The ancient Mesoamerica cities of Maya

There are 10 annotated bibliographies about the development of ancient Maya sites and each article focuses on different development and origin of the Maya cities. The structure of the political and empire of ancient Maya and the climate atmosphere of the Maya sites were discussed within the articles. The understanding of Maya cities through public building structures along with changing political powers. There were articles about the religions significance of mosaic mirrors and jadeite are also examined throughout the paper. The origin of Maya sites was identified through textile and Nahuatl languages that were found on the architecture walls. The issues of collapse in Maya cities are also identified and discussed in the paper.

Blainey, M. G., & Healy, P. S. (2011). Ancient Maya Mosaic Mirrors: Function, Symbolism, and Meaning. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 22, n 2, p 229-244.

The article examines the meaning of the mosaic mirrors in ancient Maya through the process of how the mirrors are made and what it is made out of. As mentioned in other article, ancient Maya were creative at art and artifacts. Also, their community were hierarchically organized. Therefore, these well made lithic reflectors were used for ceremonial artifacts and mostly used by elite individuals. These mirrors were flat, shiny objects with highly polished plaques and it has been described as luxury goods which indicate high status for the owner. Furthermore, the meaning of ancient Maya iron-ore mirrors was used by the elite individuals to communicate to the spiritual world. There are over 500 mosaic mirrors found in ancient Maya in highland and lowland area such as Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. But majority of the mosaic mirrors were found in highland area and only one or two were found in lowland area. This indicates that highland Maya area were wealthier than lowland area Maya. The skill of craftsman and technique of making the iron-ore mirror shows the urban manufacture and development of the ancient Maya. The mosaic mirror shows the power of the elite individual in the community.

Cheek, C. D. (2003). Maya Community Buildings: Two Late Classic Popal Nahs at Copan, Honduras. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 14, n 1, p 131-138.

The author focuses on the type of public building to interpret the changing political structure at Copan in Late Classic period. There are two type of public building identified at Copan. These buildings were constructed for multiple purposes for men. One building structure is found on the Acropolis and the other building is found on the northeast corner of the Great Plaza. These building were found in the Maya Lowland area and identify as community houses. The building found on the northeast corner of the Great Plaza was called as men’s house. This house compare to the other one has wide varieties of room and may also serve as a council house. At post Classic Maya period the administrative or men’s house were considered to be long buildings and arranged around the plaza. According to the ethnohistoric literature these buildings were used for ceremonies, rituals, and temporary residence. There are three different names for public houses in Nunnery Quadrangle, such as mat house, flower house, and white house. The Spaniards defined community house as the heads of the lineages that made the head of the polity came together to discuss community business. In the post Classic Maya, each lineage has its own community house, but the size and location were different to each other based on the lineage’s rank. The multifunctional public building found in the Maya Late Classic period may later transform into specific function for each building in order to satisfy the political demands.

Chase, A. F., & Chase, D. Z., & Smith, M. E. (2009). States and Empires in ancient Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 20, n 2, p 175-182.

This article examines the political and empire organization existence in early ancient Mesoamerica. The author attempts to determine the importance of polities in ancient Maya sites and how the polities influence the development of Maya city state. According to the data, in post Classic period there has the form of Maya hegemonic empire in the centered of Maya sites. The government of Mayapan were called multipal which represents “joint rule” of other dominant polities. In the ancient Mesoamerica, the Aztec empire was a well documented and constructed city state compare to Maya sites. The author emphasizes the importance of the value of archaeological records in making interpretation of social and political structure. By the end, the author concludes in ancient Mesoamerica, the society was rule by hegemonic empire rather than territorial empire and the importance of leader is symbolic to the core of politic. Last but not least, the religious ritual were present to unite the community and at the same time support political actions. As mentioned before in the previous article the leader of the Maya polities will pass on to the next generation of the leader’s family, which shows the hegemonic style of political organization. The author also reviews the similarity between each ancient Mesoamerica states but also illustrate the different political structure among those states.

Chase, A. F., & Chase, D. Z., & Zorn, E., & Teeter, W. (2008). Textiles and the Maya archaeological record: Gender, Power, and Status in Class Period Caracol, Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 19, n 1, p 127-142.

