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Mayan Architecture

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Valerie
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« Reply #15 on: July 15, 2007, 10:32:07 pm »



During the Classical period, the highlands come under the domination of the Teotihuacan from central Mexico in 400 A.D. causing parts of the Maya polity in the region to disintegrate, being replaced by Toltec culture. The city of Tikal also reached it height during 500 A.D. becoming the center of a great trading hub within the Mayan polities. The city of Palenque also came to prominence, as evident from the astounding gold relief found in the tomb of one of their Kings, that of King Pacal. The Maya had practiced self-mutilation and animal sacrifices as religious practices. But with the Toltec influence, the practice of human sacrifice is introduced to the Maya. They were also introduced to Quetzalcoatl, the featured serpent by the Toltecs, whom the Maya renamed Kukulkan. The main temple at Chichen Itza was built to honor this god, and the steps of the pyramid would form a perfect shadow of a snake writhing down from the temple at the seasonal solstices. Homage was sometimes paid to their gods through a sacred but deadly ball game where the losers would be sacrificed. These practices were both religious and political. Like other Mezo-Americans they believed that blood was required to ensure that the gods would be appeased and provide for their people, and it was important for the leaders of each state to make these sacrifices to reinforce his prestige and hold on the people. Indeed every Mayan King was required to take a prisoner in battle, and sacrifice him during the ruler's ascension ceremony. By 600 A.D. Tikal becomes the most populous city in Mezo-America with over half a million inhabitants. However by 751 A.D. trade and alliances between the Maya city-states began to break down, leading to a period of war. By 899 A.D. Tikal is abandoned, marking the decline and eventual collapse of the southern Maya cities.

 
By 1200 A.D. the decline spreads to the north and many cities began to be abandoned. Notable is the city of Chichen Itza which was established by the Toltecs during the early classical period, but again by 1224 A.D. it is also abandoned. A people known as the Uilcil-abnal who later take the name Itza settles in the abandoned city but again abandons it 20 years later. They then move on to build the city of Mayapan in 1263 A.D. becoming the capitol of a unified Maya state in 1283 A.D. Yet in 1461 A.D. a rebellion within the city causes that city to be abandoned as well, breaking the Mayan kingdom into 16 rival states.
 

In 1511 A.D. a Spaniard named Gonzalo Guerrero is shipwrecked and washes on shore in Maya territory. He ends up thoroughly assimilating into Maya society and marries into a Maya noble family. He would later become a staunch foe of the Spanish, and helped the Maya in resisting Spanish rule in the Yucatan. In 1517 A.D. the first organized Spanish expedition under Hernandez de Cordoba arrive on the Yucatan but he is killed in battle against the Maya and his expedition fails. But it had introduced European diseases into the region and within the next century 90% of the population is decimated. A few years after Cordoba, Hernado Cortez makes his way to the Yucatan, and in 1524 A.D. meets the Itza people who remained the last of the Maya to be conquered by the Spanish. They would remain so until the 17th century. The rest of the Maya states continue to put up dogged resistance holding out for several years against the Spanish. However, the Spanish manages to establish the capitol of Merida in 1542 A.D. to control their possessions in the Yucatan. But the Maya would continue to revolt on and off through the rest of next century, and then again in 1724 A.D. continuing though Mexico's independence in 1821 A.D. and beyond. It is not surprising given the Maya spirit, and the miserable conditions that they were placed under Spanish rule. The native religion of the Maya was suppressed but the Maya managed to integrate Christianity with their animist religion combining Christ and the Virgin Mary into their pantheon of gods. This marks the colonial period of Mayan history.


http://www.geocities.com/architecture_aztec_america/america_mayan_history.htm
 
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Tom Hebert
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« Reply #16 on: July 16, 2007, 05:42:42 am »



Hi Valerie,

George Erikson claims that this figure is really a stylized elephant.  If so, this would support the idea of Atlantis in America, or perhaps Atlantean refugees.

http://www.atlantisinamerica.com/
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Valerie
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« Reply #17 on: July 16, 2007, 01:51:19 pm »

Hi Tom,

I saw that special!  It never occurred to me that those might have been elephants until George pointed them out.  "Scholars" have called these things "grotesques" but the shape of the grotesque would still have to come from somewhere and there is no other animal like an elephant anywhere in North America.  Obviously, the sculptor would have had to have at least seen one.
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Bianca
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« Reply #18 on: July 19, 2007, 09:50:38 am »










A man plays with his daughter next to the Kukulkan pyramid at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula July 7, 2007.

Reuter Photo
« Last Edit: July 19, 2007, 10:42:45 am by Bianca2001 » Report Spam   Logged

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unknown
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« Reply #19 on: July 19, 2007, 09:52:11 pm »

Actually the elephant... the mastadon in particular was in the americas... for example mastadon bones were found in the La Briar tar pits.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2007, 10:01:42 pm by unknown » Report Spam   Logged

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Valerie
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« Reply #20 on: July 22, 2007, 10:23:28 pm »










A man plays with his daughter next to the Kukulkan pyramid at the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula July 7, 2007.

Reuter Photo

Nice pic, Bianca!
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Neart inár lámha, fírinne ar ár dteanga, glaine inár gcroí
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Valerie
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« Reply #21 on: July 22, 2007, 10:28:28 pm »

Actually the elephant... the mastadon in particular was in the americas... for example mastadon bones were found in the La Briar tar pits.

That's true, Unknown, elephant, mastodon and mammoth bones wash up along the coast of America all the time, but they have been extinct (far as I know) since 10,000 to 9,000 bc, same as horses in  the Americas. 

So, obviously, if those are elephants, the Mayans would have had to have seen them from trans-atlantic voyages (and there is evidence of connections between the Americas and the Egypt), or else the evidence of elephants in the Americas at a later date hasn't been uncovered yet.
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Neart inár lámha, fírinne ar ár dteanga, glaine inár gcroí
"Strength in our arms, truth on our tongue, clarity in our heart"
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