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123-635: The Dresden Codex is a Maya book, which was believed to be the oldest surviving book written in the Americas, dating to the 11th or 12th century. However, in September 2018 it was proven that the Maya Codex of Mexico , previously known as the Grolier Codex, is, in fact, older by about a century. The codex was rediscovered in the city of Dresden, Germany , hence the book's present name. It

246-496: A chain of fourteen lakes runs across the central drainage basin of Petén. To the south the plain gradually rises towards the Guatemalan Highlands. The dense Maya forest covers northern Petén and Belize, most of Quintana Roo , southern Campeche , and a portion of the south of Yucatán state. Farther north, the vegetation turns to lower forest consisting of dense scrub. The littoral zone of Soconusco lies to

369-485: A city were often linked by causeways . Architecturally, city buildings included palaces , pyramid-temples , ceremonial ballcourts , and structures specially aligned for astronomical observation. The Maya elite were literate, and developed a complex system of hieroglyphic writing. Theirs was the most advanced writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Maya recorded their history and ritual knowledge in screenfold books , of which only three uncontested examples remain,

492-470: A codex reading should traverse the complete front side followed by the complete back side of the manuscript, i.e., pages 1–24 followed by 46–74 and 25–45. The librarian K. C. Falkenstein adjusted the relative position of pages for “esthetical reasons” in 1836, resulting in today's two similar length parts. While deciphering the codex, the librarian E. W. Förstemann noticed an error in Aglio's page assignment of

615-529: A complex web of rivalries, periods of dominance or submission, vassalage, and alliances. At times, different polities achieved regional dominance, such as Calakmul, Caracol , Mayapan, and Tikal. The first reliably evidenced polities formed in the Maya lowlands in the 9th century BC. During the Late Preclassic, the Maya political system coalesced into a theopolitical form, where elite ideology justified

738-427: A connection between the codex and the 260 year cycle ("Ahau Katun") of the Maya calendar and the 365 days in a year. Ruggles shows that in the codex the Maya related their 260-day calendar to celestial bodies, especially Venus and Mars . The codex has played a key role in the deciphering of Mayan hieroglyphs . Dresden librarian Ernst Wilhelm Förstemann published the first complete facsimile in 1880. He deciphered

861-559: A cycle of a 260-day ritual calendar the important Maya royal events. The codex also includes information on the Maya new-year ceremony tradition. The rain god Chaac is represented 134 times. Italian artist and engraver Agostino Aglio , starting in 1826, became the first to transcribe and illustrate the codex completely for Irish antiquarian Lord Kingsborough , who published it in his nine volumes of Antiquities of Mexico in 1831–48. The codex then had some damage due to handling, sunlight, and moisture. It received direct water damage that

984-424: A new king was a highly elaborate ceremony, involving a series of separate acts that included enthronement upon a jaguar-skin cushion, human sacrifice, and receiving the symbols of royal power, such as a headband bearing a jade representation of the so-called "jester god", an elaborate headdress adorned with quetzal feathers, and a sceptre representing the god Kʼawiil . Maya political administration, based around

1107-440: A number of Maya sites with English architect and draftsman Frederick Catherwood . Their illustrated accounts of the ruins sparked strong popular interest, and brought the Maya to world attention. The later 19th century saw the recording and recovery of ethnohistoric accounts of the Maya, and the first steps in deciphering Maya hieroglyphs. The final two decades of the 19th century saw the birth of modern scientific archaeology in

1230-555: A public school education in the area. After graduating from Trenton High School, Satterthwaite joined the military and served as a cadet and flying officer for the Royal Navy Air Force during World War I . Afterwards, he decided to attend Yale University for his B.A. and worked as a reporter from 1929 to 1931. He participated as an archaeological assistant in excavations in Texas, West Virginia, and Guatemala. Satterthwaite

1353-788: A red vertical line. Sections are generally divided into two to four columns. The Dresden Codex is one of four hieroglyphic Maya codices that survived the Spanish Inquisition in the New World . Three, the Dresden, Madrid , and Paris codices , are named after the city where they were ultimately rediscovered. The fourth is the Grolier Codex , located at the Grolier Club in New York City. The Dresden Codex

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1476-536: A significant Maya presence remained into the Postclassic period after the abandonment of the major Classic period cities; the population was particularly concentrated near permanent water sources. Unlike during previous cycles of contraction, abandoned lands were not quickly resettled in the Postclassic. Activity shifted to the northern lowlands and the Maya Highlands; this may have involved migration from

1599-741: A small empire covering a large part of the western Guatemalan Highlands and the neighbouring Pacific coastal plain. However, in the decades before the Spanish conquest of the Kaqchikel kingdom had been steadily eroding the kingdom of the Kʼicheʼ. In 1511, a Spanish caravel was wrecked in the Caribbean, and about a dozen survivors made landfall on the coast of Yucatán. They were seized by a Maya lord, and most were sacrificed , although two escaped. From 1517 to 1519, three separate Spanish expeditions explored

1722-422: A standard used by Mayanists to come (Houston et al. 1998). Because of Satterthwaite’s legal background, he was also able to effectively create detailed isometrics that conveyed the substance of excavations and define terms and labels. Although many publications on Piedras Negras came out during his time there, Satterthwaite was still never able to finish all of the reports that he intended to. One publication that

1845-403: A strategy of increasing administration, and filling administrative posts with loyal supporters rather than blood relatives. Within a polity, mid-ranking population centres would have played a key role in managing resources and internal conflict. The Maya political landscape was highly complex and Maya elites engaged in political intrigue to gain economic and social advantage over neighbours. In

