Preclassic Maya

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The Preclassic period in

Maya history stretches from the beginning of permanent village life c. 1000 BC until the advent of the Classic Period c. 250 AD, and is subdivided into Early (prior to 1000 BC), Middle (1000–400 BC), and Late (400 BC – 250 AD). Major archaeological sites of this period include Nakbe, Uaxactun, Seibal, San Bartolo, Cival, and El Mirador.[1]

Maya society underwent a series of profound transformations between c. 100 AD and 250 AD, which resulted in the cessation of monumental building at many Preclassic cities and the inferred collapse of their political and economic systems, often characterized as the "Preclassic Collapse."

History

Early Preclassic (2000 BC–1000 BC)

The roots of Maya civilization remain obscure, although broad parameters are increasingly well known. Paleo-environmental data indicate the presence of agriculturalists in the

Olmec
culture began to emerge in nearby Tabasco, granting the early Maya an important trading partner and beginning a period of prolonged contact that would have profound effects on Maya society.

Middle Preclassic (1000 BC–400 BC)

Southern Maya area sites

By around the year 1000 BC, the Maya city of Aguada Fénix was built in Tabasco, this archaeological site corresponds to a time of great change for Maya society. Since before its construction, the Mayas were nomads and did not use ceramics. They lived from hunting, fishing, and growing corn. However, from the construction of Aguada Fénix, it is shown that they began to use ceramics and became sedentary.[3] Aguada Fénix marks the beginning of the construction of the Maya city-states that would flourish years later.[4]

The centuries of agricultural village life had begun to form the beginnings of a complex society: Prestige goods such as

Olmec style. Carved stone stele
also began to appear during this period, adorned with portraits of rulers but still devoid of writing. Warfare appears to have intensified during this period, as evidenced by advanced weaponry, rulers beginning to be portrayed as warriors, and the appearance of mass graves and decapitated skeletons.

Beginning around 900 BC, the Pacific coastal region fell under the dominance of the La Blanca statelet, which collapsed around 600BC, to be replaced by a polity centered on the El Ujuxte site. Another early statelet was probably based at the site of Chalchuapa, a town with extensive earthen mounds arranged around several plazas. However, it was likely ruled by the first true Maya city-state, Kaminaljuyu. Lying within modern-day Guatemala City on the shores of Lake Miraflores, Kaminaljuyu developed a powerful government structure that organized massive irrigation campaigns and built numerous intricately designed stone monuments to its rulers. These monuments clearly depict war captives and often show the rulers holding weapons, indicating the Kaminaljuyu polity engaged in active warfare, dominating the Guatemalan highlands for centuries. Kaminaljuyu's main export was the essential resource obsidian, a beautiful volcanic glass that easily fractured into sharp edges, providing arrowheads, knives, and other weapons as well as prestige goods like mirrors.

Although it is difficult to firmly identify the ethnicity of a people from meager archeological remains, it appears that during this period the Maya began a systematic northward expansion, occupying the

sacbeob
(stone causeways) were built. The rulers of Nakbe constructed several stone platforms and erected intricately carved stone and stucco monuments.

During this period, the Olmec culture reached its zenith, centered on the capital of

example needed
] indicating that the Middle Preclassic Maya were deeply impressed and influenced by their northwestern neighbors.

Late Preclassic (400 BC–100 AD)

The Late Preclassic saw the rise of two powerful states that rival later Classic Maya city-states for scale and monumental architecture, Kaminaljuyu in the highlands and El Mirador in the lowlands.[citation needed]

Terminal Preclassic (100 AD–250 AD)

The late or terminal Preclassic murals found in San Bartolo provide important information regarding mythology and royal inauguration ritual around 100 BC.

Preclassic Collapse

The story of the mysterious lost civilization that suddenly collapsed for an unknown reason has captured the popular imagination for well over a century. What is not as widely known is that there were two such "collapses", the first at the end of the Preclassic, and the more famous Classic Maya collapse. The "Preclassic collapse" refers to the systematic decline and abandoning of the major Preclassic cities such as El Mirador around 100 AD.[6] A number of theories have been proposed to explain this collapse, but there is as little consensus here as there is for the causes of the more famous collapse leading to the Postclassic period.

Culture

Social structure

The archaeological site of Kʼo, associated with the Classic Maya city of Holmul located in modern-day Guatemala, boasts what may be the royal tomb of the earliest known Maya ruler.[7] This tomb has been dated to 350–300 BC, and it contains the earliest evidence of the institution of ajaw (ruler) in the Maya Lowlands.

Writing

Art and architecture

Early

Terminal Pre-classic
period onwards.

In 2010, archaeologists at Chiapa de Corzo, southern Chiapas, Mexico, announced they have found a dignitary's tomb inside a pyramid that may be the oldest type of burial discovered in Mesoamerica. The grave dates from about 2,700 years ago.[8]

See also

Footnotes

  1. .
  2. ^ Sharer, Robert with Traxler, Loa. The Ancient Maya. p. 263.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Novedades de Tabasco (18 July 2020). "Aguada Fénix explicaría el surgimiento de La Venta". Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  4. ^ BBC. "Aguada Fénix: cómo se descubrió en México la construcción monumental maya más antigua y más grande jamás encontrada". BBC News Mundo. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  5. S2CID 162230234
    .
  6. .
  7. ^ John Tomasic and Steven Bozarth (2011), New Data from a Preclassic Tomb at Kʼo, Guatemala. Kansas.academia.edu p9
  8. ^ "Tomb Discovered Inside Southern Mexico Pyramid". 2010-05-18. Retrieved 2012-01-13.

References

Further reading