This article identifies ancient Maya textile in the archaeological records and through studying of textile products to understand Classic period of gender, power, and status at Caracol and Belize. The significance of clothing in ancient Maya may represent different status for gender and according to archaeological data textile product in female gendered grave shows the level of status in Caracol site. The role of women in ancient Maya is being significantly understated based on examining textile product in ancient Maya. By analyze textile product, it shows the ancient Maya social and political structure. There are two kinds of cotton were used in Lowland Maya area, and finished cotton textile were highly used as payments in ancient Maya. However, the techniques of textile production were only found in the tropical lowland area. There is limited evidence of textile product found in the ancient Maya sites. The evidence suggest that the tool used for textile production were more likely made out of perishable material, so the archaeological evidence of textile production were rare. There is evidence of textile production in Caracol site, as the archaeological records shows stone spindle whorls were presented in the most important burials of Caracol. This indicates the importance of textile production in Classic period of Caracol society. Furthermore, the spindle whorls were only found in burial of Caracol sites and based on frequent appearance of spindle whorls within the Lowland Maya highlights gender imbalance in royal interments. The textile production distinguishes Caracol cities from other ancient Maya sites and exhibits the difference in social and political organization.

Gill, R. B., & Mayewski, P. A., & Nyberg, J, & Hang, G. H., & Peterson, L. C. (2007). Drought and the Maya Collapse. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 18, n 2, p283-302.

This article examines the physical environment changes around the time of Maya collapses. The author used secondary data to support the cause of Maya collapses. One of the major reasons is the persistent long term drought that causes the failure in crops and basic physical needs, water. Another possible is diseases but due to lack of evidence this assumption cannot be proved. However, there are evidence shows that Lowland Maya has little rainfall from the Pacific. There are 95% of Maya cities relied on dependable annual rainfall for water and to irrigate their crops. Therefore, as the drought last longer in Maya cities the population will decrease as people died of hunger or lack of water. The most severe drought in Maya period last 7,000 years devastated the Yucatan Peninsula. Maya cities have collapses through four stages and each stage is 50 years apart around A.D. 760, 810, 860, and 910. The collapses of the Maya cities was due to periods of demographic disasters rather than based on one causes. The sea surface salinity demonstrates the drought of the Maya cities through patterns of the specific atmospheric circulation so the collapses of Maya were due to repetitive process of atmosphere.

Macri, M. J., & Looper, M. G. (2003). Nahua in ancient Mesoamerica: Evidence from Maya inscriptions. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 14, n 2, P285-297.

Nahuatl is considered to be one the ancient languages in Mexica Empire, and despite the foundation of the language it is still spoken today in the Valley of Mexico. This language was once spread throughout Mesoamerica due to political and commercial interaction and population movements. Even though, Nahua were not widely spoken in Mexico it is still counted as one of the languages in Mexico. The author uses Nahuatl as the language of the Aztecs and other relevant dialects. The research indicates in early Maya inscription shows the historical relationships between Nahua to Mayan languages. There are several Nahua words in Mayan texts in seventh century. This indicates in the Mesoamerica period everyone speaks the same language and similar scripts, so the trading economy rapidly increases between ancient Maya cities. There is trading evidence from Veracruz in the Classic Maya trading records. Also, the architecture in Maya area is similar to those in Veracruz. The northwestern Yucatan has played an important role in the Classic Maya period. As the architecture and Maya-style ceramic were found similar with Veracruz and most likely to be imported from Yucatan. The words and scripts found through iconography, ceramic and architecture shows there are strong connections between Mexican and Maya people. The settlement of the Nahua people in the Gulf region connects the Mexican influence in Maya area rather than through attributes to Teotihuacan. The epigraphic evidence shows that Nahua people has influence Mesoamerica far earlier than previous researcher assumed.

Rice, D. S., & Rice, P. M. (1984). Lesson from the Maya. Latin American Research Review, v 19, n 3, p 7-34.

This article seeks to define the serious issues in environmental development as the world’s population is increasing and the demand for limited resources has also increased. The probability of expansion to the tropical forest is being discussed throughout the article. The development of the ancient Maya civilization was used to demonstrate the probability of expanding to the lowland tropical forest. The ancient Maya has greatest achievements among the architecture, art and artifacts, such as large temple pyramids and paint pottery. The Classic Maya was organized by hierarchical and theocratic society. The author evaluated ancient Maya to determine the long term success of Maya in the tropical forest environment, so the government can a strategy as the population increase. However, as the rapid culture decline and decrease in population the Classic Maya collapse. There are several hypotheses for the collapse of the ancient Maya such as, malnutrition, disease, foreign invasion or environmental pollution. The cause of the collapse in ancient Maya remains as a mystery but the development of the tropical forest in Peten still needs to take into consideration of the possible reason for the collapse of the Classic Maya in order to make an adaptive strategy for the future expansion of the population.
Taube, K. A. (2005). The Symbolism of Jade in Classic Maya Religion. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 16, n 1, p 23-50.

