What is the origin of the Maya

The Maya civilization was an ancient civilization located in the Mesoamerican region of southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, and the Yucatan Peninsula. Contrary to legend, the Maya never disappeared; there are still three million Maya living in these areas, and many still speak Mayan languages today. The Maya never had a single powerful empire, and the entire Maya region was divided into hundreds of city-states, but the Maya states belonged to the same cultural circle in terms of language and writing, religious beliefs, and customs and traditions. History Usually, the Mayan civilization is divided into three periods, 1500 B.C.-300 A.D. is called the Preclassic or Formative Period, 300 A.D.-900 A.D. is the Classical Period, and 900 A.D.-16th century A.D. is the Postclassic Period. Legend has it that the Mayans began to build religious structures 3,000 years ago, and the earliest remains consisted of simple earthen mounds that only further evolved into pyramids. The early Mayan civilization appears to have been influenced by the much earlier Olmec civilization. The Olmec civilization died out after spreading their culture to what is now the Yucatan Peninsula. The Mayan culture flourished from about 200 B.C. to about A.D. 900. The Maya developed hundreds of cities in the region, with Tikal being the largest, and scholars estimate that at its peak it had 100,000 to 200,000 inhabitants. They developed into a number of agriculturally intensive, urbanized city-states. Among the most notable remains are the pyramids built in the religious centers, and the royal palaces that accompanied them. Other important archaeological remains are the carved tablets (Maya: Tetun), which are written in hieroglyphics and describe genealogies, war victories and other achievements. Palenque was the most beautiful Mayan city of the Classic Period, so much so that it was even called the "Athens of the Americas". Another famous city was called Copan, and judging from the size of the modern ruins, Tikal, Copan and Palenque can be considered the three largest city-states of the Classic period of Mayan civilization. The Maya were also involved in the long-distance trade of ancient Mesoamerica, with cacao, salt, and obsidian as the main commodities. The sudden and simultaneous decline of the city-states of the Classic Maya civilization beginning in the ninth century A.D. was somewhat surprising, and its causes are still the subject of study by historians. By the tenth century AD, the once prosperous Mayan cities were all abandoned in the jungle. Thereafter, a number of Maya city-states emerged in the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, led by Chichen Itza, and this is the beginning of what is historically known as the Postclassic period of Maya civilization. The city-state regime of Chichen Itza was overthrown in 1224 A.D., followed by a confederation of city-states led by Mayapan, which collapsed in 1450 due to civil unrest. By the time the Spaniards arrived in the Americas, the Mayan territories were in a state of virtual disintegration. The Maya Postclassic civilization of the Chichen Itza and Mayapan periods, when compared to the Classical civilization of the Itikal, Copan, and Palenque periods, was so different in every respect that it can only be described as the last vestiges of Maya civilization. Most of the Maya city-states in the Classic period attached great importance to recording history, and most of them would erect various monuments every once in a while, and it is through these monuments that today's archaeologists have been able to gain a better understanding of the history of the Maya civilization, and because the Maya calendar is quite accurate, today's historians can even know the exact dates of many events. For example, King Copan was beheaded on May 3, A.D. 738, after the defeat of the Eighteen Rabbits, and King Bagal of Palenque was born on March 6, A.D. 603, ascended to the throne on July 19, A.D. 615, at the age of twelve, and died on August 30, A.D. 684, as king. Such an accurate historical record is unmatched by any other civilization in the world that has disappeared in the distant past. After the decline of the Classic Maya civilization, the post-Classic Maya civilization, but not reach the above level of accuracy, today about the history of Chichen Itza and the Mayapan period is mainly through the early Spaniards from the local people to hear the legend of the knowledge. Characteristics of the civilization Belonging to a stone tool civilization, the Maya did not invent the use of bronze, let alone iron. Mastering a high degree of construction technology, the Maya would not have used bronze or iron, nor would they have used the wheeled cart. The concept of the wheel, although present in pottery and other artifacts, was not practical in real life. However, they created a high degree of urban civilization. Agriculture was based on corn as the staple food, which is why it is also called the "corn civilization". There were no cows, horses, pigs or goats, and there were no traces of animal husbandry, and the farmers adopted a very primitive method of milpa farming. Mathematics was based on the binary system, with the discovery and use of zero, and a high level of mathematical and astronomical knowledge. A unique hieroglyphic script was used: the Mayan script Culture Art Palenque Relief Mayan Jade 195mm high Bonampak Mural Many consider Mayan art of the Classic Period (200 to 900 years ago) to be the most sophisticated and beautiful of the ancient American civilizations. The carvings and reliefs of Palenque and the statues of Copán are considered to be the most perfect, showing the elegance and