The indigenous and ancient Maya civilization has long been misinterpreted for their phenomenal astronomy charts that certain experts used to predict the end of the world which was supposed to happen in Dec 2012 and very recently on 23rd September. However, they seemed to have got it wrong. There are many interesting facts about the Maya who inhabited the modern-day Yucatan, Mexico, and Central America.
The Mayan civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization that was prominently regarded by archaeologists for their unique hieroglyphic script. The people came to be known as Mayans named after the ancient city of Mayapan. At the time of their existence, the population was spread over a huge area of South America that included Southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. At present, there are 7 million Mayans still living today trying very hard to preserve their culture while integrating into the modern lifestyle of the country of residence. Take a look at 15 interesting facts about the Mayans.
The Mayan calendar was based on the alignment of stars and originated in the preclassic periods. According to archaeologists, the Mayan calendar turned out to be more accurate than calculations in the old world and the Julian calendar at the time. The Mayans based their calendars on solar and lunar cycles as well as the eclipses and the movement of planets.
The Mayans did not predict the end of the world which was regarded by archaeologists as the promotion of mythology as fact by so-called experts who ignore the professional opinion of Mayan scholars including epigraphers, historians, and archaeologists. The so-called end of the world in 2012 was far from the truth; instead according to Mayan astronomy charts and the Mayan calendar, it signified a new beginning. Post 2012 led to a huge number of jokes on twitter like this epic one.
“If the Mayans were good at predicting the future there would still be Mayans."
Image Source: www.mayan-calendar.org
Can anyone really predict the creation date of the Earth? The beginning of Mayan calendar was set to coincide with the end of a previous cycle of days or Baktuns as Mayans called it. Thus an end of a cycle would literally be regarded as the end of days which might have led to misinterpretation by doomsday experts.
A Baktun at the time equaled one day in the year 3114 BC as per the Maya calendar and it was this date that became to be regarded by the Mayans as the day the world was created in its present form.
Image Source: www.toptenz.net
The Mayans had weird concepts of beauty and went to great lengths to achieve it. Just like an ear of corn, they believed that elongated heads enhanced the beauty of a person.
They widely practiced a body modification techniques called trepanning which involved flattening the forehead by sandwiching it between planks of wood so that the skull sloped up and backward. Children were subjected to this for long periods of time.
Image Source: www.images.vice.com
For the Mayans, being cross-eyed meant a blessing of the sun god Kinich Ahau who they believed was a cross-eyed god. Children were made to go cross-eyed by dangling objects between their eyes which adults thought would eventually make them go cross-eyed permanently. They felt that if children were cockeyed, they would be blessed by the sun god with prosperity wealth and a good future.
It was a known fact about the Mayans that they loved being tattooed and a Mayan man would be often seen getting inked all over his body. For the Mayans, Tattooing was not just for beautification but for spiritual purposes too as tattooing for the Mayans was a highly spiritual practice. It was also a symbol of status and more the body modification, the higher the status symbol.
The Mayans system of tattooing was extremely painful as it involved cutting the design into the skin and then getting inked which in today’s world is called scarification. Both men and women were frequently tattooed although men often waited to get inked only after marriage. While men tattooed themselves all over, women would do it on their upper bodies.
Image Source: www.toptenz.net
The Mayans certainly knew their health and medicine which they believed was a holistic combination of mind body and religion much like ancient medical texts of old. The practice of medicine was reserved only for those who were highly educated and were called shamans. They would act as mediums between the spiritual and physical world and practiced sorcery and foresight as a form of purification and healing.
The Mayans stitched wounds with human hair, were able to set fractures and were also skilled in dentistry. Prosthetic teeth were made from precious stones like jade and turquoise while teeth fillings were done with iron pyrite.
Image Source: www.ancient-origins.net
For the Mayans hallucinatory and trance experiences were a spiritual thing. Because of this practice, they had extensive knowledge of entheogens or hallucinogenic substances like psilocybin from magic mushrooms which were used in medicine, ritual and religious ceremonies.
