![]() ![]() ![]() Tikal National Park, the site of the ancient city of Tikal, is located in Guatemala, where the majority of modern-day Maya live. Maya ancestors live in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and other Central American countries today. They rose to prominence in the region around A.D. 250, and originated in the Yucatn around 2600 B.C. ![]() They were found in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, northern Belize, and western Honduras around A.D. The Maya civilization is most likely the most well-known of all Mesoamerican classical civilizations. It then collapsed, which was probably due to a problem with the structure. The vibrant and successful Classic Period of Mayan civilization lasted for six centuries. The population was estimated to have numbered 500 people per square mile in rural areas at its peak around 900 A.D., and more than 2,000 people per square mile in urban areas, roughly the same as Los Angeles County now. The collapse of the Classic Maya civilization and the abandonment of Maya cities in the southern Maya lowlands between the 7th and 9th centuries BCE were the two leading causes of the classic Maya collapse. Through interactions with the native Mayas, a wide range of new aspects have emerged in some other Mayan cultures. Many aspects of the original Mayan culture have survived in Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Guatemala. Because the Mayan population is spread across various modern states, its cultural identity varies greatly. By 2001, there were approximately 7 million Mayans, according to estimates. The Classic Mayan civilisation was largely eradicated by the 9th century A.D., and the Mayans gradually relocated to the northern regions of Mexico such as the Mayan Desert. The majority of Maya live in rural areas, with only a small percentage living in urban areas. Today, there are an estimated 6 million Maya people living in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. These cultures, such as the Maya, Zapotec, Totonac, and Teotihuacán civilizations have unique art, architecture, and cultures that separate them from each other, but many historians trace all of these cultures back to their shared Olmec heritage.Although the Maya civilization began to decline in the 8th century CE, with many of the great Maya cities being abandoned, the Maya people have continued to live in Central America. The Olmec Civilization was one of the most influential ancient civilizations of the early Americas, and though its dominance of the region faded in the last centuries before the Common Era, the Olmec civilization is commonly thought to be the “mother culture” of many other cultures that appeared in the region in later years. They also built earthen mounds and pyramids, and ceramics of several types that became common throughout a broad region influenced by the Olmec civilization. They may have been the originators of the Mesoamerican ball game, a ceremonial team sport played throughout the region for centuries. The Olmec created massive monuments, including colossal stone heads, thrones, stela (upright slabs), and statues. Maize and other crops were a later addition to their foodstuffs. The Olmec diet initially included foods from fishing and hunting. Research at these and other sites has led to the following insights. La Venta, east of San Lorenzo and closer to the Gulf Coast (15 kilometers/9 miles) in the modern Mexican state of Tabasco, reached its height in about 900–500 C.E. San Lorenzo, about 56 kilometers (35 miles) south of the Gulf of Mexico in the modern Mexican state of Veracruz, was at its height around 1150 to 900 C.E. There are several Olmec sites thought to be important centers of activity, of which San Lorenzo and La Venta are the most significant. Derived from the Nahuatl (Aztec) word “Olmecatl”, which means “inhabitant of the rubber country”, Olmec is a reference to the rubber production in the area where many of the artifacts have been found. The name Olmec was actually invented by scholars. In the case of the Olmec, archaeologists think artifacts found primarily on the northern half of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mesoamerica from 1200–500 C.E. What is known about archaeological cultures is based on artifacts, rather than texts. This means there is a collection of artifacts thought by archaeologists to represent a particular society. The Olmec civilization is what is known as an archaeological culture. ![]()
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