accurate observation of the Classic Maya. Modern man can only know the advanced paintings of the Classic Maya from the pottery in funerary contexts; in addition, ancient murals have been accidentally preserved in a building at Bonampak. From some Maya documents, it has been found that the Maya were one of the few civilizations in which artists signed their works. In addition, the Maya loved jade, which was very fine and abundant. The writing used a unique hieroglyphic script, the Mayan script. The Mayan script is a combination of hieroglyphics and sounds, and the Mayan carved characters represent both an overall concept and their own unique pronunciation. This is similar to the relationship between kanji and kana in Japanese. For example, the Mayan word for "shield" (bakalu) can be written as a single ideogram, or it can be divided into three phonetic characters, "ba", "ka", and "kanji". "ba", "ka", and "la". The level of development of Mayan hieroglyphics is comparable to that of Chinese hieroglyphics, except that the combination of symbols is much more complex than that of Chinese characters, and the blocks are almost circular or elliptical. The lines of the characters are rounded and smooth, following the undulations of the shapes. The big part of a character in the Mayan script is called the main character, the small part is called the connecting character, and there are two kinds of fonts: "geometric" and "head font", and there is also the "whole body" which is made up of the combination of patterns of people, animals and gods, which is mainly used for the calendar. "The Mayan script is mainly used for calendars. The Mayan script is read from top to bottom, two lines in a group, in the order of "left → right → (the next paragraph) left → right". The Mayan script is difficult and obscure, and less than one-third of it can be interpreted to date. Religion Maya Stadium Religion in the Maya civilization occupies a very important position in the Maya astronomical calendar, the architecture of the great achievements, largely attributable to the prosperity of its religious activities, the Maya civilization was established in the theocracy system, the Maya royal family and priests in charge of the religion, the Maya supreme god called "Feathered Serpent God," by the Quetzalcoa, a God of the feather and the rattlesnake. The highest god of the Maya people was called the "Feathered Serpent God", a combination of Quetzalcoat and rattlesnake, the god of wind and Venus (the star of enlightenment), who was regarded as a great organizer, the founder of cities, and the father of mathematics, metallurgy, and astronomy, and who, according to the legend, brought civilization and indoctrination to the people. It also governs agriculture, harvests and rainfall, which is naturally significant in the arid Yucatan Peninsula. In the center of Chichen Itza stands a pyramid temple of more than 3,000 square meters called the Temple of Kukulkan, a shrine to the God of the Feathered Serpent. Mayan rituals were frequent and brutal, wars, festivals, prayers for a good harvest, and many other activities have rituals, sacrifices not only a wealth of treasures offerings, the Maya also used the hearts of the living to sacrifice the sun god. There were often wars between Mayan cities, and the defeated side would usually have a large number of prisoners to be put to death as sacrifices. The Maya were the first to learn how to use rubber, which also originated from religious ceremonies. They made something like a soccer ball out of rubber, and held a brutal game in a special stadium, in which the two sides passed the ball with any part of the body except their hands, the ball could not hit the ground and they had to try to put the ball into a stone circle on the wall, and the loser side would be executed as a sacrifice. The game is usually played for days and nights before a winner can be determined. See also Mesoamerican cue ball Unsolved Mysteries Crystal human skulls (or crystal heads) Technology Calendar The Maya calendar was the most perfect calendar in the world, consisting of three calendars: the divine calendar, the solar calendar, and the calendar of the long ages. The Sacred Calendar, also known as the "Zorgonian Calendar", consists of 20 images of the gods and numbers from 1 to 13, which are constantly combined in a cycle, similar to the Chinese Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and which, through constant matching and combining, give rise to 260 combinations of icons, representing 260 days. The solar calendar is based on astronomical measurements. A year is divided into 18 months, each month 20 days, plus 5 days as a taboo day, so the whole year is 365 days. Fine astrological observation of the Maya after a long period of observation, thorough calculations, the length of a year revised to 365.242129 days, which is the same as today's scientific determination of the absolute length of the year 365.242198 days of the value of less than one-thousandth of the difference. The long calendar is very suitable for projecting the long, long historical scale, built on the extremely developed mathematical thinking, the Mayans used this calendar can accurately write down every day of the tens of millions of years. Archaeologists based on the 16th century Spanish invasion of the Maya time, and then in accordance with the inscriptions on the record of this matter of counting units backward projection, calculated that the Mayan chronology of the first year for the year 3114 BC August 13th. When the divine calendar year after 73 rounds, just and the turnover of 52 rounds of the solar year back to the same mark, thus forming a 52-year cycle, the Maya accordingly 52 years as a