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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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Three Worlds were united by the ceiba (kapok) tree "The Tree of Life" at the center of this world was the ceiba tree, with the roots in the underworld and branches in the heavens the crown of the "Tree of Life" towers above the forest canopy were also united by the temples which joined all three worlds	. Heaven / Sky -- the eagle is the lord of the sky
	Earth (the middle world) -- has its own vertical divisions, and each layer has its own forms of life
	. Underworld -- snakes could enter the underworld, and were considered guardians of the underworld

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

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Cultures:

• Maya

Sites / Locations:

• Palenque
• Tikál
• Copán
• Chichén Itzá
• Uxmal

Countries:

• Guatemala
• Mexico
• Honduras
• Belize
• El Salvador