Maya Culture example essay topic

It is a joke among professionals that archaeologists make crummy psychological anthropologists. This is because archaeologists rely solely on material culture left behind by human populations, buried deep within layers of dirt and ambiguity with the passing of time. It is impossible to recreate the Maya "model of the mind" for an individual; however, we can make general inferences about Maya people and their specific ideology through the study of their cultural remains. The Maya were a unique culture in the Americas because of their creation of written language. This fact has allowed archaeologists to understand more about the Maya way of life. These people are not referred to as the "mother culture" of Central America, however, they are acknowledged as reaching the pinnacles of artistic, architectural, and astrological prestige that characterize classic civilization.

The Maya created feedback loops with their ideology that produced and maintained structures of power. What the Maya thought and believed ultimately had an integral effect on the formation of complex societies in Central America. Ritual and ceremonialism has long been a defining characteristic of Maya life and their ancient culture. Evidence of their earliest ceremonial practices has been discovered at the sight of O cos, where Coe (1987: 36) mentions a number of solid, hand-made, female figurines of pottery were found.

Thousands of such objects were made in the later Preclassic villages of both Mexico and the Maya area. No one is positive to the meaning of these figures, but it is generally believed that they had something to do with the fertility of crops, similar to the Mother Goddess figurines of Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe. These early ceremonial practices later give way to a multitude of gods and goddesses that help to define the distinctive and unique Maya culture. This world created by the Maya is based on the cyclic nature of time and its relationship to the cosmos. Maya creation is described in the Popol Vuh, one of the four remaining written manuscripts that have survived through the ages (Freidel, Schele, Parker 1993: 107). The Popul Vuh accounts for four separate creations, with the "Creator Couple" named Xpiyakok and Xmukane.

They were responsible for the first and all subsequent Creations of the universe, including our current world. This great Underworld epic was most likely formulated in the Late Preclassic period. The Popul Vu centers upon the doings of two sets of twins, young lords who are summoned to an Underworld center by its horrific rulers. The first set of twins endure various tortures and are finally defeated in a ball game, suffering decapitation upon the loss. The second set of twins, the "Hero Twins", are also summoned like their father and uncle to play ball with the angry rulers of the Underworld. In this match, the Hero Twins turn the tables on the rulers and defeat them, "eventually rising up through the surface of the earth too the sky, where they reach apotheosis as the sun and the moon" (Coe 1987: 167).

This story as told in the Popol Vuh accounts for the basis of Maya religion, explaining the deification of men. This story serves as a sacred archetype for the rulers of Maya populations, who believed they would never suffer total extinction in the Underworld. This belief is reinforced by the subsequent myth of the Twin's decapitated father, who has been shown in iconography to be none other than the Maize God, his severed head representing the harvested ear of corn (Coe 1987: 167). These myths constructed by the Maya culture allowed the institutionalization of religion, and thus the preservation of central power structure. Myth played an important role in uniting the population under a common worldview, ultimately creating one of the numerous factors that led to state formation in Central America. The Maya expressed thanks to their many gods through extensive ritual practices that also helped to unify secular populations.

During the Classic period, the heart of Maya life was embodied in the ritual of bloodletting. Giving the gift of blood was seen as an act of piety used in all rituals from the birth of a child to the burial of the dead. Different rituals called for different practices of letting blood. Some rituals called for only a few drops of one's blood while others were extreme, involving the mutilation of body parts to create large flows of the life giving liquid. Bloodletting was seen as an act of communion that created an opening to the "Otherworld", allowing communication with gods and ancestors (Schele 1990: 89). Blood for the most sacred occasions was drawn from the tongue in men and women, and from the penis for men.

Some rituals called for more drastic measures: human sacrifice. This practice was perpetrated on prisoner, slaves, and children - usually bastards or orphans that could be bought for the occasion. Before the Toltec era however, animals rather than people are more likely the common victims of sacrifice (Coe 1987: 171). The king plays a key role in ritual as the individual closest to the supernatural. The king was most frequently displayed in the guise of the "World Tree".

This Tree was the conduit of communication between the supernatural world and the human world (Schele 1990: 90). Much like trees provide for homes, tools, medicines, food, and even shade - the king as the "Tree of Life" provided his people with guidance, spirituality, and unity. The Maya see the "Tree of Life" as a metaphor for human power. Through ritual, this human power is created and established, ultimately used to legitimize rule. It is important to note that every single Maya ritual act was dictated by the calendar. The Maya used a numbering system of dots and bars to make many calculations.

