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Terms / Concepts:

• cenote
  
  
• prehensil tail
  
  
• caves

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Notes:

• About 4000 ybp hunters turned to farmers
  
  
  • used slash-and-burn agriculture, which was the foundation of a new way of life
    
    
    • maize, beans, squash were the main domesticates
      
      
      • maize eaten alone has little nutritional value
        
        
      • when used with lime and water the protein intake is increased
        
        
    • by ca. A.D. 800 supported "at least 10,000,000 people"
      
      
      
• At their height, 1200 years ago, the Mayan astronomers could predict an accurate calendar within 1 day / 6000 years
  
  
  
• 1100 ybp deforestation led to the decline of Mayan civilization
  
  
  • there was little forest left to hunt
    
    
    
• "Water was Power"
  
  
  
• caves are important in Mesoamerica
  
  
  • caves are the entry to the underworld
    
    
  • cenotes are viewed as caves
    
    
  • underground rivers flow hundreds of miles under the Maya lands
    
    
    • they trap seawater from before the last ice age

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• Origin Myth
  
  
  • 1st human was made from clay
    
    
  • 2nd human was made from wood
    
    
  • 3rd human was made from maize flower and the Gods'
    
    
    
• Maya = "The Children of the Corn"
  
  
  • The Maya owed their existence to the blood of the gods and to their main plant, maize
    
    
    
• The gods needed blood, and the lands needed water
  
  
  • blood and water dominated Maya concerns
    
    
  • it was a privilege of the royalty to let blood
    
    
    • this was a time of vision

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• Rituals were especially important during the spring and autumn equinox
  
  
  
• The Maya moved into the tropical rainforest from the North
  
  
• they harvested many things from the forest: food, building materials, medicine, chicle (world's first chewing gum)
  
  
• the cocoa bean became currency
  
  
  
• February to May was a period of long drought
  
  
  • the life of the forest revolved around the coming of the rain
    
    
    
• Animals:
  
  
  • animals of the forest appear in art and myth
    
    
    
  • animals became the names of kings, cities, . . .
    
    
    
  • the Maya worshipped animals that could cross boundaries, including the boundary between land and water
    
    
    • alligators
      
      
    • turtle
      
      
      • associated with the chac god (water)
      • and with the maize god
      • was important in Mayan diet
      • were farmed

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• jaguar -- the largest cat of the Americas
  
  
  • the jaguar was revered because it could hunt both day and night
    
    
  • the marguay, of all forest cats, is best equipped to hunt at night
    
    
  • on the inauguration of the 16th kind of Copán 15 jaguars were offered in honor of the first 15 rulers
    
    
    
• like the jaguar may of the jungle animals are important in Maya folklore and in their spiritual lives
  
  
  • monkeys represent scribes
    
    
    • often depicted as gifted and industrious
      
      
      
  • hummingbirds symbolize the ritual of bloodletting because of their needle-like bill
    
    
    
  • tapir = the largest animal of the forest
    
    
    
  • bats
    
    
    • are the symbol for the fourth month in the calendar
      
      
    • a bat is the symbol for the city of Copán
      
      
    • in Mayan myth the bat represented the unknown, the night, the dark
      
      
    • in the bat god's underworld all who entered were doomed
      
      
    • many of the rainforest plants bloom at night and rely on bats for pollination
      
      
      
  • snakes, scorpions, spiders, insects (including army ants)
    
    
    • snakes were able to journey between the earth and the underworld below
      
      
    • they were the guardian of the underworld
      
      
      
  • the Harpie eagle, the largest in the world, inspired Maya warriors
    

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• Maya kept bees
  
  
  • honey was used to make an alcoholic during important in ritual
    
    
    
• Architecture
  
  
  • built temples / pyramids out of limestone that was soft, but which hardened over time with exposure
    
    
    
• Myths
  
  
  • celebrate cunning and wit
    
    
  • animals of the forest appear in art and myth
    
    
  • in Mayan myth the bat represented the unknown, the night
    
    
    • in his underworld all who entered were doomed

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• The Night was a time of the unknown. It belonged to the spirit world.
  
  
  • 2 / 3 of the Mayan jungle animals are nocturnal, and many of these have developed a life in the trees
    
    
  • the celestial bodies of the night were gods reenacting mythical events from the beginning of time
    
    
  • the night was the time when mortals communicated with the supernatural
    
    
    
• astronomers, mathematicians, timekeepers . . . were important specialists
  
  

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• War, famine, greed, overpopulation . . . all of these contributed to the downfall of the Maya

Cultures:

• Maya

Sites / Locations:

• Palenque
• Tikál
• Copán
• Chichén Itzá
• Uxmal

Countries:

• Guatemala
• Mexico
• Honduras
• Belize
• El Salvador