End of the World !

Date:
December 21, 2012
Time:
12:37 pm

Renewed cycle:
December 21, 2012
Time:
12:38
 Time Line
1000 0 2000

Write it in
*Maya Classic
your mighty 250 BCE- 900 CE
Class Time
Line!
AAARRRR..
 Middle America

Mesoamerica: N
the name for areas of
Mexico and Central
America
S
 Classic 100 BCE – 750 CE
1.Central Mexico
“ Place of the Gods” 2. Largest 200,000 pop.
I. Aztec Ancestors a. Chiampas & irrigation
b. Polytheistic & human sacrifice
c. Military defends trade
TEMPLE OF
d. Civil War leads to decline (Aztec rise)
THE SUN
E. Temple of the Sun, Moon, & Quesaquatl. Aztecs built temples like Olmec's
1200BC: Teotihuacan “Place of the gods”
 I. Maya Ancestors: The Olmec
A. Olmec 1200BCE-400CE (Period Ancient-Classical)
1. Colossal stone heads
B. Influenced Maya Culture
1. Pyramids
2. Calendar
3. Human sacrifice
 I. Olmec: Maya Influence
A. Olmecs – learned their
farming (maize),
buildings, and calendar NEW
OLD
Veracruz
 II. The Maya
A. Classic Period: 250 CE – 900 CE
B. No (One) Political Unifier:
Kingdoms fight for power
(Always fighting for head power)
C. Located: Yucatan, Belize,
Guatemala, Honduras

Yucatan
MAYAN TEMPLES & PYRAMIDS

CAPITAL
 Temple of the Jaguar

most important Mayan political center

II. Maya Society Patrilineal
A. Social Structure
• Ruler
Religious & Political ruler, led battles, God like
• Nobles & Priests
Advised king, educated, astronomers
-sacrificed (war captives & elite)
• Merchants & Artisans

• Peasants
Specialized in pottery, weaving
Traded long distances with luxury goods
• Slaves
Farmers and labors to maintain empire

Women could have important political &

Labors religious roles & influence). Role: Family
home economy
 Social Hierarchy

Can you tell

the
difference ?

A Mayan Priest
A Mayan Warrior
II. Mayan Society
B. High Population
1. Major Agriculture
a. drained swamps
d. terrace
c. irrigation
C. Control Society
1. All share culture yet
never unified (India?)
2. Most powerful control !!
3. Mix Religion & Politics
4. Writing: hieroglyphs
Religion: used for political control !!!

Pop. 500,000
 Gods kept the world in
II. Mayan Religion order and maintained the
agricultural cycle in
A. Religion & Society
1. Polytheistic & Nature Worship exchange for honors and
2. Polk-atok: honor Gods HUMAN sacrifices -
3. Bloodletting
4. Human Sacrifice: Elite
5. Creation Myth- Popol Vuh
6. Hallucinogens (leaves)
7. Tree of life (3 layers)
temple is a vehicle
8. War is religion: sacred
rights & sacrifice (control)
 Religion: Bloodletting
• A popular bloodletting
ritual was for a Mayan
to pierce his own
tongue and thread a
thin rope through the
hole, thus letting the
blood run down the
rope- result: rain

Mayan queen holds a bowl filled with

strips of paper used to collect blood.
 Mayan Ball Court - Polk-atok
High-ranking captives were forced to play the game
for their very lives.

The losers became sacrificial victims

*Object of the game was to propel an 8 inch ball of
solid baked rubber through a ring or onto a marker
without using your hands
Pok - Atok