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The Mayan Timeline
950 AD
2600 BCE
800 BCE
11,000 BCE
11,000 BCE-
-950 AD
7,000 BCE
1200 BCE
300 BCE
Rising Event
Map
Rising Event
In 11,000 BCE, the first Mayan hunters settled into the Mayan lowlands; now known as modern day Guatamala, Yucatan, Western Regions of Honduras and Belize (Mystery of the Maya).
The Mayan Culture is still present in these regions to this day, practicing their religion and keeping the traditions from their culture alive (Maya Religion and Spirituality).
Map
Sharer
Why?
Why?
The Maya chose to settle in these regions specifically because of the rich natural resources such as limestone and flint to create cement, used to build temples and resevoirs. These areas were also attractive because of the lowlands (easy to build on land), and accessible water sources (Rivers)(Mayan Civilization). The only downfall of their geographic choice was the threat of volcanoes, such as El Chichon (Volcanic Eruption).
Event #2:
Event #2
In from 11,000 to 7000 BCE (approximately), it is believed that the Mayans moved from a traditional hunter gatherer lifestyle to fend for themselves, onto a more agricultural way of life (Mystery of the Maya).
Agriculturaly lifestyle was a step towards a modern way of life back during these times. It created a more sustainable way of life and casued them to to last as long as they did. The regions that they settled in such as Yucatan and Belize (reference to Event #1), were chosen because of their agricultural value.
Why?
Why?
Contrary to a more nomadic lifestyle, the Mayans were used to fending and not having a consistent source of agriculture as they were constantly moving around (Mystery of the Maya). When they settled in their regions, a big reason why was because they had sources of maize among other crops to cultivate for their communities (Mystery of the Maya). In my personal opinion, this transition is what made them a civilization rather then a nomadic group with no stability.
Agriculture
Besides maize, the Maya had lots of different agriculture that they learned to grow when they settled into their regions such as; cocao (which they made into chocolate), squash, oregano and coriander for flavouring as well as tobacco, which could be used as a stimulant or a remedy for a number of illnesses (Mystery of the Maya). These crops, specifically cocao, maize and tobacco became attractive bartering items, which grew their economy (Minster).
Agriculture
Duncan
Event #3
Event #3
Approximately 3000-2600 BCE is the approximate time period where the Mayans started their cycles of burial practices. Nobles would be buried in their own constructed and decorated tombs, while commoners were laid to rest underneath their houses (Mayan Culture).
The Mayans had a firm belief in the afterlife, meaning that if they had a rough time in their lives, they would compensated in the afterlife (Mayan Culture).
Meaning
The Mayans had a very unique and speicifc way of burying their dead.They would lay them underneath the floors of their houses, so that they are connected to their ancestors (Mursell). The house was where they gave their best and hardest work, therefore they shall be buried in the place where they spent their prime of life (Mursell).
Another burial tradition that the Mayans practiced was stuffing the deads' mouth full of food. This was to ensure that they would have enough food to survive their trip to the afterlife, signifying them moving on to the next chapter of their lives (Mursell).
Laying the dead to rest with a jade bead offered them currency during their trip to the afterlife while also symbolising the significance of the circle of life; death and rebirth (Mursell).
Meaning
(Dunphy)
Cultural significance
The Mayans believed that if you had a rough journey in your mortal life, one was granted an easier life in their afterlife (Mursell). However, they still granted them an easy trip to the afterlife with their jade bead for currency and protection and a mouth fullof food. The food tended to be corn, which connects to their most grown product and tradable produce giving them a good compensation and currency for their trip.
Cultural Significance
Event #4
Event #4
This time period was when the Mayan stonework began. This was known as the Olmec period (Mark and Tilford), where they began building tall stone structures, covered with intricate stonework and art. This was their form of artistic talent. While other cultures focused more on jewelry, pottery and painting, the Mayans held great pride in their architecture as they held their nobles and kings (reference to Event #6), and the stone work art represented their religion (Mark and Tilford).
Meaning
The Mayan stonework depicted their religion, which was polythestic, meaning that they believed in many gods. Animism played a huge part within the Mayan religion; they believed that everything, including inanimate objects had a soul (“Maya Religion Overview, Gods & Rituals"). Their stonework art would depict stories of their gods such as Ix Chel (Mier), the goddess of midwifery, textile arts and medicine and Hunab Ku, the god of healing and medicine (Castro).
Meaning
Castro. Hunab Ku
Mier. Ix Chel
Event #5
800 BCE is when the Zapotec period began. While the Olmec period focused more on artistic and architectural ability, the Zapotec period was more intellectual ability (Mark and Tilford). The Zapotec period was the period within the Mayan civilization where mathematics, the developement of the calendar and their own writing system would be created called Maya glyphs (Mark and Tilford).
Meaning
The Mayans writing system was similar to the egyptians, as in they had their own sets of symbols and syllable's which represented words and sometimes whole sentences (“Civilization.ca - Mystery of the Maya - Maya civilization timeline”). Approximately 85% of their Maya glyphs have been deciphered over the years with the help of previous knowledge and the help from computors (“Civilization.ca - Mystery of the Maya - Maya civilization timeline”). The Mayan calendar was developed during the Zapotec period, and was further developed over the years by the Mayan society (“Experiencing Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed- The Maya Calendar”). The calendar reads a little different then the Roman calendar, there are three columns where they write their most important dates, however they follow the cycle of the planets and sun as we do with our calendar (“Experiencing Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed- The Maya Calendar”).
Photos
Pictures
Bikos. The Mayan Calendar
Mayan Glyphs
Event #6
Event #6
During this time period of the Mayans, they started to adopt a hierarchial government system within their civilization (Cendana). This also marks the year of the Mayan expansion, where it was not just one large empire, but the Mayan had city-states (Cendana). These were believed to be ruled by family units and were run by one king, who was referred to as divine lord (Cendana).
Why?
The Mayas developed a surge in their population, therefore they needed a hierarchy such as a monarchy to help them strategize on how to stay alive (Cendana). They ranked people according to their economic, political and religious status in order to have some organization within their society (Cendana). If the Mayans did not implement this status and this hierarchy, the food would have run out, resources would not have been distributed properly and their economy would have fallen . Without a social standard of jobs and classes among people, everything would have been wasted from the beginning and there would be nothing left to earn.
Why?
Falling Event
Falling Event
The fall of the Mayans started with something so simple and seemed like a good idea at the time. As mentioned in the second event, the Mayans grew into a society who expanded into an agricultural way of life contrary to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. However, as their agricultural lifestyled thrived, they kept chopping down trees to make room for more crops within their regions (Coulter et al.). The lack of trees int the regions created a lack of moisuree which caused a drought (Coulter et al.). This dried up all their resevoirs that they worked so hard to build (reference to Event 4) . This was the domino event that led to the Mayans extinction or their displacement (unsure by researchers)
(Coulter et al.).
Map
The brown highlight on this picture indicates where there was a lack of rainfall because there was a lack of moisture due to all the trees being cut down (Riebeek).
Map
Allen.