NEW

THE
ANCIENT
MAYA
UNCOV ER ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST CIVILISATIONS

INSIDE
DISCOV ER
THE BLOODY
DEMISE OF
THE M AYA
Edition
Digital

WA R . A RCHITECTURE . A RTWORK . GODS

EDITION
THIRD
W E L CO M E
he Maya are a mystery, a people who
carved out a sprawling civilisation among

T the jungles of Latin America and yet

remain shrouded in myths and legends.
In this bookazine you will delve into the
scriptures, science and sacrifices that defined Maya
life, witness the harsh reality of the wars that crushed
cities and wonder at the art these fascinating people left
behind. Then it will be time to roll up your sleeves and
learn to cook like a native, before washing your tamale
down with a unique Maya chocolate drink. Provided
you’ve appeased the gods, the secrets of their writings
and worship will be revealed as you wander the ruins of
crumbling temples and bone-littered tombs. Those who
make it out will meet the foreigner who fought for the
Maya against his own people, discover how the Spanish
attempted to wipe the Maya off the map and explore the
efforts of their descendants to protect their legacy.
 THE ANCIENT

MAYA Future PLC Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA

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Part of the

bookazine series
 CON T E N TS
10

RISE OF
T H E M AYA
10 THE END OF
THE BEGINNING
16 DECI PH ERING
50 T H E M AYA
C A L E N DA R
18 G O D SAV E
THE K INGS

THE CLASSIC
PERIOD
2 6 A G O L D E N AG E
3 0 PA L E N Q U E
36 CALAKMUL
40 TIKAL
4 4 THE CLASSIC
M AYA D E C L I N E
44
50 CHICHÉN ITZÁ
6
 SCIENCE,
SCRIPTURES
& SAC R I F I C E
58 SECRETS OF
T H E M AYA
66 DA I LY L I F E F O R
T H E M AYA
70 COOK LIK E
T H E M AYA
74 M A K E A M AYA
66 C H O C O L AT E D R I N K
76 M AYA W R I T I N G
80 M YTHOLOGY
A ND RELIGION
86 SCIENCE IN
M E S OA M E R I C A
90 A RT A N D
A RCHITECTU RE

86 58 D E ST R U C T I O N
110 98 D E AT H T H R O E S
O F A DY N A ST Y
1 0 4 M A N O F WA R
110 T H E S PA N I S H
ARRIVE
116 THE END OF
T H E R E S I STA N C E
122 THE END OF
T H E M AYA
126 EX PLORING TH E
M AYA WO R L D
7
 R I SE OF
THE M AYA
10 THE END 16 DECI PH ERING 18 G O D SAV E
OF THE T H E M AYA THE K INGS
BEGINNING C A L E N DA R To rule a Maya city was not only to
The seeds of the great Maya Passionate astronomers, the be a mortal king charged with the
civilisation that would blossom Maya constructed highly complex safety and prosperity of his people
during the Classic period were calendars that enabled them to – it was to be a god
planted thousands of years before predict the future

10

8
 18

16

9
 THE END OF
THE

B EGI N N I NG
While the best of Maya architecture, art and inf luence
belong to the Classic period, the foundations of those
achievements had been laid in the previous millennium

WRITTEN BY DOMINIC EAMES

One of the hundreds

of ball courts still
visible around
Mesoamerican ruins

10
 Beginnings

rom the cradle of civilisation

F
that was Mesoamerica came the
Maya. They would not go on to
establish one of the ancient world’s
dominant empires, nor did they
capture more land than any other ancient people.
Archaeologists and historians instead used to look
upon the evidence of the Maya skill at astronomy
and making calendars as proof that they were just
peaceful stargazers. While there is still so much
that remains mysterious about them, though, we
know more than ever the true mark they left on
the landscape and history of the Americas.
At the same time the Maya civilisation slowly
emerged in the so-called Preclassic period, across
the world the Egyptian pharaohs reigned supreme;
the Minoans came and went; Mesopotamia
was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire; the first
Olympics were held in Greece; the city of Rome
was founded; and the different states of China
fought constantly until eventually being unified.
Meanwhile, the Maya had gone from hunter-
gatherers to building monumental cities, waging
wars on one another, establishing impressive trade
links and creating intricate writing and calendar
systems – and this was all achieved before the
Maya people reached their full potential.
While the earliest Maya started out on the
Pacific coast of modern-day Guatemala, the
Preclassic period saw them head inland and
spread out to a diverse range of environments.
They would inhabit areas of southeastern Mexico,
Belize and parts of Honduras and El Salvador.
From the highlands of Guatemala’s mountain
ranges to the lowlands all the way through the
Yucatán Peninsula, their settlements prospered.
Not that the region made for ideal ground on
which a great ancient civilisation could take root.
The other ‘cradles of civilisation’ around the world
arose near fertile river valleys (Egypt had the Nile
and Mesopotamia had the Tigris and Euphrates),
but Mesoamerica offered the Maya a limestone
shelf and dense forest. This meant that fresh
water supplies were far from abundant, without
even mentioning that, while rains fell for half the
year, the Maya had to contend with long spells of
drought. The limestone did at least make for some
durable building material.
Innovative methods of ensuring they had
sources of water were vital for the Maya’s survival.
One option was to filter the salty water that
pooled naturally in underground caves using sand,
and archaeological findings at the ruins of major
cities like Tikal and Palenque show the Maya
directed rainwater using dams and reservoirs.
They also carved out trenches on hillsides to
enable water to run into large human-made
chambers, or chultuns – essentially large holes
in the ground, waterproofed by a type of plaster
called stucco.
This carving in jadeite Since long before the time of the Preclassic
could be said to have a
few similarities to the Maya, the peoples of Mesoamerica in the Archaic
style of the Olmecs period had been adopting agricultural methods.

11
Rise of the Maya

Primarily, they utilised ‘slash and burn’, which

consisted of cutting down forests to make
farmland and burning felled trees to make the soil
more fertile. Intriguingly, the deforestation carried
out by the Maya – not just for crops but to make
the stucco used to cover buildings and pave roads
– actually caused severe environmental issues
in the region, so much so that it may hold the
answer to what eventually caused their decline.
Farming enabled the early Maya to cultivate
maize, beans and squash as staple foods, as well
as grow other crops like cassava and chili peppers.
It proved so successful that analysis of unearthed
bones show that by the Preclassic period maize
was already considered a major part of the diet.
They would still rely, however, on hunting, fishing
(a much more common pastime in the coastal
villages than inland) and foraging.
By around 1000 BCE the Maya had
become their own distinct group among the
Mesoamerican cultures and developed complex
societies. Their first settlements were small and
a long way from the towering architecture now
most associated with the Maya, but the people
had introduced forms of political structures, which
would be based on the rule of divine kings, social
hierarchy, and religious practices. They continued
to spread, too. Having migrated into modern-day
Belize, the Maya built the villages of Colha, Cuello
and Lamanai, the latter growing into a major city
that remained occupied for three millennia.
As the size of the Maya world expanded so did
the differences between the various pockets of
population. This could be seen in cultural customs
or dialects. The Maya never recognised themselves
as part of a single identity and were certainly
never politically united, unlike the Aztecs of
central Mexico or the Incas in the Andes. In fact,
they did not even refer to themselves as ‘Maya’, The giant La Danta pyramid
a term that was assigned to the culture later on. at El Mirador, a relic of the
Preclassic age of the Maya
Instead they formed individual autonomous cities,
much like ancient Greece, while maintaining
shared ‘Maya’ roots. into cities in the first place. Nakbe was among No better place was that seen than at El Mirador.
These embryonic city-states came into contact one of the earliest cities, already inhabited and The colossal city of the Late Preclassic centuries
with other Mesoamerican civilisations, most extended to unprecedented sizes during the 8th was a sign of things to come for Maya city-states,
notably the Olmecs. Long established and at the century BCE, so that it included huge platforms with a centre covering 26 square kilometres and
pinnacle of their power, they proved to be a key on which many limestone buildings could be boasting thousands of structures. Even the fact that
trading partner and the connection and sharing erected. This signified a shift from primarily it was built near swamps was used to the advantage
of ideas would have long-lasting, profound effects residential settlements to cities with civic, of the Maya as the mud, with some added lime,
on the younger culture. Fundamental aspects political and religious centres. In time Nakbe made for rich and fertile soil for crops.
of Olmec beliefs, from the worship of jaguars to would boast a pyramid 46 metres high and one This made it possible for El Mirador to support
individual deities like the feathered serpent and of the first courts for the potently symbolic ball a huge population, thought to be around 100,000,
maize god, were absorbed, as well as elements game Pok-Ta-Pok. The buildings were then linked but it could have been as high as 200,000, which
of language and artistic style. At the ruins of by causeways made of crushed white plaster. would it make it comparable to the largest Classic
the Maya city of Tak’alik Ab’aj, which translates So while the monumental architecture seen period cities and other Mesoamerican metropolises
at ‘standing stones’, archaeologists discovered today in the ruins of great cities mostly date like Teotihuacán and the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán
sculptures strongly resembling the Olmecs, from the following millennium – when the Maya at its peak. The site had two major pyramids, El
including carvings that look like their famous civilisation flourished – the process had begun Tigre and La Danta, measuring 55 and 72 metres
colossal heads. in the Preclassic period. With those cities came respectively. While not as tall as other ancient
Perhaps the influence of the Olmecs partly advances in irrigation too, improving agriculture pyramids, La Danta ranks as one of the largest ever
inspired the Maya to begin turning their villages to feed the increasing population. made as it is 2.8 million cubic metres in volume.

12
 W HO W ERE
T H E O L M E C S?
THE MAYA HAD A LOT OF
REASONS TO THANK THE
‘RUBBER PEOPLE’ AND
THEIR BIG HEADS
If Mesoamerica was a cradle of civilisation in
the Americas, then the Olmec culture could
be considered the mother of the peoples
that emerged there. They were the first great
civilisation, reaching their apogee c1200 BCE
in what is now the Mexican states of Veracruz
and Tabasco on the Gulf of Mexico.
Monumental architecture, mythology,
beliefs and deities, worship of the jaguar, and
the ball game Pok-Ta-Pok were just some of
the features of Olmec culture that spread to
other peoples in Mesoamerica, including the
Maya. Their name, Olmec, is actually a word
from Nahuatl – the language of the Aztecs –
meaning ‘rubber people’, as they had made
rubber by extracting latex from trees and
mixing it with juice from the vines.
Starting with San Lorenzo, the Olmecs built
cities of earthworks, stone monuments and
huge buildings. However, they are now best
known for their giant carved stone heads;
flat-faced and wearing helmets (possibly to
play the ball game). The Olmecs were master
artists on a smaller scale too, sculpting in
jade, ceramic and wood. They established
an extensive trading network, which had a
substantial impact on the Maya culture. The
Olmecs were in decline by c400 BCE, but
their influence would endure in the Americas.

Only glimpses remain of the

former glory of El Mirador, The colossal heads are an
an enormous metropolis icon of the Olmec people;
some of them could reach
3.5m in height

13
Rise of the Maya

Pyramids were not the only structures in

honoured spots in the cities though. In both El
Mirador and Nakbe, the ball game court was built
in the centre of the city, off the plaza near the
temples and palaces. Far more than a simple sport,
it held spiritual significance as it represented Maya
beliefs of creation, and it was not just the Maya who
thought that way. A similar version of the game was
seen across the Mesoamerican cultures, possibly
starting with the Olmecs, and thousands of courts
were constructed.
The game, often referred to as Pok-Ta-Pok, was
played between two teams on a narrow court
with sloping walls on either side. They had to
keep a heavy rubber ball in the air, passing it to
teammates, either with the aim of getting it into the
Steps lead up to the opponents’ end zone, similar to American football
pyramid at Nakbe, an today, or to throw it through a hoop attached to a
early Maya settlement
side wall, a bit like basketball. The players, however,

The murals of
San Bartolo
were landmark
discoveries in 2001

14
could not use their hands or feet so batted the ball still revealed a bounty of finds, such as millions of
away only using their hips, knees, shoulders and fragments from pottery and ceramics, and stone THE OTHER
head, which sometimes caused serious damage as stelae depicting rulers. While these have no writing CRA DLES OF
it could weigh around four kilograms. on them, which would become more prevalent in C I V I L I SAT I O N
The game was a religious display for the gods. the Classic age, they ensure Kaminaljuyu’s place as
Murals found on the sides of ball courts, including a site of archaeological importance. AS WELL AS
at Chichén Itzá, depict human sacrifice, which has The reason for the Preclassic city’s trading MESOAMERICA, THE
been suggested to mean that the losing team were success was that it had been built near a vast FIRST CIVILISATIONS
killed. Prisoners captured in battle may have been deposit of obsidian. The volcanic glass was always
WERE BORN IN OTHER
ritually executed by making them play the game a prized item for the Maya as it could be sharpened
and ensuring they lost. However, there is evidence to make weapons like knives and spear points or
PARTS OF THE WORLD
to suggest that it may actually have been the used as mirrors. With control over the obsidian
winners who had the ‘honour’ of being sacrificed. supply in the region, Kaminaljuyu dominated for MESOPOTAMIA
A total of 12 ball courts have been discovered centuries. Other precious trading commodities in With Neolithic evidence going back to the 10th
or 11th millennium BCE, this was the location
at the city of Kaminaljuyu alone. Beneath the the period were jade, salt and cacao, and crafts
of the earliest human civilisations. Two major
modern capital of Guatemala, it thrived as an became more popular too as ceramics and pottery rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, converged
enormous centre of trade for the Preclassic Maya. were made with simple, elegant patterns. to offer fertile soil and bountiful water in
The true size of the ruins may never be fully Maya art, which again is most readily associated the region of modern-day Iraq, Iran and
understood as the new city sits on top, but it has with the later Maya, became more sophisticated surrounding countries.
in the Preclassic millennium. Perhaps the finest
examples of this were discovered on the murals EGYPT
Before the pyramids and the pharaohs,
unearthed from the ruins of a pyramid at San
settlements were appearing around 6000
Bartolo, a city in Petén, Guatemala. Referred to BCE in Egypt. Much like Mesopotamia, Egypt
as the ‘Sistine Chapel’ of Preclassic Maya art, the is located on the ‘fertile crescent’, a crescent-
images, still seen in bright colours, date from 100 shaped area of soil fit for agriculture. In Egypt,
BCE, although the city itself was much older. they relied on the Nile for life.
They show mythological stories and deities like
the Hero Twins and the maize god, alongside other
INDUS VALLEY
One of the earliest sites in the Indian
murals depicting the place of kings in society: at a subcontinent was Bhirrana, dated from the
coronation and offering his blood to the gods by 8th to 7th millennium BCE. While the Indus
piercing his body. Also found at San Bartolo were Valley civilisation would not thrive until the 3rd
inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE, making century, its influence stretched into modern-
them among the earliest-known examples of Maya day Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
glyphs and a reference to the calendar system.
CHINA
The murals at San Bartolo greatly increased our The Yellow River is regarded as the cradle of
knowledge of the Maya when found in 2001 – and Chinese civilisation, allowing several groups of
with each new discovery that brings previously people to flourish by cultivating rice as early as
lost information, what we know about this often the 7th millennium BCE. The Peiligang culture
mysterious people can suddenly change. in northern China had dozens of settlements,
Towards the end of the Preclassic period, the beginning with Jiahu.
Maya civilisation had numerous cities, with more
ANDES
being established as the migration of people The other civilisations of the Americas
gathered pace and the number of inhabitants emerged around the Andean region of Peru
continued to rise. These cities were initially founded – perhaps the oldest being the Norte Chico
as small towns, many of which would go on to be in the 4th millennium BCE on the Pacific
the foundations of the mighty city-states of the coast – and in valleys around three rivers: the
Fortaleza, Pativilca and Supe.
next millennium.
The Maya had also made giant strides in other
areas. Their method of writing was one the most
complex in Mesoamerica and was in use until
the Spanish conquest, and they also achieved
a masterly understanding of mathematics and
astronomy that led to the refinement of not one but
three incredibly accurate calendar systems.
This period of Maya history would have an
enigmatic end. The civilisation seemed to stop
its steady advance for reasons that can only be
speculated, and cities like Nakbe, El Mirador and
Kaminaljuyu were abandoned. It would be the 3rd
century before the Maya would truly begin their
rise towards the peak of their powers. Stone stelae in the
Preclassic period very
rarely had writing on them

15
 D E C I PH E R I NG
THE

MAYA CALENDAR
How did this mysterious Mesoamerican civilisation keep
track of the passing days, months and millennia?

WRITTEN BY SCOTT DUTFIELD

he Maya’s complex, interconnected The Tzolkin and Haab’ are used together to

T
calendar system was perhaps their define a date. Much like how we would say
most intriguing innovation. In Wednesday 1 January, in the Maya calendar it
recent years, the Maya calendar would read 10 Manik’ (Tzolkin date) 15 K’ank’in
has become associated with (Haab’ date). However, unlike our Gregorian
misconceived doomsday ‘prophecies’, but the calendar, the same date does not repeat every
ingenuity of this civilisation’s timekeeping abilities year but rather every 52 years – a period called
is far more fascinating. the Calendar Round. There are 18,980 unique date
The Maya did not invent the calendar they combinations by the time the 52-year cycle ends.
used – similar systems were used by earlier The date combinations were displayed by two
pre-Columbian civilisations in the region – but concentric wheels, with the glyphs of the Tzolkin
they did develop the existing models. The Maya and Haab’ marked on the inner and outer wheels
calendar consists of three interlocking calendars respectively. Both wheels would rotate in opposite
called the Tzolkin (the ‘divine calendar’), the Haab’ directions to form the different date combinations.
(the ‘civil calendar’) and the Long Count. The Long Count calendar is used to keep
The smallest of the three, the Tzolkin, indicated track of longer periods of time, known as the
the individual days, similar to how the modern- ‘universal cycle’. Our Gregorian calendar counts
day Gregorian calendar uses weekdays. However, years starting from the estimated birth of Jesus
rather than seven days, it has 13 days, named from Christ, but the Maya calendar uses a starting point
a sequence of 20 glyphs that you might compare much further back, equivalent to 11 August 3114
to our use of Monday, Tuesday and so on. A BCE. This was the date the Maya believed was
complete cycle of this first calendar takes 260 the start of life. When specifying the current year,
days to complete – the same nine lunar cycles, or the Maya would record how many days, months,
the human gestation period. years, centuries and millennia have passed since
The Haab’ indicates the solar year, counting a the beginning of life. One cycle of the Long Count
complete 365 days. This is divided into 18 months, calendar lasts approximately 7,885 years. But,
each 20 days long, and another month with only contrary to modern conspiracy theories, it does
five days. The Haab’ has 19 glyphs representing not signal the Maya apocalypse. It simply marks
the names of each month. the beginning of a new universal cycle.

16
 D O O M S DAY
PROPH ECIES
DID THE MAYA CALENDAR
REALLY PREDICT THE END
OF THE WORLD?
Much like our modern-day calendar sets
milestones of time, such as a ten-year decade,
100-year century and 1,000-year millennium,
the Maya devised units of time counting on
from when they believed life began. A day
was known as a ‘k’in’, and 20 k’in was called
a ‘uinal’ (month). 18 uinal equalled a ‘tun’ (a
year), and 20 tun was referred to as a ‘katun’.
Finally, 20 katun added up to a ‘baktun’
(144,000 days).
These measurements of time were also how
the Maya recorded the year in the Long Count
calendar. The Maya’s mythical creation date
was 13.0.0.0.0 (13 baktuns, 0 katuns, 0 tuns,
0 unials and 0 k’ins), and after a cycle of 13
baktuns, or the ‘Great Cycle’ – just over 5,125
years – the cycle resets. This led some to claim
it was a Maya prophecy that the world would
end at this ‘reset’ point, on 21 December
2012, despite the fact that no ruins or tablets
studied by archaeologists indicate that the
Maya themselves believed this. Clearly, the
world did not end, leading us safely into the
next 13 baktuns.

THESE ARE
THE GLYPHS
AND NAMES
FOR THE 19
MONTHS IN The seven smaller
glyphs in this Long
THE HAAB’ Count calendar
SOLAR (moving left to right)
represent the baktun,
CALENDAR katun, tun, unial, k’in
year values and the
Tzalkin and Haab’ of
the Maya ‘creation’ date

17
A 7th-century portrayal
of a priest of the sun cult
and a priest of the rain
god making offerings to
the ruler of Palenque

G OD S SAV E
T H E K I NG S
Impersonating divine jaguars, trampling on the bodies
of defeated enemies and getting used to the itchiness of
feather headdresses – these were just a few of the tasks
assigned to the great Maya rulers. They also had to build
cities of staggering architectural beauty and set aside a few
hours to serve as a fulcrum of the cosmos

WRITTEN BY JON WRIGHT

18
 God save the kings

© Alamy
Family ties: the famous
hieroglyphic stairway at
Copán showing the city’s
long line of kings

ut of the dark shadows emerged satellite cities. Fortunes ebbed and flowed, and a

O
a fairy-tale sight, a fantastic and good way to weather the storms was to establish
transcendental view of another an intimidating, preferably enormous stronghold.
world.” Such was the stunned It used to be thought that the great capitals (the
reaction of the archaeologist likes of Tikal, Calakmul and Copán) were primarily
Alberto Ruz Lhuillier as he first entered the tomb ceremonial sites – sparsely populated for most of
of K’inich Janaab’ Pakal in 1952. Pakal had been the year. This analysis was well wide of the mark.
the ruler of the bustling Maya city of Palenque, By the later classical periods at least 20 cities had
located in present-day Chiapas, Mexico, from 615 resident populations of 50,000 or more.
until 683 CE. Rule, at least in theory, was patrilineal, passing
The massive carved stone lid of his from a king to his son, the b’aah ch’ok (‘head
sarcophagus, located beneath the city’s Temple of youth’). Very occasionally, when it was the only
Inscriptions, explained that Pakal would first travel way in order for a dynasty to survive, a woman
to Xibalba, the Maya underworld, then make good or brother of the family might take the reins, but
© Alamy his ascent via the legendary World Tree. Pakal this tended to be disruptive. Not that we should
was suitably dressed for his odyssey. His skeleton be thinking in terms of single dynasties that ruled
wore a stunning death mask along with the finest a city-state for 1,000 years. The Classic Maya
jade collar, necklaces and rings. His sarcophagus did carefully number a city’s kings: ruler 1, ruler
displayed images of his ancestors and symbolism 2, etc. The famous Heavenly Stairway at Copán
redolent of the Maya maize god, a figure who epitomises this trend.
encapsulated the perpetual cycles of rebirth and Comprised of dozens of steps and 2,500 stone
renewal. Pakal’s journey was far from being over, blocks, it charted the sequence of 15 local kings
and a stone tube, heading out of the tomb, may from 426 onwards, all depicted through imagery
well have been intended as a ‘psychoduct’: a and one of the longest Maya hieroglyphic texts.
conduit through which Pakal’s spirit could venture Not too far away, the richly decorated ‘Altar Q’ took
upwards to encounter worshippers in the temple. the run of rulers up to 16.
The Maya knew how to treat their dead kings, However, in many places this would just have
especially during the so-called Classical period been an ideal of continuity, much like the carving
(c250–c900 CE), and royal funerary sites were on Pakal’s tomb that imagines rulers as plants
crammed with treasures and potent images: jade – cacao, guava and avocados among others –
and pyrite artefacts, porcelain-like cowrie shells, growing in the same single orchard. All too often,
turtle carapaces, stingray spines and cinnabar. But in fact, a family dynasty withered away or was
why was such attention lavished on these men? brought to an abrupt end. The mighty rulers of
What were the wellsprings of their authority, and Tikal, for example, claimed direct ancestry from
how did they help bring the institution of divine the shadowy figure of Yax Ehb Xook (ruled c90
kinship to its zenith? CE), but in the mid-4th century forces from the
Mexican city-state of Teotihuacán decided to set
Tikal on a different path. The general Siyaj K’ak’
A PAT C H WO R K O F P OW E R arrived and in 329 CE, either through military
A vase produced
conquest or gentler methods, installed Yax Nuun
between 700 and 800 A coherent, unified Maya empire never existed. It Ahiin I (a relation, perhaps even the son, of
CE shows a scene at a was always a story of regional powers competing the Teotihuacán ruler) as king. A new dynasty
Maya royal court with
the ruler looking suitably for influence and squabbling over subjects or was born, but Yak Nuun would immediately
magnificent on his jaguar
pelt throne
19
Rise of the Maya

be referred to as the city’s ‘ruler 15’, giving the

chaos that would inevitably have followed the
overthrowing of a dynasty a semblance of order.
In such a milieu, sources of regal legitimacy
came in various forms. Despite the interlopers and
dynastic shifts, ancestry did remain important.
Direct heirs would, when as young as five, go
through a bloodletting ceremony to highlight their
dynastic pedigree. In 658, in the city of Piedras
Negras, the son of K’inich Yo’nal Ahk I (who had
died 20 years earlier) entered his father’s tomb.
It was a smelly exercise (incense burned for
five days to banish some of the stench) but an
eloquent way of announcing that the family firm
was still very much in charge.

DIVINE LORDS AND

D E C A P I TAT O R S
More was sometimes required to bolster kingly
authority, however, and there was no better place to The intricately carved lid of
King Pakal’s sarcophagus
look than the gods: powerful if fickle allies. And if © Alamy

all else failed, you could always send the troops in

search of an astonishing victory or two. carpets, with jade stones around their foreheads appearances, sometimes joined by reference to
The Maya saw the world as a hostile place, and corn shoot and quetzal feather headdresses patron gods linked to a specific city. The laurels in
filled with threats of scarcity, natural disaster completing the look. All of this paraphernalia this regard probably go to K’ak’ Tiliw Chan Yopaat,
and puzzling supernatural interventions. If your carried diving symbolic references, but, just to who ruled Quiriguá between 724 and 785. The
king had a direct link to the gods and served hammer the point home, the new ruler might be likely translation of his title may sound rather
as a privileged intermediary, your prospects of treated to a human sacrifice before he went off to bizarre to us – ‘fire-burning, celestial lightning god’ –
survival improved. If he was semi-divine himself commune – usually in private – with the deities. but it certainly inspired awe in the 8th century.
– and the term k’uhul ajaw, or ‘divine lord’, was in Such ceremonial events continued throughout This model of kingship was fundamentally
widespread use – then so much the better. Maya a monarch’s reign. Kings would participate in charismatic, more dependent on inspiring devotion
kings were eager to advertise this status from ritual bloodlettings, with their blood supposedly than on passing laws. And so long as things went
the outset. At their installation ceremonies they feeding the gods. These were sometimes well it could be very effective. If the droughts
would sit on jaguar pelt bolsters atop jaguar pelt gruesome affairs: one of the famous Yaxchilán and famines stayed away, then the king was
lintels shows a noblewoman pulling a rope lined proving that his friendship with the gods was
with thorns through the king’s tongue. intact. A contented populace was willing to build
The personal link between kings and gods was the temples, fight the wars and pay the tributes.
compared to the relationship between father and Unfortunately it might come crashing down: what if
son. In many places only the ruler was allowed the rains never fell and the crops shrivelled?
to care for certain divine spaces: brushing it A useful standby was military success. Heirs to
clean or ensuring there was a supply of offerings. the throne were expected to demonstrate military
One inscription at Palenque explains that the prowess from a very early age, and, while we can’t
king “satisfies the hearts of his gods”: the choice know how frequently kings personally led their
of possessive adjective is telling. On occasion, troops into battle, they were always eager to claim
kings would simply lock themselves away in the the credit. The lengthy names of Maya rulers often
most sacred parts of the temples, not eating for contained soldierly phrases – ‘he of 20 captives’
days but giving sustenance to the gods through or ‘first axe wielder’ – and nothing provoked quite
their privations. so much delight as the slaying of a rival ruler. In
A host of other ceremonies accentuated 738 the aforementioned K’ak’ Tiliw Chan Yopaat of
links to the divine. Crops and water supplies Quiriguá captured his overlord, the ruler of Copán,
would be blessed, year or cycle endings would and ritually decapitated him.
be celebrated with gods and kings sharing the The fragility of charismatic kingship also
work of bringing new life to the cosmos. When meant sensible Maya rulers were involved with
victories were won, a dancing king would wear the bureaucratic nitty-gritty of governance.
masks of the gods; if alliances were secured, They ensured water supplies continued to
two kings would dance together in their deity- flow, constructing aqueducts and catchment
Something for the journey: impersonating finery. Even the names of rulers infrastructures such as the reservoir at Calakmul,
the funerary accoutrements frequently had clear divine associations. The with its 200-million-litre capacity. They oversaw
of King Pakal of Palenque
sun god and the creator god make regular an equitable distribution of goods, worked hard to

20
 God save the kings

A W H O’ S W H O O F

M AYA
YA X N U U N A H I I N I
C I T Y: T I K A L

© H. Grobe
K INGSHIP
REIGN: 379-404 CE
The man, also known as Curl Snout, supplanted
the ruling dynasty at Tikal. His burial reflected
the respect he had acquired: his tomb contained
MAYA HISTORY IS FULL OF LEADERS a xylophone-style instrument made from turtle
WHO MADE A HASH OF THINGS AS WELL shells and the corpses of ten sacrificed youths.
AS THOSE WHOSE DEEDS WOULD BE
CELEBRATED FOR CENTURIES AFTER
THEIR DEATH. HERE ARE SOME OF THE
KINGS WHO STAKED STRONG CLAIMS IN
THE LATTER CATEGORY
K ’ I N I C H YA X K ’ U K ’ M O ’
C I T Y: C O PÁ N
REIGN: 426 – 435/7 CE
Founder of the city’s greatest dynasty and proud owner
of one the loveliest regal Maya names: ‘Radiant First
Quetzal Macaw’. The importance of being able to claim
links to ancient forebears is demonstrated in this image,
where K’Inich is seen passing the torch, literally and
figuratively, to a later ruler.

© Alamy
© Simon Burche
ll

YUKNOOM CHʼEEN II
Q ’ U Q ’ U M AT Z C I T Y: C A L A K M U L
C I T Y: Q ’ U M A R K A J REIGN: 636 –86 CE
REIGN: C.1400 – C.1425 CE The death mask shows perhaps the most renowned of
Probably the boldest of the K’iche’ rulers, it all Calakmul’s rulers, who took full advantage of Tikal’s
was said that he could transform into a snake decline to take control of vassal cities and exploit the
or an eagle or travel to the underworld. He familial disputes that plagued Calakmul’s long-term rival.
certainly oversaw a period of groundbreaking
territorial expansion.

K ’A K ’ T I L I W C H A N YO PA AT
C I T Y: Q U I R I G U Á © Ala my

REIGN: 724–785 CE
©
Be
rn
ar

Though usually of limited political influence, Quiriguá was one

d
Du
po

of the jewels in the crown of Maya architecture. Under Yopaat’s

nt

rule it achieved autonomy from its overlord, Copán.

UA X AC L A J U U N U B ʼA A H
JA SAW C H A N K ’AW I I L I
K ʼAW I I L
C I T Y: T I K A L
C I T Y: C O PÁ N
REIGN: 6 82 – C.73 4 CE
REIGN: 695–738 CE
He helped drag Tikal out of the so-called mid-
Known as ‘18 Rabbit’, he brought Copán to a peak of Classical hiatus and saw it reemerge as one of the
architectural splendour – including the construction most culturally alert and adventurous Maya cities.
of perhaps the finest Maya ball court. His reign ended
badly: decapitation by the ruler of Quiriguá.