1968-425: A successful military campaign could vary in its impact on the defeated polity. In some cases, entire cities were sacked, and never resettled, as at Aguateca. In other instances, the victors would seize the defeated rulers, their families, and patron gods. The captured nobles and their families could be imprisoned, or sacrificed. At the least severe end of the scale, the defeated polity would be obliged to pay tribute to

2091-526: Is a modern term used to refer collectively to the various peoples that inhabited this area, as Maya peoples have not had a sense of a common ethnic identity or political unity for the vast majority of their history. Early Spanish and Mayan-language colonial sources in the Yucatán Peninsula used the term "Maya" to denote both the language spoken by the Yucatec Maya and the area surrounding

2214-477: Is held by the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB Dresden, Saxon State Library) in Dresden, Germany. The Maya codices all have about the same size pages, with a height of about 20 centimetres (7.9 in) and a width of 10 centimetres (3.9 in). The pictures and glyphs were painted by skilled craftsmen using thin brushes and vegetable dyes. Black and red were the main colors used for many of

2337-524: Is located in the museum of the Saxon State Library . The codex contains information relating to astronomical and astrological tables, religious references, seasons of the earth, and illness and medicine. It also includes information about conjunctions of planets and moons. The book suffered serious water damage during World War II. The pages are made of amate , 20 centimetres (7.9 in) high, and can be folded accordion-style ; when unfolded

2460-525: Is not yet deciphered, but it was held only by the most powerful kings of the strongest dynasties. It indicated an overlord, or high king , and was only in use during the Classic period. By the Late Classic, the absolute power of the kʼuhul ajaw had weakened, and the political system had diversified to include a wider aristocracy, that by this time may well have expanded disproportionately. A sajal

2583-433: Is now called Xunantunich). Satterthwaite worked at these sites for two seasons beginning in 1950. It was considered a “housemound project”, and Satterthwaite was able to investigate seventeen structures and five stelae. Linton Satterthwaite also served as the project’s epigrapher at Tikal , Guatemala. His heavy interest in Maya chronology and monuments can also be seen in the article entitled, "New Radiocarbon Dates and

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2706-750: The Maya Region , an area that today comprises southeastern Mexico , all of Guatemala and Belize , and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador . It includes the northern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre , the Mexican state of Chiapas , southern Guatemala , El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. Today, their descendants, known collectively as

2829-581: The Petén Basin , and the city of Kaminaljuyu rose to prominence in the Guatemalan Highlands . Beginning around 250 AD, the Classic period is largely defined as when the Maya were raising sculpted monuments with Long Count dates . This period saw the Maya civilization develop many city-states linked by a complex trade network . In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, the cities of Tikal and Calakmul , became powerful. The Classic period also saw

2952-518: The Royal Library at Dresden , purchased the codex from a private owner in Vienna in 1739 while traveling to Italy. Thompson speculates that the codex was sent as a tribute to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor by Hernán Cortés , governor of Mexico, since examples of local writings and other Maya items were sent to the king in 1519 when he was living in Vienna. The codex was eventually catalogued into

3075-415: The ajaw was a member of the ruling class and a major city could have more than one, each ruling over different districts. Paramount rulers distinguished themselves from the extended nobility by prefixing the word kʼuhul to their ajaw title. A kʼuhul ajaw was "divine lord", originally confined to the kings of the most prestigious and ancient royal lines. Kalomte was a royal title, whose exact meaning

3198-663: The 1950s, the texts revealed the warlike activities of the Classic Maya kings, undermining the view of the Maya as peaceful. Unlike the Aztecs and the Inca , the Maya political system never integrated the entire Maya cultural area into a single state or empire. Rather, throughout its history, the Maya area contained a varying mix of political complexity that included both states and chiefdoms . These polities fluctuated greatly in their relationships with each other and were engaged in

3321-623: The Chichen Itza area which are known to have ceased in the early thirteenth century. British historian Clive Ruggles suggests, based on the analyses of several scholars, that the Dresden Codex is a copy and was originally written between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Thompson narrows the date closer to 1200 to 1250. Maya archaeologist Linton Satterthwaite puts the date when it was made as no later than 1345. Johann Christian Götze (1692–1749), German theologian and director of

3444-456: The Classic period, such trophy heads no longer appeared on the king's belt, but Classic period kings are frequently depicted standing over humiliated war captives. Right up to the end of the Postclassic period, Maya kings led as war captains. Maya inscriptions from the Classic show that a defeated king could be captured, tortured, and sacrificed. The Spanish recorded that Maya leaders kept track of troop movements in painted books. The outcome of

3567-532: The Early Classic period, the Maya cities of Tikal and Kaminaljuyu were key Maya foci in a network that extended into the highlands of central Mexico; there was a strong Maya presence at the Tetitla compound of Teotihuacan. The Maya city of Chichen Itza and the distant Toltec capital of Tula had an especially close relationship . The Petén region consists of densely forested low-lying limestone plain;

3690-490: The Early Classic. Archaeologists have tentatively identified marketplaces at an increasing number of Maya cities by means of a combination of archaeology and soil analysis. When the Spanish arrived, Postclassic cities in the highlands had markets in permanent plazas, with officials on hand to settle disputes, enforce rules, and collect taxes. Linton Satterthwaite Satterthwaite was born in Trenton, New Jersey and had

3813-474: The Early Classic. This was a 0.5-metre-long (1.6 ft) stick with a notched end to hold a dart or javelin . The stick was used to launch the missile with more force and accuracy than simply hurling it with the arm. Evidence in the form of stone blade points recovered from Aguateca indicate that darts and spears were the primary weapons of the Classic Maya warrior. Commoners used blowguns in war, which also served as their hunting weapon. The bow and arrow

