The Maya: History, civilization & gods

[Judi Lynn]

By Owen Jarus , All About History 2 days ago

The Maya civilization stretched throughout Central America and reached its peak during the first millennium A.D.



A mask of the rain god Chac decorates the facade of a pyramid at North Acropolis, in Mayan ruins, located in Tikal, Guatemala. (Image credit: Independent Picture Service/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

The term "Maya" refers to both a modern-day group of people who live across the globe and their ancestors who built an ancient civilization that stretched across much of Central America. The Maya civilization reached its peak during the first millennium A.D., and Maya ruins can still be seen across Central America.

The Maya civilization was never unified; instead it consisted of numerous small states, each centered on a city ruled by a king. Sometimes, a stronger Maya state would dominate a weaker state and demand tribute and labor from it.

(Short very interesting video of of Tikal, Guatemala using LIDAR photography)

Nomadic hunter-gatherers had a presence in Central America for thousands of years. However, permanent village really took off when these people began cultivating maize in what archaeologists call the Preclassic period (1800 B.C. to A.D. 250). This lead to the creation of early Maya cities.

"Effective farming, as expressed by densely inhabited villages, was an innovation of the Preclassic period," wrote Michael Coe, the late emeritus professor of anthropology at Yale University, in his book "The Maya" (Thames and Hudson, 2015).

More:
https://www.livescience.com/41781-the-maya.html