21
Rise of the Maya

sustain trade relationships and tried to ensure government also came under scrutiny, a reminder © Alamy

a steady flow of rare, distant commodities such that Maya ideas about kingship were fluid.
as sea salt. Ceremonial removal of hearts or Take the Preclassical era, for example. It has
comparisons to supernatural jaguars who rescued often been assumed that rulers were more akin
the Sun every night could only get you so far: full to small-scale chieftains. They certainly never
bellies were every bit as important. achieved the ritualistic sophistication or closely
defined divine attributes of the Classical era,
BEFORE AND A FTER but it turns out that they had a good deal in
common with their more-celebrated successors.
On balance, kingship during the Maya Classical For one thing, cities in the 400–500 years before
era was a success, though competition between the Classical period – notably El Mirador, with a
city-states was common. Tikal and Calakmul were population of up to 100,000 souls – could reach
engaged in a perpetual tug of war between the a very impressive size. Their rulers were most
6th and 8th centuries – fighting over vassal cities, definitely independent kings and sometimes took
launching proxy wars and pitting brothers against the title of ‘ajaw’ – a term usually associated with
brothers. Things got so bad for Tikal that between the post-250 CE Maya rulers. And just as coherent
the 560s and 670s it was particularly hard hit by governance existed long before Classical times, so
the mid-Classical hiatus. The city ground to a halt it endured – in tweaked or radically altered ways –
and not a single stela was erected. Tikal bounced after the great Classical collapse. It is very hard to
back, however, signalling the model of Classical trace this development, but one key question was
kingship was durable. But the hiatus can be seen repeatedly asked: was placing something very A carved depiction of a
particularly dramatic royal
as a precursor of the Great Collapse, originating in close to absolute power in the hands of a single bloodletting ritual that took
the 9th century, that ravaged the Maya. Problems ruler still the wisest option? place in 709 CE, with the
with political instability, population numbers This was not an entirely novel conundrum. king known as Shield Jaguar
as the star of the show
and food supply struck at once. The nature of Kings had relied heavily on their officials and

© Alamy
‘Altar Q’, discovered at
Copán – another means
by which the importance
of ancestry and lineage
was captured in stone

22
 God save the kings

© Alamy

The Palace of the Governor at

Uxmal, a city-state that rose to
prominence during and after
the great Classical collapse
CA PTU RING
© Alamy
THE MOMENT
advisers: they did not simply wander around opportunity to lay down roots, but dominant rulers K INGSHIP
their palaces barking orders. Ruling elites were such as Chan Chak K’ak’nal Ajaw were perfectly
very powerful and fought – just as tenaciously capable of acting like the Maya kings of old. In IF YOU DIDN’T ERECT
as kings – to pass their offices down through the the next wave of city-states, debate about the YOUR FAIR SHARE OF
family. It is not difficult to imagine the specific lineaments of power continued. Mayapán, a long- STELAE, THEN YOU REALLY
duties with which they were charged – diplomacy, standing polity that achieved tremendous power WEREN’T DOING YOUR JOB
ceremonial arrangements, financial matters etc. – from the 12th century, adopted a confederate form AS A MAYA KING
but it is inordinately tricky to pin down the precise of government, but bold, power-hungry figures
Carved stone columns, often erected in the
nature of portfolios, let alone the names of those often held sway.
vicinity of temples, can be found all across
who carried them. A council meeting was not In the impressive K’iche’ kingdom based in Maya territory. These so-called stelae are most
quite as exciting a subject as a god, a battle or a the Guatemalan Highlands, everything was closely associated with the Classical period. The
spectacular ritual when you were producing carved rather muddled, with rival lineages constantly at first surviving example that deploys the Long
images, eye-catching ceramics or hieroglyphic loggerheads. A much-needed dose of old-fashioned Date calendar system was erected at Tikal in
masterpieces. We do at least have recurrent titles kingship – or something akin to it – arrived in 1400 292 and the last can be found at Toniná, dated
that offer important hints. The ‘sajal’ crops up quite when the ruler Quq’kumatz established a new 909. Similar constructions did, however, appear
during the pre- and Postclassical eras.
frequently and may have designated a subordinate capital at Q’umarkaj, a city whose name had an
Stelae are mines of useful information
lord or regional governor. ‘Aj-k’uh-huun’ means unfortunate meaning (‘place of the rotten cane’) but and their carvings reveal – in both imagery
something like ‘he of the holy books,’ or ‘he who from which a final flowering of Maya culture and and hieroglyphics – royal names and deeds,
venerates’, which points to a priestly or perhaps territorial acquisitiveness developed. 15th-century family histories, religious symbolism and
astronomical role. Another term is easily translated Q’umarkaj went through the motions of having expressions of a particular ruler’s achievements:
as ‘lord of the fire’, but what on earth does that representatives of the major lineages choose its a particularly popular trope is the heroic
Maya king trampling on the bodies of his
mean in terms of job description? We can be rulers, but the city was, for all intents and purposes,
vanquished enemies. Unfortunately, many
sure, though, that these elites were becoming a kingdom with an autocrat at the helm. stelae have suffered from the ravages of time
increasingly assertive as the Classical era was There was, in fact, still a good deal of promise and weathering, but they remain one of the
coming to an end and the Postclassical world was in the millennia-old Maya civilisation, and other mainstays of archaeological research.
beginning to emerge. dominant city-states would certainly have sprung Though designed as statements of kingly
But was there a swift transition in governmental up. But, to everyone’s surprise, the Spanish authority – and most likely at the heart of
various rituals – stelae also fascinate because
organisation in the city-states that replaced the arrived and denounced the Maya as a backwards,
of their fluctuating quality. Their creators were
likes of Tikal or Calakmul? Probably not. Scholars superstitious people. They failed to realise that, sometimes journeymen stone workers, but
once agreed that Chichén Itzá, located in central back when Iberian societies were just finding others were clearly highly skilled, innovative
Yucatán, adopted a model of council-based, shared their feet, the Maya had already established one artists. Calakmul has a particularly high
rule. It now seems that older models of kingship of the most fascinating, artistically sophisticated concentration of stelae (113 at last count) and
endured for some time. In another emergent civilisations in history. But that’s the arrogance of some of those at Quiriguá are unusually tall,
city-state, Uxmal, lasting dynasties had little 16th-century European invaders for you. reaching up to ten metres.

23
 T H E CL A S SIC
PE R IOD
26 A GOLDEN
AG E
The Classic period witnessed the
peak of Maya power

30 PA L E N Q U E
Wander the ruins of an ancient
city home to some of the finest
examples of Maya art

36 CALAKMUL
Explore the temples of a city the
jungle kept secret until the 1930s

40 TIKAL
Why was this sprawling metropolis 40 26
abandoned by its people?

44 THE CLASSIC
M AYA
DECLINE
Discover why a host of Maya cities
started to collapse just as the Maya
reached their peak

50 CHICHÉN ITZÁ
Chart the rise and fall of this
Wonder of the World

36 30

24
36 50

44

25
 A G OL DE N A G E
During the seven centuries of the Classic period, the architecture,
culture and inf luence of the Maya f lourished like never before

WRITTEN BY DOMINIC EAMES

26
 A golden age

he advance of the Maya civilisation grew into important and powerful centres of the managed to become so powerful that they were

T
mysteriously spluttered and stalled Classic Maya. able to form a single, unified Maya empire, as seen
during the 1st and 2nd centuries At the heart of these cities were plazas, around in the other great civilisations in the Americas, the
CE. It seems the people stopped which the temples, palaces, homes of the nobility Aztecs and Incas. Instead, the strongest brought
building new towns or abandoned and ball courts would be erected. The most other cities under their influence as vassals, where
the nascent cities that were already flourishing, eye-catching structures were undoubtedly the they maintained a degree of independence in
like Kaminaljuyu and El Mirador, bringing an pyramids, remarkable feats of ancient architectural return for obedience. In the Classic period, the two
end to what is now called the Preclassic period. engineering that still stand, poking out of the ‘superpowers’ going round for round were Tikal
But the halt was temporary and the Maya never top of the rainforest canopy, as the defining sight and Calakmul.
actually went anywhere. They would be back and of the ruins. They often reached as high as 30 Tikal, in the modern-day Petén region of
become stronger than before, ushering in a golden metres, although some, notably the pyramid of La Guatemala, enjoyed a rapid rise to political,
age when their cities ballooned to immense sizes, Danta at El Mirador, were double that. military and economic power in the wake of the
their pyramids stretched higher and their art, To build them, the Maya hewed large blocks decline of Preclassic cities. Actually known to the
language, culture and understanding achieved of limestone and stacked them using a form of Maya as Yax Mutal, the city boasted five pyramids,
even greater degrees of sophistication. mortar of mud. They then covered the rough yet the largest being more than 60 metres tall, and
The beginning of the Classic period (c.250 imposing mound with stucco, a form of plaster, to the central district was 15 square kilometres. It is
CE) saw a change in how the Maya would be give it a smooth surface that could be decorated thought that it had as many as 3,000 structures.
understood by posterity, not least as it was then with relief carvings, sculptures and (usually) red Not too far away across today’s border in
that it became widespread for the first time to paint. The pyramids would then be topped by a Mexico was Tikal’s rival, Calakmul. Even bigger,
construct monuments depicting the kings with a temple or shrine to a god to be used in rituals and the city-state was home to the self-styled Snake
record of their names and dates using the Maya ceremonies, and they were also used as burial Kingdom and a population of perhaps 50,000
calendars. Cities emerged and expanded, each chambers, much like their counterparts in Egypt. people. Throughout the second half of the Classic
with populations ranging from a few thousand Then, if the Maya ever felt like having a larger period, Tikal and Calakmul waged the closest the
to as many as 50,000. Places such as Uaxactun pyramid, they could be enlarged by piling more Maya ever got to all-out war.
(in modern-day Guatemala), Copán (today in blocks on top and giving it a new layer of stucco. In the early Classic period, however, even
Honduras) and Palenque (Mexico), to name a few, So, huge city-states flourished during the these two states could not match the influence of
Classic period, each their own sphere of power another, a colossal metropolis in the far-off Valley
and influence, and as they grew, contact between of Mexico. Teotihuacán had expanded into the
them increased and trade networks were most-populated settlement in the Americas, able
established. Connected by cultural similarities and to support between 125,000 and 200,000 people,
language, Maya of different regions, sometimes and wielded such power that it could cover the
huge distances apart, traded in prestige items like more than 965 kilometres to play a part in Maya
obsidian, jade, gold, cacao and feathers, as well politics. In 378, the king of Tikal died on the same
as more everyday items like food, tools, clothing day that Siyaj K’ak (meaning ‘Fire is Born’) of
and salt. As there was no currency, the value of Teotihuacán entered the city, suggesting a hostile
resources varied depending on the city-state. takeover. The influence of Teotihuacán can be
Yet if contact promoted trade, it simultaneously seen in the records and ruins of other Maya sites.
led to warfare. Kings fought over resources, The records also show the long dynastic lines
power and prestige, with an added incentive that that ruled in each of the Maya city-states. It was
captured warriors made useful slaves or sacrifices. in the Classic period that carved monuments, or
Conflict was common, although no city-state stelae, were adapted so as to include the name

Calakmul rose to be one of

the most powerful Maya city-
states, waging war with Tikal

27
Classic period

of the king depicted and the dates of their reign.

Such statues existed in Preclassic times, but
without hieroglyphics. The king, or ajaw, was
at the centre of political and spiritual life – both
a divine descendant of the gods and a warrior
expected to lead his people into battle.
Under the king would be a small but wealthy
upper class, made up of priests, officials, courtiers,
military leaders and other members of the royal
family. Like the king, they were regarded as a
link between mortals and the gods so took part
in rituals, even offering their own blood. Of
paramount importance was to look the part, and
not just with the fine clothing and jewellery they
wore. The nobility made their bodies a status
symbol by filing their teeth or having them inlaid
with precious stones; covering their skin with
tattoos or scars; and even stretching the skulls of
their babies.
MEX
As the position of the nobility was hereditary,
Maya society was rigidly established, with little
opportunity for upward movement. A middle class
of artisans and merchants did emerge thanks to
trade and the blossoming of art during the Classic
period, but most Maya were, and always would be,
commoners working on the staple crops of maize,
beans and squash. They would not have merited
a mention in the texts that appeared during the
Classic period.
The Mayan script, dubbed as hieroglyphs,
became far more sophisticated during this time.
The images would be carved into stone, moulded
on the stucco or painted on the pottery – all of
which has allowed knowledge of names and dates
to survive the centuries – as well as being written
on the paper made of tree bark that made up
books. Only a handful of these codices remain.
The other development in the Classic period
was in the form of calendars. The Maya were
gifted mathematicians – even developing
the concept of zero in a huge leap forward in
numerical understanding – and astronomers who
could calculate and predict the movements of
the planets and celestial events. They combined
two calendars: the Tzolkin (the 260-day sacred
calendar) and the Haab’ (a 365-day solar calendar
split into 18 months of 20 days with five days
left over, which the Maya considered to be a
dangerous time of year). They could also work out
the dates of events in the distant past or future
using the ‘Long Count’ calendar, which had an
origin in 3114 BCE.
The Maya of the Classic period, therefore, could
be said to have had one eye on the past and one
on the future, as they predicted the motions of the
very heavens. This golden age of their civilisation
similarly built on what had been achieved in the
previous epoch and continued to rise throughout
the following centuries until the arrival of the
Spanish in the 16th century.

28
 A golden age

Postclassic sites

Classic sites

Chichén Itzá
Late Classic to Early Postclassic
One of the alternative Seven Wonders
of the World, the large Maya centre
in the north of the Yucatán Peninsula,
Calakmul Mexico, was dominated by the 24m
Preclassic to Late Classic pyramid El Castillo.
During the 6th and 7th centuries
Calakmul had a fierce and bloody
rivalry with Tikal. The massive site
in the jungles of Campeche, Mexico,
covers almost 70km2 and contains Cobá
nearly 7,000 structures. Late Preclassic to Late Postclassic
Built by two lagoons and boasting the
tallest pyramid in the Yucatán and a hive
of raised limestone causeways, which the
ICO Maya called sacbeob, Cobá eventually lost
a long power struggle with Chichén Itzá.

Mayapán
Preclassic to Late Postclassic
Although the Maya civilisation went
into decline in the 10th century, some
cities continued to thrive. Mayapán in
Yucatán, Mexico, became the political
and cultural heart of the Maya before
the Spanish arrived.
Palenque
Late Preclassic to Early Postclassic
Unusually for a Maya city, at the centre
was not a temple but the royal palace,
which contains a unique four-storey
tower. Palenque – which the Maya knew Tikal
as Lakamha (Big Water) – prospered as Early Classic to Late Classic
an inland trade hotspot. One of the Maya superpowers, Tikal grew
by building a hegemony of vassal states.
Mayan script shows that the city, in Petén,
Guatemala, had a dynastic line lasting
around 800 years with at least 33 rulers.

GUATEMALA

HONDURAS

Copán
Early Preclassic to Postclassic
Copán, in western Honduras, reached its
peak in the Late Classic period, when it
had a population of at least 20,000. It has
become a valuable source of Mayan script
as many hieroglyphs were found on the
temple steps.

29
Classic period

30
 PA L E NQU E
Once lost to the jungle, this ancient city contains some of
the finest art and architecture ever produced by the Maya

WRITTEN BY REBECCA FORD

he Maya called it Lakamha, the first king was Ku’uk’ Bah’am, who reigned for

T
meaning ‘Great Water’, but we four years from 431-35. However, little appears to
know it today by its Spanish remain from his era, for in 599 and again in 611,
name. Palenque was declared the city was attacked and sacked by neighbouring
a UNESCO World Heritage Site Calakmul.  After a few years of decline, it was
in 1987 and attracts around 600,000 visitors a rebuilt on a grand scale by the most successful
year. Situated in the state of Chiapas in modern of all its rulers, K’inich Janaab’ Pakal I – also
Mexico, around 120 kilometres south of Ciudad del known as Pakal the Great (r.615-83). He came to
Carmen and near the Usumacinta River, Palenque the throne at the age of 12 and very likely ruled
was once the capital of the B’aakal kingdom, a with his mother, Sak K’uk’, for a number of years.
regional political unit. It sits at the foot of the During his reign the city flourished and most of
Chiapas highlands and looks out over the Gulf the known palaces and temples were built.
coast plain – a strategic position that helped it to Work continued under his successors, his sons
grow and flourish as a trade centre. At its peak in K’inich Kan B’alam II (r.684-702) and then K’inich
the 7th century, Palenque’s influence stretched K’an Joy Chitam II (r.702-721), who extended and
right along the river basin and beyond.  remodelled structures, turning Palenque into the
The city was densely populated and finest of all the Maya cities. Buildings were given
had a planned layout, with residential and height, light and elegance by the use of vaulted
administrative buildings as well as magnificent roofs, wide doorways and T-shaped windows.
temples and a grand palace complex. Built on There were spacious courtyards, and structures
different levels, with some temples standing on were richly decorated with stucco and carvings. 
naturally occurring hills, the structures were The remains of many significant buildings can
made of local limestone with wooden lintels and still be seen today and are impressive even in
would have been brightly decorated in shades of their ruined state. They include the palace, work
blue, yellow and red – red being the colour of the on which probably started in Pakal’s time and
East, of fire and of energy. Palenque was a place continued over several generations. A complex
of sophistication, with fine architecture, elaborate structure built on a raised platform, it served as
carvings, stucco work and indoor plumbing. But it the ruler’s residence and was the focal point of the
was also a site of human sacrifice. city. With internal courtyards, vaulted ceilings and
There is evidence that farming took place in a four-storey tower, it provided accommodation
this area around 100 BCE. However, construction for a retinue of servants as well as nobles. It was
of the city appears to have begun a few hundred provided with water via an aqueduct and came
years later. Inscriptions at the site suggest that equipped with steam baths and toilets. The

31
Classic period

The ornate palace was the

residence of Palenque’s ruler
and had a four-storey tower,
which can be seen here

a cross that appear in some of the structures are

a representation of the Ceiba, the tree that was
believed to hold up the universe. Kan B’alam
“AROUND 711 PALENQUE WAS himself is represented, both as a child and later as
an adult on his accession.
SACKED AGAIN – THIS TIME BY ITS Other temples, tombs and residences are
scattered across the archaeological site and extend
RIVAL STATE TONINA – AND THE into the jungle. Perhaps surprisingly, there are even
the remains of a court on which the Mesoamerican
THEN-KING WAS TAKEN PRISONER” ball game was played. This sport involved the use
of a heavy rubber ball, which players struck with
their hips. It was not only a recreational game but
aqueduct was pressurised – the earliest known Maya text, they outline 180 years of Palenque’s also had ritual aspects, even being associated with
example on the continent. history, including key events in Pakal’s life. human sacrifice.
Work on the magnificent Templo de las A short distance away is a group of temples Around 711 Palenque was sacked again – this
Inscripciones (Temple of the Inscriptions) known as the Temple of the Cross Complex, time by its rival state Tonina – and the then-
probably began around 675. A step pyramid which was commissioned by Pakal’s immediate king was taken prisoner. The city survived, but
that was constructed to serve as Pakal’s tomb, it successor, his son Kan B’alam. It consists of hostilities with Tonina appear to have continued. 
has nine levels, which are thought to represent the Templo del Sol (Temple of the Sun), the The glory days were over and, by the end of the
the nine levels of the Maya underworld. Pakal Temple de la Cruz (Temple of the Cross, the 8th century, construction had ceased and Palenque
obviously wanted to be sure his tomb met with largest of the group) and the Templo de la Cruz was abandoned. Its lavish civic and ceremonial
his satisfaction, as construction began during Foliada (Temple of the Foliated Cross). They buildings were smothered by the jungle, not to
his lifetime. The name derives from the carved are dedicated to three Maya gods and are be re-awakened until the 16th century, when the
hieroglyphic inscriptions on the walls. Written in rich in imagery and symbolism. Carvings of Spanish colonised the area. The first western

32
 Palenque

explorer to find it was Father Pedro Lorenzo de la Further investigation revealed the remains of
Nada, who named it Palenque, or ‘fortification’. In the king, who had been interred along with an
1567, he wrote the first published account of this elaborate jade death mask and a collection of jade
lost city. However, it was not until the 1780s that jewellery. Outside the door to the burial chamber
surveys of the site began. In 1787 an expedition the archaeologist found the bones of several
under the command of Colonel Antonio del Río people – clearly sacrificial victims, slaughtered
investigated the ruins, his forces damaging some to accompany the ruler on his last journey. Later
structures in the process. On the expedition was a work revealed the presence of a ‘psychoduct’,
surveyor and architect, Antonio Bernasconi, who which led from the tomb, along the stairway and
drew the first map of the site and made a number out through a hole in the stone covering. It is still
of drawings of some of the sculptures.  something of a mystery but might relate to the BEHIND THE
Over the years other explorers followed in their
footsteps, making more drawings and maps and
departing of the soul. 
This was not the last discovery at the site. In
M AYA C A RV I N G S
later taking photographs. In 1840 the explorer 1994 a Mexican archaeologist working under THE HIDDEN MEANINGS
John Lloyd Stephens and his companion Frederick Arnoldo González Cruz discovered another tomb WITHIN MAYA ART
Catherwood, an architect and draftsman, spent within a smaller pyramid close to the Temple of
about a month at Palenque carefully documenting the Inscriptions. Known today as the Templo de A carving in the Temple of the Foliated Cross
structures, including several important temples.  la Reina Roja (Temple of the Red Queen), it held celebrates the earthly realm and includes
Considered the pioneers of Maya archaeology, they the bones of more sacrificial victims, as well as a a depiction of maize, a plant that was so
important in sustaining the Maya that they
later produced an illustrated book on the site. sarcophagus containing the remains of a woman
viewed it as sacred. One creation story held
However, it was not until 1949 that excavations who had been buried along with a collection of that humans themselves were created from
began in earnest. They were carried out by jewels. It was clearly the burial place of a woman maize. The maize god appears here in his
Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier, of high standing, probably Pakal’s wife. Her foliated (leafy) form, but he could also be
who realised that a stone slab on the floor of the skeleton and other contents of the sarcophagus shown with a strikingly pointed tonsure, which
Temple of the Inscriptions was designed to be were covered with a bright-red dust made from echoed the shape of a cob of corn. Another
temple at Palenque, known as the Temple of
raised. Beneath it was a stairway filled with rubble, cinnabar, the toxic ground ore of mercury. 
the Jaguar, contains a bas-relief carving of a
which took several years to clear. Eventually, in The total archaeological area at Palenque ruler in the form of a jaguar and seated on a
1952, he reached the bottom where, in a richly extends 1,780 hectares, and 1,400 structures have throne. Jaguars are immensely powerful cats
decorated crypt deep beneath the temple floor, been recorded. To date, only around ten per cent and were thought to protect royalty and also to
he discovered the sarcophagus of Pakal the of those have been explored – the rest remain facilitate communication between the living and
Great. The enormous stone lid was carved and hidden beneath the jungle vegetation. the dead. The Maya name for jaguar, ‘b’alam’,
was even incorporated into the names of some
depicted the ruler emerging from the jaws of the
of the rulers of Palenque. 
underworld, reclining on the mask of the sun A rather different carving appears in the
god – presumably suggesting he had made the Temple of the Inscriptions. It depicts Pakal’s
transition from life to death and had perhaps been immediate successor, his son K’inich Kan
reborn as a deity.  B’alam II, held in the arms of his ancestors
and being presented as heir to the throne. He
appears as a mix of human and divine: one leg
is a serpent, the other a normal human leg,
though with six toes on the foot. This might
have been a physical characteristic, as the extra
toe also appears in later portraits. By linking
themselves with deities and emphasising their
dynastic succession, the Maya rulers astutely
manipulated history and myth to political ends
and boosted their claims to power.

The Temple of the Cross is one

of a group of temples built by
7th-century ruler Kan B’alam

33
Classic period

T H R E E G R E AT
D I S C OV E R I E S
F R O M PA L E N Q U E
The tomb of Pakal
Had the archaeologist Alberto Ruz Lhuillier not
lifted a stone slab from the floor of the Temple
of the Inscriptions, this extraordinary tomb
might still lie hidden today. It was found in
1952, deep below the temple. TH E RU INS
O F PA L E N Q U E

TEMPLE OF THE INSCRIPTIONS

HILL OF BYRSA

The tomb of
the Red Queen 1
It was in 1994 that this tomb, probably
containing the remains of Pakal’s wife, was
discovered. The contents of the sarcophagus
were covered in cinnabar, a red powder. The
colour red was associated with both power 3
and energy.

3 Pakal’s tomb
Pakal’s tomb was contained
deep beneath the Temple of the
Inscriptions. His sarcophagus had a
magnificently carved lid.

TEMPLE OF THE RED QUEEN

Maya hieroglyphs
The Maya text that appears on the walls of
the Temple of the Inscriptions has proved
invaluable to academics researching this
ancient culture.
 Palenque

BALL COURT

THE PALACE

Annos 1 The Tower

The lavish palace had a
four-storey tower, known as the
Observation Tower, climbed via a
winding staircase.

1
AGRICULTURAL TERRACES INTIHUATANA

2
CLUE 3

5
2 The aqueduct
The aqueduct was pressurised and
carried water to the palace, providing
supplies for its steam baths and toilets. 3 MAIN SQUARE

2
© Anagoria, Arian_Zwegers , Getty Images, Jan Harenburg, Ed Crooks

CITY ENTRANCE
GROUP OF THE CROSSES

4
CLUE 4
CALAKMUL
When an American botanist spotted what appeared to be
man-made structures deep in the Mexican forest, it was the
start of a most remarkable discovery

WRITTEN BY CATHERINE CURZON

hen Cyrus L Lundell glanced be seen from the higher points of the city, giving

W
from the window of his aeroplane a distinct impression of the way the centre of the
in 1931 as he passed over the kingdom would once have overlooked all those
lowlands in Campeche, he was whom it controlled.
stunned to see a vast Maya ruin The city itself was laid out in a manner intended
laid out beneath him. It was he who named it to invoke awe as visitors entered. Passing through
Calakmul (‘City of the Two Adjacent Pyramids’), agricultural land, they would then find themselves
and it was a city with a rich history. in the residential area. As they drew closer to the
Though Calakmul is believed to date back to the governmental heart of the city the architecture
Preclassic Maya period, its origins are sadly lost to and delicate limestone structures grew more
time. Who exactly built it, and why they built it, elaborate, with plateaus topped by stone pyramids
remain a mystery, though there can be no doubt and immense carved stone staircases ushering
from the city’s sheer scale that it was constructed visitors into the centre of the city. At its heart was
to demonstrate success, wealth and power. At its an immense pyramid of almost 50 metres, which
height, Calakmul was vast, with 50,000 citizens dominated the landscape for miles.
housed over 20 square kilometres and served by Residents were well served by a network of
a complex system of waterworks and buildings, canals and reservoirs that fed water to even the
while among the 6,750 structures catalogued at most outlying areas, while stone paths created
the site is one of the tallest Maya pyramids ever streets and walkways by which to navigate the
discovered. There can be no doubt that this was city. Life here was advanced, and people enjoyed
intended to be a centre of civilisation, and as the the best of Maya modern living, achieving a level
decades passed the new inhabitants simply built of sophistication that might seem surprising to
up higher and higher until the city towered above modern visitors.
the canopy. Calakmul wasn’t the only Maya superpower
What little is known of the early history of in Campeche, and for decades it was locked
Calakmul has been mostly assembled from in an ongoing power struggle with its equally
references found at other sites, and the first comes strong neighbour Tikal. In 562, this exploded into
in 529, when hieroglyphic texts suggest that violence when Tikal’s ruler, Wak Chan K’awiil,
Calakmul was the centre of the Kaan dynasty, or made an attempt to invade his neighbour. The
the Snake Kingdom. The kingdom got its name attempt failed, and Calakmul’s king, Sky Witness,
thanks to the snake symbol that was carved on had his adversary sacrificed before claiming Tikal
glyphs displayed at cities that were part of the for the Snake Kingdom.
kingdom’s domain. Sky Witness, however, could not live forever,
Under the stewardship of the Kaans, Calakmul and following his death rulers came thick and
became a powerful administrative centre, fast. The expansion of the city and its powers
exercising control over its surrounding lands and continued apace as pretenders to its throne were
towns. Today, many of those tributaries can still defeated and dispatched, their wealth added to

36
 Calakmul

37
Classic period

“JUST AS ITS EARLY HISTORY IS LOST,

SO TOO IS THE FATE OF CALAKMUL”
that of the ever-glittering Calakmul. Opponents
weren’t chosen at random either, but for the
access to trade routes that they commanded, for
Calakmul was a centre of commerce in addition
to government.
Calakmul is particularly interesting,
though, because it didn’t only defeat and
plunder its enemies – its rulers knew the
power of a strong alliance too. In fact, many
of its strongest ties came not via conflict but
diplomacy, and it sat at the heart of a web
of alliances that commanded the region. Let
there be no doubt, however, that the rulers of
Calakmul had any hesitation when it came
to conquest, as the sacrificed king of Naranjo
would be quick to testify.
It’s believed the city owes its monumental
scale to King Yuknoom Che’en II, known as
Yuknoom the Great, who came to the throne in
636. Just over a decade later, Tikal attempted to
subdue its neighbour again and once again was
This remarkably well-preserved Maya plate is
defeated. But this time Yuknoom Che’en didn’t made from terracotta and is one of many that
sacrifice its recalcitrant monarch, B’alaj Chan have been found in the ruins of Calakmul
K’awiil, but allowed him to continue ruling as The remains of many
Maya houses can still
a puppet of Calakmul. It was one of the king’s be seen today

Generations of Maya constructed immense structures by

simply adding new layers onto existing buildings until they
evolved from simple structures into towering pyramids

38
 Calakmul

more shrewd moves, as it ensured that his sabre- settlement areas, only in the centre of the site at
rattling neighbour next door was kept in line what was once the governmental heart of the state.
going forward. He also presided over dynastic This clearly indicates that the outer reaches of
marriages and alliances, and after 50 years on the Calakmul were no longer occupied at all and that
throne, when Yuknoom Che’en died, Calakmul’s inhabitants were concentrated in a much smaller
importance could not be overstated. area. However, excavations have revealed precious
Yet, as with all things, even the strongest city metals and jade from this era, suggesting that at
could fall. Just as its early history is lost, so too least some wealthy inhabitants remained. Sadly, a

© Getty Images, Wiki: Ant Mela, Elelicht , PashiX, Pete Fordham, PhilipN
is the later fate of Calakmul. Experts agree that lack of any records means that who these people
something happened, but exactly what that was were remains a mystery.
they cannot be sure. However, by 693, paintings When Calakmul emerged from the canopy of
exist that show envoys from Calakmul kneeling the tropical forest in 1931, Lundell reported his
before the throne of Tikal, and just two years discovery to Sylvanus Morley of the Carnegie
later the territories were once again at war. The Institution of Washington. Morley, an inveterate
respective kings of Calakmul and Tikal clashed cataloguer, travelled to Campeche and began
in an almighty conflict, and for Calakmul the mapping the site. He found multiple complete or
outcome was disastrous. The once all-powerful damaged stelae (wooden or stone slabs erected
overlord was defeated, and as the years passed as monuments) and, pieced together with others
the influence of Calakmul began to decline at found in the area, they told the fragmented
a rapid rate. By 724 it was no longer a centre of narrative of Calakmul. After the institute departed
government and power, instead ruled by a puppet in 1938 the site lay undisturbed until 1982, when
of Tikal in a reversal of the situation that had William J Folan of the Universidad Autónoma de TELLING THE
occurred many years earlier.
With the decline in power came a reduction
Campeche arrived. He was to stay at Calakmul for
12 years and uncover thousands of structures and
ST O RY O F
in hieroglyphic records, and depictions of events artefacts, including a number of funeral masks. CALAKMUL
in Calakmul after its conquest become sparing Today, Calakmul sits at the heart of a Biosphere The history of Calakmul is one that is told
at best. Though it remained a military power, Reserve that protects 7,000 square kilometres of through its contemporary artwork, much of
its alliances were less numerous and far less jungle and community-owned and farmed lands. which sadly didn’t survive generations in its
remote location.
influential – the once-unstoppable state now A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the limestone
To learn of the upper classes and rulers
diminished in the eyes of its neighbours. remains there are being preserved in situ thanks to archaeologists and historians have turned to
With its strength waning drastically, the vast groundbreaking nanotechnology that might have the Calakmul stelae, of which 117 remain. These
site shrank. Modern archeologists have found no implications for sites of similar value and fragility are Maya monuments in the form of stone
late-period Maya artefacts in the far-flung urban around the world. columns on which images are sculpted that tell
of the history and achievements of the city.
Just as Calakmul is one of the largest Maya
sites still standing, its collection of stelae is the
largest in Campeche and proves that it was one
of the few Maya cities that had female rulers in
addition to male.
Many of the stelae that can be found at
Calakmul are in matching pairs, depicting kings
or rulers and their spouses, but, unfortunately,
time has eroded much of the detail that was
once visible on these limestone carvings.
Although the Calakmul stelae illuminate the
most celebratory aspects of the city, to tell its
This open area is actually a ball full story archeologists have needed to look to
court and can be found in the other cities, particularly Tikal, Calakmul’s long-
northern plaza of the Great Acropolis
time adversary. Here, they have found other
carvings telling of Tikal’s own victories over
Calakmul, thus allowing them to piece together
a fragmented narrative of the frequent clashes
between these two Maya superpowers.
For those more lowly citizens, depiction
on a stelae was unthinkable. Calakmul does,
however, contain a number of murals that
show everyday life for the people who lived
there. These are not the lofty achievements of
empire-building monarchs but street scenes
showing markets and the comings and goings
of those who used them. They are a unique
and valuable artefact and reveal a side of Maya
civilisation that has often gone unrecorded and
Despite 117 stelae surviving at Calakmul, the use of The ancient Calakmul frescos are unremembered. After all, for every conquering
soft and easily eroded limestone means that many unique records of daily and domestic king sitting on his throne, there were thousands
have become indecipherable over the centuries life in the Maya cities of men and women at the market.