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3936-497: The Förstemann facsimile editions from 1880 and 1892. Today's page numbers were assigned by Aglio when he became the first to transcribe the manuscript in 1825–26. For this, he divided the original codex into two parts, labeled Codex A and Codex B . He sequenced Codex A on the front side followed by its back side, with the same order on Codex B . Today, historians such as Helmut Deckert and Ferdinand Anders understand that

4059-565: The Guatemalan Highlands. In the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonised the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén , the last Maya city, in 1697. Rule during the Classic period centred on the concept of the "divine king", who was thought to act as a mediator between mortals and the supernatural realm. Kingship was usually (but not exclusively) patrilineal , and power normally passed to

4182-451: The Late Classic, some cities established a long period of dominance over other large cities, such as the dominance of Caracol over Naranjo for half a century. In other cases, loose alliance networks were formed around a dominant city. Border settlements, usually located about halfway between neighbouring capitals, often switched allegiance over the course of their history, and at times acted independently. Dominant capitals exacted tribute in

4305-549: The Maya Correlation Problem," which he co-authored with radiocarbon-dating specialist Elizabeth K. Ralph , and in which they discuss dates of lintel and vault beams from Tikal. In 1969, Linton Satterthwaite retired as curator for the University Museum and professor at Penn. He did however continue his work on the data at Caracol, Belize and Xunantunich. He died on March 11, 1978. Satterthwaite

4428-491: The Maya area, trade routes particularly focused on central Mexico and the Gulf coast. In the Early Classic, Chichen Itza was at the hub of an extensive trade network that imported gold discs from Colombia and Panama , and turquoise from Los Cerrillos, New Mexico . Long-distance trade of both luxury and utilitarian goods was probably controlled by the royal family. Prestige goods obtained by trade were used both for consumption by

4551-664: The Maya lowlands, where large structures have been dated to around 750 BC. The northern lowlands of Yucatán were widely settled by the Middle Preclassic. By approximately 400 BC, early Maya rulers were raising stelae. A developed script was already being used in Petén by the 3rd century BC. In the Late Preclassic Period, the enormous city of El Mirador grew to cover approximately 16 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi). Although not as large, Tikal

4674-591: The Maya region, with the meticulous work of Alfred Maudslay and Teoberto Maler . By the early 20th century, the Peabody Museum was sponsoring excavations at Copán and in the Yucatán Peninsula. In the first two decades of the 20th century, advances were made in deciphering the Maya calendar, and identifying deities, dates, and religious concepts. Since the 1930s, archaeological exploration increased dramatically, with large-scale excavations across

4797-511: The Maya region. In the 1960s, Mayanist J. Eric S. Thompson promoted the ideas that Maya cities were essentially vacant ceremonial centres serving a dispersed population in the forest, and that the Maya civilization was governed by peaceful astronomer-priests. These ideas began to collapse with major advances in the decipherment of the script in the late 20th century, pioneered by Heinrich Berlin, Tatiana Proskouriakoff , and Yuri Knorozov . With breakthroughs in understanding of Maya script since

4920-405: The Maya, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages , and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors. The Archaic period , before 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agriculture and the earliest villages. The Preclassic period ( c.  2000 BC to 250 AD ) saw the establishment of the first complex societies in the Maya region, and

5043-481: The Pacific coast, and the Maya were already cultivating the staple crops of maize, beans, squash, and chili pepper. This period was characterised by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines. During the Middle Preclassic Period , small villages began to grow to form cities. Nakbe in the Petén department of Guatemala is the earliest well-documented city in

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5166-677: The Royal Library of Dresden in 1744, where it remained relatively obscure until the early twentieth century. Alexander von Humboldt published pages 47, 48 and 50–52 from the Dresden Codex in his 1810 atlas Vues des Cordillères et Monuments des Peuples Indigènes de l'Amérique , the first reproduction of any of its pages. The first copy of the codex was published by Lord Kingsborough in his 1831 Antiquities of Mexico . In 1828 Constantine Samuel Rafinesque had identified this book as being of Maya origin based on its glyphs looking like those found at Palenque . Historian Cyrus Thomas made

5289-589: The Spanish were invited as allies into Iximche , the capital city of the Kaqchikel Maya. Good relations did not last, due to excessive Spanish demands for gold as tribute, and the city was abandoned a few months later. This was followed by the fall of Zaculeu , the Mam Maya capital, in 1525. Francisco de Montejo and his son, Francisco de Montejo the Younger , launched a long series of campaigns against

5412-508: The Terminal Classic, the northern cities of Chichen Itza and Uxmal showed increased activity. Major cities in the northern Yucatán Peninsula were inhabited long after the cities of the southern lowlands ceased to raise monuments. Classic Maya social organization was based on the ritual authority of the ruler, rather than central control of trade and food distribution. This model was poorly structured to respond to changes, because

5535-524: The Tikal king Kʼinich Muwaan Jol II, was sent to found a new city at Dos Pilas , in the Petexbatún region, apparently as an outpost to extend Tikal's power beyond the reach of Calakmul. For the next two decades he fought loyally for his brother and overlord at Tikal. In 648, king Yuknoom Chʼeen II of Calakmul captured Balaj Chan Kʼawiil. Yuknoom Chʼeen II then reinstated Balaj Chan Kʼawiil upon

5658-586: The Yucatán coast, and engaged in a number of battles with the Maya inhabitants. After the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan fell to the Spanish in 1521, Hernán Cortés despatched Pedro de Alvarado to Guatemala with 180 cavalry, 300 infantry, 4 cannons, and thousands of allied warriors from central Mexico; they arrived in Soconusco in 1523. The Kʼicheʼ capital, Qʼumarkaj, fell to Alvarado in 1524. Shortly afterwards,

