2. Pyramids at Giza, Egypt
Building an experimental pyramid,
in the film “This Old Pyramid”
3. Carving on the lid of the sarcophagus Erich Von Daniken believes that the carving
(stone casket) of King Pakal, Palenque Shows Pakal beaming up to a space ship.
6. Scene from the movie “Star Wars”, the ruin here is the ancient Maya city of Tikal
7.
8. Main activities for today’s class
We will answer the question “Who are the Maya?”
We will talk about why the Maya are seen to be so mysterious and then show that
the Maya are in fact not that mysterious
We talk about one particular mystery (What happened to the ancient Maya?) and
use inquiry in the social sciences to resolve this mystery
10. Maya language family contains 31 modern languages
Romance language family
(it is called “Romance” because it developed
from Latin, the language of ancient Romans)
The word “difference” in Romance languages
Italian: Differenza
Spanish: Diferencia
French: Difference
The word “eight” in Mayan languages
Yukatek: Ox
Quiche: Ux
Chorti: Uax
11. Who are the Maya?
--A large group of ancient and modern people that
--speak a Maya language
--live in the northern part of Central America
(Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico)
--share a heritage based on farming corn
12. Core of Maya cuisine slash and burn agriculture
digging stick
for planting
seeds
13. Other foods eaten by the earliest Maya agouti
White-tailed deer
“apple” snail
(Pomacea)
16. By 300 BC, some
villages have developed
into massive cities
such as El Mirador,
Guatemala
In these cities, religion is
huge (largest buildings are
temples). Religion is
a source of power.
17. The Maya Birth of the maize
maize god god from a turtle shell
(Hunahpu)
The Maya The face of
rain god Chac on the
(Chac) corner of a
building
19. By 300 AD, Maya culture
hits full stride with the
emergence of powreful
kings (as seen in tombs,
carvings, and texts)
Maya tomb
at Rio Azul
Tomb of Pakal,
at Palenque
Photo of Pakal’s burial
29. Structure 10L-26 and
The Hieroglyphic Stairway,
constructed by Copan’s 14th Ruler, K’ak
Joplah Chan K’awil, after the
13th ruler, Waxaklahun
Ubah K’awil, was captured
and in battle with the rival kingdom
of Quirigua
30. In summary, the Maya have the most attractive art and architecture of the new world, and
a very complex writing system. They seem more intellectually and aesthetically gifted than
other new world cultures.
Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
1) Many people believe the claims about ancient spaceships
2) Advanced ancient culture in the middle of a rain forest
3) Mysterious writing, difficult to decipher
--leads to mistaken ideas, such as the idea that the Maya were peaceful
4) The ancient Maya appear to have disappeared. What happened to them?
We will show that all of these mysteries have been solved. In other words, the Maya
were and are a very exciting group of people, but they are not more mysterious than
any other group of people.
31. Carving on the lid of the sarcophagus Erich Von Daniken believes that the carving
(stone casket) of King Pakal, Palenque Shows Pakal beaming up to a space ship.
32. Carving on the lid of the sarcophagus
(stone casket) of King Pakal, Palenque
The serpent’s mouth: a portal
between the world of the living
and the world of the ancestors
33. Carving on the lid of the sarcophagus
(stone casket) of King Pakal, Palenque
The equipment that opens the portal:
stingray spice for blood letting, shell
as symbol of blood, bowl/incense burner
to contain and enliven the blood
34. Carving on the lid of the sarcophagus
(stone casket) of King Pakal, Palenque
The world tree: this is what links the two sides
of the portal.
35. Carving on the lid of the sarcophagus
(stone casket) of King Pakal, Palenque
Double headed snake: symbol of rulership as well
as the sky, place of ancestors. Shows the direction
in which Pakal is traveling
36. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
1) Many people believe the claims about ancient spaceships
Conclusion: The carving on the lid of Pakal’s sarcophagus does not depict a spaceship.
The carving on the lid shows a local Maya belief about how deceased rulers travel to
the sky to join the ancestors.
37. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said
to be mysterious
2) Advanced ancient culture in the
middle of a rain forest
38. The Maya had few rivers, lots of swamps slash and burn agriculture
Agriculture along the Nile
Advantage of rivers:
--predictable water for irrigation
--flood provide nutrients
The problem: Slash and burn agriculture does not
support a large population…
40. The mystery of the rainforest civilization: how did the Maya support a large population?
Answer: they had forms of agriculture that were more intensive than slash and burn
Raised field agriculture
42. The mystery of the rainforest civilization: how did the Maya support a large population?
Answer: they had forms of agriculture that were more intensive than slash and burn
Agricultural terraces at
the city of Caracol,
Belize
45. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
2) Advanced ancient culture in the middle of a rain forest
Conclusion: It is unusual to have an advanced culture in a rainforest, but not mysterious.