39
40
 TIKAL
One of the world’s most
important Maya sites, Tikal is situated in the
heart of a jungle noted for its rich biodiversity

eep in the Guatemalan rainforest local limestone and were often decorated with

D
lie the ruins of a magnificent stucco and bas-relief carvings. The Maya used
Maya city; a pre-Columbian site wood, typically from the native sapodilla tree, to
of commercial, cultural and make lintels for temple doorways, embellishing
ceremonial significance that them with elaborate carvings. One depicts a
was once home to possibly 90,000 people yet woman of high status wearing a woven dress, a
was abruptly abandoned in 900 CE. Situated feathered headdress and jade jewellery.
in Petén province around 300 kilometres north The city has an immensely complex history.
of Guatemala City, Tikal – known to the Maya It grew prosperous as a trading centre, the
as Yax Mutal – evolved over centuries from a inhabitants exploiting the natural resources of
simple village into a sophisticated centre, one the surroundings and also clearing suitable land
that showcased the technological, artistic and in order to grow crops such as maize. Its fortunes
intellectual achievements of Maya society. Many waxed and waned over the centuries, reaching
suggest that the area was first settled at least its artistic and cultural peak between 600-900
as early as 600 BCE, as there is evidence of CE. But Tikal did not always enjoy the benefits of
agricultural activity at that time. It became an peace, as it was frequently embroiled in conflicts
important regional hub and has a great lineage; with neighbouring states.
construction of pyramids and other structures had In 378 CE it came under the control of mighty
already begun by c.350 BCE. Teotihuacán in the Valley of Mexico, around
The site had some geographical limitations – 1,000 kilometres away. Although some think the
there was no natural running water supply for two merely had close diplomatic and trading ties,
instance, so rainwater was collected in specially carvings on a stone column, or ‘stela’, suggest
constructed reservoirs. Different building phases that Tikal was invaded, the king executed and
resulted in a vast city of temple pyramids, a ruler from Teotihuacán installed in his place.
palaces, ceremonial platforms, administrative There was a consequent influence on the city’s art,
buildings, monuments, residences and even some architecture and even dress.
recreational ball courts, where the locals could Tikal was not crushed though – in fact, its
play the Mesoamerican ballgame – a sometimes- sphere of influence expanded and it soon
violent game in which a hard rubber ball was conquered smaller neighbours. Teotihuacán
struck with the hip. Much of the terrain was became an important trading partner. However,
swampy, so important hubs were linked by ramps in the mid-6th century there was further conflict;
and paved causeways. Structures were made from Tikal was defeated by an alliance of its two

41
Classic period

great rivals, Calakmul and Caracol, and it lost its At its peak, Tikal must have presented an Tikal. To its east is a platform topped with three
regional dominance. Gradual decline appeared awe-inspiring sight. Generations of rulers built, small temples. Together they formed an ancient
inevitable, but in 682 CE a new ruler, Jasaw Chan rebuilt, expanded and improved it, resulting in observatory; a stairway on the main pyramid
K’awiil II (682–734 CE), took the throne, and the a sprawling city (around 3,000 structures have provided an observation point, while the temples
city’s fortunes were dramatically revived. He was been noted) with a monumental urban core. were placed to align with the sunrise at the
one of the most important of all Tikal’s rulers, This was studded with pyramids that soared equinoxes and solstices. The complex was also used
defeating Calakmul and making his mark upon towards the Sun, stone skyscrapers in the jungle for elite burials. Then there is the Plaza of the Seven
the city by initiating a substantial rebuilding that could reach the extraordinary height of 70 Temples, a complex that, as well as the eponymous
programme. When he died he was entombed metres. At its heart was a Great Plaza, which temples, contained a large administrative building
in one of the most impressive structures visible was bordered by two vast temple pyramids and and an unusual triple ball court.
today, a mighty temple pyramid. two complexes, the North Acropolis and Central Maya cities gradually declined during the 8th
Known today as Temple I, it was originally Acropolis. Construction at the North Acropolis, a century CE, and Tikal was no exception; building
topped with a decorative ‘roof-comb’, a common royal burial site, dates back to 350 BCE. It grew slowed, the population moved in from the outskirts
feature on Maya monuments, which in this case in size over the centuries as pyramids were and became concentrated in the central zone, and
was embellished with a sculpture of the king. His erected, along with numerous altars and stelae. agriculture intensified – to the extent that the land
tomb, discovered in 1962, contained jade and shell Excavations revealed tombs filled with grave and its resources were overexploited. By around
ornaments as well as pots with offerings of food goods, including ceramic vessels, jade jewellery, 900 CE it was effectively abandoned and reclaimed
and drink. There was also a large number of bones shells, beads and even a musical instrument by the jungle. It was not until the 17th century,
incised with extraordinarily delicate and detailed made from turtle shells. Archaeologists also when accounts of its existence began to appear in
images. One, for example, showed a standing found the remains of human sacrificial victims. print, that the western world became aware of this
captive with bound wrists and knees; another Other building hubs include the Lost World lost city. In 1848, two local officials accompanied by
depicted the maize god being paddled in a canoe, Complex, at the heart of which is the Lost World an artist visited the site and produced an illustrated
together with a supernatural parrot, a dog, a spider Pyramid, a stepped structure that eventually account of their findings. They were soon followed
monkey and an iguana. reached a height of 31 metres. It is the oldest in by other explorers and archaeologists. However,

“TIKAL WAS SO
REMOTE THAT IT WAS
NOT UNTIL 1956 THAT
INVESTIGATIONS WERE
CARRIED OUT ON A
LARGE SCALE AND
THE SITE MAPPED AND
EXCAVATED IN DEPTH”

Tikal was a city of

skyscrapers, with pyramid
temples that reached up
to 70m into the air

42
Tikal was so remote that it was not until 1956 that
investigations were carried out on a large scale
and the site was mapped and excavated in depth.
Today the ruins of this once-mighty city
are surrounded by forest of such exceptional
biodiversity that they form part of the Tikal
National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
covering 57,600 hectares. There are wetlands,
savannah, tropical broadleaf and palm forests,
and the land is home to orchids, bats, monkeys,
anteaters and hundreds of different species of
bird as well as five species of cat: the jaguarundi,
margay, ocelot, puma and, most powerful of all,
the jaguar. This ancient Maya city may have been
lost for centuries, but it has certainly not lost any
of its magic.

T H E D E S E RT I O N
OF TIK A L
The abandonment of Tikal is something of
an archaeological mystery. Along with other
Maya cities in the southern lowlands of
Mesoamerica, it declined rapidly during the 8th
and 9th centuries. Their populations eventually
collapsed completely, leaving once-thriving
centres to be reclaimed by the jungle for no
apparent reason. Theories to explain this
phenomenon range from military invasions,
loss of trade and even disease epidemics, to
climactic change and ecological disaster. In the
case of Tikal, it is thought that a combination of
factors might have been responsible.
Overpopulation certainly seems to have
been an issue, as people moved into the central
zone to escape conflicts in the surrounding
area. This concentration of people would have
led the Maya to adopt a more intensive system
of agriculture, causing deforestation, exhaustion
of the fragile soils and erosion. Agrarian failure
would have forced inhabitants to leave the city.
However, there is an increasingly strong
body of evidence to suggest that climate
change, in the form of extreme drought,
was the root cause of Tikal’s ruin. Even mild
droughts would have had an impact, as the
city had no running water supply and was
reliant on rainwater to meet its needs. More
severe water shortages would have had serious
© Getty Images

The Maya used wooden lintels consequences. There is still much more work
above their temple doorways, to do, and the scholarly arguments are sure to
frequently decorating them continue for many years to come.
with detailed carvings

43
 Classic period
© Getty Images

44
 THE
C L A S SIC
M AYA
DEC L I N E
Just as the Classic Maya reached its magnificent zenith, all
across the southern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula polities
began to topple beneath their own weight

WRITTEN BY HARETH AL BUSTANI

hile the Maya civilisation began as hands of peasants themselves. Instead, the rulers

W
early as the 2nd millennium BCE, monopolised something every farmer needed in
it truly came into its own during abundance: water.
the Classic Period, starting from While the king of Tikal maintained six artificial
250 CE. Trade networks sprouted reservoirs, Caracol had two, bleeding out into the
across Mesoamerica, linked by sprawling urban surrounding 130 square kilometres of terraced
centres, where kings projected majesty with hillsides. Set amid low-lying swamp, Calakmul,
magnificent temples, intricately adorned stelae, meanwhile, had 13 reservoirs. These were
sweeping plazas and ornate palaces. placed in strategic and symbolic locations in the
By the time of the Classic Maya’s cultural, magnificent central plaza, in addition to alongside
infrastructural and socio-political peak in 750, temples and other monuments.
city-states such as Tikal housed upwards of They were a force of magnetism for farmers,
60,000 people. These mega-cities maintained who were spread too thin to mobilise their
their own regional spheres of influence, with collective labour to produce and maintain their
secondary cities and villages scattered along their own large-scale water management systems.
peripheries. The result was a complex web of During the annual dry season from January to
colossal city-states, secondary cities and villages, May, peasants were pulled from the outskirts
concentrated largely in the southern lowlands of into the civic centre. In this fashion they were
the Yucatán Peninsula. anchored to regional powers and integrated
In regional Maya cities, such as Tikal, Calakmul somewhat into the local hierarchy through labour,
and Caracol, power proved to be a precarious rituals and rites.
beast, held by a quasi-divine king who surrounded While the surrounding farmlands were too
himself with a bureaucracy of nobles and elites. In scattered to control, holding a monopoly over
previous centuries, Tikal and Calakmul had waged water supplies enabled rulers to collect tribute in
war over access to coveted trade routes. Curiously, the form of labour, goods and food, which further
these regional cities formed in the absence of integrated the highly mobile farmers into the
natural water sources, and with annual rainfall social fabric of their centres.
as low as 170 centimetres, had instead come to This exchange formed the basis of the social
depend on artificial reservoirs for the their water. contract between ruler and subject, one that was
Many of their subjects were scattered across reinforced and legitimised through elaborate
patchwork hinterlands of farmland. These pockets religious rituals held in the great plazas and
of fertility were spread out in a manner that sumptuous feasts enjoyed in the palace’s inner
was impossible to control, leaving them in the courts and throne rooms.

45
 Classic period

During the dry season the

hinterlands surrounding
© Getty Images

city-states such as Tikal

were sustained and
nourished by the city’s
central reservoirs

Elaborate temples, hieroglyphic stairways, ball Over thousands of years, the Maya had learned The Maya had survived several droughts before,
courts and stelae all served to further emphasise to adjust the land to their needs, digging small but a sustained dry period from 530-650 had
their legitimacy. As semi-divine figures, the rulers ponds and reservoirs and landscaping seasonal dealt a severe blow to progress, stalling monument
were also expected to procure rainfall, with wetlands to hold more water. While terraced construction, before reaching the Classic peak.
religious rites dedicated to deities such as the farming helped to reduce some precipitation and However, this new pinnacle coincided with global
rain god Chac, alongside ancestors and various nutrient loss, the southern lowlands had now climate change, which saw the world become cooler
other supernatural powers. Failure to do so was reached a critical mass. and dryer.
more than just a crisis of leadership – it would be Increasing Maya farming resulted in A great drought struck in 750, marking the start
the ultimate failure. In short, water was the Maya overexploitation of already exhausted land. of a 250-year period of aridity, one that would
currency of power. Deforestation not only reduced local precipitation tip the already overstretched southern Yucatán
Due to a lack of rain, the region’s farmers were but left soil prone to erosion during heavy lowlands over the edge. While powers in the north
only able to produce enough food to meet local tropical rains, further devastating the land. It and those situated along rivers were able to cope,
demand, producing no surplus for export. As also lowered local fish, animal and mollusc in the south water systems began to fail and rulers
populations continued to balloon, this placed ever- populations, while wiping out sources of timber found themselves unable to fulfil their ends of the
greater strain on local resources, pushing farmers and fuel. Soon, the soil simply did not have great social bargain. As famine took hold, desperate
to clear and burn down more forest for farmland. enough nutrients left to sustain local needs. farmers took to planting high-yield produce like

46
maize. This was a very thirsty crop, and further Thus, the sporadic, mosaic fabric of the Maya
soil erosion and degradation of fertility rendered civilisation began to dissolve. The various city-
these efforts futile. Last-ditch farming also drew states had never been truly united into a greater
labour away from the kings’ monumental prestige empire or state. Not only did this encourage
projects, further eroding their legitimacy. predatory warfare, but as the entire region
Eventually the farmers began to flee, severing became strained, the individual polities were

© Alamy
their ties with the city-states that could no longer incapable of pooling their resources to overcome
sustain them. With hungry mouths came weaker their collective strife. Each became increasingly
immune systems, and though there is little susceptible to over-farming, over-hunting, disease,
evidence of widespread deaths due to famine, ecological degradation and religious violence. As
increased infant and adult mortality rates were they began to devolve powers to dissatisfied lords, T H E ‘ M AYA
likely. Yellow fever may have been introduced
either by monkeys, or mosquitos breeding in
this only further eroded their precarious power
base, creating confusion and instability.
COLLA PSE’
water storage containers, further decimating With Calakmul struggling and sensing an THOUGH THE CITY-STATES
the population. The region would be struck by opportune moment of weakness, another OF THE SOUTHERN
droughts again and again in 810, 860 and 910. predatory Maya group – perhaps the Putun from YUCATÁN LOWLANDS WERE
Situated next to a river at the foothills of the the Gulf Coast of Tabasco – attacked it. Cracks ABANDONED, THE MAYA
Chiapas mountains, the powerful city-state of were now growing into fault lines, shaking apart
CULTURE AND ITS
Palenque loomed over a fertile valley. While canals the power centres of the southern Yucatán. Stone
drained water out to the hinterland, where farmers monuments were mutilated, with elites’ faces
PEOPLE ENDURED
maintained small-scale irrigation networks, the scratched out and those of peasants left intact – While ‘collapse’ is used to describe the decline
king derived his power from his access and control others depicted nobles standing over peasants, of the Classic Maya period, the word is a
over jade and obsidian trade with the highland indicating that deep-rooted class conflict was also problematic one. For starters, modern Maya
regions. However, overexploitation of the land and coming to a boil. Images of war became more living to this day may find it an offensive
resources pushed the locals to the brink. commonplace, suggesting an increasingly violent word, loaded with imperialistic preconceptions
of progress, civilisation, superiority and
On top of its environmental woes, Palenque environment amid a time of great upheaval.
development. Although the population of the
had also suffered a pair of successive defeats at The peasants may also have been stirred up southern Yucatán certainly declined, relocating
the hands of Toniná, a smaller secondary centre into revolt by an ancient order of priests, who elsewhere, the Maya culture itself has
located 65 kilometres to its south. Toniná had continued to practice separately from the religious continued to this day. The 16th-century Spanish
even captured the Palenque king, rocking the hierarchy. Amounting to just five per cent of the conquest did more damage to the civilisation
royal house’s very foundation. In the midst of population, the elites had long exploited their than the decline of the southern Yucatán. Many
Maya actually fled back to the forests of the
the chaos, Palenque was hurled into infighting, subjects, and as they swelled in number and
region during the conquest.
with opportunistic strands of the ruling dynasty opulence, becoming needier and greedier, the Similarly, not all Maya settlements were
making bids for power. Chaos is always a proletariat grew fed up. Archaeological evidence equally affected – many not only survived but
harbinger of opportunity, and before long servant suggests peasants’ skeletons were smaller and less thrived in the aftermath. What truly collapsed
would rise against noble, noble against king, and developed than those of the elites, indicating that was the socio-political system that governed
king against king. in the process of meeting the nobility’s feasting the region’s greatest city-states. With rulers and
elites increasingly unable to fulfil their social
© Alamy

contract, the notion of divine kingship began to

crumble. As the façade of royal power toppled
it dragged down the societal hierarchy and
economic system it presided over.
As an added consequence, the great
monuments, hieroglyphics, inscriptions and
other cultural and architectural works of the
Classic Maya peak ceased to be produced.
However, the Maya traditions, beliefs,
ceremonies and religion remained in place.
Power was simply negotiated on a smaller
stage, with autonomous communities deciding
to care for themselves.

“BEFORE LONG
The city-state of Palenque was
SERVANT
dealt a crushing blow to its
prestige by the secondary centre WOULD RISE
of Toniná, who captured its king
AGAINST NOBLE”
47
Classic period
© Alamy

THE CU RRENCY
O F P OW E R
MUCH OF MAYA LIFE

© Getty Images
While the Maya had endured droughts
REVOLVED AROUND before, during the Classic peak the
WATER, WHICH NOT ONLY southern Yucatán reached critical mass,
and fault lines began to emerge
DETERMINED WHERE BUT
HOW PEOPLE LIVED
requirements they were malnourished. The elites From the Caribbean and Central America to the
With very few lakes and rivers serving the
held a monopoly not only over water and military Gulf of Mexico and Central Mexico, the southern
southern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula, the
seasons dictated the flow of life. Settled areas might but knowledge of mathematics, literacy, Yucatán had formed a super-highway, facilitating
were marked by the presence of bajos, or seasonal astronomy, engineering and even religion. However, the flow of goods. Once again, the loss of this trade
swamps, and aguadas – ponds that formed when that meant very little without the labour of their placed increasing strain on the kings’ abilities to
karst sinkholes were plugged with clay sediment. farmers, traders, artisans and religious specialists. manage their forests, clear land, build monuments,
The Maya expanded these using earthwork or clay To make matters worse, the southern Yucatán launch raids or defend themselves. An exodus of
dikes to aid in agriculture, plaster manufacturing
economic network was dealt a further blow by peasants, artisans and craftsmen left en masse in
and construction.
Cities themselves were designed as water- the shift from inland to seaborne trade. Producing search of new opportunities and masters to serve.
storage hubs, concentrated around their central little surplus food, the city-states of the region and In Copán and Palenque, elites found the
reservoirs. Tikal, like many powers, was built on a their subsidiary satellites were dependent on long- increasing cost of legitimising their power too
hill and at its heart was a great reservoir – an old distance trade of sacred prestige goods. Green jade, much to bear and could no longer afford to sustain
limestone quarry lined with clay or plaster and quetzal feathers and pyrite poured in from the epic prestige projects. With the political system at
used to collect and store water in the wet season
highlands, while conch shells and stingray spines breaking point, city-states finally began to collapse
before funnelling it down through the residential
zones and fields via gravity.
were hauled from the coast. Many an alliance had in the west, clustered around the Usumacinta
At Tikal, a network of reservoirs held up to been forged and a war fought for access to these River. The resource-rich area of Dos Pilas, filled
900,000 cubic metres of water – enough to meet vital lifelines, with such goods playing a crucial role with competing rulers and centres, was abandoned
the daily needs of 62,000 people. Crucially, the in the elite’s projection and rituals of power. altogether when Ruler Four was defeated in 761
Maya learned to keep their water clean by creating
artificial wetland biospheres. Pondweeds, plants

© Getty Images
Although cities such as Tikal
and bacteria removed phosphorous, nitrates and could store enough water for
harmful microorganisms. Water lilies, for example, up to 62,000 people, war,
not only block out light, preventing algae build-up overexploitation, social strife and
successive droughts pushed the
and slowing evaporation, but also provide cover
region past its breaking point
for natural predators of pests, such as dragonflies
and fish. Only able to flourish in clean water,
water lilies became a fitting symbol of royal might,
adorning stelae and other monuments.

“WITH THE
POLITICAL
SYSTEM AT
BREAKING POINT,
CITY-STATES
COLLAPSED”
48
© Alamy The Classic Maya decline

Having overexploited their land,

amid climate change Maya kings
soon found themselves unable to
fulfil their side of the social bargain

by the neighbouring King of Tamarindito. Small the Maya Long Count date in southern Quintana
bands of marauders formed in the provinces, Roo, Mexico. Eventually, the combined might of
launching violent raids and wreaking havoc on overpopulation, drought, overexploitation of the tribute based on alternative sources of strength,
the overstretched city-states. The spiral of chaos land, class conflict, war, disease and loss of trade such as non-exotic trade routes. The smaller
continued to feed into itself, snapping the political led to a mass collapse of socio-political systems settlements of Seibel and Xunantunich even
spines of the region’s kings, with nothing to offer across the southern Yucatán. enjoyed (short-lived) periods of prosperity.
their fleeing people. Though it was a process centuries in the Other minor centres that were rich in alluvium,
In the ravaged Palenque, inscriptions making, this mass exodus saw the majority of the such as Barton Ramie and Saturday Creek, on the
ceased entirely in 799, indicating widespread population flee elsewhere. The early Postclassic Belize River, remained occupied until 1500. They
abandonment of the centre. Before long, powers period was marked by a redistribution of power, managed to maintain water systems and even tap
began to topple like dominoes, spreading ever with many secondary and river-based centres into the northern sea trade. To the north and the
eastwards. Palenque’s demise was followed by managing to subsist through the chaos. Although east coast other communities sapped up wayward
Copán in 822, while Caracol was burned down the fortunes of many secondary leaders were tied Maya farmers, artisans and other migrants, with
in 859 and Tikal abandoned in 869. Toniná, to those of their more powerful allies and trade the city-state of Chichén Itzá enjoying a period of
the secondary power that had caused Palenque partners, others were able to maintain the status growth. However, by this point the trappings of
so much trouble, was deserted in 909. By this quo. With the decline of Palenque and Tikal, the traditional Classic Maya rule had crumbled, and the
point construction had ceased in the region, smaller power of Yaxchilan declared independence. population of the southern lowlands of the Yucatán
evidenced by the last monument inscribed with Rather than water, these rulers tended to exact would never recover – even after the landscape did.

© Alamy
With farmers struggling to Rulers had to deliver water or be
yield enough produce, the deemed a complete failure – as such
elites were left without the religious rites to deities such as the
labour to build stelae and rain god Chac were built
other epic works
© Alamy

49
50
 THE

RISE RU I N AND
OF

C H IC H É N I T Z Á
This ancient Maya city stands today as one of the
Seven Wonders of the Modern World

WRITTEN BY GRACE FREEMAN

ne of the largest historical Maya Of the four cenotes in Chichén Itzá, the Cenote

O
cities to have ever existed, Sagrado – or the Sacred Cenote – is the largest
the earliest origins of Chichén at over 60 metres in diameter and almost 30
Itzá trace all the way back to metres in depth, and is located in the north of the
somewhere between 750 and peninsula settlement. Relics of the Maya people,
900 CE. Situated in Yucatán, in the northeastern including gold, pottery, fabric, and precious stones,
peninsula of Mexico, it is approximately 740 acres have been discovered at the bottom of the cenote,
in size and is filled with a plethora of ancient, pre- along with some human remains, which were
Columbian ruins and relics. likely discarded into the sinkhole as a sacrifice to
Although its beginnings are still somewhat appease the gods.
uncertain, the literal translation of Chichén Itzá Archaeologically, most of the original
is ‘At the mouth of the well of the Itza’, with the architecture still remains – much of it is preserved
additional interpretation of ‘Itza’ from Mayan as or restored – with a dense metropolitan hub
something akin to ‘enchantment of the water’. spanning an area of just over three kilometres.
Considering this, as well as the four visible Its biggest and most famous structure is the
sinkholes – known as cenotes – that the city Temple of Kukulcan, also known as El Castillo
holds, it is possible that much of its initial location – ‘the castle’ – which is located within an area of
appeal was due to the constant source of natural the city known as the Great North Platform. The
water that it was able to provide. Furthermore, pyramided temple stands at over 30 metres tall,
worship of the rain deity Chaac was practised with nine shrinking terraces and a summiting
regularly by the Maya people; jewels, artefacts, and sanctuary, and each of the four sides has a
occasionally even human beings were sacrificed slanting staircase to the top – the northeastern’s
to the ancient god as part of the prayer for base is carved with stone serpents – with a
precipitation, with the hopes of encouraging fertile circumferential total of 365 steps to represent each
land and fruitful crops. day of the calendar year.

51
The Cenote Sagrado, or
Sacred Well, at Chichén Itzá

and most-intact court of all 13 preserved in Chichén

Itzá and a key spot in the metropolis as a site of
ritualistic ballgames, whereby a large rubber ball

“THE SUNLIGHT HITS THE PYRAMID was kept constantly in play between teams. The
ceremonial significance of this often varied across
AT AN ANGLE THAT CREATES THE communities, but it is widely believed that the ball
itself was seen as representative of the Sun in pre-
ILLUSION OF A SERPENT SLIDING ITS Columbian culture, with the scoring rings on the
court signifying sunrise and sunset; the transition
WAY DOWN THE NORTH FACE” between day and night.
The Maya people, in particular, firmly believed
in this liminality and interpreted it even further
A 1930s excavation uncovered a smaller temple the pyramid at an angle that creates the illusion – with the sacred ballgame and its court a thin
beneath the main framework of El Castillo, of a serpent sliding its way down the north face. veil between life and death; between this world
aligning with the pre-Columbian architectural Many academics believe this to be a homage to and the underworld (Xibalba). This alludes to the
culture of building larger structures over smaller the snake god, and sacrificial relics have since myth of the Hero Twins, as depicted in the sacred
ones across time, and it is also widely considered been discovered in the older temple beneath the Maya text known as the Popol Vuh. In the tale,
that there is a hidden cenote buried far beneath outer structure. two brothers are playing the ballgame close by to
the pyramid. Other significant monuments in the Great Xibalba and are lured below by its lords as sacrifice.
El Castillo was dedicated by the Maya people North Platform include the Great Ball Court, Before his death, one of the brothers conceives
to Kukulcan (‘feathered serpent’), a snake deity the Temple of the Jaguars and the Temple with a goddess, who births the Hero Twins. The
to whom they worshipped and who was a strong of Warriors, all of which are significant in duo is subsequently summoned by the gods of
symbol of their religious community. During the understanding more about the ancient Maya the netherworld to play the same ballgame. They
spring and autumn equinoxes, the sunlight hits civilisation. The Great Ball Court is the largest eventually succeed, escaping Xibalba, and they

52
remained revered in Maya myth as successors of supplier of water to the city and is surrounded by
death. The Great Ball Court at Chichén Itzá also stone storage tanks. Overlooking it is the Temple
continues to pay tribute to Kukulcan in its design, of Xtoloc, the ruins of which are carved with
with surrounding panel walls depicting twining, scenes of nature. It is probable that the sanctuary
wriggling serpents in various carved scenes. The was used during religious ceremonies, likely
Temples of the Jaguar, both situated on the east linked to the cenote itself and worship of the rain
side of the ball court, are also engraved with god, Chaac.
serpentine symbols. The Osario Group’s titular structure, El Osario,
To the east of the Temple of Kukulcan is the is similar to the Temple of Kukulcan in its
Temple of Warriors, a layered, pyramid structure framework, although it was built on a much
with a central stairway. It is flanked on its front smaller scale. It too houses a shrine at its top, THE EIGHT
and its side by over 200 stone columns – Maya
warriors guarding and protecting the sacred space.
but it instead leads downwards into a shallow
natural cave – where seven tombs have also been
WO N D E R S O F
A large sculpture reclines at the top; known as a discovered – and, as such, is also referred to as THE MODERN
chac-mool, it is a particular type of statue showing the Ossuary, because it is assumed to have once WO R L D
a horizontal figure leaning on its elbows, its head been a burial chamber. As with the surrounding
turned at an angle, and with an object balanced buildings, carved serpents adorn the stairway,
FOR OVER A DECADE,
on its stomach. Chac-mools were considered to another visual prayer to the sacred Kukulcan. CHICHÉN ITZÁ HAS
be messengers of the gods and the bowl or plate The Ossuary also holds two underground BEEN REGARDED AS
resting on its front a sacred offering. Along with passageways, both of which appear to have been ONE OF THE FINEST
the Temple of Warriors’ chac-mool, and akin to the sealed centuries ago. Now it is believed that if RECENT MONUMENTS
rest of Chichén Itzá’s architecture, the top platform they were traversable, they would eventually lead
At the start of the millennium, a private
also holds two large, snake-engraved columns, to other local communes, such as the nearby
campaign was launched to select a
which are further tributes to the serpent deity. Yaxuná, but they were possibly initially built as contemporary Wonders of the World list from
The Osario Group, a smaller complex than the tunnels to the Maya underworld. a choice of modern architecture. The poll was
Great North Platform, is located to the south of the If its geographical relevance is still up for not regarded as official or absolute and the
site and also holds some significant ruins, along debate, the leadership and hierarchy of Chichén United Nations Educational, Scientific and
with Xtoloc Cenote – the settlement’s second- Itzá is even more so, and it is believed by some Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which awards
largest water hole, named after the Mayan word historians that the city operated governmentally in world-heritage status to notable sites, was
deliberately uninvolved. Even so, it garnered
for ‘iguana’. This particular cenote was the main a different way to the rest of the Maya civilisation,
much public interest and went on to receive
millions of votes.
The winners were announced in 2007, of
which Chichén Itzá was one. The Great Pyramid
of Giza, the only survivor of the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World, was granted honorary
status, and the remaining six were as follows:
the Great Wall of China, the Jordanian city of
Petra, the Colosseum in Rome, Peru’s Incan city
of Macchu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, and Christ the
Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.
Despite its significant age, Chichén Itzá is
not quite the oldest of the modern seven;
this honour goes to the Great Wall of China,
construction of which dates as far back as the
7th century BCE, followed not-so-closely behind
by Petra and the Colosseum. The most recent
monument on the renowned list is Christ the
Redeemer, which was completed in 1931.

A statue of Chaac, the rain god,

or an offerer on a Feathered Chichén Itzá became a
Serpent on the Temple of the cultural UNESCO World
Warriors in Chichén Itzá Heritage Site in 1988

53
Classic period

CHICHÉN ITZÁ with no singular ruling dynasty and a council is little subsequent archaeological evidence to
ON FILM composed of elite ancestries. More recently, corroborate such historical accounts and it is now
the scholastic argument has been made for the more widely believed that the metropolis’ eventual
THE ANCIENT GOLDEN traditional structure of political ruling under one decline from distinction occurred around the 11th
CITY HAS ITS PLACE familial lineage, similar to other communities of century – some significant time before the growth
ON THE MODERN the time, though no definite conclusions have of Mayapán.
SILVER SCREEN yet been drawn. Many Maya civilisations’ eventual demise was
One undoubted element of the city’s largely due to a changing natural environment
With over 2 million people visiting Chichén
historicity, however, is its economic power – and a bout of severe climate change; Maya records
Itzá annually and its indisputable cultural
significance, it is little wonder that the Maya largely due to its aforementioned proximity to show that from around 820 CE, almost a century
ruins also have their part to play in film – both natural water springs, but also because of its of austere droughts disrupted the region, some of
literally and metaphorically. As well as featuring port-side location on the peninsula. Here, it was which were to last for decades at a time. These
in numerous documentary programmes able to participate in desirable trade with less falling cities, however, were largely located in
throughout the years, it was also featured in readily available resources, such as rare stone southern territories – what we know as Guatemala
the 1984 film Against All Odds, starring Jeff
and precious metal taken from the surrounding and Belize, for example – and, if the same historical
Bridges and Rachel Ward; this marked the first
time that the Mexican government had granted central countries. records are to be believed, the time period was one
permission for the historical city to be used and As Chichén Itzá’s prominence on the Maya in which Chichén Itzá was not only managing to
filmed for a theatrical film release. The actors map rose, other neighbouring pre-Columbian survive but actually flourishing.
shot further scenes in surrounding locations, regions were faltering – the southern cities of However, further recent scholarly investigation
including numerous other coastal Maya sites Yaxuná and Coba in the east were weakening into dated inscriptions and radiocarbon dating,
and the jungle landscape of Yucatán.
towards the end of 600 CE, which was known which is a process used to determine the age of
Although as yet not physically used
elsewhere in film production, Chichén Itzá has
as the Early Classic period – and it is understood organic materials, show that the time-keeping
provided much on-screen inspiration – perhaps that there is some economical and societal records are not actually as accurate as once was
most famously in the whip-cracking Indiana correlation between this simultaneous rise and thought, and their dwindling across the second
Jones series. In the most recent instalment of fall between the communities. half of the 9th century spans the northern region
the franchise, the 2008 Indiana Jones and the In various Maya sources, Chichén Itzá was as much as the south. Historical researchers believe
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the archaeological conquered in the mid-13th century by the ruler that this waning creativity is synonymous with the
hero journeys his way to Peru to delve deeper
of western Mayapán, who prophesied his own harsh climate conditions of the time, and it would
into the ancient culture and civilisation.
He makes it there, of course – and his final ascension to the metaphorical throne after seem as though Chichén Itzá was not entirely
destination looks remarkably like El Castillo. surviving a jump into Cenote Sagrado. There exempt from its impact.