5781-516: The artifacts from the New World. During the three seasons in the 1950s at Caracol, Satterthwaite was able to find twenty-six early classic vessels, nine late classic vessels, but as previously stated most of his time was dedicated to the monumental sculptures . In total, Satterthwaite found twenty stelae and nineteen altars. These monuments were made into casts, photographed, sketched and made into quarter-scale blowups. Much of his work at Caracol

5904-455: The backs of porters when going overland; if the trade route followed a river or the coast, then goods were transported in canoes. A substantial Maya trading canoe made from a large hollowed-out tree trunk was encountered off Honduras on Christopher Columbus 's fourth voyage . The canoe was 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) broad and was powered by 25 rowers. Trade goods carried included cacao, obsidian, ceramics, textiles, and copper bells and axes. Cacao

6027-953: The calendar section of the codex, including the Maya numerals used therein. Förstemann determined that these numbers, along with deities and day names, related to the Mayan calendar and the Mayan Long Count calendar . In the 1950s Yuri Knorozov used a phonetic approach based on the De Landa alphabet for decoding the codex, which was followed up in the 1980s by other scholars that did additional deciphering based on this concept. Paul Schellhas in 1897 and 1904 assigned letters to gods for specific glyphs since they had several possible names. For example God D could be Hunab Ku Itzam Na among several other names and God A could be Cizin (god of death) among others. The Schellhas system of assigning letters for

6150-557: The changes were catastrophic and resulted in the rapid depopulation of cities. Within a couple of generations, large swathes of the central Maya area were all but abandoned. Both the capitals and their secondary centres were generally abandoned within a period of 50 to 100 years. One by one, cities stopped sculpting dated monuments; the last Long Count date was inscribed at Toniná in 909. Stelae were no longer raised, and squatters moved into abandoned royal palaces. Mesoamerican trade routes shifted and bypassed Petén. Although much reduced,

6273-438: The city's ruler, and as luxury gifts to consolidate the loyalty of vassals and allies. Trade routes not only supplied physical goods, they facilitated the movement of people and ideas throughout Mesoamerica. Shifts in trade routes occurred with the rise and fall of important cities in the Maya region, and have been identified in every major reorganization of the Maya civilization, such as the rise of Preclassic Maya civilization,

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6396-617: The codex is 3.7 metres (12 ft) long. It is written in Mayan hieroglyphs and refers to an original text of some three or four hundred years earlier, describing local history and astronomical tables . Like all other pre-Hispanic books from Mesoamerica, the Dresden Codex takes the form of a screenfold. The pages consist of a paper made from the pounded inner bark of a wild species of fig, Ficus cotinifolia , ( hu'un in Maya—a word that became semantically equivalent to “book”). The Dresden Codex contains 78 pages with decorative board covers on

6519-530: The collapse of the kingdoms of the Petexbatún region of western Petén. The rapid abandonment of Aguateca by its inhabitants has provided a rare opportunity to examine the remains of Maya weaponry in situ . Aguateca was stormed by unknown enemies around 810 AD, who overcame its formidable defences and burned the royal palace. The elite inhabitants of the city either fled or were captured, and never returned to collect their abandoned property. The inhabitants of

6642-403: The complete destruction of an enemy state. Little is known about Maya military organization, logistics, or training. Warfare is depicted in Maya art from the Classic period, and wars and victories are mentioned in hieroglyphic inscriptions. Unfortunately, the inscriptions do not provide information upon the causes of war, or the form it took. In the 8th–9th centuries, intensive warfare resulted in

6765-415: The conquest. At times, the colonial administration encouraged the traditional economy in order to extract tribute in the form of ceramics or cotton textiles, although these were usually made to European specifications. Maya beliefs and language proved resistant to change, despite vigorous efforts by Catholic missionaries. The 260-day tzolkʼin ritual calendar continues in use in modern Maya communities in

6888-424: The cultivation of the staple crops of the Maya diet , including maize , beans , squashes , and chili peppers . The first Maya cities developed around 750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities possessed monumental architecture, including large temples with elaborate stucco façades. Hieroglyphic writing was being used in the Maya region by the 3rd century BC. In the Late Preclassic, a number of large cities developed in

7011-479: The early Spanish explorers reported wealthy coastal cities and thriving marketplaces. During the Late Postclassic, the Yucatán Peninsula was divided into a number of independent provinces that shared a common culture but varied in internal sociopolitical organization. On the eve of the Spanish conquest, the highlands of Guatemala were dominated by several powerful Maya states. The Kʼicheʼ had carved out

7134-791: The eldest son . A prospective king was expected to be a successful war leader as well as a ruler. Closed patronage systems were the dominant force in Maya politics, although how patronage affected the political makeup of a kingdom varied from city-state to city-state. By the Late Classic period, the aristocracy had grown in size, reducing the previously exclusive power of the king. The Maya developed sophisticated art forms using both perishable and non-perishable materials, including wood , jade , obsidian , ceramics , sculpted stone monuments, stucco, and finely painted murals. Maya cities tended to expand organically. The city centers comprised ceremonial and administrative complexes, surrounded by an irregularly shaped sprawl of residential districts. Different parts of

7257-400: The elite in the form of staple goods such as maize, flour and game. It is likely that hard-working commoners who displayed exceptional skills and initiative could become influential members of Maya society. Warfare was prevalent in the Maya world. Military campaigns were launched for a variety of reasons, including the control of trade routes and tribute, raids to take captives, scaling up to

7380-702: The elite. During the Contact period, Maya nobility took part in long-distance trading expeditions. The majority of traders were middle class, but were largely engaged in local and regional trade rather than the prestigious long-distance trading that was the preserve of the elite. The travelling of merchants into dangerous foreign territory was likened to a passage through the underworld ; the patron deities of merchants were two underworld gods carrying backpacks. When merchants travelled, they painted themselves black, like their patron gods, and went heavily armed. The Maya had no pack animals, so all trade goods were carried on

