The Maya civilization flourished in Mesoamerica from around 250 AD to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century. They established many city-states across the Yucatan Peninsula, governed by hereditary rulers, where they developed advanced systems of writing, mathematics, astronomy, and architecture. Some of their greatest cities, like Chichen Itza, contained temples, ball courts, and structures like El Castillo pyramid that aligned with astronomical events. While their civilization mysteriously declined around 900 AD, Maya culture and influence continued through the Postclassic period until the Spanish conquest, and over 4 million Maya descendants still live on today maintaining aspects of their ancestral culture and language.

2. The very word Maya
evokes images of
mystery - ancient
pyramids soaring above
trackless jungle, giant
carved stones
proclaiming artistic and
intellectual prowess, a
sudden and enigmatic
demise

3. Sometime before A.D. 250 – during the period known to
archaeologists as the Preclassic – the first Mesoamerican
culture that we can confidently call Maya borrowed ideas
from neighbors, added its own ingredients, and created one
of the most brilliant civilizations of antiquity amid the rain
forest in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula.

7. In the ensuring Classic period, Maya society endured for
nearly six centuries as a dynamic population of nobles,
priests, scribes, craftsmen, warriors, and farmers located in
cities ruled by hereditary dynasts who claimed divine
ancestry.

8. The still unexplained
collapse of this world –
perhaps hastened by
agricultural failure due to
climate change and the
population pressure of as
many as 16 million people –
was countered by the
increasing strength of
cultures to the west. The
Postclassic period (circa
900-1500) saw the rise of
new centers of power, along
with expanded trade routes
and a new elite.

10. Artifacts suggest a more
cosmopolitan society but one still
firmly grounded in traditional
ways. The arrival of the Spaniards
in the first decades of the of the
16th century violently closed this
chapter of Maya civilization.

11. Yet the Maya live today. At
least four million descendants
still speak the Mayan languages.
Though most are now Roman
Catholic, they share the ancient
myths and practice rituals
based on the ancestral view of
the cosmos. Despite centuries
of often forced change, the
Maya continue to leave an
indelible mark of eastern
Mesoamerica where the culture
was born so long ago.

14. Master builders, the lowland
Maya flourished after A.D.
250 for at least a thousand
years. Ruins of their cities dot
the Yucatan Peninsula.
While Europe endured the
Dark Ages, the Maya
established scores of city-states.

15. Governed by hereditary rules, city-states often
shared power as political allies. The Maya
developed the most sophisticated system of
writing in the Western Hemisphere, traced the
path of the planet Venus with great precision,
and marked the passage of time with an
elaborate calendar system.

18. Between A.D. 500 and 1200 the
Maya built Chichen Itza.
Encounters with other
Mesoamerican cultures may have
influenced the blend of
architectural styles at this
commercial and ceremonial
center, where archaeologists
have revealed steam baths, ball
courts, temples, and what may be
an observatory. The focal point
of Chichen Itza is El Castillo, a
79-foot-high pyramid crowded bt
a temple.

19. El C i l l o i s t hought by m
ast any t o be t he Maya
cal endar const r uct ed i n st one. I t s f our
st ai r cases have 91 st eps each; i ncl ude t he t op
pl at f or m and t he t ot al i s 365, t he number of
days i n a sol ar year .
I nsi de t he pyr am d i s yet anot her bui l di ng of
i
si m l ar const r uct i on t hat houses a j ade-i nl ai d
i
t hr one i n t he i mage of a j aguar , a sym bol of
pow .er

21. Nearby a sculpted
human figure, a Chac
Mool, may have served
as an altar for religious
offerings.

23. by R.B.