The tzompantli, or skull

rack, at Chichén Itzá

54
 The rise and ruin of Chichén Itzá

From surviving ruins and artefacts we know A page from the Dresden
Codex, an 11th-century Maya
that the metropolis did survive into the following book found at Chichén Itzá
century – a period that notably received more
rainfall than in previous years – but the 11th
century brought yet another catastrophic drought,
which the city was unable to ever fully recover
from. Following the extreme arid spell and low
production of crops, the Maya community and
their largest cosmopolitan centres were unable
to viably be sustained economically or societally;
they slowly diminished and would never reach
their full height or power again.
From around 1050, settlements were slowly
abandoned en-masse and many began to make
their way towards the Caribbean coast or to other
larger bodies of moisture. Despite moving away,
the people seemed to be hearkening back, still,
to the Maya respect for and worship of water, its
properties and its reigning deity, Chaac.
By 1100, Chichén Itzá had completed its
downfall, and it was ultimately defeated by
the Spanish in the mid-16th century. In 1527,
conquistador Francisco de Montejo – a veteran of
the infamous Cortés expedition that had led to the
fall of the Aztec Empire – was granted permission
by the king of Spain to travel to Yucatán; he
consequently secured a small fort to the south
of what now is known as Cancun and, in 1531,
founded a base at Campeche.
In 1532, his son Montejo the Younger journeyed
to Chichén Itzá and, encountering no resistance or
hostility, began to divide the settlement among his
men. By 1534, the Maya people began to fight back
for their land and more and more Spanish troops
were lost. Montejo retreated before then returning
and recruiting Maya civilians from his father’s
settlements and creating an Indio-Spanish army;
the peninsula city was eventually claimed by the
Spanish Crown.

A jade relief showing

a representation of
the Maya sun god

55
SCIENCE, SCRIPTURES
& SACRIFICE
58 SECRETS OF
T H E M AYA
Unearth the mysteries of the Maya

66 DA I LY L I F E
F O R T H E M AYA
From jobs and clothing to
entertainment and the status of 74
women, experience life as a Maya

70 COOK LIK E
T H E M AYA
Taste the flavours of Maya cuisine
and learn to make some classic dishes

74 M A K E A M AYA
C H O C O L AT E 70 76
DRINK
Satisfy your sweet tooth with this
frothy treat

76 M AYA W R I T I N G
Learn the ancient glyphs and decipher
the history of these fascinating scribes

80 M YTHOLOGY
A ND RELIGION
Kneel before the demi-gods charged
with ruling delicate city-states and
waging war on rivals

86 SCIENCE IN
M E S OA M E R I C A
Whether they were examining the
night sky or harvesting crops, the
Maya took science seriously

90 A RT A N D
A RCHITECTU RE
Marvel at the looming towers and
riotous mosaics created by a people
who continue to have a cultural
influence to this day 66

56
58 80

86 90

57
S EC R ET S O F T H E

M AYA
Builders of mighty stone pyramids, expert astronomers
and perpetrators of brutal human sacrifice, discover the
amazing and shocking world of the ancient Maya
 Secrets of the Maya

eep in the hot and humid tropical curious and inspired by this ancient civilisation

D
jungles of Mesoamerica, an ancient and the mysticism surrounding it.
and mysterious race of people Centuries ahead of their time, the Maya created
thrive. Dressed in bark loincloths the first written language of the pre-Columbian
and grasping long spears crafted Americas, expertly predicted celestial events
from volcanic rock, they appear at first glance to and developed a system of mathematics more
be a savage, backward people, but their sensitive advanced than the one used in Europe at the
and intellectual study of the stars, medicine and time. But they also engaged in brutal and bloody
language suggests otherwise. Spanning a period battles, spreading war to neighbouring territories,
of thousands of years, their civilisation will claiming prisoners and plunging knives through
create grand stone cities so mighty that they will their chests atop their mighty step pyramids.
outlive the rise and fall of nations. The mysticism Within the ancient Maya civilisation lies a
surrounding them will grow so fervent that it collision of worlds, a mix of sacrifices, ancient
will be capable of launching worldwide hysteria rituals of the past, the pursuit of knowledge
centuries later. and ingenious engineering of a more advanced
Creating a civilisation against all odds, the age. Their herbal medical techniques are still
Maya prospered in the harsh temperate deserts of being studied and practised today, while the
southern Mexico and northern Central America. breathtaking majesty of the city of Chichén Itzá
When the Spanish led their brutal and bloody has been proclaimed one of the greatest wonders
conquest they destroyed many Maya artefacts, so of the world.
lots of their secrets were unfortunately burned Perhaps we’ll never know for sure who exactly
to ashes. But they were unable to completely these enigmatic people were, but due to recent
erase all trace of the Maya society, and their great discoveries of the messages they left behind,
stone cities are a testament of their long-lasting we are closer now than ever to unravelling the
resilience. To this day people remain intrigued, mysteries of the Maya.

L AYO U T O F STEPS TO TH E GODS

A TY PICA L Arguably the most famous Maya structures, the
M AYA C I T Y pyramids were huge constructions featuring steep
steps of carved stone. At over 60m tall, the pyramids
were large, imposing building and were often used as
tombs for deceased rulers.

W I N D OWS T O
T H E S TA R S
Gulf of
Keen astronomers, the Maya added Mexico
doorways and windows to their
buildings aligned with celestial
events. Great round temples
dedicated to Kukulan, a snake Caribbean
Sea
god, would sometimes serve as
observatories, used to watch the
equinox and map out the night sky. Pacific
Ocean

HOMES OF
THE ELITE
Palaces were large,
elaborately decorated
structures placed in
the centre of the city.
The palaces housed the
elite of the population P L AC E O F
and were usually one CEREMONY
storey high with lots
Usually crafted out of limestone, ceremonial
of small chambers and
platforms were a common sight in many
an interior courtyard.
Maya cities. They were usually less than
However, larger palaces
4m in height and were decorated with
with different levels
beautifully carved figures, altars and even
were also constructed.
the heads of victims mounted on stakes.
Palaces were the sites of
The ceremonial platforms served a vital role
numerous burials.
in Maya society as the location of public
ceremonies and religious rites.

59
 ST E P -BY-ST E P
GU IDE TO BLOOD
SAC R I F I C E
From everyday animal sacrifice to
the decapitation of kings

DECAPITATION
Decapitation was almost always gods of death decapitated
used for the most highly prized the maize god. Victims would
sacrifices, such as enemy kings sometimes be scalped, beaten
or the captive loser of the or disembowelled prior to their
Maya ball game Pok-Ta-Pok. decapitation. A number of
This is because decapitation mass graves of headless and
was strongly linked to the dismembered high-ranking
Maya myths where the nobles have been discovered.

ARROW SACRIFICE
In this form of sacrifice the victim tribute, depending on your point
was tied to a stake while a ritual of view – until their entire chest
dance was performed. A white mark was covered with arrows. In arrow
over the sacrifice’s heart would sacrifice it was important the
serve as a target for archers, who victim died slowly, and the archers
would take it in turns to shoot the would dance repeatedly around
unfortunate victim – or honoured the sacrifice before shooting.

HEART REMOVAL
The most common form of human a sacrificial knife would be used to cut
sacrifice, this would usually take place out their still-beating heart, which
on the summit of the pyramid. The was presented to the temple idol. The
victim was stripped and painted corpse would be thrown down the
the colour of sacrifice – blue – and steps and skinned before the head
dressed in a peaked headdress. They priest would drape the skin around
would then be laid on a stone and him as he performed a ritual dance.

The city of Chichén Itzá possessed two SINKHOLES tied around the victim’s body and they were
natural sinkholes, or cenotes. The largest of thrown into the gulf and, after drowning to
these, Cenote Sagrado, was used for human death, the sacrifice was pulled back up and
sacrifice. Victims were thrown into the buried. These ceremonies were often viewed
sinkhole, known as the Well of Sacrifice, as by large crowds of people who would pray
an offering to the rain god. Long cords were throughout the gruesome proceedings.

This type of sacrifice involved the piercing of a soft

HUMAN BLOODLETTING a connection to the gods. Usually the tongue, ears
body part with a sharp object, such as stingray or lips would be pierced, but blood from genitals
spines. The blood was smeared on idols or collected was the most highly prized, the Maya believing it to
on paper that was then burned, the rising smoke possess tremendous fertilising power to encourage
thought to create a gateway between worlds and the growth of plants and crops.

ANIMAL SACRIFICE
Animal sacrifice was by far the most common sacrificial tailed deer were the most commonly sacrificed animal,
ritual partaken before any important task. The Maya did closely followed by dogs and birds. A host of more exotic
not possess ‘food’ animals like sheep, cows and pigs but animals, such as jaguars and alligators, were also offered
instead focused on hunting wild game. As a result, white- as sacrifice.

Timeline of a great civilisation

1800 BCE 250 BCE – 100 CE 250–800 800–900 1000–1500
The birth of a The Preclassic era The mighty Maya Widespread collapse The north lives on
civilisation In the northern Maya Large-scale urbanism Major cities in the southern The northern cities
Maya settlements lowlands smaller Maya and construction occurs lowlands fall into decline thrive, building highways
are established in the communities begin to and powerful city-states and are abandoned. The to increase trade. After
Soconusco region of the develop, distinct from emerge. The population origins of this event, the decline of the cities
Pacific coast. The Maya the large centres in the increases to millions known as the Classic Maya of Chichén and Uxmal,
establish permanent southern lowlands. The and the political and collapse, remain a mystery, Mayapán rules over much
communities here and first Maya hieroglyphics economic network with various theories of the territory until a
the first fired-clay figures emerge in written This earthenware steadily expands such as drought, warfare revolt in 1450. Small
and pottery pieces are inscriptions on stone lidded vessel is an throughout the wider or an ecological disaster pockets of southern states
soon produced. around this time. example of Maya art Mesoamerican world. suggested as causes. are slowly reconstructed.

60
 5 REASONS THE
M AYA W E R E
A HEA D OF
THEIR TIME
Astronomy
1 The Maya were highly skilled in
astronomy and developed an incredibly
accurate calendar. The Maya calendar
featured a complicated arrangement
of interlocking circles that was capable
of keeping time to a degree even more
accurate than the calendar we use today.
They were also able to predict the positions
of celestial objects precisely despite not having
any specialised equipment to help them do so.

Architecture
2 More than 4,400 Maya sites have been
documented with architecture spanning
thousands of years. The gigantic La Danta
pyramid covers 45 acres with a height of
M AYA M E D I C I N E 70 metres, making it one of the largest
pyramids in the world by volume. It is
largely because of the long-lasting nature of
The surprisingly sophisticated practices of Maya medicine men these buildings that we know so much about
the Maya.
TOOTHACHE PRAY THAT YOU Artwork
Remedy: Maya were very skilled in dentistry, and DIDN’T GET… SMALLPOX
fake teeth were made from jade and turquoise if When the Spanish began their conquest of the 3 Archaeologists have unearthed an abundance of
detailed Maya artwork including massive stone
sculptures, wood carvings, narrative paintings and
the patient could afford it. If a filling was required, Maya, they brought with them diseases previously
delicate ceramics. Most remarkable of all are the
iron pyrite (‘fools gold’) was used. There was unseen by the skilled medicine men, such as objects created from thick, dense materials
also a trend in dental decoration where the teeth influenza, measles and tuberculosis. But it such as jade and obsidian as, unlike the Incas,
were filed into points, ground into rectangles and was a plague of smallpox that devastated the Maya did not have any metal tools.
Their artwork often features Maya blue,
drilled with holes. The holes would then be filled the civilisation, killing as many as 90 per a bright azure pigment that remains as
with jade or gleaming iron pyrite to produce a cent of the native population in a century. vibrant today as the day it was painted. The
pattern on the teeth. Up against a rapidly spreading disease on techniques behind producing this substance
have not yet been discovered.
a scale that was previously unfathomable,
PAIN the natural herbal remedies of the Maya Writing
Remedy: Pain was often treated by putting the
patient into a trance-like state using mind-altering
didn’t stand a chance.
4 Maya script was a writing system comprising of
hieroglyphs, and they were the only civilisation
in Mesoamerica with a complete writing system.
substances commonly utilised in rituals. Flowers, MAIN PRINCIPLES The earliest Maya inscriptions date back to the 3rd
mushrooms, tobacco and plants used to make Maya medicine focused on the concept of century BCE, cementing them as the inventors
alcoholic substances were collected and usually life force and the idea that this force can of writing in their region. The complex
writing system uses a combination of 800
smoked. If required, a ritual enema could be used be directed to where it is needed. It was glyphs to represent words and is the only
for rapid absorption and immediate pain relief. a healer’s job to balance this life force, Mesoamerican writing system that has been
which binds everything together. As this substantially deciphered.
POISONOUS STINGS life energy also ran through plants, a lot
Maths
Remedy: Sweat baths, or temazcal, were used of Maya healing was focused on the use
to encourage the patient to sweat out and expel of flora. The blood determined the health of 5 This great civilisation created one of
the most advanced mathematical and
numeric systems in the world at the time. This
impurities from their body. They were also the body, so the pulse was a key tool in working
sophisticated number system allowed them to
used for ailments such as rheumatism, fevers, out the nature of the illness. Diseases were also write very large numbers by utilising just three
weariness after battle or for women who had just classified as either ‘hot’ or ‘cold’, and hot foods symbols: a dot, bar and shell shape. The Maya
given birth. The hot steam was thought to help such as onions and ginger would be used to also developed the concept of zero as early
as 36 BCE and produced a symbol for it
purify and restore the body for a long, healthy life. treat cold illnesses and vice versa. while Europeans were still using the Roman
numeral system.

1502–1529 1528–1530 1540–1547 1618–1697

The Spanish conquest begins The Maya fight back Continuing conquest The final collapse
Christopher Columbus arrives in Led by Francisco de Montejo, The Spanish conquest continues The last stage of the Spanish
Guanaja and discovers a Maya the Spanish begin their and in 1541 the first Spanish conquest takes place in the
settlement. The Europeans loot conquest of the Maya town council is established in the Péten Basin. In 1618, Spanish
© Look & Learn; Thinkstock; Corbis

what they can carry and capture territories in the northern Yucatán Peninsula. Many Maya missionaries arrive at the Itza
some Maya as slaves. News of region. However, the Maya are lords submit to the might of capital and they are followed in
Columbus’ discovery travels and not so easily toppled and fight the Spanish crown, but eastern 1622 by a military expedition.
more Spanish explorers journey back with surprising strength, provinces resist Spanish rule. The Maya massacre the
to Maya lands, bringing Old leading to the conquest The rebellious eastern Maya are invaders, but by 1697 the Maya
Much remains of
World diseases such as smallpox, dragging on over several finally defeated in battle and kingdoms are incorporated into
the city of Chichén
influenza and measles. bloody years. hundreds are killed. the Spanish Empire.
Itzá, one of the seven
wonders of the world

61
 Science, scriptures & sacrifice

P O K-TA-P O K
An ancient game of life and death
A common feature of many Maya towns were was played, the stone slabs transformed into a The players could only use their hips, shoulders,
the great masonry structures used to host grand battleground, a sacred place, a portal between head and knees as the use of feet or hands was
feasts, conduct rituals and display wrestling this world and the one beyond. Two opposing forbidden. Players would dash around the court
matches. However, their primary purpose and teams would face each other with the aim of with lighting-quick speed in an attempt to lead
most popular attraction was the deadly Maya keeping the ball in play and, for an instant win, their team to victory, as a single wrong move
ball game of Pok-Ta-Pok. As the ancient game directing the ball through a high-mounted hoop. could mean the difference between life and death.

TH E BA LL
COU RT
The form of the court
changed very little over
2,700 years. Although the
variations in size between
courts was massive, the
shape remained largely the
same. Ball courts were built
in an ‘I’ shape with a long
narrow alley flanked by UNIFORM
sloping walls with enclosed Players would traditionally wear
end-zones. The Chichén Itzá loincloths with leather hip guards.
ball court was the largest at Occasionally, further protection would
a massive 96.5 x 30m. come in the form of kneepads and a
thick wood or wicker girdle that would
also help to propel the ball with more
force. Elaborate ceremonial headdresses
were also worn, though likely only for
special, ritual occasions.

STEEP
STEPS
Unique to the Maya
ball game are the
steps, which serve as
a backdrop in many
murals. Although
their purpose has not
been confirmed, it is
thought they could
© Sol 90 Images

have played a part in

a separate game, or
that they were used
in the human sacrifice
ceremonies following
some games.

62
 Secrets of the Maya

A R T WO R K STON E RI NGS
The walls of the court were The courts featured vertical stone rings on each side of
plastered and brightly painted, the court. If the ball passed through the ring, a decisive
featuring many stone reliefs. These victory was awarded to the scoring team. However, as
murals would tell the tales of games the rings were barely bigger than the ball in play and
that had been played in the arena, were set high above the playing field – for example, 6m
and scenes of captives and sacrifice at Chichén Itzá – this was a rare event.
were also commonly depicted. Many
of these stone artworks survive
today and have provided insight into
the Maya.

A M AT T E R
OF LIFE
A N D D E AT H
Pok-Ta-Pok’s origins were rooted in
symbolism and myth that defined
much of the Maya society. The myth
surrounding the game tells the tale
of the hero twins who defeated
the lords of death in the ball game
and tricked them into decapitating
themselves. The game told the story
of the journey between life and
death and it was revered so highly
that it was used to settle disputes
within society. At times the game
was used as a means to defuse
conflicts to avoid warfare, with kings
playing against kings for domination,
RU BBER waging their battles on the ball court.
BA LL Sacrifice was an important and
Solid rubber balls were used revered aspect of the ball game and
in the game, usually made is depicted on the glyphs of many
from latex of the rubber ball courts. Sometimes captives
tree. These balls were not would be bound and forced to play
in uniform sizes but most a rigged ball game they could not
were the size of a volleyball. win, after which the loser would
However, they were be beheaded. However, practised
15-times heavier at 3-4kg. players were also sacrificed and
The balls were so heavy there is evidence to suggest that it
that the players risked was sometimes the winning team
serious injury or even death or captain who were chosen. The
if struck by them. Several idea of a quick death and instant
Maya artefacts have also passage to paradise was regarded
shown skulls used as balls. as an honour. However, sacrifice did
not take place in every game, as star
teams existed. It is likely that there
were two versions of the game,
one played as a sport with betting
involved and another as a sacred
re-enactment of the mythical story
complete with human sacrifice.

A ball-court mural depicting a scene

of human sacrifice

63
 Science, scriptures & sacrifice

3 Maya myths
© Look & Learn; Thinkstock

examined
THEY PROPHESIED THE END
OF THE WORLD
Experts analysed the Mesoamerican long count
calendar, used by the Maya, by using ancient
inscriptions. The calendar foretold that the end of
the cycle would fall on 21 December 2012. In the
Maya calendar this represented the end of the ‘fourth world’,
ushering forth a large worldwide change, something that
would change the face of the Earth forever.

Although it is correct that the end of the cycle

was a major event for the Maya, this would be
cause for celebration rather than concern. This
also didn’t mark the end of the calendar; there
would simply be another cycle after that one. After all, there
was a cycle before the one in question. Additional calendars
were also found that prove the Maya believed the world
would continue for at least another 7,000 years.

Conclusion: FALSE
There is no evidence of this doomsday theory anywhere
in Maya texts, and it demonstrates a misunderstanding of
Maya history and culture.

THEY DIDN’T DEVELOP IN MEXICO

It is highly unlikely that an ancient civilisation
could have prospered in the seasonal desert in
which the Maya are believed to. Other ancient
civilisations in Egypt, China and Mesopotamia all
developed along rivers, with access to stable sources of
drinking water. It is therefore more reasonable to assume
that the Maya developed elsewhere and then reached the
tropical lowlands toward the end of their history.

It is true that the Maya civilisation is thought to

have prospered in unusual territory – a seasonal
desert without a stable source of water – but to
deny their ability to do this is to ignore their
remarkable accomplishments. The Maya created an
ingenious system of storing water based on rainfall and also
engineered the first water-pressure system. Additionally,
there is evidence from archaeological excavations that the
Maya developed many skilful methods of dealing with their
harsh environment.

Conclusion: FALSE
There’s no evidence to back up this myth – countless
archaeological finds place the Maya firmly in the Mexican
lowlands for thousands of years.

THEY WERE A PEACEFUL PEOPLE

The Maya were an incredibly developed society
for their time. They were primarily concerned
with intellectual pursuits such as astronomy,
mathematics and writing. They believed in a life
force that unites all things and had great respect and faith in
the power of nature, with healing practices that
demonstrated this. The Maya also lived in dispersed, self-
sufficient city-states with a strong focus on agriculture.

Recent discoveries and newly deciphered

writings show a very different side to the
pacifists the Maya were once believed to be,
indicating they often fought and warred between
themselves. The individual rulers of the city-states were
eager to expand their territory and they would do this
through war and bloodshed. Fortified defences and artistic
depictions of war as well as the discovery of weapons all
contribute to the theory that the Maya were regularly
involved in violent warfare.

Conclusion: FALSE
The Maya were not any different to the great majority of
ancient civilisations, and war was the driving force for much
of their cultural change.

64
 Secrets of the Maya

FINAL
THE

M YST E RY
WHAT HAPPENED
TO THE MAYA?
In 800 CE the Maya civilisation was at its
peak, its city-states spread from southern
Mexico to northern Honduras, and millions
of citizens worshipped and prospered in
their towns. However, just 100 years later
all that remained of these magnificent
cities were ruins, and the people had fled
en masse. This has led some researchers
to believe the cities were plagued by a
sudden catastrophic event such as an
earthquake or volcanic eruption, but due
to the length of time of the decline this is
rather doubtful.
The theory of modern invasion or war
also seems unlikely to account for the
mass collapse that occurred. More likely is
the sudden introduction of a devastating
infectious illness that tore through the
population. But the most popular theory
is that the civilisation was hit by a severe
drought. Highly reliant on rainfall and
hunting, an environmental disaster such as
this would have proved catastrophic to the
Maya. However, there has been no definite
proof for any theory, so the Maya collapse
remains one of history’s biggest unsolved
mysteries to this day.

65
 Dance was believed to
© Alamy

release the dead from

the underworld

DA I LY L I F E
M AYA
FOR
THE
Life in the Maya world revolved around the key values of
strong family bonds, hard work and community

WRITTEN BY FRANCES WHITE

66
 Daily life for the Maya

©Wikipedia
In this artwork, a noble
forbids a man from touching
a container of chocolate

ociety in the Maya civilisation beautiful works of art for the nobles to enjoy.

S
formed a pyramid. At the base Although they were still regarded as commoners,
sat commoners, forming a crucial they managed to avoid the hard physical labour
foundation for all above them in the fields and instead spent their days making
– artisans, traders, nobles and jewellery, pottery and headdresses. This was often
leaders. Someone’s place on this pyramid not only a family trade, and every member of the family
determined their place in society but every aspect would be involved in creating the goods that
of their lives – from jobs and clothing to food and maintained their livelihood.
housing. While the nobles and leaders lived in
large palaces made of stone, commoners resided in CLOTHING
mud huts on the edge of the city in single rooms
designed to house the entire family, including Clothing was very much dictated by social class.
aunts, uncles and grandparents. Commoners Commoners were prohibited from wearing the
would even be buried beneath the floor of the same clothes as nobles. Commoners’ clothes
same house they had lived in for their entire lives. would be suited for hard physical labour,
comprising of simple garments – loincloths for the
JOBS men and blouses and long skirts for women. Both
were granted the protection of a cape-like blanket
For Maya commoners, the most common called a mantra if it was cold.
occupation was farming. Maya society relied on The wealthy wore colourful clothes, feathers
their farmers not only for sustenance but also and elaborate jewellery crafted by master artisans.
for trading. Farming was incredibly hard work, Embroidery, animal skins, furs and precious stones
as the Maya did not use metal tools or beasts of were all used to make a noble’s clothing stand out.
burden to help them. All the work was done by Hats showed high social standing – literally; the
simple stone tools or by hand. In order to combat higher the hat the better. Some hats were known
this, Maya farmers used ingenious techniques to to be even taller than the person wearing them.
help feed their large populations. For example, Jewellery was a major aspect of Maya fashion,
the three main crops of maize, beans and squash and those who could afford it would decorate
were grown together, as each provided support for their entire bodies with jewels. The rich wore
the others. They would also use slash-and-burn earrings, nose rings, necklaces and pins made of
agriculture, where they would burn the entire area gold, silver and gemstones, while the poor would
and plant in the rich ash. Not all commoners were wear the same but made out of bones, clay or
farmers; they also worked as porters, limestone even sticks. The most popular stone was jade,
quarriers and servants to nobles. The nobles thought to represent life and growth. Tattoos were
would usually fulfil the more revered roles of also popular, as the Maya believed that any body
priests, government officials, scribes or military modification demonstrated their high social status
leaders. The Maya believed that noble heritage to the gods.
was passed down in blood and that this gave Crossed eyes were seen as attractive, and
the nobles a greater link to the gods than the parents would try and force this upon their
© Wikipedia Commons

common man. This made social escalation nigh- children by hanging a stone from a string
Chocolate became such on impossible for commoners. between the baby’s eyes attached to a headband.
a crucial aspect of Maya
society that it was woven Another key role in Maya society was the They also desired long noses with a pronounced
into the creation myth artisan class. They were employed to create beak, and many would use an artificial nose

67
 Science, scriptures & sacrifice

art in textiles to fund the bountiful trade networks.

It was not unheard of for women to work as
farmers, and in some areas as herders, raising deer
herds to feed the population.

CHILDREN

The birth of a child was a hugely important

moment in Maya society, not only as a sign of good
fortune but also of wealth. All children were given
a childhood name by a priest, but the nickname
bestowed by their family was what they commonly
went by. Children had a strict path to follow in life.
The key value which they were expected to uphold
was to respect and help their elders. A strong work
ethic that could be used to better the community
was also an important aspect. From the age of five
or six children were given the responsibility of
contributing to their families. This crucial age was
marked for boys by a white bead being woven into
their hair, while girls received a red shell to wear
© Wikipedia Commons

at their waist. These symbols of purity were not to

be removed until they engaged in a ceremony that
would mark the end of their childhood, usually
This artwork shows a Maya
noble being painted the around the age of 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl.
popular red shade Girls and boys would both follow their respective
parents to learn their trade. Girls would be
bridge to achieve this hooked shape. Another encouraged to perform household duties such as
unusual beauty standard was pointed teeth, cooking, spinning yarn, weaving and cleaning.
and commoners and nobles alike would file Meanwhile, boys would be taught the art of farming
their teeth to sharp points. If they could afford it as soon as they reached the age of five.
they’d have precious stones drilled into them too. Although girls would live with their parents
Body paint was another technique used to until they were married, boys were expected to be
determine a Maya’s role in society. Black was independent once they reached adolescence. Young
used for unmarried men, blue for priests, bands unmarried men would live together in houses until
of red and black for warriors, and red was a they were matched with a wife. These marriages
popular shade for all. were almost always arranged and did not occur
until men were 18 and the girls at least 15. The
WO M E N newly married man’s duty did not end there; after
marriage he was expected to live with his wife’s
Despite being subordinate to men, women parents and assist his new father-in-law on the
played a much more central role in Maya society farm for up to six years. This follows the key Maya
than previously believed. There were female tradition of respecting and looking after the elders
rulers, usually as regents for their young sons in the community and helped to build strong
or as widows to kings. Women also frequently familial bonds.
served the role of priestesses at specific sacred
sites, usually places of pilgrimage such as caves FOOD
and cenotes. These sites would draw not only
commoners but nobles, who would give praise Besides maize, other popular staples included
to the goddess Ix Chel, goddess of fertility, beans, squash, chilies, tomatoes, sweet potatoes,
midwifery and medicine. Priestesses also black beans and papaya. A typical Maya breakfast
fulfilled the role of fortune-tellers. would comprise of a porridge of maize and chilies
The most common role for Maya women called saka. Dumplings made from maize dough
was to take care of the household, which was filled with vegetables and meat would serve as
no small thing. The importance of childbirth a midday snack. The main evening meal would
was such that women were well respected for usually involve tortillas eaten with a stew of
© Wikipedia Commons

their role in it. Women also played an incredibly vegetables and, if they were lucky enough to afford
crucial part in maintaining the economy by way it, meat. Popular meat included fish, deer, duck and
Tamal colado was a typical Maya dish made
from corn dough mixed with turkey and of the textile industry. Women were spinners, turkey. The Maya were also known to eat dogs,
vegetables and served in a plantain leaf weavers and dyers, creating elaborate works of guinea pigs and armadillo.