7503-413: The enemy as the seizure of captives and plunder. There is some evidence from the Classic period that women provided supporting roles in war, but they did not act as military officers with the exception of those rare ruling queens. By the Postclassic, the native chronicles suggest that women occasionally fought in battle. The atlatl (spear-thrower) was introduced to the Maya region by Teotihuacan in

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7626-461: The epoch were abandoned; the cause of this collapse is unknown. The Classic period is largely defined as the period during which the lowland Maya raised dated monuments using the Long Count calendar. This period marked the peak of large-scale construction and urbanism , the recording of monumental inscriptions, and demonstrated significant intellectual and artistic development, particularly in

7749-498: The form of luxury items from subjugated population centres. Political power was reinforced by military power, and the capture and humiliation of enemy warriors played an important part in elite culture. An overriding sense of pride and honour among the warrior aristocracy could lead to extended feuds and vendettas, which caused political instability and the fragmentation of polities. From the Early Preclassic, Maya society

7872-402: The form of quilted cotton that had been soaked in salt water to toughen it; the resulting armour compared favourably to the steel armour worn by the Spanish when they conquered the region. Warriors bore wooden or animal hide shields decorated with feathers and animal skins. Trade was a key component of Maya society, and in the development of the Maya civilization. The cities that grew to become

7995-453: The front and back. Most pages have writing on both sides. They have a border of red paint, although many have lost this framing due to age deterioration. The pages are generally divided into three sections; students of the codex have arbitrarily labeled these sections a , b , and c . Some pages have just two horizontal sections, while one has four and another five sections. The individual sections with their own theme are generally separated by

8118-554: The gods represented by certain glyphs as a noncommittal system was adopted by later researchers of Maya codices. The Dresden Codex contains accurate astronomical tables, which are recognized by students of the codex for its detailed Venus tables and lunar tables . The lunar series has intervals correlating with eclipses, while the Venus tables correlate with the movements of the planet Venus. The codex also contains astrological tables and ritual schedules. The religious references show in

8241-448: The great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant Valley of Mexico . In AD 378, Teotihuacan decisively intervened at Tikal and other nearby cities, deposed their rulers, and installed a new Teotihuacan-backed dynasty. This intervention was led by Siyaj Kʼakʼ ("Born of Fire"), who arrived at Tikal in early 378. The king of Tikal, Chak Tok Ichʼaak I , died on the same day, suggesting a violent takeover. A year later, Siyaj Kʼakʼ oversaw

8364-687: The highlands of Guatemala and Chiapas, and millions of Mayan-language speakers inhabit the territory in which their ancestors developed their civilization. The agents of the Catholic Church wrote detailed accounts of the Maya, in support of their efforts at Christianization , and absorption of the Maya into the Spanish Empire. This was followed by various Spanish priests and colonial officials who left descriptions of ruins they visited in Yucatán and Central America. In 1839, American traveller and writer John Lloyd Stephens set out to visit

8487-470: The installation of a new king, Yax Nuun Ahiin I . This led to a period of political dominance when Tikal became the most powerful city in the central lowlands. Tikal's great rival was Calakmul, another powerful city in the Petén Basin. Tikal and Calakmul both developed extensive systems of allies and vassals; lesser cities that entered one of these networks gained prestige from their association with

8610-406: The intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a widespread political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in civil wars , the abandonment of cities, and a northward shift of population. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, and the expansion of the aggressive Kʼicheʼ kingdom in

8733-420: The mediator between the mortal realm and that of the gods. From very early times, kings were specifically identified with the young maize god , whose gift of maize was the basis of Mesoamerican civilization. Maya royal succession was patrilineal , and royal power only passed to queens when doing otherwise would result in the extinction of the dynasty. Typically, power was passed to the eldest son. A young prince

8856-487: The most important usually controlled access to vital trade goods, or portage routes. Cities such as Kaminaljuyu and Qʼumarkaj in the Guatemalan Highlands, and Chalchuapa in El Salvador, variously controlled access to the sources of obsidian at different points in Maya history. The Maya were major producers of cotton , which was used to make the textiles to be traded throughout Mesoamerica. The most important cities in

8979-428: The most part continued to manage their own affairs. Maya communities and the nuclear family maintained their traditional day-to-day life. The basic Mesoamerican diet of maize and beans continued, although agricultural output was improved by the introduction of steel tools. Traditional crafts such as weaving, ceramics, and basketry continued to be practised. Community markets and trade in local products continued long after

9102-482: The natural terrain. One of the most important cities in the Guatemalan Highlands at this time was Qʼumarkaj , the capital of the aggressive Kʼicheʼ kingdom . The government of Maya states, from the Yucatán to the Guatemalan highlands, was often organised as joint rule by a council. However, in practice one member of the council could act as a supreme ruler, while the other members served him as advisors. Mayapan

9225-502: The northern Yucatán Peninsula controlled access to the sources of salt. In the Postclassic, the Maya engaged in a flourishing slave trade with wider Mesoamerica. The Maya engaged in long-distance trade across the Maya region, and across greater Mesoamerica and beyond. As an illustration, an Early Classic Maya merchant quarter has been identified at the distant metropolis of Teotihuacan, in central Mexico. Within Mesoamerica beyond

9348-492: The pages. Some pages have detailed backgrounds in shades of yellow, green, and the Mayan blue . The codex was written by eight different scribes, who all had their own writing style, glyph designs, and subject matter. The Dresden Codex is described by historian J. Eric S. Thompson as writings of the indigenous people of the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico . Maya historians Peter J. Schmidt, Mercedes de la Garza, and Enrique Nalda confirm this. Thompson further narrows