However what puzzles archaeologists is that although not much physical evidence exists to point to the same, Mayan art is full of such references as well as residue collected from artifacts that prove the use and existence of such substances at the time.
Image Source: www.netdna-ssl.com
Like the Aztecs, the Mayans invented a Mesoamerican ballgame that was played for almost 3000 years. Today a similar ball game is called Ulama and is played by the indigenous population where the only difference is that an actual ball is used rather than decapitated heads. Yes!! A Mayan ball game called PITZ would end in sacrifice and decapitation where possibly the losers were chosen for the gory ordeal.
Late Mayan ballgame art has featured severed heads and it has been assumed that the heads of players were used as balls. The largest Mayan ball court in Mesoamerica is in Chichen Itza and measures 83 meters long by 30 meters wide.
Image Source: www.list25.com
The Mayans were staunch and meticulous astronomers who made detailed recordings of the movement of celestial bodies like the sun, moon and various planets. Contrary to belief that astronomy helped the planting season, it was instead studied by the priests to understand time cycles for better comprehension in order to predict the future. Events like eclipses and movements of planets like Venus and stars were analyzed against past events which served as an assumption that such events may again occur in the future given that the same astronomical conditions were present for that time.
Isn’t it safe to say that modern astronomical prediction is very much similar? And that the Mayans were on the right track at the time.
The Mayans constructed large cities although only ruins remain till today which are still very interesting to visit. Among the cities of Pre Columbian America, it was the city of Mirador that was the largest. It was discovered only in 1926 and was found to be constructed around 3 Pyramids the largest being La Danta whose peak was taller than Egypt’s largest pyramid Khufu.
Mirador flourished between 6th century to the 1st century BC and peaked with a population of around 250,000 people.
Image Source: www.pinimg.com
Tayasal, the island city was the last independent kingdom of the Mayans that existed right up to 1697. Spanish catholic priests visited the city in 1696 to preach to the King Canek who was the last Itza king of the Mayans. The kingdom was finally conquered by the Spanish on March 13, 1697, by a force led by Martin de Ursua, the then governor of Yucatan.
Today much of the land and its monuments are owned by a private family while the monuments itself is cared for by the government.
Image Source: www.smithsonianmag.com
The Mayans seemed to have been among the first early civilizations to read books and were among the first ancient civilizations to write them too. Mayan books were designed as screen folds like pamphlets and posters of magazines. The book pages were made from the inner bark of fig trees.
The Mayan system of writing is widely regarded by historians as sophisticated and unique. It is the most outstanding achievement of early Mesoamericans existing in pre-Columbian America. The Dresden Codex was believed to be the oldest book written in the Americas which dates back to the 13th or 14th century and was rediscovered in the city of Dresden, Germany, hence its name.
Image Source: www.sciencealert.com
The Mayans progressed significantly in abstract mathematics and used a vigesimal math system whose numerals were based on a bar and dot counting system prevalent in Mesoamerica at the time. A bar represented the numeral 1 and a dot the numeral 5. They even added a symbol for the zero which is regarded as the earliest worldwide example of the use of the zero. The Mayans used mathematics to calculate and create their own calendar.
Image Source: www.classroomsecrets.co.uk
The Mayans believed that the very epitome of beauty was a long nose and did everything to try and get a long one. They also fashioned prosthetic noses out of clay and wore them over their own noses to improve the shape and elongation of size.
In fact, the Mayans were obsessed with a perfect nose much like the Roman nose. This obsession is reflected in several examples of Mayan art.
Image Source: www.historyonthenet.com
Among the facts about Mayans, the Spanish conquistadors with their modern weapons were largely responsible for the decline of the Mayans. In 1562, A successful inquisition against converted Mayans led by a Spanish Franciscan Monk Diego De Landa, The first Franciscan to be sent to Yucatan Mexico resulted in most of the literature being destroyed. Let the Monk tell you in his own words:
“We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction.”
All but four Mayan codices were saved. It was presumed that the Mayans had written no less than 10,000 books.
Image Source: www.twimg.com