68
 Maya instruments included
clay whistles, trumpets,
flutes and drums
© Wikipedia

“THE MOST POPULAR FOOD THE A N A-M A Z I E-I N G

MAYA INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD P OW E R
WAS CHOCOLATE, HARVESTED ONE THING UNITED ALL OF
MAYA SOCIETY – MAIZE
FROM CACAO TREES” Maize, or corn, was so central to Maya culture
that it intersected with almost every aspect of
This stucco head of a Maya king their lives. Maize grew well in the hot climate,
not only shows the incredible could be easily stored and was capable of
The most popular food the Maya introduced work of artisans but also the feeding the entire population single-handedly.
to the world was chocolate, harvested from cacao ideal qualities of beauty Maize formed a base for many popular meals
trees. The cacao seeds were seen as so valuable including tortillas, porridge and even drinks.
that they were traded like money, and chocolate The crop was also used in medicines to
was regarded as a gift from the gods themselves. combat ailments such as tumours, diabetes
Chocolate was a treat reserved for only those who and hypertension. The importance of maize
extended to religion, as the Maya believed that
could afford it – nobles. They would drink it in a
human beings were originally created from
frothy liquid form on a daily basis. Chocolate maize. One of the central gods of the Maya
was deemed so godly that it was sometimes religion was Hun Hunahpu, the maize god.
used as a replacement for sacrificial blood in This fascination with maize extended even to
religious ceremonies. Maya ideas of beauty. As an ear of corn narrows
near the top, an elongated head was seen as
E N T E R TA I N M E N T a very attractive feature. Maya would use a
process called trepanning to force newborns’
heads into this shape. Boards were attached to
Although most of a Maya’s time revolved around the head to press against the forehead to force
hard work to sustain the community, they also it to slope up and backwards. This was not
made time for entertainment. This entertainment limited to the nobility, and 90 per cent of Maya
mons

usually revolved around religious ceremonies, and skulls have been found to be elongated in this
edia Com

they enjoyed dancing, music and playing games. way, demonstrating just how important maize
was to the entire population.
© Wikip

One of the most infamous games was Pok-Ta-Pok,

where the players had to get a rubber ball to pass
through a hoop, with the losing team often being
sacrificed. The game held deep religious meaning,
symbolising victory over death for the victors, but
it was also sometimes just played for fun.
The Maya had many dances for different
purposes, including the shadow of the trees, the
monkey dance and the dance of the stag. Usually
s
© Wikipedia Common

these dances were offered as a form of worship to

the gods. Musical performances involved everyone
in society, from old to young and rich to poor, and
The discovery of the maize
it was not unheard of for these festivals to attract mountain, where corn seeds
over 15,000 spectators. could be found, still remains a
popular Maya tale to this day

69
CO OK L I K E
M AYA
THE

See how the ancient Maya made delicious, spicy foods –

from farm to fork

WRITTEN BY ALICE BARNES-BROWN

70
 Cook like the Maya

©Getty
This mural depicts Maya
men farming an all-
important cornfield

ith their hands still covered in reed mat, which in turn was suspended a couple

W
sticky corn dough, a Maya family of metres above the water level. This nutrient-rich
sits down for their evening meal. soil could yield two or three crops every year,
The matriarch watches as her which the Maya took full advantage of by planting
children greedily get at the grub, climbing beans around maize stalks and squash
while her husband patiently watches after a long plants at the base (which had the added bonus of
day at the farm. Their spread is fit for a king – preventing soil erosion). This system was so clever,
besides the stews and stodgy breads common it’s still used today in parts of Central America.
to most Maya homes, a hot cocoa drink bubbles Another farming technique widely used across
away on a fire. The smell of chocolate, chilli, fruits the Americas is terraced fields. To feed such a
and spices wafts through the village, drawing in mighty civilisation, the Maya needed space, and
visitors hoping for a bite. lots of it. When the flat land had run out, they
The villagers weren’t the only ones to appreciate rushed to the hills, carving out fields from the
it either. Maya food was a feast so divine even the mountainsides. These, too, were constructions of
haughty Spanish conquistadors were impressed great genius – stone walls prevented water runoff
by the range of meaty dishes, spiced fruits, fresh and soil erosion, while the Sun hitting the crops
vegetables and boozy drinks on offer. But to improved their flavour and growth.
discover how the Maya cooked up such a storm, When the Maya got really desperate for space
you have to start with the soil. to grow their grub, they chopped down parts
The staple of Maya cuisine was maize, which of the rainforest and burned what was left. As
©iStock

grew all across the Maya civilisation. High in the fire seared through ancient trees, ash fell
Much of Latin American cuisine today is
a fusion of Spanish and indigenous foods nutrients and carbohydrates while cheap and like snowflakes onto the soil, enriching it with
quick to produce, corn held a unique place in nutrients. This was good to grow maize for a
Maya society. The crop had its own god couple of years, but it would quickly wear out.
– Hun Huapu – whose corn-themed Of course, corn wasn’t the only thing the Maya
appearance is a common fixture in were experts at growing. Each house had a little
Maya hieroglyphs and art. The Popul patch of land, in which they grew fruits (papaya,
Vuh scripture even said that humans guava, avocado, tomato and peppers were some of
Wikipedia Loves Art participant “artifacts”

were originally made from corn, so it’s no the best loved) and vegetables (mostly squashes
surprise that it comprised 60 per cent of such as pumpkin, plus red and black beans) for
the Maya diet. From hearty atole to fluffy their own consumption. This meant each family
tortillas, corn was always at the table. had a very healthy diet, rich in protein and
Cornfields abounded throughout the vitamins as well as carbs and fat.
Maya countryside, but in a place where Most Maya food was plant-based, but make
mountains, rivers and rainforests took no mistake, they loved their meat, whenever
the place of arable land, farming it was they could spare the resources and time to get
difficult. Thankfully, the Maya’s craze for it. Deer, monkeys and armadillo were frequently
maize meant they found ways to plant their hunted, while birds such as quail and ducks also
favourite crop, even in tricky conditions. featured on the menu. In their yards, the Maya
A standout feature of Maya agriculture domesticated succulent turkeys, and they were
was raised fields, built above sodden ground even known to fatten up dogs for eating.
On this piece of pottery a citizen
offers a tamale to the gods to create fertile land. Mud from the bottom of a Fish were also a tasty addition to Maya stews
swamp or river was dug up and placed atop a – they were caught from the rivers and the seas

71
 Maya

Tamales consist of a dough

that is steamed inside a corn
husk. Fillings can include
vegetables, cheese, meat,
chillies and even fruit
©iStock

Without the Maya, we wouldn’t

have many of the ingredients
we consider basic today

©iStock
using traps, lines and nets, just as we do today. But But any cook worth their salt knows it’s not religious ceremonies, it was still very popular –
if the fisherman was feeling lazy, he’d call upon just the seasoning that makes for a great dish. perhaps too popular, because the Spanish later
his trusty trained cormorant to help. These agile The Maya knew this too and cooked foods in banned it. In fact, the Spanish left their own mark
birds would snatch hapless fish in their beaks, but certain ways to optimise their flavour. Otherwise on Maya cuisine. They imported milk, cheese, beef,
their necks were tied so the cormorant couldn’t bland tortillas were cooked over a hot plate chicken, pork, rice, olives, raisins and so much
eat the catch for itself. The fisherman could then called a comal, adding a slightly singed flavour to more into Maya lands, and the locals took to them
take the day’s catch home for his dinner, where the masa (corn meal). Meats and fish, meanwhile, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Perhaps the
his wife would roast the fish over an open fire, were best cooked in the ‘pib’ – a hole in the most marked Spanish influence on Maya food
seasoning it with salt and spices. ground filled with white-hot charcoal, covered was the addition of milk and sugar to hot cocoa,
Indeed, the Maya were masters of mining salt over with leaves and dirt. This ensured that transforming it into the warming, sweet bedtime
and used it generously to preserve food for later. flesh was tender and fell off the bone. Steaming drink the world knows and loves today.
Dried, salted fish hanging on a line was a common was also an effective way to cook, particularly Today’s much-loved Mexican food is the result of
site at urban markets. Sodium was also important tamales – filled corn dough wrapped in plantain Spanish interference with traditional Maya dishes.
to Maya sauces and marinades – when mixed leaf or a corn husk and steamed until soft. Whether it’s the sour cream you generously lather
with sour orange and lime, it creates a sweet and Tamales were often the centrepiece to any on your rice-filled burrito, or the cheeses you heap
tangy taste on the tongue, perfect for adding extra Maya main meal, but that’s not all you’d find on your beany enchiladas, Mexican cuisine is a
flavour to meats. And the Maya were definitely at their table. Savoury, squash-based stews sit glorious mix of Maya and Spanish influences.
suckers for flavour. next to tortillas, strategically placed so the corn Some things don’t change though. Maya people
flatbread can mop up the juices when the stew living in modern-day Mexico and Guatemala
is long gone. There would also have been a wide remain faithful to their ancient recipes, cooking
variety of moles (sauces) laid out, from avocado- stews and tortillas using traditional methods. Even
based guacamole to a spicy tomato salsa. the recipes for famous Maya dishes like guacamole,
It’s the selection of beverages that truly salsa and corn tortilla have largely stayed the same.
astounds, however. Naturally, there’s a cup of hot As an added bonus, the spices the Maya used to
cocoa involved (provided you were rich, because amp up their culinary creations are now popular
the cocoa bean was so valuable it was used as the world over – chilli has since become a vital
currency). Maya chocolate was spiced with chilli ingredient to African, Indian and even European
and sweetened with honey and vanilla to make dishes. Simple vanilla, meanwhile, is by far the
it a sumptuous treat. Fruits could be squeezed world’s favourite flavour.
to make fresh juices too. For something a bit And whatever would we do without chocolate,
stronger, the Maya drank balche – a type of mead or tomatoes, or peppers, or pumpkins? A world
©iStock

Corn has always been a staple food in made from fermented tree bark and honeyed without Maya cookery is a world without both its
the diet of the Maya people
water. Though it was mainly consumed during key basics and some of its finest foods.

72
 Cook like the Maya

T O RT I L L A S
WRAP YOUR FAJITAS THE OLD-FASHIONED
WAY WITH THESE CORN WRAPS
INGREDIENTS: ST E P S :
• 150g masa harina (cornmeal) 1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Knead to get
• 100ml lukewarm water rid of any lumps.

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil 2. Break up the dough into golf ball-sized pieces and,
using a rolling pin, roll each piece into a flat round. It
• Pinch of salt
should be about the thickness of a coin.
3. In a lightly oiled frying pan, fry each tortilla for about
30 seconds on each side.

kc
to
4. Place on a plate and wrap with tea towels to keep the

iS
©
tortillas warm.

AT O L E
STAY WARM WITH THE ULTIMATE MAYA COMFORT DRINK
INGREDIENTS: ST E P S :
• 720ml water 1. Toast the masa harina in a pan over a low heat. When it
• 250ml full-fat milk starts to brown add in the water, whisking constantly.

• 65g masa harina (cornmeal) 2. When it begins to bubble add the milk, sugar, cinnamon
and vanilla. Bring to a simmer.
• 50g dark brown sugar
3. Whisk constantly for about five minutes until thick.
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
Taste a little, and add more sugar if you like.
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
4. Whisk bubbles into the top and pour into mugs.

kc
to
iS
©
TA M A L E
THESE CORN (ISH) PASTIES ARE GREAT TO EAT ON THE GO
INGREDIENTS: ST E P S :
1. In a pot, simmer the black beans, garlic, chili powder,
FOR THE BEAN FILLING: chillies, and pour in some water so that it rests
• 400g black beans, dried approximately two inches over the top of the beans. Bring
• ½ tsp chili powder to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.
• 4 fresh chillies, sliced and diced 2. Add the salt and continue to cook until the beans are
tender when poked with a fork.
• 1 tomatillo, chopped
3. Drain the mixture of any excess liquid and add the
• 1 tbsp salt
chopped tomatillo.
4. To make the tamale dough, mix the masa harina with the
F O R T H E TA M A L E : salt. Add the warm water slowly, stirring continually.
• 500g masa harina (cornmeal) 5. Beat until there’s a fair amount of air in the dough.
• 500ml warm water 6. Lay out a banana leaf or corn husk flat and spread two
• 1 tbsp salt tablespoons of tamale dough on it, leaving an inch border
on each side. Add one tablespoon of the bean filling.
• 15 banana leaves or corn husks
7. Fold the sides of the husk/leaf in towards the centre and
kc
to
iS

place the parcel in a covered steamer.

©

8. Do this for all the tamales and cook in the steamer for 45
minutes. Serve immediately!

73
 M A K E A M AYA
C HO COL AT E
DR I N K
Enjoy a bitter-sweet cocoa treat that’s worthy of the gods

efore it was made into bar form became the drink of choice for whoever could afford

B
and became the inspiration for it. Drunk out of elaborate vessels, the chocolate was
W H AT YO U ’ L L drumming gorilla adverts, chocolate used in major Maya events such as religious festivals
NEED was popular in Central America. and marriage ceremonies. The recipe was passed on
Consumed by the Maya, Theobroma to the Aztecs and then the Spanish conquistadors as
cacao, or cocoa tree seeds were used to make a the phenomenon went global, eventually becoming
MANO AND unique type of drink. The simple mix quickly the sugary product we know and love today.
METATE

T H E C AC AO T R E E THE WAITING GAME

Each tree only begins to bear fruit between the ages
of three and five, but it always produces flowers.
COMAL
GRIDDLE Pod location
PAN When it’s time, cocoa pods will sprout from
the trunk and branches of the tree, ready
for harvesting.

Inner goodness
Each pod contains between 30 and 50
cocoa beans as its seed. This is enough for
about seven chocolate bars.
COCOA
BEANS
Insect competition
During collection, watch out for midges on
the pods. They are small enough to fit on
the head of a pin.

CHILLI Grow your own

PEPPERS To save trekking into the forest again and
again, keep some seeds for yourself and
grow your own cocoa tree.

Don’t cook them all!

Cocoa beans could also be used as currency.
Four could buy a pumpkin and with ten
CUP you could get a rabbit.

74
 Make a Maya chocolate drink

01 Harvest the cocoa 02 Roast and remove husks

Cocoa beans are found in the fruit of the cocoa tree, called ‘pods’. When the Once the beans have dried out, you will need to roast them in a pottery griddle
pods turn yellow, they are ready to harvest. Once you have brought home a pan called a comal. This will crack the outer shells and allow them to be removed
basketful, scoop out the beans from the flesh and leave them to ferment for five easily. To do this, you can use a technique called ‘winnowing’ in which the beans
to six days. They will then need to be spread out on an exterior surface to dry. are tossed into the air. Ensure that all the husks are removed to prevent bitterness.

04 Add spices and flavour

If cooked as it is, the chocolate can taste
quite bitter, so you will need to add plenty of
flavourings to make sure it will suit your tastes.
You could chop up some chilli peppers and
throw them in for a fiery treat, or stir in some
honey for a sweeter one. You will also need to
add water and cornflour to the paste before it is
ready to be heated.

03 Grind the beans

Now collect the inner ‘nibs’ ready to be ground. You
will need to work the nibs as much as possible using
good old elbow grease with a ‘mano’ stone and a
‘metate’ stone mortar. When the nibs resemble no
more than a paste, they are ready to be prepared for
heating. It can take three to six hours of grinding for
a really smooth paste to be achieved.

05 Bring to the boil

The paste now needs boiling, so put it back in the
griddle pan over an open flame. Be careful not to
burn it or it’s game over for your chocolate drink. 06 Cool and serve
Simmer until the sweet smell of cocoa fills the air, The mixture should be served cold. The result will be a thick, tasty sludge of chocolaty goodness! If grand vessels
then make the mixture as frothy as possible by aren’t available, earthenware cups will do just fine, but remember, presentation is everything. If it all somehow
tossing the concoction between two bowls. goes wrong, the beans can be used as currency, so you can trade the leftovers for materials or animals.

75
Free-standing carved stones
were commonplace in Maya
civilisation – this one is
located in Pusilhá, Belize

M AYA
W R I T I NG
Classic Maya writing consisted of a complicated series
of inscribed glyphs

WRITTEN BY DAVID CROOKES

76
 Maya writing

eciphering the hieroglyphic writing

D
system of the Maya has proven to
be a difficult task for scholars. For
several centuries they scratched
their heads in bewilderment at
the image sequences that adorned surviving
public stone monuments, ceramics and bones.
What’s more, in seeking to get to the bottom of
such writing – which was also carved into wood
or committed to bark-paper folding books called
codices – they were led down many an incorrect

my
la
path for far too long.

©A
Indeed, it is only relatively recently that scholars
have been able to make sense of Classic Maya. Maya people would play a sport using
a rubber ball. This disc was set in
They have been able to better study the three the floor of the court and the text
Mayan languages that were written down: Ch’olan, indicates the date of dedication
Tzeltalan and Yucatec. But in each case the Maya
script displayed a high level of sophistication and At the system’s simplest level, you could look at
complexity, and historians are still not quite at the a glyph and instantly know what it was denoting:
stage of understanding it all. a jaguar, perhaps, or a snake, mountain or god.
In fact, it was only in 2005 that the origins On the other hand, a glyph may be made up of
of the Maya script was dated with any great syllables, representing sounds combining to form
certainty – taking it back to about 300 BCE, which words, and this is where things became a touch
is roughly at the start of the Classic period that more complicated, especially because logograms
ran between 900 and 250 BCE. Prior to 2005, and syllabograms could be combined too.
common wisdom suggested it had evolved from It was certainly possible to write the same
the similar Isthmian script that was in use by word in different ways – jaguar, to retain an
the Olmec culture from about 500 BCE. But the example, could be made up phonetically if the
earliest identifiable Maya inscriptions found at San writer preferred not to use a logogram. Sometimes
Bartolo in northern Guatemala caused a rethink, dissimilar logograms would mean the same thing
pointing to Maya involvement in the Preclassic as well. With single ideas able to be represented in
cultures of literacy. multiple ways and some glyphs representing more
A major breakthrough in the study of Maya than a single phonetic sound, context would play
writing came in the 1950s, courtesy of Russian a big part in how they were deciphered.
linguist Yuri Knorozov. He had been studying the Yet, since each of these logograms and
work of the French missionary and ethnographer syllabograms were hugely artistic, the end results
Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, who, in became things of beauty, not least because there
1963, announced the discovery of a 16th-century was a great deal of flexibility in the way the words
manuscript written by Diego de Landa, a Spanish could be created. At the heart of each one would
©Alamy

bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of be the main sign, with other signs known as
Yucatán, in Mexico. affixes often tagged on, forming a glyph block.
Found at the Royal Academy of History in There could be anything between two and five
Madrid, Brasseur de Bourbourg had accepted combined glyphs with the affix positioning – to
that the text – Relación de las cosas de Yucatán – the top, left, right or bottom of the main – affecting
catalogued Maya words and phrases, and that it the meaning.
accurately corresponded Mayan glyphs to Spanish To make things a little easier for the reader and
alphabetical letters. But Knorozov was less certain. the scribes, there were more than 1,000 different
His diligent study found that De Landa was Maya signs, and yet just a third to half would
actually corresponding the glyphs to phonetic only ever be used at a single point in time. The
values rather than letters. It was a breakthrough way they were written and read was consistent
that led to greater understanding over the too. Although they were arranged glyph block
following decades. by glyph block in a grid-like pattern, they were
It soon became clear that the Maya writing actually combined in paired columns of two.
system made use of logograms in the main – that In each case, the reader would start from the
is, a set of written characters that each represent top-left glyph block in the first column. They
a specific word or phrase. Since the Maya people would scan their eyes right to the next block along
understood that it would be near-impossible in the second column, and then move down to
to have one glyph for every item, concept and the first column of the second row, taking in the
emotion they could think of, they also made use glyph block to the right before zig-zagging down
This writing represents of syllabic glyphs. These were related to phonetic once more.
signs and meant that anything the Maya could say When those first two columns came to an end,
©Alamy

ancestors communicating
from the sky to the world
could also be written down. the eyes would scan straight back to the top of

77
 Spanish bishop Diego de Landa
destroyed much of the Maya
language, and yet his text, Relación

©Getty
de las cosas de Yucatán, has helped
scholars decipher Maya scripts

Codex, which dates to the 13th or 14th century and

describes local history and astronomical tables over
its 78 pages. The Madrid Codex, meanwhile, has 112
pages and also contains astronomical tables along
with almanacs and horoscopes designed to assist
Source: Wikipedia Commons ©Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata

Maya priests in their rituals and ceremonies.

Rituals form the bulk of the 22-page Paris Codex
too, but perhaps the most interesting of the four
is the Maya Codex of Mexico, formerly the Grolier
Codex, which emerged in a private collection in the
1960s. Made from tree bark and dating to about the
These Maya glyphs are on 10th and 11th centuries CE, the book attracted much
display at the National Museum debate over whether or not it was genuine, but
of Anthropology in Mexico,
having been recovered from an experts declared it authentic in 2018. With only ten
archeological site in the northern pages, it is now the oldest surviving codex.
Yucatán Peninsula
Such works, alongside more matter-of-fact
sculptural inscriptions, have been hugely helpful.
the grid, this time to the third column. Again, the attached for nouns, as well as transitive and When they are decoded, they help tell us much
order would be right, then down to the second intransitive verbs. about the gods, royals, scribes, buildings, places,
line of the third column, right and down again. As time went on, so the writing evolved. There food and time periods of the Maya population. More
This would continue until the text came to an is evidence that some symbols were simplified so, experts, who stepped up efforts hugely in the
end, having moved to the fifth and sixth columns, while others become more artistic, but clear 1980s and 1990s, now know the phonetic value of
seventh and eighth, ninth and tenth, and so on. communication was seemingly crucial, which more than 85 per cent of the glyphs, even though
Through their writings, the Maya could explore is why we see a greater abundance of symbols they don’t understand the meaning of them all.
objects and actions in sentences that typically representing whole words. Even so, reading was Mayan language dictionaries are building up nicely,
followed a Date-Verb-Subject structure. They were not a widespread skill among the Maya people. and more than 90 per cent of Maya texts can be
able to make use of plurals, point to numbers and Educated nobles and priests were well versed in read with reasonable accuracy.
include adjectives and prepositions. There would the written language but, while it would have And yet, had it not been for the prohibition of
also be clear pointers towards how a glyph block been largely alien to most, recognisable symbols the Maya writing system following the Spanish
should be pronounced, while pronouns were would have held strong clues as to the content. conquest, there would certainly be a lot more
The use of the system was helped by the material available. Although the languages
reverence it attracted. De Landa thought that continued to be spoken, Maya texts were widely
the Maya believed writing to have been the destroyed in the 16th and 17th centuries, and this
invention of the upper god and creator deity, is why there are just four codices in existence and
Itzamna – a belief the Catholics suppressed as why scholars have to rely on remnants of text on
idolatry – and that it was generally used to record pottery and monuments.
declarations of the kings and queens rather Many examples are preserved in museums,
than as a creative endeavour. In fact, most of but the world would have known so much more
the ancient texts – or at least those that have had the knowledge of the writing system been
survived – are centred on events. They looked retained. With great diligence and much study
at what was happening and when it took place, over the past few decades, however, advances have
albeit as a way to reinforce military power and been rapid, and there have been new discoveries.
Maya people would to paint leaders in a positive manner, particularly These, in particular, have brought fresh insights
inscribe or paint text on on stone monuments. into the ways astrology impacted on Maya religion
pottery; many examples
©A have been found in tombs
There are also four known books, or codices. and prophecies. There is the potential for further
l am
y The once-oldest surviving is the Dresden revelations to come.

78
 Maya writing

G ET T O G R I P S
W I T H M AYA S C R I P T
THEY MAY LOOK LIKE RANDOM PIECES OF
ART, BUT MAYA SCRIBES WORKED TO A SET
CONVENTION WHEN WRITING

THE M A IN SIGN DIFFERENT SY LLA BLES

1 Each one of these glyph blocks was created in
a similar way, with signs connected together to
form words. The largest component in a block is
2 Some images are logograms and have a specific
meaning. Others are syllabograms, or phonetic signs –
these can be combined to create any word and attached to
referred to as the main sign. logograms too. Numbers are depicted as well.

2
5
3

EASY REA DING A C A RT O U C H E

3 Texts were intended to be read in paired

columns, starting with the first two in a
4 Some designs were surrounded by
an ornate frame called a cartouche.
This would indicate a date using a 260-
grid, reading left-to-right, before moving on to day sacred calendar.
the second two until the end.

DIFFERENT A FFI XES

5 In addition to the main sign, other symbols could be
added as affixes. Those to the left of the main sign were
prefixes. Those above were superfixes, below are subfixes
Discovered in 1931 in
Yaxchilán, Chiapas, Mexico,
this Maya lintel dates back
and, to the right, postfixes.
to between 600 and 900 CE
©Getty

79
Many of the impressive
temples of the Maya were
built over the tombs of
important figures

M AYA
M Y T HOL O GY
R E L IGION
AND

For 3,000 years the gods and myths of the Maya united
them with stories, rituals and sometimes bloody sacrifice

WRITTEN BY BEN GAZUR

80
 Maya mythology & religion

The Maya codices contain

images of their gods that
help to identify carvings
found at Maya sites

he Maya were not, and are not, Although it is possible now to decipher much

T
a people unified by a single of the remaining text written by the Maya,
government. Over the 3,000 understanding the metaphorical meanings behind
years of their history what has their religious works is not so easy. Much remains
tied the Maya together is their opaque. What we do know about Maya religion,
shared language, culture and religion. The world though, reveals a lot about the classical age of the
of the ancient Maya was alive with gods, spirits Maya people.
and mythology, so religion played a vital role
in everything from the construction of cities to THE GODS
the planting of crops. To understand the Maya
properly we must understand the faith that The gods of the Maya were fluid beings. With
shaped their lives. multiple forms of representation and a raft of
To speak of Maya religion though is somewhat names, it can be hard for us to follow which god is
misleading, as everything undergoes evolution, which. Itzamma was shown variously as a young
and religion is no exception. Over the millennia man, an old man, and sometimes with the body
the stories the Maya told themselves must have of a bird. Within the iconography of the Maya,
changed, and myths must have had variations at various points he can be associated with the
from city to city. A comparison of these alternate god of maize, a creator god, and with imagery
versions of myths would be enlightening, but of sacrifice. Was he all of these things, none of
unfortunately we have comparatively little. them, or is our concept of a god incompatible with
Though the Maya possessed the most ancient Maya beliefs?
sophisticated writing system to develop in the Because of the flexibility of the Maya gods,
Americas, examples of it, especially those touching not even scholars can agree on the number of
on religion, are rare. The coming of the Spanish known gods. One nameless god is often depicted
saw attempts to convert the native peoples to the in the dark underworld with an obsidian knife
jealous god of the Christians that featured the and surrounded by bones. This could be a form
wholesale destruction of their religion. of Ah-Puch, a god of death, who was said to rule
Diego de Landa is one of our best sources for over the gloomy afterlife, but it could also be an
Maya religious beliefs and practices at the time unknown deity.
of the conquest, but, ironically, is himself one of Our knowledge of the gods, where it is not
the reasons we have so little material evidence. recorded in the scant writings of the ancient Maya
A Franciscan who rose to become Bishop of like the Popol Vuh and Books of Chilam Balam,
Yucatán, he found to his horror that a Catholic comes mainly from their sculptures. From sets of
Maya was still offering worship to native deities. repeated iconographic features we can build up
In the ensuing inquisition, Landa confiscated all theories of what gods represented. Buluc Chabtan
the books and native idols he could. In the main was a god of war and sudden death, shown with
square of the city of Mani, Landa had the books black around his eyes and down one cheek. From
and statues piled together and burned. Landa comparing images of this god we can see him
claims that he burned 27 books of native religion. burning buildings, roasting people and fighting
To put into perspective all that was lost on that with the agricultural god Ekchuah.
fateful day for both the Maya and future scholars, The key roles of the gods for the Maya were in
The Maya gods often
mixed human and animal today we only have three complete codices left creating and sustaining the universe. If the gods
features to represent that were written in Maya hieroglyphics. failed to uphold the natural world, then disasters
aspects of nature outside
of human control

81
like floods, famines and earthquakes would be the
terrible result.

C R E AT I N G T H E WO R L D

In the beginning there was water. This is what the

Popol Vuh tells us about the Maya conception of
the creation of the universe:
“Whatever there is that might be is simply not
there: only the pooled water, only the calm sea,
only it alone is pooled... Only the Maker, Modeller
alone, Sovereign Plumed Serpent, the Bearers,
Begetters are in the water, a glittering light...
They are great knowers, great thinkers in their
very being.”
From the inchoate waters of the original
chaos, the gods brought forth all that exists. The
lush South American jungle that they created,
however, did not please them. “Why this pointless
humming? Why should there merely be rustling
beneath the trees and bushes?” The gods then
set animals into the jungle. Still they were not
pleased. What is the point of being a god if you
cannot be worshipped? “So now let’s try to make a
giver of praise, giver of respect, provider, nurturer,”
they decided.
The first humans were made by the gods out of
mud, but these poor beings had crumbling bodies
that dissolved in the rain. Next the gods tried
wood. These people moved and had children,
but there was nothing in their wooden minds or
hearts, and they had no conception of the gods
who had created them. A great flood was sent to
wash them away. It was only on the third attempt
that the Maya gods finally made the current race
of humans. Taking malleable dough made from
maize, they sculpted us and gave us life. For
the Maya, maize was not merely a key crop that
staved off starvation – it was the stuff of life itself. Cenotes (natural wells) were
The gods had created the Four Fathers who important as both sources of
water and places of worship
would found the great lineages of the Maya. After
making a race to worship them, the gods then
set down exactly what forms of worship these It was in front of images such as these and in
people would perform to honour, supplicate and temples that worship took place. Worship of the gods
invoke the deities who had created them. was necessary because humans owed a debt to the
divinities. The gods had created humanity, and so
R I T E S A N D R I T UA L S they had to be propitiated to ensure its survival. This
debt could be paid in many different ways, from song,
For the Maya who lived before the arrival of the to dance, to offerings of crops and bread, and even
Spanish, their native gods were ever-present in on the Maya ball game court. The most powerful
their lives. Images of the gods were to be found offerings, however, were those of blood.
everywhere. Landa, in his account of native In the text of the Popol Vuh there is a tale of the
religion, details the ubiquity of divine symbols Heroic Twins who descend to the underworld. After
in Maya culture. “So many idols did they have surviving being burned to death and ground into
that their gods did not suffice them, there being dust, the gods of death invite the pair to show off their
no animal or reptile of which they did not make skills again. Xbalanque obliges by decapitating his
images, and these in the form of their gods and brother Hunahpu and then cutting out his heart – the
goddesses... As regards the images, they knew familiar methods of human sacrifice to the Maya. He
perfectly that they were made by human hands, then brings his brother back to life using magic. The
perishable, and not divine; but they honoured gods of death then ask for a turn. The Twins agree
them because of what they represented.” and kill the gods of death, but they do not bring them

82
 HONOU RING
THE DEA D
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
SHARED A POWERFUL
CONNECTION – AND IT WAS
FOR THE LIVING TO PLACATE
THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE
The Maya had a profound respect for death
and for those that had passed from this world.
A variety of burial methods and rituals were
employed throughout the course of Maya
history, but all of them show a tender care for
the deceased.
Many Maya buried their dead underneath
the floors of their homes. By including the
dead within the household, it strengthened
the family’s bonds to the past and may (to
Maya minds) have offered protection from evil
spirits. With the burials, grave goods would
be deposited, including jade and stone money
meant to pay for their needs in the hereafter.
For poor Maya, sometimes the only goods they
carried into the afterlife was a tool marking
their profession.
Elite burials could be far grander, and many
of the pyramids and temples now standing
began as graves for nobles and kings. At Tikal,
the tomb of Jasaw Chan K’awiil I was used as
the basis of the large pyramid constructed by
his son Yik’in Chan K’awiil. These pyramids
acted both as memorials and places of worship.
Cremation became popular in the centuries
before Spanish arrival. Sometimes the ashes
of the dead would be placed within a statue.
On days when religious festivals took place,
relatives would offer up food to the statue and
the shade of the departed.

back to life afterwards. From that day onwards religious rites, in which participants would not eat
there would be no more human sacrifices to gods of meat or have sex in order to purify themselves.
the underworld; they would have to make do with Emulating the gods in appearance was another
incense and animals. common method of worship. The elites of Maya
Far more common, it would seem, than cities dressed in the same way that gods were
sacrificing others, was to offer up your own blood shown in carvings. Children sometimes had their
as a sort of self-sacrifice and mortification. Carvings skulls bound to create an elongated head. This
show people making incisions into their own practice was known in many ancient cultures, but
bodies, and Landa tells us, “At times they sacrificed for the Maya it seems to have been an attempt to
their own blood, cutting all around the ears in strips mould the child’s skull into a shape similar to those
which they let remain as a sign… They anointed the depicted in images of the gods.
statue of the demon [god] with the collected blood.” While everyone took part in the worship of the
Sacrifices were just one way the gods could be gods, it was to priests and diviners that the main
called on. Burning incense made from tree sap was duties fell. The priests acted as interpreters between
another. We are told travellers would carry incense the gods and humans. There were different levels
and a little plate to burn it on. When they rested for of priest who performed different functions. High
the night they would erect three flat stones and priests formed a hereditary class who wrote the The Maya placed the
burn their offering to the god Ekchuah to ensure a religious texts, appointed other priests and acted as cremated remains of their
ancestors in statues or
safe journey. Fasts were also performed before advisors to lords and kings. Lower priests were highly decorated urns

83
Science, scriptures & sacrifice

resident in each town and performed rituals for

individuals and families. Priests who could divine
the future were known as ‘Chilam’. Landa describes
how the Chilam “were charged with giving to all
those in the locality the oracles of the demon [god],
and the respect given them was so great that they
did not ordinarily leave their houses except borne
upon litters carried on the shoulders.” Interpreting
the complex sacred calendar was one of the central
tasks of the priesthood. Over time the kings of the
Maya kingdoms took on priestly roles that gave them
spiritual as well as temporal authority.

A M AYA P I L G R I M AG E

One of the features of Maya religion that most

impressed the Spanish was their practice of
pilgrimage. Being a familiar feature of Catholic
worship, the invaders were able to understand the
desire to visit holy places. “They held Cozumel
and the well at Chichén Itzá in as great veneration
as we have in our pilgrimages to Jerusalem and
Rome; they visited them to offer gifts, especially
at Cozumel, as we do at our holy places; and when
they did not visit they sent offerings.”
In the regions controlled by the Maya, water
could be a scarce resource, as what rain fell was
readily absorbed into the limestone of the ground.
Wells to provide water had to be sunk deep into
the earth and cisterns were dug to capture what
rain they could. Naturally occurring wells, called
cenotes, like the one at Chichén Itzá, became major
sites of pilgrimage. Worshippers would honour the
gods by leaving valuable items – or occasionally
casting people in as human sacrifices. The Spanish
were finally convinced that there were not great
stores of gold belonging to the Maya when they saw
that no gold had been left at these cenotes.

L I F E A F T E R D E AT H

Death was ever present to the Maya, but it was

never seen as the end of their lives. Landa records
that the Maya had a very strong belief in the
immortality of the soul and in life after death.
The afterlife was split into two parts. The heavens
had 13 levels where those who were sacrificed or
who had died in battle, childbirth or the ballgame
went. If you were worthy of going to the good place
after death, you would enter “a place where nothing
would give pain, where there would be abundance
of food and delicious drinks, and a refreshing
and shady tree they called Yaxché, the Ceiba tree,
beneath whose branches and shade [you] might rest
and be in peace forever.”
On the other hand, those who died ignobly or
were wicked would enter a dark and forbidding
place known as Mitnal or Xibalba. Here they “were
tormented by demons, by great pains of cold and
hunger and weariness and sadness.” Because it was
believed that the immortal soul could not perish,
The Madrid Codex is one
of the few surviving Maya
people either faced an eternity of peace or an
texts left and reveals much existence of unrelenting agony after their death in
about their gods the mortal world.
84
 Palenque

M ETET
HE
GODS A H PUCH
One of the gods of war. Associated with
darkness, death and calamity, yet also a
patron of children and new endeavours.
WITH SO MANY GODS IT IS HARD Also known as Cizin – The Stinking One –
TO KNOW WHO TO PRAY TO, BUT as the personification of decomposition.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE MAJOR
DEITIES OF THE MAYA
It is often stated that there are around 160
Maya gods that we know of, but pinning down
an exact number is difficult due to the lack of
sources and quicksilver nature of these deities.
Among the heavenly host that we do know
about, however, are some fascinating figures.