9471-506: The periphery abandoned the site soon after. This is an example of intensive warfare carried out by an enemy in order to eliminate a Maya state, rather than subjugate it. Research at Aguateca indicated that Classic period warriors were primarily members of the elite. From as early as the Preclassic period, the ruler of a Maya polity was expected to be a distinguished war leader, and was depicted with trophy heads hanging from his belt. In

9594-401: The permanent foundations of market stalls. A 2007 study compared soils from a modern Guatemalan market to a proposed ancient market at Chunchucmil ; unusually high levels of zinc and phosphorus at both sites indicated similar food production and vegetable sales activity. The calculated density of market stalls at Chunchucmil strongly suggests that a thriving market economy already existed in

9717-559: The polities of the Yucatán Peninsula in 1527, and finally completed the conquest of the northern portion of the peninsula in 1546. This left only the Maya kingdoms of the Petén Basin independent. In 1697, Martín de Ursúa launched an assault on the Itza capital Nojpetén and the last independent Maya city fell to the Spanish. The Spanish conquest stripped away most of the defining features of Maya civilization. However, many Maya villages remained remote from Spanish colonial authority, and for

9840-470: The population, but relatively little is known about them. Their houses were generally constructed from perishable materials, and their remains have left little trace in the archaeological record. Some commoner dwellings were raised on low platforms, and these can be identified, but an unknown quantity of commoner houses were not. Such low-status dwellings can only be detected by extensive remote-sensing surveys of apparently empty terrain. The range of commoners

9963-555: The priesthood, the warrior aristocracy, and other aristocratic courtiers. Where ruling councils existed, as at Chichen Itza and Copán, these may have formed an additional faction. Rivalry between different factions would have led to dynamic political institutions as compromises and disagreements were played out. In such a setting, public performance was vital. Such performances included ritual dances , presentation of war captives, offerings of tribute, human sacrifice, and religious ritual. Commoners are estimated to have comprised over 90% of

10086-413: The probable origin of the Dresden Codex to the area of Chichen Itza , because certain picture symbols in the codex are only found on monuments in that location. He also argues that the astronomical tables would support this as the place of origin. Thompson claims that the people of the Yucatán Peninsula were known to have done such studies around 1200 A.D. Thompson also notes the similar ceramic designs in

10209-548: The process. From 1950 to 1958, Linton Satterthwaite directed three sessions of archaeological work at Caracol, Belize. His concentration at this site was on hieroglyphs and chronology. During this time, in 1955 Linton Satterthwaite became curator of the American Section of the University Museum and Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. He created a systematic locational guide and inventory of

10332-403: The rest having been destroyed by the Spanish. In addition, a great many examples of Maya texts can be found on stelae and ceramics. The Maya developed a highly complex series of interlocking ritual calendars, and employed mathematics that included one of the earliest known instances of the explicit zero in human history. As a part of their religion, the Maya practised human sacrifice . "Maya"

10455-442: The royal court, was not bureaucratic in nature. Government was hierarchical, and official posts were sponsored by higher-ranking members of the aristocracy; officials tended to be promoted to higher levels of office over their lives. Officials are referred to as being "owned" by their sponsor, and this relationship continued even after the death of the sponsor. The Maya royal court was a vibrant and dynamic political institution. There

10578-444: The ruler's actions were limited by tradition to such activities as construction, ritual, and warfare. This only served to exacerbate systemic problems. By the 9th and 10th centuries, this resulted in collapse of this system of rulership. In the northern Yucatán, individual rule was replaced by a ruling council formed from elite lineages. In the southern Yucatán and central Petén, kingdoms declined; in western Petén and some other areas,

10701-472: The ruler's authority, and was reinforced by public display, ritual, and religion. The divine king was the centre of political power, exercising ultimate control over administrative, economic, judicial, and military functions. The divine authority invested within the ruler was such that the king was able to mobilize both the aristocracy and commoners in executing huge infrastructure projects, apparently with no police force or standing army. Some polities engaged in

10824-496: The same title, and Mark Zender has suggested that the holder of this title may have been the spokesman for the ruler. Courtly titles are overwhelmingly male-oriented, and in those relatively rare occasions where they are applied to a woman, they appear to be used as honorifics for female royalty. Titled elites were often associated with particular structures in the hieroglyphic inscriptions of Classic period cities, indicating that such office holders either owned that structure, or that

10947-456: The sheets 1/45 and 2/44, so he correctly reassigned Aglio's pages 44 and 45 to become pages 1 and 2. The reversal of the sheets 6/40, 7/39 and 8/38 is due to an error when the sheets were returned to their protective glass cabinet after drying from the water damage due to the bombing of Dresden in 1945. [REDACTED] Media related to Dresden Codex at Wikimedia Commons Maya civilization The Maya civilization ( / ˈ m aɪ ə / )

11070-636: The south of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, and consists of a narrow coastal plain and the foothills of the Sierra Madre. The Maya highlands extend eastwards from Chiapas into Guatemala, reaching their highest in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes . Their major pre-Columbian population centres were in the largest highland valleys, such as the Valley of Guatemala and the Quetzaltenango Valley. In

11193-635: The southern highlands, a belt of volcanic cones runs parallel to the Pacific coast. The highlands extend northwards into Verapaz , and gradually descend to the east. The history of Maya civilization is divided into three principal periods: the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic. These were preceded by the Archaic Period, during which the first settled villages and early developments in agriculture emerged. Modern scholars regard these periods as arbitrary divisions of Maya chronology, rather than indicative of cultural evolution or decline. Definitions of

11316-407: The southern lowland regions. The Classic period Maya political landscape has been likened to that of Renaissance Italy or Classical Greece , with multiple city-states engaged in a complex network of alliances and enmities. The largest cities had 50,000 to 120,000 people and were linked to networks of subsidiary sites. During the Early Classic, cities throughout the Maya region were influenced by