We now know that the Maya used a number of intensive farming techniques that
sustained the high populations necessary to support an advanced culture.
46. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said
to be mysterious
3) Mysterious writing, difficult to decipher
--leads to mistaken ideas, such as
the idea that the Maya were peaceful
=5
October
14th
Constantine Rafinesque (1783-1840)
Transylvania University professor,
Lexington, KY, 1819-1826
47. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said
to be mysterious
3) Mysterious writing, difficult to decipher
--leads to mistaken ideas, such as
the idea that the Maya were peaceful
Glyphs highlighted in red are
calendrical glyphs.
They give the impression that Maya
hsitory was about the passage of
time, not war.
53. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
3) Mysterious writing, difficult to decipher
--leads to mistaken ideas, such as the idea that the Maya were peaceful
Conclusion: Though hieroglyphs have been difficult to decipher, there is nothing unusually
mysterious about what the Maya wrote. Hieroglyphic inscriptions talk about warfare, the
lives of kings, relations between cities, religious ceremonies, the passage of time, and the
objects on top of which the hieroglyphs were written.
54. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
4) The ancient Maya appear to have disappeared. What happened to them?
55. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
4) The ancient Maya appear to have disappeared. What happened to them?
Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences
1. Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question
2. Recognizing multiple answers to a question or a problem
3. Evaluating evidence
4. Developing potential solutions to problems based on sound evidence and reasoning
5. Exploring the ethical implications of differing approaches, methods or conclusions
56. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
4) The ancient Maya appear to have disappeared. What happened to them?
Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences
1. Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question
--Did they disappear or just move elsewhere?
--If they disappeared, what does this mean?
They died out
They became less visible
57. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
4) The ancient Maya appear to have disappeared. What happened to them?
Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences
1. Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question
--Did they disappear or just move elsewhere?
--If they disappeared, what does this mean?
They died out
They became less visible
--If they moved, where did they go?
58.
59. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
4) The ancient Maya appear to have disappeared. What happened to them?
Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences
--Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question
--Did they disappear or just move elsewhere?
--If they disappeared, what does this mean?
They died out
They became less visible
--If they moved, where did they go?
Northern Yucatan, Guatemalan Highlands, Belize
--What caused them to disappear and to move elsewhere?
--What similarities exist between contemporary Maya and ancient Maya?
--What has caused Maya culture to change between 900 AD and today?
60. Reasons why the Ancient Maya are said to be mysterious
4) The ancient Maya appear to have disappeared. What happened to them?
Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences
--Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question
--Recognizing multiple answers to a question or a problem
Drought
Foreign invasion
Internal warfare
--Evaluating evidence
--What caused them to disappear and to move elsewhere?
61. --Evaluating evidence
Drought expectations
You would see paleo-ecological evidence of less rainfall
There is such evidence but some cities were abandoned before drought
You would see deterioration of nutrition (skeletons in burials should indicate
people dying young, would stunted growth, and more disease)
Yes, there was bad health but there was also bad health before drought
Foreign invasion expectations
You would see find a big increase in artifacts from foreign areas
No such increase was found
Internal warfare expectations
You would see lots of fortifications, at both big sites and small sites
67. 3. Evaluating evidence
Drought expectations
You would see paleo-ecological evidence of less rainfall
There is such evidence but some cities were abandoned before drought
You would see deterioration of nutrition (skeletons in burials should indicate
people dying young, would stunted growth, and more disease)
Yes, there was bad health but there was also bad health before drought
Foreign invasion expectations
You would see find a big increase in artifacts from foreign areas
No such increase was found
Internal warfare expectations
You would see lots of fortifications, at both big sites and small sites
Yes, there are such fortifications but only in some parts of the Maya area
4. Developing potential solutions to problems based on sound evidence and reasoning
Drought may play a role in some cases, internal warfare may play a role in other cases
68. Aspects of Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences
1. Recognizing multiple dimensions to a good question
2. Recognizing multiple answers to a question or a problem
3. Evaluating evidence
4. Developing potential solutions to problems based on sound evidence and reasoning
5. Exploring the ethical implications of differing approaches, methods or conclusions
The Maya did not “disappear”: there are 7 million Maya living today. Rather, they migrated
and changed. To say that the ancient Maya disappeared is to deny a connection between
modern and ancient Maya, thus robbing modern people of a proud heritage.
Modern Maya (2002) Ancient Maya (700 AD)