I XC H E L
A goddess depicted as having powers over water but
also creating children and rainbows. Despite her role
in creating new life she is sometimes portrayed with
claws and live serpents, perhaps acting as a goddess
of war. Often shown as the companion of Itzamna.

ITZAMNA
This god was considered to be the first priest
and the figure who taught the Maya how to
write. All of the knowledgeable skills such as
medicine, art and agriculture were the gifts of
Itzamna. One of the most popular gods.

THE M A IZE GOD

Often associated with Hun-Hunahpu,
father of the Heroic Twins. Died but was
resurrected by his sons, just as maize is cut
Metropolitan Museum of Art

C H AC down but is reborn from the soil each year.

The god of storms and rain was a popular
deity for an agricultural people who always
lived on the edge of drought. One of the gods
who was honoured by offerings in the waters
of the natural wells called cenotes.

85
 S CI E NC E IN

M E S OA M E R IC A
How the Maya mapped the stars, performed complex
calculations, tamed their land and healed their sick

WRITTEN BY SCOTT DUTFIELD

Celestial bodies recorded by

the Maya were seen as gods.
The sun god, Kinich Ahau,
was thought to control
drought and disease

86
 Science in Mesoamerica

It is believed that the

Maya saw the Milky Way
as a pathway for souls to
travel to the afterlife

ong before Galileo Galilei first particularly bright planet caught the attention of solar eclipse and the majority of lunar eclipses –

L
looked through the lens of a the Maya: Venus. This planetary neighbour was regardless of whether they would be visible from
telescope, the Maya had been closely monitored, and its movements dictated Maya lands – for a period of 33 years. The table of
cataloguing the stars for hundreds the timings for their many religious rituals. The predictions was intended to be recycled after this.
of years. The Maya were highly Dresden Codex revealed that the Maya measured In fact, it could have been used up until the 18th
skilled astronomers, and their everyday life was the synodic period of Venus (how long it takes century: not bad for a manuscript that’s estimated
influenced by the movements of the Sun, Moon to return to the same observable position in the to have been written between 1200–1250 CE.
and other celestial bodies. night sky from the perspective of Earth) to be Venus’ cycle and eclipse events weren’t the only
The astronomical work of the Maya was well 584 days, only two hours off the modern-day calculations the Maya were able to make with
documented in a series of bark-paper codices, but calculations – an astonishing level of accuracy impressive accuracy. Using their complex solar
most of these were destroyed during the Spanish considering they had no telescopes. calendar, called the Haab’, the Maya calculated
conquest. There are only four surviving examples As well as documenting the movement of the that one Earth year lasted for 365.2420 days, while
left in the world today: the Paris, Madrid and Sun and other planets, the codices also contain a lunar month was found to be 29.5308 days.
Dresden codices and the Maya Codex of Mexico. predictions of when lunar and solar eclipses could These are remarkably close to the modern-day
Between the pages of the Dresden Codex, occur. As a deeply religious civilisation, the Maya values of 365.2425 days in a year and 29.53059
skywatchers recorded the movements of the considered an eclipse to be an ominous sign, days in a lunar month – amounting to errors of
different celestial bodies across the heavens. The one often interpreted and depicted as a demon just 43.2 seconds and 18.1 seconds respectively.
Sun, Moon and stars in the sky were attributed devouring the Sun or Moon. The predictions Although Maya astronomy focused
to the divine, each playing their role as gods, helped provide the Maya with warnings of when predominantly on tracking the movements of
watching over the land below. The Maya believed eclipses were likely to occur, allowing them to larger celestial bodies, many other night sky
(as did many until the 16th century) that Earth prepare for the rituals (very often blood sacrifices) observations were also documented in the Maya
was at the centre of everything. This meant when that they believed would keep them safe. The codices. While looking up towards the stars you
a planetary god appeared in the sky, it was a Dresden Codex contains predictions for every might recognise some of the many constellations
signal to the Maya below.
For example, the brightest being in the sky (the
Sun) was Kinich Ahau, the most powerful god in
Maya religion. By keeping track of Kinich Ahau’s
movements, skygazers observed and recorded
the yearly cycle of the Sun, including equinoxes
and solstices. The Moon, however, was believed to “THE SUN, MOON AND STARS WERE
be the goddess Ix Chel and was thought to send
Kinich Ahau to the underworld at night.
ATTRIBUTED TO THE DIVINE, EACH
The Dresden Codex also revealed detailed
charts of heliacal risings of many stars and
PLAYING THEIR ROLE AS GODS,
planets. This is when a star will annually rise
at the eastern horizon at dawn. However, one
WATCHING OVER THE LAND BELOW”
87
we use to map the night sky, such as the Greek
hunter Orion or the twins representing the zodiac
Gemini, for example. When looking at the same
sky around the 12th century, the Maya had their
own constellation characters. What we see as
Orion, they saw and mapped as The Turtle, and
Gemini corresponded closely to what they referred
to as The Owl. Much more than marking shapes
in the stars, constellations played a role in shaping
the Maya agricultural calendar. Due to the way
the Earth rotates around the Sun, during seasonal
changes different constellations appear in one
given place. This shift in star patterns signalled
either the warmer or cooler season that followed,
which the Maya used to their advantage when
growing food. Constellations were also used as
navigational aids when travelling at night.
While the Maya may not have had
observational aids such as telescopes, they did
have purpose-built observatories. One such
example, called El Caracol, can still be seen today
in the ruins of Chichén Itzá. At first glance it looks
rather similar to some modern-day observatories
– an elevated, cylindrical tower with a domed
top. El Caracol was constructed circa 900 CE,
and scholars believe it was a place for people to
view the celestial realm through precisely placed
holes in the dome, aligning perfectly with the
movements of their most-studied subjects, such
as the Sun and Venus. Unlike the other structures
in Chichén Itzá, the entrance of the El Caracol
faces 27.5 degrees north of west, which aligns with
Venus’ northernmost position in the sky. What’s
more, the diagonal line between the observatory’s
northeastern and southwestern corners aligns
with the summer solstice sunrise and the winter
solstice sunset. Their appreciation of Venus also The Dresden Codex, one of the surviving
influenced other aspects of Maya architecture. For Maya codices, contains astronomical tables
that were used to track celestial events
example, the Governor’s Palace (a royal residence)
in Uxmal was built in a prime location for viewing
of the ‘evening star’. made the Maya particularly vulnerable to long was found to induce a hallucinogenic state, and it
Their knowledge of the Sun, Moon and stars periods of drought, which historians believe was used to alter the level of consciousness during
meant that the Maya could predict the seasons, played a role in their collapse. rituals and healing ceremonies. The Maya typically
and this knowledge made them successful Similar to other Mesoamerican cultures, ingested extracts of other potent hallucinogenic
farmers. The Maya were largely an agricultural including the Olmecs and Aztecs, one of the plants such as Lonchocarpus and psychoactive
society, with the majority of people working the Maya’s most notable scientific achievements was mushrooms, sometimes even employing ritual
land. Thanks to a detailed calendar system, they producing stabilised rubber – thousands of years enemas to achieve a trance-like state.
knew when to plant and harvest different crops. before Charles Goodyear famously invented the As healers, the Maya developed several
The Maya also used a variety of innovative land- vulcanisation process. Native rubber trees were a innovative practices. Maya physicians used herbal
management techniques, such as terrace farming sacred symbol for the Maya people and provided remedies to treat common ailments such as
(to increase the amount of arable land area on them with a bounty of latex. After harvesting the athlete’s foot and digestive problems. They also
hillsides), raised field farming (to create small liquid latex from the trunk of the rubber tree, the employed sweat baths (similar to modern saunas)
islands of land in wet regions) and slash-and-burn Maya discovered that when mixing it with the to ‘cleanse’ the body of impurities. However, their
farming (to re-fertilise over-used land with the juice of another plant (the morning glory vine) most impressive medical developments were in
nutrients in ash). the latex didn’t dry into a brittle solid, as it would surgical procedures, from using casts to aid the
However, the Maya became so successful in naturally. Instead, the two reacted to form a healing of broken bones to implanting iron pyrite
farming that it may have been a factor in their bouncy material. The Maya used this material to tooth fillings and even stitching deep wounds
downfall. Better farming led to food security, make rubber balls for sports. with real hair sutures. The most knowledgeable
which promoted an increase in population, which Further exploring the properties of morning members of Maya society, known as shamans,
in turn led to further demand for food and over- glory vines, the Maya discovered another displayed a remarkable aptitude for understanding
exploitation of the land. A reliance on farming property they deemed useful. Morning glory the human body and how it healed.

88
 M AYA
M AT H E M AT I C S
DISCOVER HOW ONE
OF THE WORLD’S MOST
INNOVATIVE NUMERICAL
SYSTEMS WORKED
The Maya would not have been able to become
so proficient in astronomy, nor develop their
complex calendar system, without a firm
grasp of mathematics. Building on existing
Mesoamerican mathematical systems, the
Maya used a vigesimal counting system, which
is a base-20 system, rather than the decimal
base-10 system that we use today. Instead of
having defined numerals for the single digits,
such as 1, 2, 3 and so on, Maya numerals
consisted of a series of dots and horizontal
lines (see the examples in the image below). A
lone dot represented a value of one and a line
represented a value of five. In a similar way to
how we write numbers horizontally, working
from right to left from the ones, to the tens,
the hundreds and so on, the Maya wrote their
numerals in vertical tiers, working upwards as
values increased to the next power of 20. On
the bottom tier, they would write the values
up to and including 19 (four dots above three
lines). Then as the number increases dots
and lines are added to higher tiers vertically
in increments of 20 (201), 400 (202), 8,000
(203), 16,000 (204) and so on. For example, 29
would appear as four dots above one line in the
lowest tier and a single dot in the tier above,
while 429 would read as four dots above one
line in the lowest tier, a single dot in the tier
above and another dot in a third tier. Just as we
would write 429, representing 400+20+9, for
example, the Maya applied the same logic by
vertically combining the values of their numeral
glyphs. It’s also believed that Mesoamerican
cultures were among the first to develop the
concept of zero, and the Maya depicted it in
the numeral system as the glyph of a shell.
El Caracol at the ruins of
Chichén Itzá in Mexico is one of
the world’s oldest observatories

Maya numerals were made up of

simple combinations of dots and lines

89
 A RT AND

A RC H I T ECT U R E
The ancient Maya civilisation is no more, but its
creative contribution lives on

WRITTEN BY DAVID CROOKES

90
 Art & architecture

Many murals have been

R E C O R D I N G M AYA L I F E uncovered in the ruins of
Maya buildings, including
MURAL PAINTINGS UNCOVER ANCIENT this one found in the Pre-
Columbian Maya site of
MYTHOLOGY AND DAILY MAYA ACTIVITY Mayapán in the Mexican
state of Yucatán
Ancient Maya painted elaborate murals on the In 2009, however, archaeologists were
walls of many buildings, creating bold artworks excavating a pyramid mount structure at
that were both visually arresting and a reflection Calakmul, Mexico, when they discovered murals
of contemporary life. In the majority of cases, showing ordinary Maya going about their daily
these colourful murals would depict the lives of business. It was the first time mundane tasks such
the ruling class and they would typically highlight as preparing food had been seen in such a Maya
the rituals carried out by deities, acts involving mural. Four years later, archaeologists were again
royalty and battles. Archaeologists have seen vivid thrilled when they found murals on the walls
examples of these. Three rooms in an ancient of a work space for the town's scribe in Xultún,
ruin at a site called Bonampak in the rainforest Guatemala – the first time Maya art was found on
of Chiapas, for example, date to 790 CE and the walls of a house.
show vividly colourful images of war, sacrifice, That these even exist is lucky, though. Most
music, rituals and celebrations. The Painted Maya paintings have been destroyed by the area’s
Murals in the Pyramid of the Paintings in San hostile, humid environment, although those
Bartolo in Guatemala date to the late Pre-Classic coloured with the unique Maya blue pigment
period between 250 BCE and 250 CE and show (used until the 16th century) have avoided
mythological scenes relating to the maize god. becoming faded over time.

© Getty
A 9th-century fresco of a battle
discovered at the archaeological
site of Cacaxtla near the border
with the Mexican state of Tlaxcala

© Getty

91
Science, scriptures & sacrifice

S E T I N ST O N E
MONUMENTAL STONE SCULPTURES WERE INCREDIBLE HANDCRAFTED PIECES OF ART
Although wood carvings were once believed to be 400 BCE and were usually positioned close to altars. Most
common, very few examples have made it through to would show rulers, typically in the guise of gods, and
today. The Mirror-Bearer figure dating back some 1,425 artists would be commissioned to make them.
years to the Early Classic period is perhaps the best Sculptors would interpret their human subjects in a
preserved, but there will have been many symbolic naturalistic manner, and some would sign their work.
wooden depictions of gods and kings lost to time, as well They would sculpt using chisels, blades and polishing
A cylindrical vessel as many of those made of fired clay, shell and bone. stones, working in some cases to incredible detail on
possibly depicting a Stone sculptures, on the other hand, have survived in structures that could measure more than ten metres in
special event in the
life of a Maya ruler
far greater numbers. Most abundant were stelae – tall slabs total. Sculptures would also be created for wall panels
between 600 and found throughout the Maya region that were adorned or be fitted across doorways, and it was known for the
900 CE with writing and carvings. They had their origins around ornamental mineral jade to be used as a material too.

© Getty

92
 Art & architecture

DRESSED TO
IM PRESS
COLOURFUL AND WELL-
CRAFTED, MAYA TEXTILES
CERTAINLY STOOD OUT
All Maya women would learn to weave, but only
those of a high rank would be skilled enough in
the art to produce the finest clothes. Although
hemp fibre and pounded bark cloth were used,
the elite class would work with top- quality cotton
cultivated on the Maya lowlands, one naturally
brown and the other more white. The fibres
would be cleaned, spun into threads and dyed
vivid colours, Maya blue proving to be the most
prestigious. They would then be woven using a
backstrap loom – a primitive technology made up
of sticks, yarn and the body of the weaver.
This allowed for some very intricate pattern
weaves that would have been unique to particular
communities. The women would infuse the
cotton fabric with glyphs, shapes and images, and
they would use it to create loose-fitting, tunic-like
dresses called huipils. Each would have borders
around the openings and the hem, and they’d
usually be worn with a skirt (a corte) as well as a
Modern Maya continue decorated belt (faja). The higher the rank, the more
to weave their colourful elaborate the clothing; this can be seen in images
© Getty

materials using backstrap

looms at markets and sculptures of the elite classes.

C O M F O RTA B L E I N T H E I R S K I N
MAYA BODY ART WOULD BE A SIGN OF STAMINA AND BEAUTY
Tattoos were definitely not taboo among the Maya. In fact, they associated the deity Acat with the
practice, and they believed that decorating their body in the most elaborate of ways not only made
them look more beautiful but would place them firmly within the sphere of a god’s power and grant
them great status as individuals.
As such, a good number of men and women were more than happy to endure the intense pain of
a tattoo, and those who went through the process would ask Acat to bless the needles, ink and the
tattoo artist – not least because some would become very ill through infection, having had the design
painted and effectively pierced into their skin.
Top-choice tattoos were largely symbolic. They’d depict gods or spiritual emblems as well as
powerful animals such as eagles, plumed serpents and jaguars. Men would wait until they were
married before tattooing their whole bodies and faces, while women would confine
them to the upper body and keep them away from their breasts.
Sharpening of teeth, sometimes in combination with
© Alamy

designs engraved into the enamel, was also popular, as

were piercings of the ears, lips, septum and nose. Again,
this enabled a person to highlight their social status, with
the wealthiest wearing jewellery made from nephrite, jade The ancient Maya are
renowned for their
and jadite. Those of a high status would also try to force elaborate body art and
the visual condition strabismus (cross-eye) on their infants jewellery, with bone or
and seek to flatten their child’s forehead. wood often used
my
© A la

93
Science, scriptures & sacrifice

A cylindrical vessel possibly

POTTY depicting a special event
in the life of a Maya ruler
F O R P O T T E RY

© Alamy
between 600 and 900 CE

DECORATIVE CERAMICS CAME

IN MANY DIFFERENT SHAPES
In 2019, archaeologists were working at the site
of the former Maya city of Chichén Itzá in the
Mexican state of Yucatán when they came across
around 200 ceramic vessels dating back to about
1000 CE. They were well-preserved and included
155 braziers and incense holders bearing the
likeness of the rain god, Tlaloc. But then, the Maya
liked to make their pottery attractive, since they
were not just vessels to be used, they were objects
to be desired in both life and death.
Handmade using local clays and often
tempered with volcanic ash, the potters enjoyed
experimenting, and their ceramics evolved as they
became more skilled and receptive to changing
times. Plain-looking vessels would gain mottled
detail through processes such as altering the
temperature at which they were fired. Attention
was also paid to fine proportions, simplicity and
style, although there were attempts to make
ceramics particularly eye-catching, perhaps by
adding feet to create tetrapod bowls, moulding
items of varying shapes and sizes, or producing
items laden with painted symbolism. Some
would contain pellets so they could double as
instruments during meals.
Globular vessels called tecomates were always
popular (providing a good surface area for art too)
and many containers made in the form of animals
have been discovered. How much care and
attention went into a ceramic would often reflect
the status of the eventual owner – the elite classes
prized ceramics and gave them as gifts or placed
them at the centre of lavish feasts. The very best
pottery usually went with the owner when they
were buried, which is how many have been found.

Dating back
to 200 CE, the
addition of feet to
decorative bowls
was popular
among the Maya
in the Early
Classic period
© Alamy

94
 Art & architecture
Palenque

Source: Wikipedia Commons © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

The pyramid-shaped
El Castillo is a
standout example of
Maya architecture
at the Chichén Itzá
C O N ST R U C T I N G I C O N I C B U I L D I N G S archeological site

TOWERING MAYA ARCHITECTURE HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME

Maya architects were highly skilled and created splendid independent city-states full of impressive
towering pyramids, large palaces, decorative temples, ball courts and homes. The buildings would
be laid around a central plaza in disorderly clusters and would follow a general style, albeit with
some slight differences, from one region to the next.
Symbolism was important. El Castillo in the Mexican state of Yucatán, for instance, took the
familiar Maya pyramid form of square stone terraces leading up towards a flat top on which a
temple was built. Running along all four sides were 91 steps, which, in addition to the platform,
added up to 365 – the number of days in a Maya Haab’ year.
Such huge stairways and chambered buildings atop platforms were commonplace in Maya
design. So too were exteriors faced with stucco, colourfully painted and adorned with detailed
stone carvings, glyphs and statues honouring kings and the gods. There are more than 2,200
glyphs on every blocked step of the Hieroglyphic Stairway in Copán, dating back to 755 CE.
Most architecture used straight lines rather than curves, and buildings would typically be
topped with a corbelled vault like an inverted staircase, bridged by a single capstone. Sometimes,
they’d also reach for the skies: the four-storey Observation Tower at the palace-topped pyramid in
Palenque is a good example – the building also being notable for its fine bas-relief carvings.

95 95
 DESTRUCTION
98 D E AT H
THROES OF
A DY N A ST Y
War, peace and the collapse of
the Yucatán

1 0 4 M A N O F WA R
The life and legacy of the Spaniard
who fought for the natives

1 1 0 T H E S PA N I S H
ARRIVE
From across the endless ocean
ships bring a foreign people to the
Americas and with them the doom
of the Maya people

116 TH E END
OF THE
R E S I STA N C E
For all their courage in the face of
126 122
the Spanish invasion, the Maya could
only hold back the tide for so long

122 THE END OF 98

T H E M AYA
Despite the efforts of the Spanish
to erase the culture of the Maya,
their resilient descendants are still
protecting their legacy today

126 EX PLORING
T H E M AYA
WO R L D
Step back in time with a unique
exhibit of Maya artefacts

98

96
110 104

116

97
A scout examines the lie
of the land at the front of
a raiding party

98
DE AT H T H ROE S
A DY N A ST Y
OF

Once a hive of art, culture and mathematics,

the violent city-states of the Yucatán Peninsula
would pay the ultimate price for their bloodlust

WRITTEN BY CHARLES GINGER

eath. Be it decapitation, the entwined in almost perpetual warfare, conflict

D
removal of the heart or the that for a time helped to establish an uneasy
relentless bite of arrows, the only status quo but eventually led to the downfall and
promise made to a captured Maya death of an entire people.
leader was the ritualistic ending of The ultimate Maya mystery is still exactly why
his life. Once thought of as a curious and kindly they seem to have disappeared off the face of the
people who carved out a surprisingly advanced Earth after centuries of domination, but perhaps
civilisation within the jungles of what is today the greater riddle is why hostility between the
North and Central America, the Maya were indeed Maya cities began to escalate when it did. Why,
a fascinating and scientifically progressive race, after generations of raiding, slavery and war,
but they were also killers. From the dawning of carnage that had never succeeded in totally
the Maya age to its bloody denouement, the undermining the Maya way of life, did a sudden
city-states of this thriving land were acceleration in violence finally condemn a hitherto

99
Destruction

thriving society to the abyss? In order to attempt

to fully understand the precipitous change in
Maya life that would bathe the Postclassic period
– which is dated from 900 CE to 1521 – in blood
and tear down the walls and temples of countless
cities it is necessary to journey back to the
murkier roots of the class warfare that so occupied
these intriguing people.
It is without doubt the case that internecine
wars and raids plagued large parts of Maya
territory from the moment they started coalescing
into recognisable societies as far back as 1800
BCE in what is today Guatemala. However, some
primary examples of the brutality that would
ultimately unhinge the delicate balance between
atrocities and agriculture can be found in the
clashes between the two rival states of Calakmul
and Tikal in the Yucatán Peninsula during the 6th
and 7th centuries.
Beginning in 537 CE, the first war saw the
prosperous region of Calakmul – which boasted
an overall population of approximately 200,000 –
unite with the city of Caracol to inflict devastating
losses on the far larger city of Tikal (half a million
people are thought to have called it home).
Hostilities finally drew to a close in 572,
but, as was the way within Maya society,

they would flare up once more in 650, this ritualistic killing of prisoners and the deployment of
time for 45 years. And, clearly unperturbed armies in savage battles.
by the prospect of lengthy wars, yet another Yet while these wars were no doubt horrific for
conflagration would begin in 720 that ultimately those involved, they did give rise to technological
led to the collapse of Calakmul, Dos Pilas and advancements, particularly with regards to the
Aguateca, among other cities. construction of large defensive structures in and
According to Dr Linda Schele of the University around cities. These walls and parapets were
of Texas, the motives behind these wars are usually erected to protect the epicentres in which
unclear. “We don’t know if the early Maya public buildings and the homes of the elites were
went to war mainly to acquire territory, take situated. One of the most sinister developments was
booty, control conquered groups for labour, take that of concentric walls, as the open space between
captives for sacrifice or a combination of them was designated as a ‘killing zone’ that any
these [reasons].” would-be invaders would have to navigate under a
However, what is beyond doubt in the view of hail of spears and arrows.
Dr Arthur A Demarest of Vanderbilt University Following another spate of bloodshed from
in Nashville, Tennessee, is that the Maya were 850 to 1000, the Maya civilisation was beginning
“one of the most violent state-level societies in to falter. Utterly reliant on the ability of its
the New World, especially after 600 CE”. This farmers to safely utilise the delicate ecosystems
previously controversial view is supported by the that surrounded their many cities, the Mayas’
presence of stone carvings and other artworks increasingly vicious outbursts were beginning to
that depict bound captives being executed take their toll. Even so, the demise of established
or sacrificed, a common practice among the states such as Calakmul in turn enabled a new
This elaborate incense
burner was recovered from power-hungry nobles of the Maya world, kings (a power to rise: Mayapán.
the ruins of Mayapán. Its centralised state that governed all Mayas never Said to have been founded in the wake of the
ornate design highlights the
skill of the city’s craftsmen
emerged) who predicated their strength on the collapse of Chichén Itzá by a ruler named Kukulcan

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 T H E M AYA
M I L I TA RY
M AC H I N E
TO WAGE WAR, A MAYA
RULER NEEDED ELITE
TROOPS AND INGENIOUS
WEAPONRY
As with most ancient civilisations, the right
to rule was only afforded to those who could
wrest power from the hands of their rivals
and maintain their grip through strength of
arms. The Maya lived – and often horrifically
A key objective of any raid was the capture of rival
nobles, as depicted here in the 2006 film Apocalypto died – by the law of the jungle, but the wanton
destruction of cities and the enslavement of
fallen enemies was by no means a disorganised
While sieges were short-lived due to a number enterprise. To wage an effective campaign,
of reasons, including a lack of advanced siege Maya rulers were heavily reliant on elite
engines and the fact that campaigns were warriors and mercenaries.
Military campaigns were restricted to the
restricted to spring, the construction of looming
spring, and the need to supply armies or raiding
walls and easily defensible gates was prudent in parties often meant that forces never ventured
a time of escalating militarisation, evidence of further than a two-week march from home,
which has been unearthed within the ruins with porters used to transport goods. Yet even
of Mayapán. though the fighting season was a brief one,
Two burial shaft temples situated in the centre soldiers still required a range of weaponry and
other material in order to successfully execute
of the city were found to have been filled with
their king’s orders.
the bones of men, women and children sacrificed As in all other walks of life, the Maya applied
to the gods in a bid to win their favour or stave their characteristic ingenuity when crafting
off natural disasters. Mass graves have also been weapons. Spears were the weapon of choice,
revealed below the city. Bioarchaeological data with chert or flint tips for the average soldier
has suggested that cranial trauma was a regular and lethal obsidian ends for elite troops. A
The Temple of Kukulcan macuahuitl, a club ridged with razor-sharp
and the observatory affliction during the Late Postclassic period, with
edges, was also deployed in hand-to-hand
tower dominate the the nature of the head injuries to males indicating
central plaza of Mayapán fighting, during which a hide or wooden shield
open warfare as opposed to raids. Many of the would have been used to protect warriors.
wounds studied on the bones found within Other weapons included blowguns, javelins,
in the late 1100s, Mayapán – which means ‘flag Mayapán point to the use of clubs embossed with slings and a ‘grenade’ filled with wasps.
of the Maya’ – flourished into a prosperous small, sharp points, suggesting that the fighting During battle a thick cotton shirt stuffed
capital, the largest of the Late Postclassic period. was hand-to-hand and no quarter was given. with rock salt formed a primitive type of body
armour, and jade jewellery, animal pelts and
Ringed by a 9.1-kilometre-long wall that stood Additional evidence in the form of household
elaborate headdresses were also a common
as high as 2.5 metres and measured 3.5-metres tools supports the argument of a violent society. battlefield sight.
thick, the residential zone of the city was well Just under 30 per cent of the artefacts found in
protected, with 12 gates allowing the city’s people homes inside Mayapán were either a projectile or
(it’s estimated that up to 17,000 lived within its a knife, all of which points to a well-prepared and
walls) to safely leave and enter, gates that could be well-armed populace.
swiftly blocked in the event of an assault. It is tempting to assume that war was forced
Further defensive enhancements were built upon the Mayas of the Yucatán Peninsula because
in the form of parapets, internal walkways that of external stressors such as food shortages, but
would have enabled the city’s defenders (a kind studies have shown that despite the widespread
of civilian militia) to watch out for approaching carnage, the diets of the Mayas, in this case those
threats and rain down death as required. In the dwelling in and around Mayapán, remained fairly
event of an invasion force managing to breach stable. It seems that instead of basic imperatives
these formidable obstacles, they then would have always providing the driving force behind war, the
been met with labyrinthine streets that only destruction of rival states was a means and an end
those used to the city could ever have hoped to in itself.
navigate successfully. Capturing nobles, enslaving their people and
The impressive efforts of Mayapán’s rulers – seizing their lands were an intrinsic part of Maya
and the more hastily built attempts elsewhere society, which is no surprise when considering
– to shield the city against external threats are the fact that each of the city-states was ruled The obsidian blades of a
testament to the regularity and ferocity with by a king who would have been viewed by his macuahuitl were sharp
enough to behead an
which wars were fought in the Yucatán Peninsula. subjects as a demigod. Such power inevitably led enemy soldier

101
Destruction

The remnants of ancient

walls in the city of Ek’
Balam are evidence
of permanent, solid
defences against invasion

to clashes between elites desperate to impose This understandable shift in populations led to Mayapán. It is even thought that contact was
their supposedly divine will on others. The the unbalancing of agriculture, as more mouths made with the Aztecs of Central Mexico: an
victors, thanks to the ingenuity and courage to feed led to catastrophic farming practices as Aztec deity was found etched into the walls of a
of their warriors, were able to do just that by workers in the fields raced to find enough food. Mayapán temple.
ceremoniously executing their fallen counterparts. When they failed to do so, unrest soon followed. A pillar of hope in a land adorned with the
However, it would be incorrect to say that warfare Another cause for the raiding and pillaging carcasses of doomed cities, Mayapán boasted
was always a ritualistic duel between nobles. so common in the region was the need to a range of remarkable features. The Temple of
Sometimes it was born out of necessity. protect trade links between allied cities and vital Kukulkan, raised in honour of the serpent god of
An inevitable consequence of the battles waged economic resources. In the case of Mayapán the same name, is a stunning pyramid structure
across the Yucatán was the mass displacement of these interests included cacao plantations, with lined with four staircases and furnished with
people, refugees who naturally sought shelter and cacao deemed a valuable commodity. As was the nine terraces.
sustenance in cities that had yet to be annihilated. case for every other surviving city-state during Also situated on the central plaza is the
the Postclassic period, if an observatory. A circular stone tower built on top of
ally collapsed so did business, a raised platform accessed via stairs, this structure
meaning the long-term security would have been used to watch the skies. Keen
of trade was well worth fighting astronomers, the Maya were particularly interested
for, especially the routes that in the movements of the planets, believing them to
Mayapán had managed be the gods journeying back and forth from Earth
to establish. to the underworld.
A wealth of archaeological On the same site as the observatory and
evidence suggests that Mayapán Kukulkan’s temple sits the Temple of Painted
traded far and wide in a range Niches, which contains five elaborate painted
of goods including maize, salt, murals depicting temples and five niches that act as
cocoa, cloth and even birds. The the entrances to each one.
similarity between both goods These ruins, combined with those of the city’s
and buildings in Zacpeten in other cultural sites and elaborate defences, highlight
the north of Guatemala indicate the importance of Mayapán as an economic,
strong links between the two, political and religious hub in a time that witnessed
and the same applies with ever more unrest and upheaval. And yet, for all
the Utatlán of the highlands its technological advancements, even Mayapán
of Guatemala, who again couldn’t withstand the waves of war forever.
A haunting stone carving of
a skull uncovered among the displayed similar architectural Mayapán is thought to have been built in the
ruins of the city of Copán. preferences to the builders of wake of a revolt known as the Hunac Ceel episode,
Many Maya buildings sported
symbols of death

102
 P O ST C L A S S I C
and in a cruel twist of fate it was to be undone by
POLITICS
a similar coup that would begin in 1441. THE POLITICAL HIERARCHY
Maya cities were strictly hierarchical enterprises, OF THE MAYA WORLD
with a king ruling over nobles, commoners, serfs
and slaves, the latter of which were derived from
foreign captives seized during successful raids.
H A L AC H
Despite their differences, the rulers of Maya cities UINIK
were not foolish or powerful enough to take on all The supreme ruler of their
comers, and alliances between city-states were a city, these kings were
regular occurrence. One such agreement between succeeded by their sons or
carefully selected candidates
the Itza people, the chiefdom of Tutul-Xiu and
chosen by the royal council,
the cities of Mayapán and Uxmal resulted in one of the few bodies that
what became known as the League of Mayapán, was capable of limiting
a network of city-states established in 987 by Ah their power.
Mekat Tutul-Xiu.
At some unknown juncture it was decided
that two families, the Cocom – known as the
‘wood pigeons’ – and the Xiu – a clan ironically
labelled as ‘overflowing virtue’ – would rule
Mayapán together. The rival factions managed
to suppress their urges for a time and govern the
city with brutal efficiency – the crimes of adultery
and trespassing were punishable by a range of H I G H P R I E ST
means including burning, disembowelment and While in later times the advice of
shooting. However, their differences could only N AC O M a priest rarely influenced warfare,
the high priests of the Maya
have been exacerbated by the famine, disease Elected every three years, a nacom
world were tasked with predicting
and general unrest that marked the final half- served their lord as a military adviser,
future events and discerning the
century of Mayapán’s life. Mass graves, destroyed devising the strategies for future
will of the gods. Only the most
buildings and the fact that the Cocom family hired campaigns and summoning the men
reckless of leaders would dare to
of the state to fight.
mercenaries from the Kuchkabal (state) of Canul ignore an inauspicious omen.
in the north of Yucatán all testify to the chaotic
nature of life in and around Mayapán in the late
14th and early 15th centuries.
Whether purely out of a desire to dominate or B ATA B
maybe due to the environmental pressures being These town chieftains were
exerted on the city, a group of Xiu nobles hatched responsible for supplying local men
a plan in 1441 to eliminate the Cocoms. Seemingly for campaigns and ensuring that
unaware of the plot against them, all but one of they were adequately equipped
the Cocoms were duly cut down, the surviving and trained for battle. Batabs also
family member fortunate enough to have been in had to ensure that tributes were
paid to the overall ruler.
Honduras at the time of the killings.
The sudden massacre of this powerful family
proved too tempting an opportunity for the rest of
the League, and a civil war ensued that engulfed
the peninsula. Some accounts claim that the Xiu A L KULEBOOB
mustered a force that succeeded in laying waste to Aides to the batab, these
the very walls of Mayapán. assistants were charged with
Whatever the real cause of this conflict, its various governmental and
result is not in doubt. By 1461 the League of administrative duties.
Mayapán had collapsed in on itself, its rebellious
states splintering off into 17 separate Kuchkabals.
Mayapán, a once great and wealthy city, was
CUCH CA BOB
abandoned to the jungle that surrounded it, its These councillors were in
charge of various subdivisions
people either dead or fleeing in search of a
within Maya towns.
new home.
Instead of snatching ultimate power, the Xiu
and the Cocom tribes were instead forced to TU PLIES
withdraw into the dense forests of Yucatán, where Acting like an ancient
they would each rule a constellation of towns until police force, tuplies
a threat far more menacing than either of them served their batab
arrived from across the ocean: the Spanish. by maintaining law
and order.

