Here Guatemala

The Mayans

Mesoamerican group of indigenous people belonging to the family or mayense Mayan language, which traditionally have lived in the Mexican states of Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco and Chiapas, in most regions of Guatemala and Belize and Honduras.

The people best known, the Maya itself, which gives its name to the whole group, took the Yucatan peninsula. Among other peoples significant are the Tzeltal in the highlands of Chiapas, the Chol of Chiapas, the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and pokonchis Pokomans the mountains of Guatemala and the Chorti of eastern Guatemala and western Honduras. All these people were part of a common culture and civilization in many respects, reached the highest levels of development among indigenous people throughout the Mesoamerican area.

Economic and social organization

Agriculture has been the basis of the economy from the Mayan pre-Columbian era and the corn is their main crop. The Mayans also cultivated cotton, beans (kidney beans or bean), camote (sweet potato), cassava and cocoa. The techniques of spinning, dyeing and weaving achieved a high degree of perfection. As a unit of exchange were used cocoa beans and copper bells, material that was used for ornamental work, like gold, silver, jade, shell and sea-colored feathers.

The Mayans were a very hierarchical. They were ruled by a political authority, the Halach Uinic, supreme leader, whose dignity was inherited by male line, and the Soul Kan., high priest. The supreme leader delegated authority over village communities to local chiefs or bataboob, foremen farming that meet civilian, military and religious. The minimum unit of production was the family farmer, who cultivated a ‘corn’ (plot of a 4-5 hectares) through the system Rozas, to meet their needs and generate, at times, a surplus that is the appropriate class leader.

Architecture

Mayan culture produced a monumental architecture, which will retain large ruins in Palenque, Uxmal, Mayapan, Copan, Tikal, Uaxactún, Quiriguá, Bonampak, and Chichen Itza, among many others. These places were huge centers of religious ceremonies. Three architectural styles are: the River Bec, the Chenes and Puuc, each with characteristics of engineering and ornamentation own. The distribution of cities consisted of a series of pyramid structures, most often topped by temples or carved crest, and grouped around open plazas. The pyramids were coated with staggered blocks of polished stone and usually wore a carved staircase in one or more of their faces. The infrastructure of the pyramids were usually formed by earth and stones, but sometimes used stone blocks together with mortar.

Although today is an exception, it is believed that the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque, which houses the tomb of King Pacal, it may not be the sole use of funerary monument that was built in the Mayan culture. The most common type of construction consists of a core of rubble or limestone game, mixed with concrete or cement, and coated with polished stone or stucco. The walls were built of stone, usually without mortar. The wood was used for the lintels of the doors and for the sculptures. His great discovery was the technical system of the false vault by approximation of rows of stone blocks, to fill spaces or narrow elongated, which expire in the characteristic bow Maya, of which there are 10 different types. The windows were rare, very small and narrow. The interiors and exteriors are painted with bright colors. Special attention was devoted to the field and was lavishly decorated with painted sculptures, carved lintels, stucco moldings and stone mosaics. The decorations are usually available in wide friezes that contrasted with strips of plain bricks. The homes of the common ones are certainly seemed to mud huts and roofs of branches that still today can be seen among the contemporary Maya.

continue…

Share

Possibly Related Posts:

• patron saint festivities in honor of St. Luke the Evangelist
• Identity Guatemala
• The Mayans, part two
• Guatemalan literature
• Department of Jalapa