century. In addition, the Maya also formulated the "lunar calendar", calculated the time of one week's revolution of Mars and Venus, and found a way to correct the accumulation of errors in the solar calendar and the lunar calendar. The Mayan calendar has a certain period. For example: 20 Kin (days) = 1 Una Unial (month) or 20 days 18 Una Unial = 1 Shield Tun (year) or 360 days 20 Shield Tun = 1 Katun Katun or 7,200 days 20 Katun Katun = 1 Baktun Baktun or 144,000 days 20 Baktun Baktun = 1 Piktun or 2,880,000 days 20 Piktun Baktun = 1 Kara Baktun or 576,000,000 days 20 Kara Shield = 1 Kinch Shield or 1152,000,000 days 20 Kinch Shield = 1 Ato Shield or 230,400,000,000 days Every people generally has an epoch. But in Mayan lore, they had several epochs, each beginning with the end of the devastation of the earth. The Maya's last epoch began in 3113 B.C., which is exactly when they settled in Central America; the Maya's last epoch began in 11,000 B.C., which coincided with the end of the Earth's Ice Age; and, going back even further, they had three more epochs, each of which must be counted in hundreds of thousands or millions of years. According to the Mayan calendar of the Long Ages, December 31, 2012 is the end of the current human civilization. After this date, humanity will enter a new civilization that has nothing to do with the present one. Mathematics The Maya had a mathematical system that has been described as "the brightest product of the human mind". The Maya (or their Omec ancestors) independently developed the concept of zero, which was invented and used in India, one of the earliest of the ancient Afro-Chinese civilizations, and about one year before the Europeans, who were the first to use it. It was invented and used even earlier than in India, which was the first African civilization to use zero, and about 800 years before the Europeans. The Maya used a binary numbering system; the numbers were represented by dots (?9?9) for 1 and horizontal bars (-) for 5. Inscriptions show that they sometimes used billions. For example, in timekeeping, the Maya had a unit called the "alaudon," which was equivalent to 230,400,000,000 days. Such a huge unit was only needed to measure interstellar distances and... [source request] Architecture. [Source Request] Architecture Palenque Temple Tikal Ruins The Maya created a high level of urban civilization without metal tools, without the use of wheeled carts, and without large animals such as cows and horses, and their high level of architectural excellence and engineering technology can be seen in the remains of their massive, fully functional cities. As many buildings were used for rituals and other religious ceremonies, Mayan architecture is full of figures about the laws of celestial operations. For example, the Kukulkan (Kukulkan) pyramid is about 30 meters high, surrounded by 91 steps each, adding up to a *** 364 steps, plus the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at the top of the tower, *** there are 365 steps, symbolizing the 365 days in a solar year. In addition to the number of steps, there are 52 quadrangular reliefs on each of the four sides of the pyramid, signifying the 52 years of the Mayan first century. Classical period of the Maya's largest city-state "Tikal" city area of more than 65 square kilometers, *** more than 3,000 pyramids, altars, monuments and other relics; the influence of the area of 500 square kilometers, only in its central area, there are large pyramids more than a dozen, more than 50 small temples. Tikal pyramid inclination of 70 ° amazing design, its shape has a European Gothic church as strange, so some people call "jungle cathedral". At a time when there were no advanced tools, it is a miracle how huge blocks of stone were cut, carried deep into the jungle, and then stacked up to 70 meters high on top of each other at a height of more than ten tons. Agriculture The Maya, unlike the other four major civilizations, did not emerge from the great river basins, but rose in the barren volcanic highlands and dense rainforests. The Maya had a staple diet of corn and beans, relatively little meat, no wheat, and crops such as cotton, tobacco, tomatoes, and cacao. The Mayan civilization, although urban, was built on the roots of corn agriculture. Since ancient times, Mayan farmers have adopted a very primitive "milpa" farming method: they first cut down all the trees, after a period of drying, and then set them on fire before the rainy season, using the ash as fertilizer to cover the barren rainforest soil. Burning once planted a crop, followed by 1-3 years of fallow, and in some places even up to 6 years, when the grass grows more lush and then burned and planted again. The backwardness of agricultural production capacity, once there is a long period of drought, civilization will become very vulnerable, which is scientists speculate that the Mayan civilization suddenly disappeared one of the reasons. Disappearance of civilization The Maya created an amazingly high civilization, but why the Maya civilization suddenly disappeared is still inconclusive, scientists and archaeologists, on the mystery of the annihilation of the Maya civilization, put forward a number of hypotheses, such as foreign invasions, population explosion, disease, climate change, internal wars and so on. The Maya's profound knowledge and culture were only in the hands of a very few nobles and priests, and the lower class laborers, who accounted for the vast majority of the Maya population, were completely illiterate. The aristocratic intellectuals, who were pampered, had difficulty surviving after the prosperity was over, and even disappeared soon, while also taking away the glorious Mayan civilization.