The Mayas

Evidence # 4
The Mayas
The earliest of the major Meso-American civilizations was the Olmec culture, which is often regarded as the fostering influence behind the Mayan, Aztec, and other latersocieties. The Olmec were prominent in eastern coastal Mexico between 1200 and 400 B.C. and are remembered for constructing massive earthen mounds, sculpting giant basalt heads, and building large andprosperous cities that existed for hundreds of years. As the Olmec declined, the Mayans rose to prominence. Historical evidence seems to indicate the presence of a Mayan culture in present day Mexico atleast as far back as 1800 BCE, but their greatest influence was exerted between 200 B.C. and A.D. 1000. Settlement was extensive in the Yucatán Peninsula and stretched southward into Central America.Unlike the later Aztecs, the Mayans did not exercise strong administrative control over an empire, but instead developed as a series of largely autonomous city-states, such as Palenque, Tikal, andChichén Itzá. Fortified residential areas were often surrounded by meticulously cultivated farmlands. Mayan contributions were many. They developed an advanced writing system. Their history, entrusted tocactus fiber parchment, fared poorly against the ravages of time and Spanish censors saw to the destruction of much of the remainder. However, many of their carvings on stone have survived andprovide much of what is known today about their civilization.
The Mayans also were gifted mathematicians who independently developed the concept of zero, and astronomers who deduced that a solar year wasslightly more than 365 days. Despite these achievements, the Mayans and other Meso-American cultures failed to discover the utility of the wheel. The decline of Mayan civilization was well under way by1100 B.C. The causes are uncertain, but speculation points to warfare, crop failures, and disease as leading possibilities. The society was also enervated by its religion, which emphasized that...