south into doline karst and in the Puuc region into hilltop karst. In the south, the altitude is finally rising, if only to 20-30 kilometers above sea level and only slowly.
In the limestone soil, the rainwater seeps away quite quickly above ground and the Maya had to orient themselves towards the cenotes, the collapsing sinkholes, which are filled with groundwater and whose depth increases towards the interior. The flat land ends at the 50 km escarpment to the Sierra de Ticul, another basin open to the south, one hundred meters above sea level. Yucatan is located in the tropically hot lowlands and plant growth there is very dependent on the amount and distribution of rain. In summer we find extensive grass and shrub steppes here.
central zone
Further towards the central zone, we increasingly come across dry forests and finally even rainforests. The Central Zone includes the Peten District and Belize, as well as the Usumacinta River Basin and the Matagua River Basin, which is already adjacent to the South Zone. Today, this area, covered with tropical rainforest, appears hostile to people. Finally, we find the first surface rivers at the transition from the northern to the central zone. The trade winds provide the heartland of the tropical central region with copious rainfall, which is responsible for the lush rainforest vegetation.
south zone
The highlands of southern Guatemala and the mountainous part of El Salvador belong to the southern zone. Here we find the volcanic chains of the Sierra Madre Occidental and small basin landscapes in between. Mountain ranges that are up to 4000 kilometers high are not uncommon here. The altitude results in a moderate climate and the soil is also quite fertile due to the volcanic origin.
The History of the Maya
Maya history is now divided into three eras: Preclassic, Classical, and Postclassic. The period from 2600 to 2500 AD belongs to the pre-classic period. It begins with the transition from collecting to farming, for which digging sticks and planting sticks were used. The Maya now settled down and produced the first pottery products. At the end of this period, the first ceremonial centers, stone buildings and stelae were built.
preclassic
The Preclassic is divided into Early Preclassic, Middle Preclassic, Late Preclassic and Protoclassic. The exchange of goods developed in the early pre-classic period, the national trade in obsidian and jade flourished in the middle pre-classic period, and in the late pre-classic period irrigation and drainage canals and terraced fields were laid out, and kingship and hieroglyphic writing also emerged. During the Protoclassic period, ceremonial centers with raised platforms and pyramids emerged.
classic
The Classic refers to the period of rise and fall of most lowland cities from AD 250-900. It is divided into Early Classic, Late Classic and End Classic. The Early Classic is characterized by cultural, economic and political influences emanating from the city of Teotihuacan in the highlands of Mexico. The trade relations that emanated from the Mayan city of Kaminalyuyú reached as far as Tikal. Towards the end of the 6th century, Teotihuacan went under, after which the cultural influences associated with these trade connections eased.
The Late Classic begins with a period of stagnation, followed by a renewed Mayan heyday. Now the cities in the lowlands took on larger proportions and architecture flourished. Following this, in the Late Classic period, the Maya culture began to decline. The cities were abandoned. The reason for this is not exactly known, but environmental problems, overpopulation and social tensions are discussed.
Postclassic
The Postclassic began in AD 900 and lasted until AD 1543. During the transition period between the Classic and Postclassic periods, the towns of the Puuc region were buoyed by a population shift and new towns such as Chichén-Itzá emerged . Stelae were now erected far less than in previous periods and strong foreign influences influenced the Postclassic period, which is divided into the Early Postclassic, the Late Postclassic and the Colonial period from 1542 onwards.
During the Early Postclassic, the Itzà, a heavily Mexican-leaning Maya militant group, invaded the peninsula from the east. Chichén Itzá was founded by the militant Maya during this period. With this group came Mexican influences in architecture and art, as can be seen particularly well at Chichén Itzá. The Itzá expanded their power over time – by AD 1000 they were the leading power on the peninsula. From now on, clans and city leagues ruled instead of kings.
The transition to the late Postclassic is characterized by the victory of the Mayapán over them. Mayapán ruled until their fall in 1451 AD, Chichén Itzà was abandoned and the Itzá retreated to the lowlands, where they founded a new city – Tayasal. The colonial period from 1542 was heralded by the conquest of Yucatan and the founding of Merida.
The architecture of the Maya
The impressive architecture of the Maya still causes a stir today. This architecture was preceded by a long development from the simple wooden hut to the large, stone ceremonial centers in a period of only 200 years.
As with the ancient Egyptians, pyramids also played a major role in the Maya. They built stumps of pyramids with high temples on the summit plateau. They often have a rectangular plan or more complex shapes, such as ovals. Stairs are attached to the outside, via which the high temple can be reached. The Maya showed amazing skill in building these pyramids. The pyramid components were often decorated with decorative elements. On the older ones, for example, you can find huge masks of Venus covering the whole building.
Later the stairs were also decorated. In Copán we find the longest inscription from the Mayan period.
