Mayan Culture

Introduction

World history had a variety of cultures that contribute to our societies. One of the cultures is the Maya. The Maya civilization were located at Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and the five Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo. The Maya civilization spanned a period of 3,000 years and featured a written language, architecture, a well-ordered social class system, agriculture, art, the development of a calendar, trade and a well-developed religious system(Hammond & Willey, 110-197).

Historical Importance

Throughout their history the Maya were in contact with other groups of Indians on all sides, particularly with the nations of Mexico. For long periods sections of the Maya were under the political domination of Mexican rulers. Under such circumstances intermarriages must have been frequent. The Maya are therefore as mixed a race as most European peoples. The Maya country varied in its climate. The greatest developments were the center of the lowlands and highlands of northern Guatemala. It also included the Yucatan Peninsula, the northwest to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and southwest into Honduras and El Salvador (Brainerd 7). The Maya culture had interesting aspects in their civilization or that they accomplished over time. The important aspects of the Mayas are their physical characteristics, how they dress, their social organization, the agriculture, art and techniques, religion, god and goddesses, architecture, trade, mathematics and government (www.mayancivilization).

Discussion

The physical characteristics of the Maya culture are the following; they were short, long-bodied, and chunky, with good muscle development and a tendency to gain weight. The heads were broad, lips prominent, noses had a high convex bridge and curved pendulous tip. The chin and forehead were somewhat receding, eyes had a mongoloid cast with heavy lids and cheekbones were prominent. Skin color varied from medium to dark-brown, and the hair was black, straight to rarely wavy (Brainerd 9). A greater physical variability among the highlands Maya, the language diversity, and the historical accounts all suggest that they have been subject to much more outside influence than have the lowland peoples. The Maya language is spoken by most Yucatecans.

Mayan villagers were overall well organized. The families had a certain distribution of land. Probably, each of the habitants knew each other. They were patrilineal and matrilineal. Therefore, each of the persons in the villagers had two names one of the father and mother. A man could not marry women were not closely related to him. The Mayan villagers were in control of a lord, to whom they paid taxes. They were two kinds of taxes in produce and in personal service (Hooper, 45-125 ). The earliest evidence of the evolution of complex societies in both the Old and New Worlds is based on the finding of elaborate public works. The large structures demonstrate the ability of manpower and the organization of the government and its people. The social organization of the Mayas was very important for human interaction in the lowland Maya sites (Hammond and Willey, 117)

Social History

The main cultural contributions of the Mayas ...