11439-543: The southern lowlands, because many Postclassic Maya groups had migration myths. Chichen Itza and its Puuc neighbours declined dramatically in the 11th century, and this may represent the final episode of Classic Period collapse. After the decline of Chichen Itza, the Maya region lacked a dominant power until the rise of the city of Mayapan in the 12th century. New cities arose near the Caribbean and Gulf coasts, and new trade networks were formed. The Postclassic Period

11562-400: The start and end dates of period spans can vary by as much as a century, depending on the author. The Maya developed their first civilization in the Preclassic period. Scholars continue to discuss when this era of Maya civilization began. Maya occupation at Cuello (modern Belize) has been carbon dated to around 2600 BC. Settlements were established around 1800 BC in the Soconusco region of

11685-446: The structure was an important focus for their activities. A lakam , or standard-bearer, was possibly the only non-elite post-holder in the royal court. The lakam was only found in larger sites, and they appear to have been responsible for the taxation of local districts. Different factions may have existed in the royal court. The kʼuhul ahaw and his household would have formed the central power-base, but other important groups were

11808-502: The territory now in the modern countries of Guatemala and Belize, as well as the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. Most of the peninsula is formed by a vast plain with few hills or mountains and a generally low coastline. The territory of the Maya covered a third of Mesoamerica , and the Maya were engaged in a dynamic relationship with neighbouring cultures that included the Olmecs , Mixtecs , Teotihuacan, and Aztecs . During

11931-437: The then-abandoned city of Mayapán . The term "Maya" was derived from the city of Mayapán. Some colonial Mayan-language sources also used "Maya" to refer to other Maya groups, sometimes pejoratively in reference to Maya groups more resistant to Spanish rule. The Maya civilization occupied a wide territory that included southeastern Mexico and northern Central America. This area included the entire Yucatán Peninsula and all of

12054-477: The throne of Dos Pilas as his vassal. He thereafter served as a loyal ally of Calakmul. In the southeast, Copán was the most important city. Its Classic-period dynasty was founded in 426 by Kʼinich Yax Kʼukʼ Moʼ . The new king had strong ties with central Petén and Teotihuacan. Copán reached the height of its cultural and artistic development during the rule of Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kʼawiil , who ruled from 695 to 738. His reign ended catastrophically when he

12177-406: The top-tier city, and maintained peaceful relations with members of the network. Tikal and Calakmul engaged in the manoeuvering of their alliance networks against each other. At various points during the Classic period, one or other of these powers would gain a strategic victory over its great rival, resulting in respective periods of florescence and decline. In 629, Bʼalaj Chan Kʼawiil , a son of

12300-488: The transition to the Classic, and the Terminal Classic collapse. Even the Spanish Conquest did not immediately terminate all Maya trading activity; for example, the Contact period Manche Chʼol traded the prestige crops of cacao, annatto and vanilla into colonial Verapaz. Little is known of Maya merchants, although they are depicted on Maya ceramics in elaborate noble dress, so at least some were members of

12423-470: The victor. During the Contact period, certain military positions were held by members of the aristocracy, and were passed on by patrilineal succession. It is likely that the specialised knowledge inherent in the particular military role was taught to the successor, including strategy, ritual, and war dances. Maya armies of the Contact period were highly disciplined, and warriors participated in regular training exercises and drills; every able-bodied adult male

12546-423: Was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period . It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas . The civilization is also noted for its art , architecture , mathematics , calendar , and astronomical system . The Maya civilization developed in

12669-532: Was a royal scribe, usually a member of the royal family; the ah chʼul hun was the Keeper of the Holy Books, a title that is closely associated with the ajaw title, indicating that an ajaw always held the ah chʼul hun title simultaneously. Other courtly titles, the functions of which are not well understood, were yajaw kʼahk' ("Lord of Fire"), tiʼhuun and ti'sakhuun . These last two may be variations on

12792-416: Was a stark difference from that of Mason, who focused on monumental sculptures. Acting as director, Satterthwaite was able to excavate eleven temples, seventeen palaces, two ballcourts and multiple sweatbaths. During his time at Piedras Negras, Satterthwaite was very well known for using a diligent and systematic approach in identifying building function. Satterthwaite also mapped many small buildings, setting

12915-406: Was abandoned around 1448, after a period of political, social and environmental turbulence that in many ways echoed the Classic period collapse in the southern Maya region . The abandonment of the city was followed by a period of prolonged warfare, disease and natural disasters in the Yucatán Peninsula, which ended only shortly before Spanish contact in 1511. Even without a dominant regional capital,

13038-521: Was able to jumpstart careers in Maya studies, specifically with Tatiana Proskouriakoff , who started her archaeological career in Piedras Negras, Guatemala during Satterthwaite’s tenure there. In the preface of The Monuments and Inscriptions of Caracol, Belize, William Coe and Christopher Jones praise Satterthwaite as a man of "limitless generosity, and, more germanely, his ingrained need to recognize each man's contribution". Linton Satterthwaite

13161-415: Was already a significant city by around 350 BC. In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu emerged as a principal centre in the Late Preclassic. Takalik Abaj and Chocolá were two of the most important cities on the Pacific coastal plain, and Komchen grew to become an important site in northern Yucatán. The Late Preclassic cultural florescence collapsed in the 1st century AD and many of the great Maya cities of

13284-541: Was already a sprawling city by 300. In the north of the Maya area, Coba was the most important capital. During the 9th century AD, the central Maya region suffered major political collapse, marked by the abandonment of cities, the ending of dynasties, and a northward shift in activity. No universally accepted theory explains this collapse, but it likely had a combination of causes, including endemic internecine warfare, overpopulation resulting in severe environmental degradation , and drought . During this period, known as