The central step pyramid of Kukulkan
The central step pyramid, which dates back to the 6th century and is said to have been continuously developed up to the 13th century, is dedicated to the god Kukulkan (Quezalcoatl).
As with the sun pyramids in Teotihuacan, the main axes are deliberately shifted to the north-east and north-west. The pyramid was so adeptly built in the passage of the sun at the time of the autumnal equinox that patterns of light and shadow appear on the west side of the north temple at that time. The world travelers and authors Graham Hancock and Santa Faiia were able to observe this on site.
As the sun sank lower, a pattern was projected from the northwestern edge of the step pyramid. A coiling serpent was now discerned, with seven whorls of shadow outlined by seven triangles of light. The tail reached to the top of the pyramid, the light and shadow body slid down the side wall of the stairs to the foot of the pyramid. A large snake head carved in stone with its mouth wide open made the illusion perfect.
This is just one example of how advanced geodetic and astronomical science was once practiced at Chichén Itzá. When this science was actually applied for the first time is not verifiable.
The Maya and Mathematics
Not only the architecture and the knowledge of astronomy of the Maya pose a mystery – it is similar with mathematics. Already 2000 years before higher mathematics started in Europe, the Maya performed arithmetic calculations. They don’t use a decimal system like they do today, but a vegisimal system – or a system of twenties. Another element important to higher mathematics – the zero – was known to the Maya more than a century earlier than in the New World.
The Maya calendar system
Another marvelous achievement of the Maya is their calendar system. It took a long time to discover the basic framework for this system. Describing it at this point would go beyond the scope of this article, at most it should be noted that the calendar consists of various cycles and major cycles. There have been and still are difficulties in correlating the times in the Mayan calendar with the dates of its Gregorian counterpart – our calendar.
The Thompson correlation
This so-called Thompson correlation after the Mayan researcher Sir Eric S. Thompson is generally accepted today. According to her, the zero year of the Mayan calendar falls on August 11, 3133. The great cycle ended on December 21, 2012. Various prophets announced a series of catastrophes or even the end of the world for this time.
Oddly enough, some authors relying on the Thompson correlation give August 13, 3114 as the exact zero date, and the end of the Mayan calendar has been put at December 22, 2012 in some places. So would the world end a day later? No, of course that is not our question. Predicted «ends of the world» have so often been uneventful that this prophecy also seems to be relatively unfounded.
Important Questions
1. If you are so sure that the Thompson relation is correct, why is there so much ambiguity? Why do other researchers put the zero year of the Maya on April 3, 2593 or on June 16, 3391? Isn’t the correlation so certain after all? It states that «the Thompson correlation is the best supported by all the data». For this reason it is favored today.
2. What reason did the Maya have for setting this very day as the zero date? After all, this extends far beyond their own past.
As to the second question, it is sometimes pointed out that August 12, 3114 is said to be the «Birth of Venus.» Another thesis says that at midnight on February 17th and 18th of the year 3100 BC. A conjunction of all visible planets is said to have given in Aries. This is mentioned when discussing the Hindu calendar. The date mentioned is relatively close to the year 3114. However, the Maya would have to have known about the event and there is still a difference of 14 years or less, because it is difficult to fix an exact date of such a constellation.
Is there a connection between Atlantis and Maya?
Some Mayan scholars believe that the Maya possessed the amazing ability to calculate the orbits of the planets, and that the Maya even knew the period of the vernal equinox precession (approximately 25627, corresponding almost exactly to five specific cycles of the Mayan calendar).
It is interesting to note that the author Adrian Gilbert, who has studied the Maya subject for a long time, concludes that the Maya must have been influenced by a culture originating from the east, the Atlantic Ocean (Atlantis ?), came. Traditions suggested so. For example, a number of traditions on either side of the ocean were very similar; the building of the pyramids is just one example of this. Gilbert also points in this direction Mayan traditions of a deluge and a water goddess. Did survivors from the legendary sunken island come to Mayan land and bring their knowledge with them?
In the end, did the enormous knowledge of the Maya come from Atlantis ?
The question of the zero datum does not seem to have been completely resolved, even if the Thompson correlation is mostly accepted today. But perhaps the answer to the questions asked above is also very simple: Referring to the astronomer Robert Henseling, the Atlantis researcher Otto H. Muck, who has since died, wrote in 1956 that on June 5th of the year 8498 an ominous constellation occurred Venus, Earth and Moon existed, which would have bent the path of an asteroid approaching Earth even closer to Earth.
Muck had previously determined that around 9000, probably a little later, there had been a huge catastrophe in the Atlantic, which could be traced back to a celestial body hitting it. He believed to have fixed the time of the catastrophe on the above date and was convinced that Atlantis went under on this day and the descendants of the former inhabitants of the sunken island who were stranded in the Maya land made the day of the sinking of their homeland the zero day of theirs made calendars.