103
104
 MAN
OF WA R
The strange life of the Spaniard who fought for the Maya

WRITTEN BY EDOARDO ALBERT

here’s a statue near the beach that the man himself did not exist but became a

T
in Akumal, 80 kilometres down useful explanation for why it took the Spanish so
the coast from the tourist frenzy long to conquer the Maya – over 20 years – when
of Cancún. It shows a heavily Cortés had done away with the Aztec Empire in
muscled man, bearded and with just two and a half years. Hence the surname,
his hair tied up in a top knot, carrying a spear Guerrero, handed to him by the chroniclers, which
in his left hand but with his right hand curved translates to Gonzalo ‘the Warrior’. But truth,
protectively around the head of the small boy amid the chaos of clashing cultures, is likely to be
who is beside him. The man stands protecting stranger than even the story of Gonzalo, and that
the woman, sitting behind him suckling a baby is strange enough to be true.
while a third child sits beside them, playing The chroniclers clash over his place of birth
with an abandoned helmet. The helmet is a but they do at least agree that Gonzalo came
morion, popularly associated with the Spanish from Andalucia in southern Spain, from Palos or
conquistadors in the Americas.
The statue makes concrete the story and the
paradox of the man who inspired it. He was
named Gonzalo, a Spaniard shipwrecked on the
Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico who was captured
by the Maya then assimilated into their culture.
He learnt the language, took a wife from the
Maya people and fathered the first three mestizo
(mixed Spanish and Amerindian) children in
the Americas, later taking up arms against the
Spanish, his erstwhile compatriots, in defence of
his new land. That, in essence, is the legend of
Gonzalo Guerrero. But the discarded helmet of the
conquistador hints at the difficulties underlying
the story. For while the morion has become the
iconic helmet of the conquistadors, it was in fact
never worn by the soldiers of Cortés or Pizarro,
only coming to South America a generation later.
How much of the story of Gonzalo is actually
true is impossible to say for certain. The man
himself left no historical record. His existence is
attested personally only by one other Spaniard
– the Maya left no record of having a Spaniard
living among them, although they would have
been busy with other things at the time, such as
Gonzalo Guerrero with
attempting to fight off the invaders. The reports of his wife and children, as
Gonzalo by later chroniclers are exactly that – later. imagined by sculptor Raúl
Ayala Arellano
Indeed, some historians have gone so far as to say

105
Destruction

a neighbouring town. But the key aspect of this

birth is geography: the Atlantic-facing coast of
Spain. The sailors who discovered the New World
and who found the sailing route around the Cape
of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean all set off
from the ports that ranged up the Atlantic coast
of Spain and Portugal. They knew well the wild
surge of the great ocean. It was from Palos itself,
at dawn on 3 August 1492, that a flotilla of three
ships set sail, hoping to find the westward route
to the Indies. What Christopher Columbus found
was a new continent, entirely unsuspected by
Europeans (and most of the rest of the world). The
news created a sensation. Columbus’ Letter on His
First Voyage went through 19 editions between
1493 and 1500. The world had suddenly grown
broader, wider. Imaginations soared at new vistas
and, as a counterpoint, sank into a gold lust stirred
by Columbus’ calculated mentions of the treasures
of this new world.
But along with gold, there were stories: stories
of chivalry and adventure and heroism and
exploration, recounting the tales of legendary
figures such as El Cid or completely made-up
characters like Amadis, the Knight of the Green
Sword. Amadis, hero of the immensely popular
romance Amadis de Gaula, was the example of
the Christian knight: courteous, a defender of
women and children, but a warrior without peer.
These romances, later parodied by Cervantes
in Don Quixote, formed the imaginations of the
conquistadors. Gonzalo would have grown up
listening to these stories: they would have formed
his imagination and would have helped inspire
him to take passage on one of the caravels setting
off from Palos to brave the wide ocean. Between
1506 and 1518 some 200 ships sailed from the
Atlantic ports of Andalucia for the New World.
The men who crewed them, fired by dreams of A modern interpretation of
adventure and chivalry and wealth, included a what a Maya warrior might
have looked like
young Gustavo.
As Gustavo had arrived in Darién on the
mainland of America by 1510, it’s likely that he it was Gustavo and a Franciscan friar named and asked, “Gentlemen, are you Christians?”. When
sailed with the expedition that left Sanlúcar in Jerónimo de Aguilar. But the ship never arrived they answered that they were Spaniards, the native
September 1509. Passage was 11 ducats: a year’s at its destination, and it was seven years before fell to his knees, hands raised in prayer and offering
wages. Assuming Gustavo had nautical skills, any news of the fate of its passengers and crew up his thanks.
he could have worked his passage. Darién was reached the Spanish. It was Jerónimo de Aguilar. Far from being
the first attempt to establish a colony on the The news was brought to Hernán Cortés, bearded, he appeared to Cortés a native, clad only
mainland – and it failed entirely. Set amid jungle the conqueror of the Aztec Empire, by the in a loin cloth and a cloak. In rusty Spanish, Aguilar
with a climate and insect life that was noxious friar Aguilar. Moored on the mainland before told the tragic story of the lost ship. Run aground
to Europeans, the colony was abandoned, the embarking on his expedition, Cortés heard on a reef, 20 survivors had taken to a boat but,
settlers moving to a more promising site gifted rumours of bearded men – Spaniards – living without sails, food or water, the castaways were
the same name, from which an expedition led by in the interior. He sent native runners into the soon dying. They drifted for two weeks until they
Vasco Núñez de Balboa set off across the Panama jungle, urging these Spaniards to come and join were finally cast ashore on the Yucatán Peninsula.
isthmus to become the first Europeans to set eyes him within six days but, with none appearing, But land brought new hazards: attacks from the
upon the Pacific and, in Keats’ poem, “look’d at Cortés set off. However, a series of events meant natives. The emaciated survivors were captured and
each other with a wild surmise – silent, upon a that his actual departure was delayed until, four quickly sacrificed and eaten. The seven left
peak in Darien”. It was from Darién that a ship, on the day of him finally leaving, Cortés saw a alive were fed well but, suspecting they were being
setting out for Hispaniola (the Caribbean island canoe approaching with four natives paddling fattened for a future feast, they escaped and fled…
that today comprises Haiti and the Dominican fast towards them. Sending men to intercept the into the hands of another tribe. However, the chief
Republic), departed on 13 January 1512. Aboard canoe, one of the four natives stepped forward of the tribe, Ah-kin Cuz, offered the Spaniards their

106
 Man of war

FOOD FROM A
N E W WO R L D
THE AMERICAS
TRANSFORMED THE
EATING HABITS OF THE
REST OF THE WORLD
The foods that Gonzalo and Zazil Há fed their
children on were totally different from the
normal fare of Europeans. Indeed, they were
A reconstruction of so different that, in the first few decades,
what a Maya temple
Spanish colonisers struggled mightily to grow
looked like at the zenith
of Maya civilisation European staples in their new South American
home – generally with little success.
It was only the threat of starvation,
following the failure of harvest, that drove
the Spanish settlers to try the foods that the
natives ate. In doing so they revolutionised
the diet of the rest of the world. A partial list
of the foods that came from the Americas
and were unknown elsewhere before the
16th century includes tomatoes, potatoes,
pumpkins, sweet and hot peppers, courgette,
cassava, avocado, papaya, maize, sweet
potatoes and chocolate. Their ubiquity in our
diet today tells of a small part of the changes
wrought by the discovery of the New World.

A fresco from a Maya

temple showing life in a
village on the coast

lives so long as they became his slaves. Under the rings dangling from his ears and nose: how could
circumstances it was a good offer. But slavery is someone who looked like this be accepted back as
slavery: it’s not known for good labour conditions. a Spaniard? The chroniclers say that Aguilar did
One by one the remaining Spaniards died, until his best to persuade Gonzalo to return with him
only Aguilar and one other man, whom he knew but Gonzalo was adamant: his place was with the
as Gonzalo, remained alive. Aguilar became a Maya now.
trusted slave to his master while Gonzalo was sold This choice of Gonzalo’s was, so far as we know,
on to another native chief. unique. There are no other recorded instances of
When the letter from Cortés reached Aguilar, a Spaniard abandoning his culture, religion and
the friar asked his master for permission to travel language and adopting those of the native peoples
to where Gonzalo was living, where he read the the Spanish were busy conquering. Aguilar said
Spaniard the letter. But to the friar’s surprise, that Gonzalo had done more than just go native:
Gonzalo refused the offer of return. Instead, he was leading the Maya of his area in resisting
Gonzalo told Aguilar that he had married – Aguilar the Spanish advance. For Cortés, Gonzalo’s
himself had remained true to his vow of chastity – presence among the Maya was a nuisance but not
and fathered three children. What’s more, Gonzalo a threat: he was bound for the heart of the Aztec
had risen in Maya society, being now counted a Empire and about to embark on one of the most Some of the foods from the
chief among them and a war leader. Gonzalo went extraordinary conquests in history. But for those Americas that transformed
the eating habits of the
so far as to point to the tattoos on his face and the Spaniards, struggling through jungle, ambushes rest of the world

107
Destruction

and disease on the Yucatán Peninsula in the

years to come, there was an explanation for the
difficulties and obstacles they encountered in the
tattooed face of a turncoat Spaniard. Gonzalo was
turning from man into bogeyman.
But why did Gonzalo refuse the opportunity
to return to his compatriots? The tattoos and
earrings set him apart, obviously, and his wife and
children were incentives to remain. But simple
ambition may have played a part. Among the
Spanish Gonzalo was low born, but among the
Maya Gonzalo had become a man of moment: a
war captain and chieftain. Indeed, his status had
climbed to such an extent that his wife, Zazil Há,
was the daughter of the chief. The children of
their union became the first mestizos of Mexico –
and today mestizos make up between 50 and 90
per cent of the population. So Gonzalo’s children
were the first of millions.
As for Jerónimo de Aguilar, he had managed to
save his breviary (the prayer book used by monks
and friars for daily prayer) and this had been the
anchor that kept him secure in his old identity.
But when Aguilar sailed with Cortés to play a part
in the conquest of the Aztec Empire, his leaving
also brought an end to direct historical testimony
as to the life of Gonzalo. With his departure we
enter the realms of historical speculation, apart,
perhaps, from the story’s ending.
The unimaginable riches of the Aztec Empire The coast of the
seized Spanish attention for the next decade. Yucatán at Cozumel,
Gonzalo, the only Spaniard in the Yucatán with Maya pyramids
visible in the distance
for most of that time, would have had the
opportunity to raise his children and, presumably,
rise even higher in Maya society. Then, in defeat of the Aztec Empire. For a start, the Maya offering him a high place among his men if he
December 1526, Francisco de Montejo, one of civilisation, which had once rivalled that of the would return to his side and aid him. The response,
Cortés’ captains, was granted a charter to conquer Aztecs in sophistication and population, had according to the chroniclers, was written in charcoal
and colonise the Yucatán. But Montejo was to mysteriously declined centuries earlier, with on the back of Montejo’s letter. The language, as
find the conquest a far harder task than Cortés’ its cities abandoned to the jungles and the relayed in the chronicles, is suspiciously flowery for
people returning to a rural existence. There was a low-born Spaniard who had not spoken his native
therefore no single ruler who could be defeated language for 12 years, but the substance was clear:
but rather a large number of independent Gonzalo would not be returning to the Spanish.
chiefs leading rival tribes: killing one chief Indeed, the Spanish and their chroniclers came
and subduing his tribe still left all the others to believe that Gonzalo was playing a leading role
undefeated. Added to that were formidable Maya in directing the Maya resistance. Where before
warriors who had no doubt that the Spaniards native forces had shown little more tactical acumen
were men like they were – and could be killed than frontal charges, the Maya adopted deception,
like other men. disguise and ambush. In one particularly sly ploy,
Montejo prepared his expedition well: four an expedition dispatched by Montejo returned to
ships and 400 men, 50 cavalry, cannons base because they had been told, by apparently
and other weapons. They sailed in trustworthy natives, that Montejo had died, so
June 1527, and Montejo established they had to return to base. Among other fresh
a settlement on the coast of the tactics, the Maya dug disguised pits to disable the
Yucatán at the village of Xelha. Spanish horses. In response to these stratagems,
But disease ravaged the settlers, and the loss of men to war and disease, Montejo
leaving Montejo with only 100 had little choice but to withdraw and resupply. But
men. Looking for a better site, his second attempt to conquer the Yucatán, begun
A ceramic figure of a Montejo learned from some natives in 1531, ended even more ignominiously, with the
Maya warrior dating
from the heyday of that a Spaniard lived among the Spanish paddling for their lives in commandeered
Maya civilisation, Maya: Gonzalo. In response, Montejo native canoes. By 1535, apart from some wandering
between 600 and
dispatched a letter to Gonzalo, Franciscan friars, Gonzalo was again the only
900 CE

108
 Man of war

Spaniard in the Yucatán. When they returned,

in 1543, waging a campaign of such spectacular
brutality that it provoked the Franciscans to
write to the Spanish court protesting the actions,
there was little sign of the clever tactics that
had frustrated the Spanish before. What had
happened to Gonzalo in the meantime?
According to the testimony of Pedro de
Alvarado, what had happened to Gonzalo was
a bullet from an arquebus. But not in Yucatán.
Alvarado was given the task of conquering what
is today Honduras, and in the aftermath of the
decisive battle the Spanish discovered among
the dead a tattooed Spaniard. Alvarado identified
the dead Spaniard as Gonzalo Aroca. However,
Honduras is a long way from the Yucatán, across
the Gulf of Honduras. In his letter, Alvarado said
that, following the defeat of Montejo’s attempt to
conquer the Yucatán, the renegade Spaniard had
led a fleet of 50 Maya canoes south to Honduras
to aid the Indians there, only to meet his end
in battle with Alvarado’s men. Most historians
accept that the body the Spanish found among
the dead was indeed Gonzalo Guerrero. If
so, Gonzalo died in June 1536, making him
about 50. There is no record of the fate of his
wife and children. However, the Maya of the
Yucatán fought long and hard against Spanish
domination and the descendants of Gonzalo, the
Spaniard who had found a new people across the
ocean, may well have been among those who
carried on the long struggle.

FA L L O F A N E M P I R E
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MAYA
CIVILISATION REMAINS
A MYSTERY

The Maya world that Gonzalo found himself unwittingly

entering in the early decades of the 16th century was very
different from its heyday. The great stepped pyramids,
and the cities that provided the labour to build them, had
been abandoned centuries before, with the last recorded
king, Jade Sky, dated to the start of the 9th century.
The collapse of the Maya civilisation did not take place
overnight but rather rolled north from Central America
to the Yucatán over a century or two. There are many
competing theories to explain the demise, including
drought, environmental degradation, disease, climate
change and social disintegration brought about by a loss
of faith in the kings, but there is no consensus as to what
actually brought about the collapse.
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Whatever the cause, the complex, highly formalised

structure of Maya civilisation ended. The cities were
abandoned. The temples left to the encroaching jungle.
The people themselves returned to the wilds, leaving the A 1947 aerial
relics of their once-mighty civilisation to the jacarandas photo showing
and the oleanders. an abandoned
Maya city

109
109
110
 THE

S PA N I S H
ARRIVE
The Spanish arrival in the Americas turned the balance of power in the
continent on its head and transformed traditional ways of life forever

WRITTEN BY JAMES PRICE

ff the coast of an island in the the ocean. However, what many found after rough armed with lances, shields, bows, and slings;

O
Gulf of Honduras, a large canoe, and uncomfortable journeys across vast tracts of with each a tuft of feathers stuck on his head. As
carved from the trunk of a single ocean was poverty and disease. soon as they had let fly their arrows, they rushed
tree, was being propelled by 25 From early bases in Cuba, Hispaniola and forward and attacked us man to man, setting
paddlers. A palm-leaf awning the other colonised islands, the Spanish formed furiously to with their lances, which they held
sheltered women and children inside, while the expeditions that would go on to explore the coast in both hands.” Over 50 Spanish were killed, the
rest of the canoe was filled with merchandise. of Central and South America, above all in search survivors forced to flee to their boats and limp
The people in the canoe soon saw a large wooden of gold and silver. This inevitably brought them to back to Cuba.
ship move towards them, pushed forth by the the Yucatán coast and in closer and closer contact A second expedition in 1518 under the
wind as it caught and snapped at the broad with the Maya living there. command of Juan de Grijalva also came into
canvas sails above the hull. Driven by intrigue An expedition led by Francisco Hernández de contact with various Maya cities along the coast. It
and the opportunity to trade, the canoe was Córdoba in 1517 brought the two cultures into was clear that the Spanish were not going to leave
steered towards the ship. From high above, pale, conflict. Córdoba had been dispatched with a the shores alone anytime soon.
bearded faces stared down, and the bearded men fleet to explore the coastline, which at that time
soon moved to board the canoe, curious about its was still almost entirely unknown, despite the WHO WERE THE
contents. The men seized many of the possessions expeditions of Columbus. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, C O N Q U I S TA D O R S?
and even forcibly took the canoe’s captain back an active conquistador who later chronicled
aboard their ship before the canoe could get away. much of the conquest of New Spain, was among In 1519 another Spanish expedition sailed from
This was the first known meeting between the crew. He delighted that “we came in sight of Cuba, but this one would change life in the
the Maya and the Spanish, and it occurred land on the twenty-first day after our departure Americas forever. Hernán Cortés set out with 11
during Christopher Columbus’ fourth journey from Cuba, which filled every heart with joy ships, around 600 men and 16 horses, as well
to the Americas. Columbus’ first voyage arrived and thanks towards God. This country had never as natives brought from the Caribbean and an
in the Caribbean in 1492, and his subsequent been discovered before, nor had anyone ever unknown number of African slaves and freedmen.
explorations uncovered more and more of a vast heard of it”. This was a powerful, well-armed force. Stopping
continent that the Europeans had until recently Encountering several canoes off the coast, the at Cozumel on the Yucatán coast and then on the
never realised existed, putting two very different Spanish were invited ashore. But the seemingly Tabascan coast, Cortés revealed the full power of a
worlds on a collision course that would change the friendly welcome was a ruse, as the newcomers modern European army.
Maya way of life forever. In many ways this first were ambushed as they climbed from their boats. The Spanish adventurers in the New World,
contact between the Maya and Spanish explained The Spanish beat the Maya back and set off once often known as ‘conquistadors’, brought
much of the Spanish attitude: curiosity, above all more. Though only a small skirmish compared technology that no one on the American continent
for valuables, and a clear disregard for anyone in to what was to come, this episode set the tone had encountered before. The Spanish boasted
between them and that wealth. of mutual distrust that would poison relations fine steel weapons, along with steel armour and
between the Maya and the Spanish. strong shields, known as bucklers. While the steel
E A R LY C O N TAC T Cordoba’s expedition ran into further trouble armour was less important – often the Spanish
A ND CONFLICT a few weeks later. Once again ashore, they were chose to use the quilted cotton armour of the
surrounded and attacked by a large Maya army. natives instead due to its effectiveness and lighter
Following Columbus’ discoveries and accounts Here, the Maya had the advantage. According nature – the steel swords were tough and hard to
of what he found there was a rush of individuals to Díaz, they were a dangerous opponent: they blunt and gave the Spanish a significant advantage
driven by wild tales of wealth lying in wait across wore “a kind of cuirass made of cotton, and [were] in combat. The Spanish also came with powerful

111
Maya

partners: they were, according to Matthew Restall

and Florine Asselbergs, “in a sense partners in a
business venture”. They were expected to arm
themselves, and decisions often had to be discussed
and approved by the company. But what motivated
the conquistadors to cross a perilous ocean to fight
people they had never heard of?
Wealth was a huge factor, which even they did
not deny, but they also claimed they were fighting
for a higher purpose in spreading Christianity – a
motive that had at least some truth, as men such
as Cortés seemed to go out of their way to convert
natives and preach the power of the Christian god.
Bernal Díaz claimed they had gone “to serve God
and His Majesty, and to bring light to those who
were in darkness, and also to get rich”.
It is often forgotten that the invaders were not
alone in their mission. The Spanish conquistadors
were also accompanied by likely dozens if not
hundreds of African slaves and freedmen. Though
rarely if ever mentioned in contemporary accounts,
they still had a major impact, as did many locals.
Cortés was given female slaves from among
the native population, a woman by the name of
Malintzin, or Doña Marina, prominent among
them. She spoke Maya languages and Nahuatl,
the language of the Aztecs, and would prove a
crucial interpreter to Cortés. He and the other
conquistadors didn’t stay with the Maya for long,
Spanish weapons gave heading off in 1519 for their fateful showdown with
them a powerful advantage
in combat. Here, Spanish the powerful Mexica, better known as the Aztecs,
explorer Vasco Núñez de to the north. But the Spaniards’ unforeseeable
Balboa is depicted
triumph against the Aztec Empire changed the
balance of power in the region. Clearly ruthless
and expansionist in nature, the Spanish now had
a strong grip on the continent and a large host of
allies and subjects in the Nahuatl-speaking people.

“THE SPANISH CONQUISTADORS The Spanish soon returned in numbers to

confront the Maya, led in 1523 and 1524 by Luis
WERE ACCOMPANIED BY DOZENS Marín in the Chiapas region, and in 1524 by the
wild and dangerous Pedro de Alvarado. Alvarado
IF NOT HUNDREDS OF AFRICAN had garnered a reputation as an impatient and
incredibly violent man – in an age of brutality, the
SLAVES AND FREEDMEN” fact that he was famed for his savagery speaks
volumes. He “instilled apprehension and fear not
only in native adversaries but also his closest
crossbows, arquebuses, which were an early type adventures”. The New World was a place they associates, members of his own family included,”
of musket, cannons and, perhaps most imposingly, could use their martial skill to accrue great according to the historians Matthew Restall and
horses. Warhorses were large and aggressive, wealth – if they survived. Florine Asselbergs.
moved quickly and gave the rider a huge The Spanish had a wholly different way of Having received permission from Cortés to move
advantage when fighting, and the psychological fighting – they were not interested in capturing south into Guatemala, he was determined to carve
impact of the noise and sight of these beasts on prisoners, did not stop when an enemy was out his own territory, hoping to be granted an
the Maya was huge. routed or wait for the appropriate moment to ‘adelantando’ licence, which would give him the
But the men who fought in this army were not attack (unlike the Aztecs). The Spanish fought right to conquer and then govern the lands and
soldiers directly representing the Spanish crown. to cause as much destruction and death as they its people. Alvarado gathered a company of 300
As noted by historian John Pemberton, they were could. Their horses, meanwhile, gave them a Spanish soldiers on foot and 120 on horseback. He
mercenaries; veterans of European wars for Spain huge tactical advantage. also took around 3,000 native warriors. There were
against France and the Moors, and the “cessation As private venturers rather than soldiers, the likely around 3,000 Nahuas – Mexica, Tlaxcalan and
in hostilities [in Europe] was long enough for Spanish called themselves ‘companies’ and others. Having mustered a powerful force in Mexico
trained Spanish soldiers to start looking for fresh referred to each other as ‘compañeros’ or even City (formerly Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital),

112
 The Spanish arrive
Maya

C L A S H OF
ST Y L E S
THE MAYA AND SPANISH
CONDUCTED WAR IN VERY
DIFFERENT WAYS

W EA PONS
Spain: Steel swords, warhorses, crossbows
and arquebuses
Maya: Bows, arrows, stone-tipped spears
and blades

SOLDIERS
Spain: Hundreds of Spanish soldiers, supported
by thousands of native American allies, African
slaves and freedmen
Maya: Tens of thousands, mostly peasants called
on to fight

TAC T I C S
Spain: The Spanish used their native allies to
soften and tire enemies, deploying their cannons
and arquebuses to shock and the cavalry to
charge and devastate enemy groups
Maya: Used ambushes and hit-and-run tactics,
firing missiles and projectiles extensively
Hernán Cortés actively sought
to spread Spanish dominion as
widely as he could, sending his
men to establish colonies and
conquer the lands of the Maya

he moved against the Maya in the highlands, kind of scorched-earth policy that was particularly city, and that with this thought in their minds
dominated by the K’iche’ and Kaqchikels, as well effective against an army that had no established they had brought me here”. Whether true or
as the Tz’utujil Maya. supply line, like the Spanish. The Maya would not, it suggests that even Alvarado realised that
also aim to capture enemies with the intent of immolating the kings had been a particularly
M AYA R E S I S TA N C E enslaving or sacrificing them, though this was not gruesome tactic.
a tactic used as extensively as the Aztecs. The enemies of the K’iche’, the Kaqchikels,
While the Aztecs had been conquered relatively Alvarado and his company crossed into saw in the Spanish an opportunity. They sent
quickly, the Maya would prove to be a very Guatemala and were ferociously and repeatedly Pedro de Alvarado gifts, along with warriors to
different proposition. The Maya civilisation was attacked by the K’iche’. A major confrontation fight alongside the Spanish against the K’iche’
not a single, centralised empire like the Aztecs was the Battle of El Pinar. The K’iche’ faced the and their other enemies. They then proceeded
or the Inca in Peru, both of which were far invaders with the vast majority of their fighting to push Alvarado in the direction of their foes.
more powerful but fell more easily due to being men but were resoundingly defeated, the Spanish According to Díaz, “the caziques of Guatimala
concentrated in major settlements and thereby cavalry playing a large part. The K’iche’ made drew Alvarado’s attention to some townships
easier to surround and subdue. The Maya were another stand near the Quetzaltenango valley and which lay at no great distance in front of a lake.
fragmented, and each state was used to fighting were defeated again. The inhabitants of these places were at enmity
wars – as they did frequently with each other. The K’iche’ rulers, realising that the Spanish with Guatimala.” Alvarado duly moved against
Paradoxically, this actually made it harder for and their vast number of Nahua allies couldn’t the Tz’utujil, destroying their main army on the
them to maintain their resistance in the long run be defeated head-on, asked for peace, inviting shores of Lake Atitlán.
as they were unable to unify and fight together Pedro de Alvarado into Utatlán, their capital. But However, instead of consolidating his gains,
against a common enemy. Indeed, the Spanish Alvarado sensed a trap, captured the two K’iche’ Alvarado led his force south on a tour of
repeatedly exploited these Maya divisions. kings and burned them alive (or possibly hanged destruction, pushing down to the Pacific coast
The Maya also fought differently. They used them) before also burning the city. Alvarado, in as far as El Salvador before returning to the
hit-and-run tactics, ambushing their enemies a letter to Cortés a month later, tried to justify Kaqchikel capital, Iximche’, which he renamed
© Wikipedia, Getty Images

and striking quickly. They were also prepared to the move, suggesting the captured kings had Santiago. He hoped, according to the authors of
quickly burn and abandon their own towns to confessed to planning to burn him first: “and Invading Guatemala: Spanish, Nahua, and Maya
deprive the Spanish of shelter and resources – a they told me that they were to… burn me in the Accounts of the Conquest Wars, to make the

113
Maya
Destruction

DISEASE SPREA DS capital like the burgeoning Mexico City and use
it as a seat of power from which to control the
THE SPANISH UNWITTINGLY Kaqchikels and their neighbours. But his demands
UNLEASHED OLD WORLD for more and more gold turned the Kaqchikels
DISEASES ON THE AMERICAS against him, starting a six-year rebellion.
The Maya were hindered in their ability to resist
When the Spanish arrived on the shores of the
because of one completely unintended killer the
New World, they were far from the most dangerous
passengers on their ships. For within the hulk of their Spanish set loose: disease. Smallpox, in particular,
vessels lurked an unseen menace: disease. ravaged the Maya population. With the loss of so
Having existed in isolation from the rest of the many people due to the outbreak, displacement and
world for tens of thousands of years, the people of war, the Maya population collapsed, hampering any
the Americas had never been exposed to the riot of chances of resisting and recovering sufficiently to
diseases that had been traded between the other
fend off further Spanish attacks.
continents. A particularly lethal threat was smallpox,
which causes a fever and severe blistering all over the
body. Generally claiming the lives of around 30 per CORTÉS
cent of those infected with it, when spread among the
Maya people it killed double that amount. Motolinia, a Cortés himself moved against the Maya in 1525,
Franciscan monk, described the devastation. marching a large force through Itza territory. His
“As the Indians did not know the remedy of the
primary motive was to travel down to Honduras,
disease, they died in heaps, like bed bugs. In many
places it happened that everyone in a house died, and
where another Spaniard, Cristóbal de Olid, had
as it was impossible to bury the great number of dead, rebelled and set himself up as governor. He made
they pulled down the houses over them, so that their plans to take the more difficult route overland,
homes became their tombs.” rather than by sea, so that he could discover, as
The ravages of smallpox weakened the native he put it himself, “many unknown lands and
population’s ability to fight, but it also had a huge provinces… [and to] pacify many of them, as was
psychological impact. Seeing the Spanish remain The New Laws introduced later done”.
unharmed while their appearance had brought rights for the Maya as well
widespread death led many to believe it was a divine as other native Americans Cortés moved his force of around 300 Spaniards
act of destruction or that the Spanish had unknown and 3,000 allies through the land of the Kejache,
power. They did – they were just completely unaware who were at war with the Itza. Passing multiple
of it. The Spanish conquests may have been very burned settlements, Cortés made his way to the
different if not for the plague that came with them. shores of Lake Petén, where he met with the Itza
ruler, Ajaw Kan Ek’. When the king
arrived Cortés put on a great show
of Mass, using the Christian rituals
as a way of impressing the Itza and
displaying the power of the Church.
Cortés, in letters to the Spanish
king (and therefore a far from reliable
account of any proceedings), said that
he impressed upon the
ruler the power of God, who responded
that he was interested and prepared
to burn his idols should Cortés
accompany him to his capital. Cortés
also related the power of the Spanish
king, claiming the ruler and “everyone
in the world were your [the king’s]
subjects”, including many in these
parts who had already surrendered
to the “imperial yoke”. Ajaw Kan Ek’
responded that “he wished to be Your
Majesty’s subject and vassal and that
he would consider himself fortunate
to be [the subject and vassal] of such a
great lord”
Assuming that is more or less what
was said, it was, according to Grant
D Jones, “probably a stalling action
designed to please this dangerous
enemy and convince him to continue
A drawing of Aztec his journey as quickly as possible. Or,
smallpox victims from
the 16th century

114
 The Spanish arrive

Bartolomé de Las Casas was The merciless Pedro de Alvarado,

a Franciscan monk who a skilled soldier and a cold-
championed the rights of native blooded leader who oversaw a
Americans, forcing the crown to number of massacres of local
create laws for their protection Maya populations

as some in Cortés’ party suspected, he may have driven off. It was even reported that a Spaniard, After his repeated attempts at conquering
been attempting with sweet words to lure Cortés Gonzalo Guerrero, who had been washed up on the northern Yucatán, Montejo’s son took
to Nojpetén so that the Itzas could murder him. Yucatán coast when his ship sank in 1511, had led responsibility for the conquest and in 1542 seized
As Cortés’ party moved on they ran low on food warriors against the invaders. Montejo would make control in the region. In 1546 the Spanish finally
and provisions, being compelled to march day and multiple attempts to conquer the region in the had the region under their thumb.
night for days. The risk of hunger and starvation following years. The Maya, devastated by famine, years of
was always great during these expeditions, In 1527 Jorge de Alvarado, Pedro’s brother, war and disease, had been systematically
exacerbated by the prevalence of disease. moved in to subdue the lands his sibling had exploited by their conquerors, but in 1540
The party continued and finally found the failed to pacify. He moved a force of hundreds some acknowledgement of the brutality and
Spanish they had been searching for, only to of Spanish and thousands of native allies into unsustainability of this was received in the form
discover that Cristóbal de Olid had already been Kaqchikel lands, securing a base at Chimaltenango, of the New Laws of the Indies for the Good
executed as a traitor by other officers. Cortés from which he and his allies attacked other Maya Treatment and Preservation of the Indians,
established new settlements on the coast and rebels in the region. By 1529 Jorge had largely which established laws to end the slavery and
returned to Mexico City in 1526. succeeded in pacifying the Guatemalan highlands. oppression of native Americans and grant them
These expeditions, though demonstrating The Spanish pushed the Maya people into some protection. While it was hard to enforce
Spanish power, had failed to conquer large swathes colonies, or ‘reducciones’, housing them and and often circumvented, it was at least a move to
of Maya territory. The Maya had survived through a keeping them under their control. The Spanish stop the worst cases of exploitation.
mixture of diplomatic promises, hit-and-run tactics, practised a system of encomiendas, whereby the Less than 50 years after the Spanish had
abandoning towns and lacking a single, central conquering Spanish could use the labour of those first encountered the Maya in their canoe, the
authority. The relatively slim pickings in terms of who had been defeated. This was an official licence Europeans were in charge of large swathes of
natural resources also reduced the attraction of the to exploit the natives for profit. The Spanish were Maya lands. Only those in the Petén region
region to the Spanish. more “interested in control of the population than could still claim to be free of the Spanish. Many
During the following years Spanish territory was control of the land”, being “more entrepreneurially Maya who wished to continue fighting retreated
solidified in Chiapas, although rebellions occurred than feudally minded,” according to historian W there to make a series of final stands against the
there from 1528. The coast of the Yucatán George Lovell. The Spanish made money working conquistadors. Though they had fought with
Peninsula, meanwhile, was invaded by a Spanish the land with the slave labour. Many rebelled ferocity and determination, the Spanish tide
force led by Francisco de Montejo, who was soon against this, hiding in forests or highlands. could not be held back forever.
© Wikipedia

115
 ENDTHE OF THE

R E SI STA NC E
Despite their valiant efforts, the Maya ultimately had no chance
of reversing the tide of Spanish suppression

WRITTEN BY CHARLES GINGER

116
 The end of the resistance

iguel had come to the New World an elaborate row of feathers crowning his head. western Yucatán came under Spanish influence.