It is possible that merchants engaging in trade initially used this system to keep track of goods. However, the major use of Maya arithmetic was focused in the development of calendrical systems for mapping time (Coe 1987: 174). The Maya developed calendar systems based on the movements of the sun, moon, and stars. The 260-day calendar, which was synchronized with the solar and Venus calendar, has significant ritualistic implications (Fox 1987: 133). Maya culture was dictated by dates. Important dates adorn temples and architectural structures, usually depicting the ruling periods of specific kings and events such as birth, conquest, ritual, and death.

The Maya calendar systems provide the basis of time and a more complex understanding of the universe which they are part. The practice of inscribing dates and kings into temples is a way that the Maya legitimized rule and perpetuate the central power necessary for state level society to flourish. The Maya were brilliant artists, decorating temples, ball courts, and other architectural structures with lavish decorations depicting ritual and ideology. The Late Classic Maya were one of two American Indian groups interested in rendering the uniqueness of individual characters through portraiture (Coe 1987: 118). The Maya specialized in low relief carving, the basis of Maya sculpture. Sculpture often reflects the power of the king and his connection to the gods.

Art also serves as a method of depicting and reinforcing structures of power, allowing a steady cohesion of populations over which kings rule. Throughout the Classic period, this idea is reinforced by Maya public art remaining focused on the ritual performances of the king. Nobles were allowed to erect monuments and decorate them, however the ritual lives of villagers and farmers were not portrayed through public art. This serves to rigorously define class structure and again justify the power of nobility. The Maya also expressed themselves artistically through many other mediums. Many pots and ceramics were covered with deities, events, and dates that the Maya found of utmost importance.

The Maya reserved their most elaborate artistry to jade, the most precious substance known to them (Coe 1987: 123). The archaeological record shows evidence of extensive trade to acquire this rare stone. These ornately carved and crafted pieces of jade were reserved to the elite, often finding places in elaborate tombs for the dead. Figurines made of pottery were also crafted and fired with precision, depicting gods and kings. This artwork was also often buried in tombs. Some artwork of the Maya period depicted a central aspect of Mesoamerican culture: the ball game.

The archaeological record has shown that the Maya were not the first to play such a ball game. The Olmec, precursors of the Maya and creators of the template of Mesoamerican civilization, also left records of ballgames. One such record is a life-sized portrait of a ball player kneeling in position to receive the ball. This sculpture dates back to 900 B.C. (Freidel, Schele, Parker 1993: 340). The ballgame has great mythic origins and was played by the Hero Twins in the Popol Vuh to defeat the lords of the Underworld. The rules of the game remain elusive to us, but we do have images of the Maya in play.

The ball was made of solid latex rubber, shaped into a sphere a bit larger than a basketball. The players wore heavy padding to protect themselves from injury as they hit the ball or threw themselves under its flight. The iconography and archaeology associated with ball courts clearly associates them with captive sacrifice and political pomp and circumstance (Schele 1990: 77). Along with protective gear, ballplayers also wore headdresses and other symbols of important gods, "indicating that players probably assumed the roles of cosmic beings, elevating their play to the level of a great cosmic drama" (Freidel, Schele, Parker 1993: 343). One thing that is known about the ballgame is that it was often used as a ritual for the disposition of captives (Schele 1990: 177). "Decapitation sacrifice was particularly associated with the ballgame... the people of Chichen Itza adhered to the ancient Maya notion of the ballgame as a metaphor for battle, and of the ball court as the primary setting for decapitation sacrifice" (Schele 1990: 373).

The ballgame was a part of everyday life for the Maya, having significance in the realm of ritual as well as in conquest of neighboring populations. The ballgame can be seen as a metaphor for Maya ideology concerning struggles of life and death, victory and defeat, and also rebirth and triumph. To conclude, the Maya way of life reflected the beliefs and practices that characterize their specific worldview. This outlook was richly dictated by ritual and the will of gods and kings. The unifying worldview of the Maya consisting of ritual and the cyclic movement of time undoubtedly contributed to the rise of state formation in Central America. Maya art, architecture, and astrology all supply the necessary constructs for maintaining and perpetuating centralized power necessary advanced civilizations.