This article evaluated the importance of jadeite in Classic Maya period, as jadeite has its symbolic meaning and representation in Maya society. The examination of the religious significance of jade indicates different meanings based on different colours. According to Maya studies, the meaning of jade is related to leadership and authority and represent as wealth, water, and centrality of the community. Also, the symbolic meaning of jade includes ancient Maya concepts of winds and human spirits. The ancient Maya people tend to pass the symbolic jade from generation to generation as they believe it is the connection to their ancestor. The significance of jadeite were similar to the mosaic mirrors mentioned in other articles, except the ancient Maya iron-ore mirrors were owned by those elite individuals who had spiritual power to foresee the future and communicate to holy spirit. The religious significance of jade was also found in other ancient Mesoamerica such as, Teotihuaca, Xochicalco, and in contact period of Aztec. In ancient Maya, people tend to believe in holy spirits and use mosaic mirrors and jadeite as media to connect and communication to other world.

Zaro, G., & Houk, B. A. (2012). The growth and decline of the ancient Maya city of La Milpa, Belize: New data and new perspectives from the Southern Plazas. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 23, n 1, p 143-159. This article is similar to the previous articles except the Maya site of La Milpa, Belize were examined from early Classic period to early ninth century. The author demonstrates La Milpa cities through the beginning of Preclassic memorable component in the northern end of the site with urban development in the early Classic period, and follow by a massive expand in Late Terminal Classic period. In early ninth century the rapid site abandonment occurred before several construction project finishes. In the southern Maya Lowlands the hieroglyphic text shows remarkable description of kinship, warfare, marriage and both religious and political decisions of organizing high skilled individuals. The changes of the building structure were used to analyze the growth and decline of Lowland Maya polities. The changes in building constructions reflect the ancient Maya policies made by elites. The author takes into consideration of the new findings in recent years which indicates the declines of the La Milpa were occurred in tenth century rather than collapse in the early ninth century. As illustrated in the previous article the La Milpa cities were similar with Nakum cities as both Maya sites has expand its built environment to Southern Maya areas. However, La Milpa had decreased political authorities during Terminal Classic period but Nakum had increased political power due to location advantages. Based on the new findings the La Milpa’s origin were in late Preclassic period and grew rapidly through Classic period and persistently throughout the early ninth century to tenth century or later.

Zraka, J., & Hermes, B. (2012). Great development in troubled times: The terminal classic at the Maya site of Nakum, Peten, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica, v 23, n 1,p 161-187.

This article investigates into the northeast part of Guatemala at Maya site of Nakum in the Terminal Classic period. The Terminal Classic period described the worst time in Maya Lowland such as, depopulation and collapse of the majority Maya sites. The new discovery of the recent excavation at Nakum provides more architecture and archaeological data for the discussion of Nakum at Terminal Classic period. There are two major sectors in Nakum, the Northern sector build at the North Plaza delimited by low platform and has a single pyramid temple structure. The Southern sector is connected with Northern sector through causeway and there also has a large temple pyramid. There was a large increase in Nakum’s cultural and demographic during the Terminal Classic period. Even though, the majority of the Maya sites were experiencing destruction during Terminal period Nakum has managed to survive through the repetitive climate environment and abandon compare to other Lowland Maya sites. One of the reasons Nakum can survived throughout Terminal Classic period is the advantages location on the banks of the Holumul River. This solves the major problems for collapse of ancient Maya, sufficient water allows Nakum to irrigate the crops and provide basic human needs, water. Another reason of success is due to economic depreciation of the powerful neighbours, Tikal and Naranjo. This allows Nakum to expand its trade relationships in Southern Maya as the majority of the Maya sites were experiencing economic and political crisis. However, after a century Nakum has fall for the same reason that cause the other Southern Maya cities to collapse and abandonment. The ancient Maya sites were being discussed and emphasize throughout the paper. The new information was updated in several Maya cities which provide different perspectives relative to previous assumption. The textile and Nahuatl language script shows the origin of ancient Maya and the structure of public building at Copan in Late Classic period illustrate the political and social organization in Maya sites. The significance of religious rituals and ceremonies were being emphasized through the meaning of mosaic mirrors and jadeites. The cause of collapse of Maya cities was due to repetitive physical environment changes that cause long term drought in Maya sites and abandonment. The new discovery has changed the interpretation of periods of collapses in La Milpa and Nakum cities. Even though the reason of collapse in ancient Maya sites still remain as mystery, as long the archaeologist continue to discover the art and architecture of Maya sites the main cause of collapse and abandonment of ancient Maya will be discovered.