M
to find his fortune, and perhaps Yet it was the look in his eyes that told Miguel However, not every native was quite so accepting
secure a promotion or two that everything he needed to know. As more armed of foreign overlords and a new god.
would allow him to return to Spain men poured from the trees, he began to step back, The lord of the Canul Maya had resisted
and finally buy the plot of land turning for the tide of shouting locals and startled Montejo’s demands in 1541 to kneel to the Spanish
he’d always coveted. It had taken everything out Spaniards hurtling down the road. He didn’t get crown, and while he had been pursued and
of him to achieve both, and God knew he’d been far before he felt a thump on the back of his skull punished for his insubordination by Montejo’s
made to earn his good fortune over the last few and was sent crashing to the ground. Blackness cousin, many of the nobles of the eastern section
years, but he couldn’t help smiling at the thought enveloped him then, the grimace of a hulking of the Yucatán Peninsula remained hostile.
of how the people of his village would receive him figure grasping a bloodied club the last thing Among the rebellious factions were the
now. The stories he’d have to tell, the money he’d he saw. Cochua and Cupal, and despite their initial
have to spend: it had been hard, brutal even, but defeats they rose up against the Spanish once
civilising the savages of this godforsaken land had T H E YO L K O F T H E Y U C ATÁ N more in 1542 (the same year that Montejo founded
been worth it. the city of Mérida on the coast of the Gulf of
It seemed to him now as he strode down the By November 1546 huge swathes of the Yucatán Mexico). Along with other groups, including the
cobbled street that formed the main artery of the region had been subjugated by the Spanish, Chetumal and Sotuta, they managed to maintain
town – a slice of home surrounded by an ocean brought to heel by Francisco de Montejo the their independence.
of jungle – that the natives were beginning to Younger (son of Montejo the Elder, Captain In November 1546, a network of eastern
appreciate the benefits of Spanish rule. It had General of Yucatán and a man who had tried provinces staged an uprising – a host of Maya
taken time, but many of them appeared to be unsuccessfully for years to pacify the fractious peoples, including the Tazes and Uaymil, working
grateful to have been offered the salvation of region). In 1541, Montejo, leading 400 troops, together to try and oust the Spanish from the
holy men, their churches, and, above all, the had established the first permanent Spanish Yucatán Peninsula once and for all.
embrace of the only true god. Theirs really was a settlement in Yucatán.
sacred mission. Perhaps sensing which way the wind was now A N ERU PTION I N TH E EAST
A scream interrupted his flow of thought as blowing, many Maya leaders duly submitted to
he approached the spire of the church. Running. Spanish rule, including the head of the Xiu Maya. Despite the presence of fewer than 300,000
Suddenly, people were panicking. Another scream, He was followed by Tutal Xiu, the strongest ruler Maya in the Yucatán Peninsula come 1546, the
followed by the movement of dark silhouettes in the entire region of northern Yucatán. His Spanish still experienced serious resistance in
in the trees. A painted warrior burst from the subsequent conversion to Christianity encouraged many locations. Part of the reason that they
undergrowth, a javelin clenched in his hand and his fellow leaders to acquiesce, and gradually the found it so hard to suppress the natives was their

117
Maya

geographically divided nature. Wading through

dense forests in search of hardened tribal warriors
familiar with every stone and tree posed the
Spanish a wealth of obstacles, and this type of
guerrilla warfare constantly halted their progress
across the peninsula.
An inevitable side-effect of Spanish efforts to
coerce and convert the native population was bitter
division between Maya groups. Some, like the Mani,
were members of the Mayapán League, a chain
of northern and western provinces that gradually
came to accept the Spanish. Other provinces,
located in the south and east of the peninsula,
continued to self-govern, and naturally they began
to view their neighbours, bowing to foreign rulers,
with suspicion. These ideological differences
resulted in bloodshed in 1530 when the Cocum
slaughtered 40 members of the Mani elite.
Desperate to quell the violence and instil stability,
the Spanish resorted to forcing the locals into
labour settlements, which understandably enraged
the Maya, who responded aggressively. Incredibly,
they managed to force the Spanish out of Chichén
Itzá in the 1530s, a success that, ironically, would
lead the Maya to make a fatal assumption: the
Spanish could be beaten.
Urged on by previous victories against the
militarily superior Spaniards, a collection of
eastern provinces assaulted a number of towns on
8 November 1546, hitting Valladolid particularly
hard. The Maya set about capturing and mutilating
a number of Spaniards and their local allies, with
women and children counted among their victims.
Two brothers, Juan and Diego Cansino, were
especially unfortunate.
In the Maya’s martial culture, the capture of high-
ranking enemies was of paramount importance.
Along with seizing as much booty as they could
plausibly carry, the taking of noble prisoners was a
top priority, and for the most important of reasons:
sacrifice. The Maya viewed blood as a potent source
of power, and the spilling of noble blood was, in
their view, the best way to nourish and please their
many gods.
Their methods of sacrifice varied, but in the
cases of Juan and Diego, the bow and arrow was
the chosen tool. As the sons of a conquistador,
they were both especially loathed and viewed as
important enough to offer to the heavens. The
siblings were bound to a pair of wooden crosses (a
clear swipe at their Christianity) and then riddled
with arrows, resulting in an agonisingly slow end.
When they had eventually succumbed to their
wounds they were cut from the frames holding
their corpses and dismembered.
Bloody parcels of their flesh were then sent out
to a number of Maya settlements in a bid to stoke
the flames of rebellion. This gruesome message
seems to have had the desired effect, as the initial
revolt transformed into a campaign that lasted for
This chaotic scene encapsulates 18 months.
the Spanish conquest of Mexico,
a ruthless campaign that largely
disregarded the needs or safety
of the natives
118
 Maya

MONTEJO
THE E L D E R
MEET THE MAN WHO
HAD HIS EYES ON A
PERSONAL EMPIRE
Born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1479, the man who
would come to be known as Montejo the Elder
left his homeland in 1514 and sailed to Cuba in
search of adventure. Once there he joined an
expedition to the Yucatán and Gulf of Mexico
prior to signing up to Hernán Cortés’ march
against the Aztecs.
Experienced in the art of battling against
hostile locals in unforgiving terrain, in 1527
Montejo was given royal approval to colonise
the entire Yucatán Peninsula for the Spanish
crown. Upon arriving, Montejo burned his four
ships in order to deter his men from sailing
back to Cuba.
Aided by a fearful local population decimated
by a 1511 smallpox outbreak, Montejo cut
deep into the southeast of Yucatán, reaching
Chetumal and seizing sites including Campeche.
Hoping to carve out his own personal
A smiling conquistador holds aloft
the bodies of two Maya children, their
fiefdom, a determined Montejo was ultimately
limbs savaged by a pair of war dogs undone by a lack of resources and the success
of one Francisco Pizarro, who had unearthed
vast wealth in Peru. This promise of gold
WA R I N A L L I T S G U I S E S However, despite the cavernous gap between the encouraged many of Montejo’s men to abandon
two belligerents, it would take the Spanish almost his drive into the Yucatán, and it would
One of the most intriguing aspects of the Spanish 200 years to completely suppress the fiercely ultimately fall to Montejo’s son to complete the
mission his father had started.
conquest of the Maya is the wildly different ways independent Maya. Part of the reason was their
in which both sides approached the conflict. The intelligent use of terrain.
Spanish had traversed the Atlantic in hulking Aware that in an open battle they would
ships, the troops that these vessels disgorged onto almost certainly be annihilated, the Maya
the sands of South and Central America armed resorted to setting ambushes and digging
with advanced weapons, including crossbows, pits lined with spikes in order to hamper the
matchlocks and light artillery. They also sported Spanish and disrupt cavalry charges that
heavy lances, swords, pikes and rapiers, and their would otherwise have swept their scantily
bodies were protected by plates of armour and clad bodies from the field. Hit-and-run raids
domed helmets. In comparison, the Maya were enabled the Maya of the eastern provinces
positively primeval. of the Yucatán to regularly surprise the
Wielding lethal spiked clubs, bows and arrows, Spanish before fleeing back into the sanctuary
stones and spears, the natives wore only a shirt of the jungle.
stuffed with rock salt for protection against enemy For their part, the Spanish were often utterly
blows, and sometimes not even that. Used to perplexed by their opponents’ methods.
fighting similarly armed soldiers with the same Desperate to concentrate the locals into
motivations (treasure and prisoners), the Maya newly founded towns (reducciones) modelled
battling the Spanish invasion were confronted on settlements in their native Spain, the
with a completely alien enemy, and the gulf conquistadors viewed the taking of prisoners
between them was not only a matter of vastly as a hindrance. This opinion may go some way
different arsenals. to explaining why the Spanish were so eager to
As was customary for any European force in dismiss Maya efforts to capture high-ranking
the 16th century, the Spanish that landed in the Spaniards as simple military incompetence.
New World were accompanied by thousands of According to a number of Spanish accounts,
horses, as well as war dogs. The Maya had never the Maya made constant attempts to encircle
even encountered a horse, let alone possessed and capture leaders such as Hernán Cortés and
the experience or weaponry to counter them. Francisco de Montejo (Montejo the Elder), yet
They also lacked such vital tools as the wheel, these men were not killed, proving that the
gunpowder or steel, all of which the Spanish Maya were trying to take them captive. But in
relied on heavily to execute their campaigns. an obvious attempt to belittle their resilient foes,
A monument to Montejo the
Elder and his son, Montejo the
© Wikipedia, Getty images

Younger, stands in Mérida

119
Maya

the Spanish tried to paint the Maya as bumbling religious front behind which the Spanish could hide
savages incapable of dispatching supposedly their blatant lust for gold and other materials. And
superior Christian warriors. it would be a man of god who would turn the tide
against the Itza.
T H E R OA D T O N O J P E T É N A series of bloody skirmishes and cruel betrayals
had marked the Spanish advance into the deep
After the initial shock of the 1546 uprising, the south of the Yucatán. Their crafty adversaries
Spanish and their native supporters composed had continued to be a thorn in their side – on one
themselves and eventually defeated the clans occasion a horde of 2,000 Itza had canoed across
that had banded against them in a pitched Lake Petén Itzá and surrounded a small band of
battle. Though the bodies of 20 Spaniards and Spanish troops, who were forced to unleash a volley
THE hundreds of native allies were scattered across of fire before rushing to escape.

C O U R AG E the field, their victory had signalled the final

conquest of north Yucatán. The Spanish were
Adaptive as ever, the Itza constructed a city
called Tayasal (also known as Nojpetén) deep
OF THE slowly tightening their grip on the region.
LAK ANDON Soundly beaten and with their former
lands now under Spanish control, many
WHEN THE SPANISH DECIDED of the Maya from the north scurried
TO CONNECT TWO OF THEIR towards the south and the safety of
NEW TERRITORIES, A the Petén Basin, home to the city of
FEROCIOUS OPPONENT STOOD Nojpetén and the ferocious Itza.
BRAVELY IN THEIR WAY Since Hernán Cortés’ first encounter
with the Itza in 1525, the Spanish had
In 1695, it was decided by the Spanish authorities avoided making any further attempts to
governing large swathes of the New World that linking
convert the Itza people to Christianity.
Guatemala to the Yucatán Peninsula would aid trade,
travel and further conquest. Never ones to stop and On some occasions they had been well
consider the potential consequences of their grand received by the Itza but their religious
plans, they proceeded to embark on a three-pronged overtures declined; on other occasions
assault on the lands of the Lacandon Jungle, home to the Itza had resorted to putting their
the ferocious Lakandon Ch’ol. own views across at the end of a blade.
Deemed a grave threat, the Lakandon were at the
The massacre of Spanish parties by the
time ravaging the Guatemalan Highlands to such an
extent that travel through the area was considered
Itza naturally resulted in retaliations,
unwise. In fact, such was the perceived threat posed with members of the Itza tortured and
Spaniards haul down
by these resourceful people that the Church openly put to death in return. Maya idols under the
advocated military intervention for fear that their work It was this open hostility – coupled watchful eye of a friar
(converting natives and overseeing the erection of with political upheaval in Spain, which distracted
churches) would be undone. the crown from its efforts in the New World
Withdrawing ever deeper into their jungle home,
– that brought about an almost century-long
the Lakandons fought hard to resist the Spanish
incursion, but one by one many of their holdings fell, break between Spanish efforts to finally bring
with the Spanish constructing a fort on the shores of the Itza to heel. It was not until 1692 that the
the Lacantún River. Spanish once more resumed their conquest of
Aided by hundreds of Maya allies, the Spanish, the south of the Yucatán following a proposal by
under the leadership of the president of a superior a nobleman named Martín de Ursúa y Arizmendi
court in Guatemala named Jacinto de Barrios Leal,
that a road be built from Mérida down to the
succeeded in driving the Lakandons out of their
homes, the displaced natives later resettled in the Spanish holdings in Guatemala. As the road was
Highlands they’d once pillaged. built, Arizmendi suggested, local populations
could be regrouped into congregaciones that
would be easier to oversee.
Throughout the latter years of the 17th
century, the Spanish gradually carved their way
further south. As had been the case since their
arrival in the New World, the Spanish were
heavily reliant on the Church to aid them in their
conquest. The Church (especially its friars) was
integral, as it provided the ‘moral’ and ‘spiritual’
justification for what was without doubt a war
of conquest. While the Spanish may have been
determined to convert their ‘heathen’ adversaries
to the way of god, had the Americas held no
This illustration clearly highlights promise of wealth the invasion would never have
the gulf between the armoured
Spanish invaders and the natives
been attempted. It was therefore useful to have a
who struggled to stop them

120
 The end of the resistance

inside the jungles of northern Guatemala. The last was by now the only remaining Maya kingdom, the that the defeat of the Maya was inevitable. Yet
bastion of Maya independence, the Spanish knew defenders had little chance against the cannons of the fact that it took the Spanish from 1525 to
they had to take it in order to finally complete the an enemy hell-bent on ending the Maya resistance 1697 to finally extinguish the flame of Maya
conquest of the Maya people. once and for all. It has taken the Spanish almost independence is testament to how incredibly
two centuries to get to this point, but it only took resilient the natives of this jungle-ridden part
A SA N C T UA RY N O M O R E them a few hours to finish off Nojpetén. of the world were. Despite their own political
Any hope that the city’s people may have differences, lack of modern weaponry and
On 26 February 1697, Martín de Ursúa y harboured was cleverly swept aside by Padre the advanced technology that the Spanish
Arizmendi reached the shores of Lake Petén. Andrés de Avendaño y Loyola. This intelligent holy enjoyed, the Maya fought courageously until the
He was accompanied by a group of soldiers, man had taken the time to learn Maya hieroglyphs, bitter end.
who he set to the task of constructing a boat and used this knowledge to convince the natives Their legacy lives on today, a history of a
capable of transporting both men and canons. that their own calendar had prophesied their proud, ingenious, brave people who erected
However, before he unleashed his forces upon downfall in that very year. In the face of such stunning monuments to their gods, crafted
the city of Nojpetén, Arizmendi offered the Kan divine judgement, what argument could the Maya varied and intricate artefacts, studied the stars
Ek (king) the chance to discuss have hoped to muster? and carefully utilised the delicate lands around
peace terms. Perhaps out of fear, Racing for the jungle, the last keepers of Maya them to support their people. For all their efforts,
perhaps foolishness, the king failed independence retreated, leaving Nojpetén to be the Spanish never did ultimately succeed in
to take Arizmendi up on his offer, occupied and dramatically renamed as ‘Our Lady destroying the soul of the Maya. No amount of
and instead a sea of Maya defenders of Remedy and Saint Paul, Lake of the Itza’ by gunpowder could ever have done that.
began to trickle out across the a triumphant Arizmendi. Any hope of a Maya
shoreline, with some manning resurgence was swiftly crushed when the nobles
boats and sailing across the lake. of Nojpetén, including their erstwhile king,
Arizmendi was left with only were captured.
one choice. A colonial church in modern-
The Spanish stormed the city, GONE BUT NEVER day Mérida, Yucatán. Without
slaughtering wave upon wave of FORGOTTEN the efforts of the Church the
conquistadors would have
its defenders and incurring only found their struggle to suppress
a few losses. Although they were When you consider the overwhelming odds the Maya even harder
defending their homeland and what stacked against them, it is tempting to think

© Wikipedia, Getty images

121
 THE
END OF THE
M AYA
Explore the continuing saga of the Maya people after
the fall of their civilisation

WRITTEN BY SCOTT REEVES

The Temple of the God of Wind

at Tulum is a popular destination
for tourists holidaying on
Mexico’s Riviera Maya

122
 The end of the Maya

he brief but bloody battle at

T
Nojpetén saw many Maya warriors
cut down by Spanish soldiers.
Survivors in the last Maya capital
jumped into the water around the

k and Learn
hastily abandoned island city; some drowned,
others made it to shore and crept away into the

ia Commons© Loo
rainforest. The once-mighty Maya Empire ended
with little more than a whimper.
The Maya people may have been conquered,

Source: Wikiped
but their story was not over. Almost 300 years
after the fall of Nojpetén, Rigoberta Menchú – a Attempts to contain Maya culture saw
many indigenous people moved from their
Guatemalan of Maya descent – was awarded the traditional villages to Hispanic settlements
1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting
the rights of her country’s indigenous population.
As Menchú put it, “We are not myths of the past, landholders were expected to convert the Maya
ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and to the Christian religion. Both Catholic and Maya
we want to be respected.” Around 6 million Maya religions already had similarities: the use of
people continue to live in Mesoamerica, their priests, fasting, prayer, confession and pilgrimage;
fortunes ebbing and flowing with the changing both had as their central figures a god who died
attitudes of those who control the land that they and was resurrected. Aspects of Christianity
once called their own. were absorbed by the Maya, although often with
Perhaps the greatest changes to Maya society some adaptation. The Maya enthusiastically
occurred, as might be expected, immediately adopted patron saints – perhaps seeing them as an
after the Spanish conquered Central America and extension of their own polytheistic belief system –
established the Captaincy General of Guatemala. and used the Roman alphabet to transcribe ritual
The scattered Maya population – already much- and historical texts, which had previously only
reduced due to epidemic diseases introduced from existed in glyph form. However, the Maya were
Europe – were concentrated into new towns and slow to completely switch to a new belief system
villages that were often constructed from scratch, despite the best efforts of Catholic missionaries.
breaking ancient bonds with the land. By 1724, nearly three decades after the fall of
The relocation of the Maya and redistribution Nojpetén, Spanish control over Mesoamerica was
of land, however, required labour. Spanish secure enough that their attitude towards the
landholders were granted the right to have Maya began to relax. With a basic infrastructure in
indigenous inhabitants carry out unpaid or low- place, the system of forced labour was abolished
paid work building the villages and labouring and villages were free to manage their own affairs,
on farms, mines and roads. The work was particularly those most remote from the colonial
intermittent, essentially a form of part-time masters. Spanish and Maya culture continued to
slavery, with the Maya free to return to their own amalgamate and the distinction between them
lands when they were not required. eroded with the birth of mestizos – people with
The intention was to civilise and tame the mixed Spanish and Maya ancestry.
land, but also the indigenous people who lived Indigenous villagers produced clothes, baskets
upon it. In return for free labour, the Spanish and pottery in the same way as they did before
Source: Wikipedia Commons© Popo le Chien

123
 Inter-marriage between © Dmitri Kessel/The LIFE Picture Collection via GettyImages
Spanish and Maya led
to the amalgamation of
cultures and the birth of
mixed mestizo children

© Three Lions/Getty Images

Many 20th-century Maya
By the 1940s, a found seasonal work
traditional Maya on coffee plantations,
life was a fusion of although wages were low
ancient and modern and conditions were poor

the conquest, trading them in community markets. under threat once again. Wanting to improve Chichén Itzá in 1930, when only a few dozen filled
Maize and beans continued to be the staple foods, his country’s economy and ability to compete in its rooms each year. Yet word got out and travel
but chicken, beef and pork began to take over from the world market, Guatemala’s President Rufino became easier, leading to an explosion in visitors
game. This led to a change in the landscape as Barrios abolished the communal lands held by that forced the Mexican Government to put all pre-
forests were cleared for pasture, a task made easier the Maya and imposed a new system of seasonal Columbian monuments under state ownership in
with the help of new Spanish iron and steel tools. forced labour. Maya were transported from the 1972. By 2017, Chichén Itzá was receiving more than
More problematically, some Maya fell for the strong highlands to work on coffee plantations in the 2 million visitors a year. Taking advantage of the
liquor the Spanish distilled. Although the Maya foothills, often for such low wages that workers interest in Mexico’s indigenous past, a rich stretch
were no strangers to alcohol – maize beer was often fell into debt with their employers. During of the Yucatán Peninsula’s Caribbean coastline is
common in the highlands, and mead was popular the rest of the year, they returned home to grow now known as the Riviera Maya, where vast all-
in the lowlands – the far stronger European corn and produce craft items that could be sold inclusive resorts jostle for beachfront space with
aguardiente led to alcoholism becoming rife. in Maya markets. small boutique hotels.
When the Spanish colonies began to win Spanish-speaking ladinos (those who were Guatemala boasts the equally impressive
independence from their European overlords Westernised and rejected native culture – rainforest city of Tikal, although its attempts to coax
in the 1820s, the newly independent nations predominantly mestizos, but also included some tourist dollars on the back of Maya history were less
needed to decide how they would treat their Europeans and Hispanicised Maya) flocked to successful due to a vicious internal conflict, during
native populations. In Guatemala, the government settle in the old Maya communal lands and a which post-conquest Maya fortunes reached their
was willing to allow the Maya who lived in the two-tier system quickly emerged. While the lowest point. The Guatemalan Civil War encroached
highlands a degree of freedom. However, that Maya laboured for low wages in poor conditions, on the Maya when the Guerrilla Army of the Poor –
was not the case in the more distant provinces of the ladinos were professionals, shopkeepers, a Marxist-Leninist group influenced by the success
New Spain. In Chiapas, arguments over the future teachers, priests and supervisors, bringing of the Viêt
. Công
. – fought alongside other leftist
direction of the state (it would be incorporated Spanish-Guatemalan language, religion and food rebel groups against the military dictatorships that
into Mexico) led to internal conflict that included with them. A new form of Maya exploitation had came to power after the United States-backed coup
a number of Maya revolts. Perhaps the greatest begun, and the Maya culture eroded with it. d’état in 1954. Based in the highlands and mostly
upheaval was felt in another Mexican state, Yet even as the Maya people found their backed by the indigenous Maya, the Guerrilla Army
Yucatán, where a Maya revolt led to the 54-year contemporary culture under attack, their ancient was viewed by the military as a legitimate target,
Caste War. culture was slowly becoming valued by modern but the nature of underground warfare meant that
As the 20th century dawned and an uneasy governments due to its ability to attract tourists it was difficult to isolate rebel participants from
peace fell in Yucatán, the wider Maya lands were and their money. The first hotel opened close to innocent supporters and bystanders.

124
 Beginning around 1975 and peaking during the genocide, but scars remain in the form of T H E C A ST E WA R
first half of the 1980s, the Guatemalan military instability and social inequality in Maya areas. THE LITTLE-KNOWN
switched to the systematic use of terror against In the 300 years since the fall of Nojpetén, REINCARNATION OF A
the Maya. Government forces and death squads the Maya have continued to face attack as the
MAYA STATE
pinpointed locations where the Guerrilla Army modern world encroaches on their land, their
was thought to operate and went in with ruthless traditions and their culture. Many Maya survive For half a century, the Maya Empire rose from
the ashes as a self-declared autonomous
fury, identifying villages for annihilation and in Mesoamerica – some 6 million, including 41
state that fought for independence. In
carrying out more than 400 massacres. Suspected per cent of Guatemala’s population and ten per the Campeche-Mérida region of Yucatán,
fighters were not just killed – they were beheaded, cent of Belize’s – with hundreds of thousands indigenous Maya outnumbered the European-
garrotted, burned alive and hacked to death more in California, mostly migrants who fled descended Yucatecos by five to one. Rebellion
with machetes. Women were raped and children the Guatemalan Civil War. The world in which broke out in 1847 when the Yucatán authorities
deliberately targeted in psychological warfare. In they live is unrecognisable to the one prior to the learned of a revolutionary plot and executed
European conquest, but having survived colonial Manuel Antonio Ay, a Maya leader, and killed
Cocob, soldiers searching for guerrilla fighters in
other insurgents. However, the pre-emptive
April 1981 killed 65 civilians, including 34 children. rule, independence, civil war and genocide, the
strike backfired. The Maya were sparked
The following month, a masked informant Maya culture endures. The Maya people have lived into revolt and pushed government forces
identified 70 subversives in San Francisco Cotzal; in Mesoamerica for thousands of years and hope almost completely out of Yucatán, only for
half were immediately executed, half were taken to continue to do so for some time yet. the Yucatecos to recover as the Maya army
away and never returned. disintegrated, melting away to return home to
Traditional Maya plant new crops.
In total, around 150,000 Maya were killed, with crafts still survive, an
Stalemate ensued for the next 50 years as
an additional 40,000 disappeared – presumed echo of a lost empire
raids took place over the borders of Maya-

y
© robertharding / Alam
murdered but with no physical proof. Those who controlled territory, the largest of which was
survived faced continued attempts to destroy their named Chan Santa Cruz after its capital city.
traditional culture. Uprooted communities were When the British Government switched sides
corralled into model villages manned by Christian and backed the Mexicans, they closed off trade
missionaries. At least 250,000 children nationwide between British Honduras (modern Belize) and
Chan Santa Cruz, depriving the Maya of crucial
were estimated to have lost at least one parent
military supplies. The Mexican Army’s next
to the violence, further loosening familial ties campaign drove right into Maya territory and
to Maya culture. Attempts have been made to captured the city of Chan Santa Cruz. Not for
reconcile and move on from the Guatemalan the first time, a Maya capital city had fallen to
the superior firepower of Hispanic forces. The
brief resurrection of a Maya state was over.

The Guatemalan Civil

War led to massacres
that annihilated villages The Caste War lasted 54 years as Mexicans
in the Maya highlands and Maya struggled for control of Yucatán

125
E X PL OR I NG THE

M AYA WOR L D
Journey into the past with this unique online exhibit, which
is preserving Maya cultural heritage for generations to come

etween the 1880s and 1890s, work to the world. The British Museum’s

B
British explorer Alfred Maudslay rarely seen collection has been digitised and
travelled across Mexico and made accessible for the first time, bringing
Central America studying the fascinating untold stories of the Maya
and documenting ancient civilisation to life. Among the many features of
Maya heritage. Developing the first glass plate Exploring The Maya World are nine new curated
photographs of famous sites such as Chichén online exhibitions, over 650 assets including
Itzá and creating over 400 plaster casts of Maya photographs, journals, artefacts and drawings,
art, inscriptions and monuments, Maudslay and a documentary that offers a behind-the-
left behind a legacy that has proved vital to scenes look at the exhibition. Thanks to modern
Mesoamerican research and scholars. technology, you can explore 200 3D models that
Over 100 years later, the British Museum and have been digitally reassembled from Maudslay’s
Google Arts & Culture have partnered up to plaster casts, as well as take a 360-degree tour
launch a new online exhibition, Exploring The of the ancient Maya city of Palenque – all within
Maya World, to bring Maudslay’s indispensable the comfort of your own home.

126
 Maya mythology and religion
P R E S E RV I N G
T H E PA S T
Maudslay took this glass plate
photograph of Zoomorph P, better
known as the ‘Great Turtle’, at
Quiriguá, Guatemala. Maudslay
commissioned plaster moulds and
casts for various Maya monuments
– this one required two tons of
plaster of Paris!

R OYA L DOCUMENTING
RESIDENCE M AYA H E R I TAG E
Palenque Palace was the political This is an archival scan from one
and ritual centre of the city between of the various field notebooks
the 7th and 8th centuries. Maudslay that belonged to Maudslay, who
stayed in the ruins of House C, and documented his extensive studies of
if you look closely you can see his the Maya ruins. He left a selection of
bed and equipment inside. his notebooks, diaries and sketches
to the British Museum.

127
Maya
M AYA
MANUSCRIPT
The Dresden Codex is the oldest and
best-preserved Maya pre-conquest
pictorial manuscript to survive to
this day. It depicts Maya hieroglyphs
and features ritual and divination
calendars, with screenfold tracings of
leaves 46 to 49 pictured here.

MIGHTY
WA R R I O R
This is a limestone lintel from
Structure 21 in the ancient city of
Yaxchilán, Mexico, depicting the
Maya king Bird Jaguar IV with a
captive sat at his feet. The king
is wearing a warrior costume and
holding a spear in his right hand.

128
 RESTORI NG
H I S T O RY
This staircase has been robotically
reconstructed from plaster casts,
drawings and photos meticulously
recorded by Maudslay at Palenque during
the 1880s. This reproduction will be
installed on top of the original staircase
to protect it from further damage and to
show how it used to look.

A NCI ENT SPORT

This is a Maya figurine portraying
a player of the Mesoamerican
ballgame, a traditional sport that
involved moving the ball without
using your hands or feet. The
ballgame also had a deeper ritual
meaning and it played an important
part in Maya religion.

TRA DITIONA L
AT T I R E
Maya women used backstrap
looms, which wrapped around their
waists, to make textiles from cotton,
although they could also be made
from barkcloth or animal skin. In
fact, textiles were so important to
the Maya that sometimes tribute
was paid with blankets.

129
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 THE
ANCIENT
MAYA
UNCOV ER ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST CIVILISATIONS
9021

Wander the ruins of temples and Explore the secrets of daily life, from
towers raised to the many Maya gods sacrifices to studying the stars

Sample Maya cuisine and learn the Discover why a thriving empire
rules of their deadly ballgame suddenly collapsed
9000

KINGS . CEREMONIES . SACRIFICE . INVASION