13407-425: Was available for military service. Maya states did not maintain standing armies; warriors were mustered by local officials who reported back to appointed warleaders. There were also units of full-time mercenaries who followed permanent leaders. Most warriors were not full-time, however, and were primarily farmers; the needs of their crops usually came before warfare. Maya warfare was not so much aimed at destruction of

13530-541: Was awarded his Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1943. In 1932, Linton Satterthwaite was named assistant director for the excavations at Piedras Negras . In 1933, J. Alden Mason left his position as field director at Piedras Negras, and the title was then given to Satterthwaite until 1939. The focus of the expeditions at Piedras Negras was to answer archaeological questions such as establishing building sequences, stratigraphy , and uncovering architectural remains. This

13653-563: Was broad; it consisted of everyone not of noble birth, and therefore included everyone from the poorest farmers to wealthy craftsmen and commoners appointed to bureaucratic positions. Commoners engaged in essential production activities, including that of products destined for use by the elite, such as cotton and cacao , as well as subsistence crops for their own use, and utilitarian items such as ceramics and stone tools. Commoners took part in warfare, and could advance socially by proving themselves as outstanding warriors. Commoners paid taxes to

13776-455: Was called a chʼok ("youth"), although this word later came to refer to nobility in general. The royal heir was called bʼaah chʼok ("head youth"). Various points in the prince's childhood were marked by ritual; the most important was a bloodletting ceremony at age five or six. Although being of the royal bloodline was of utmost importance, the heir also had to be a successful war leader, as demonstrated by taking of captives. The enthronement of

13899-471: Was captured by his vassal, king Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat of Quiriguá . The captured lord of Copán was taken back to Quiriguá and was decapitated in a public ritual. It is likely that this coup was backed by Calakmul, in order to weaken a powerful ally of Tikal. Palenque and Yaxchilan were the most powerful cities in the Usumacinta region. In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala

14022-460: Was completed the book Piedras Negras Archaeology, 1931-1939 . Among the archaeologists who worked with Satterthwaite at Piedras Negras was Mary Butler Lewis , a leading expert on Mesoamerican ceramics, and the first woman to receive a PhD in Anthropology from Penn. Initial discovery and research of Caracol , Belize occurred in 1938, when Rosa Mai discovered the ancient ruins and A.H. Anderson did initial research, discovering 8 pieces of stelae in

14145-408: Was held communally by noble houses or clans . Such clans held that the land was the property of the ancestors, and ties between the land and the ancestors were reinforced by the burial of the dead within residential compounds. Classic Maya rule was centred in a royal culture that was displayed in all areas of Classic Maya art. The king was the supreme ruler and held a semi-divine status that made him

14268-489: Was marked by changes from the preceding Classic Period. The once-great city of Kaminaljuyu in the Valley of Guatemala was abandoned after continuous occupation of almost 2,000 years. Across the highlands and neighbouring Pacific coast, long-occupied cities in exposed locations were relocated, apparently due to a proliferation of warfare . Cities came to occupy more-easily defended hilltop locations surrounded by deep ravines, with ditch-and-wall defences sometimes supplementing

14391-404: Was no universal structure for the Maya royal court, instead each polity formed a royal court that was suited to its own individual context. A number of royal and noble titles have been identified by epigraphers translating Classic Maya inscriptions. Ajaw is usually translated as "lord" or "king". In the Early Classic, an ajaw was the ruler of a city. Later, with increasing social complexity,

14514-499: Was published in the book The Monuments and Inscriptions of Caracol, Belize, which is co-authored with Carl P. Beetz. In this book, Satterthwaite and Beetz describe the stelea and altars, from their exact context in the ground to interpretations of the hieroglyphs recorded on these monuments. At the same time of the Caracol investigations, Satterthwaite was also conducting archaeological investigations at Cahal Pech and Benque Viejo (what

14637-493: Was ranked below the ajaw , and indicated a subservient lord. A sajal would be lord of a second- or third-tier site, answering to an ajaw , who may himself have been subservient to a kalomte . A sajal would often be a war captain or regional governor, and inscriptions often link the sajal title to warfare; they are often mentioned as the holders of war captives. Sajal meant "feared one". The titles of ah tzʼihb and ah chʼul hun are both related to scribes. The ah tzʼihb

14760-603: Was sharply divided between the elite and commoners. As population increased over time, various sectors of society became increasingly specialised, and political organization increasingly complex. By the Late Classic, when populations had grown enormously and hundreds of cities were connected in a complex web of political hierarchies, the wealthy segment of society multiplied. A middle class may have developed that included artisans, low ranking priests and officials, merchants, and soldiers. Commoners included farmers, servants, labourers, and slaves. According to indigenous histories, land

14883-589: Was significantly destructive, from being kept in a flooded basement during the World War II bombing of Dresden in February 1945. German historian G. Zimmerman later noted that the damage was extreme on pages 2, 4, 24, 28, 34, 38, 71 and 72. Certain details of the glyph images have been lost because of this. The damage is apparent when the current codex is compared to the Kingsborough copies of 1831–48 and

15006-496: Was used as currency (although not exclusively), and its value was such that counterfeiting occurred by removing the flesh from the pod, and stuffing it with dirt or avocado rind. Marketplaces are difficult to identify archaeologically. However, the Spanish reported a thriving market economy when they arrived in the region. At some Classic period cities, archaeologists have tentatively identified formal arcade-style masonry architecture and parallel alignments of scattered stones as

15129-417: Was used by the ancient Maya for both war and hunting. Although present in the Maya region during the Classic period, its use as a weapon of war was not favoured; it did not become a common weapon until the Postclassic. The Contact period Maya also used two-handed swords crafted from strong wood with the blade fashioned from inset obsidian, similar to the Aztec macuahuitl . Maya warriors wore body armour in

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