Maya

Another prediction about the world and for its end is made by Maya, Thank God that this prediction proved incorrect or that their calendar was deemed incomplete.The Maya civilization dated around 2,600 B.C and  developed in southeastern Mexico,Guatemala and Belize, and the western of Honduras and El Salvador, originating .  They were noted for astronomy, art, architecture ( including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories, all built without metal tools) , mathematical, astronomical, and hieroglyphic writing.The history of Maya civilization is divided into three principal periods : The Preclassic 2,000 B.C , Classic A.D 250 and Postclassic A.D 950 . 

 The Mayans are regarded as the inventors of many aspects of Meso-American cultures including the first calendar and hieroglyphic writing in the Western hemisphere. Archeologists have not settled the relationship between the Olmecs and the Mayans, and it is a mystery whether the Mayans were their descendants, trading partners, or had another relationship. It is agreed that the Mayans developed a complex calendar and the most elaborate form of hieroglyphics in America, both based on the Olmec's versions.Mayans seem to have entered Yucatan from the west.

Maya art is the art of the royal court,it concerned with the Maya elite and their world. Maya art was crafted from both perishable and non-perishable materials, and served to link the Maya to their ancestors. Surviving Maya art represent only a small part of the art that they have created. The finest surviving Maya art dates to the Late Classic period. They exhibited for the colors green or blue-green, and used the same word for the both colors. They placed high value on apple-green jade and other green-stones, associating them with the sun-god Kinich Ajau. They sculpted art-facts that included fine tessera , and beads to carved heads weighing 4.42 kilograms. The Maya nobility practiced dental modification, and some lords wore encrusted jade in their teeth. Mosaic funerary masks could also fashioned from jade, such as that of Kinich Janaab` Pakal , king of Palenque. maya stone sculpture emerged into the archaeological record as fully tradition, suggesting that it may have envolved from a tradition of sculpting wood. Because of the biodegradability of wood , some of their work has almost disappeared. Only few of their art have survived include three-dimensional sculptures , and hieroglyphic panels , like stone Maya stelae,stone sculpture also took other forms such as the limestone panels at Palenque and Piedras Negras, At Yaxchilan, Don Pilas,Copan comprises and other sites, stone stairway were decorated with sculpture. The hieroglyphic stairway at Copan comprises the longest surviving Maya hieroglyphic text,and consist of 2,200 individual glyph. The largest Maya sculptures consisted of architectural facades crafted from stucco. The rough form was drafted into a plain plaster coating over the wall, and the three-dimensional form was built up using small stones. This was coated with stucco and molded into the finished form;human body forms were first modelled in stucco,with their costumes added afterwards. The final stucco sculpture was then brightly painted. Giant stucco mask were used to adorn temple facades by the Late Preclassic, and such decoration continued into Classic period.
Maya textiles are very poorly represented in the archaeological record, although by comparison with other pre- Columbian cultures,such as the Aztecs and the Andean region, it`s like they were high-value item. A few scraps of textile have been recovered by archaeologists, but the best evidence for textile art is where they are represented in other media,such as painted murals or ceramics. Such secondary representations show the elite of the Maya court adorned with sumptuous cloths, these would have been cotton, but jaguar pelts and deer hides are also shown.
 Maya ceramics are the most surviving type of their art. Maya ceramics were painted with clay slips and blended with minerals colored. Ancient Maya firing techniques have yet to be replicated. A quantity of extremely fine ceramic figurines have been excavated from Late Classic tombs on Jaina Island, in northern Yucatan. They stand from between 10 to 25 centimeters high and were hand modeled , with exquisite details. The Ik-style ceramic corpus, including finely painted plates and cylindrical vessels. It includes a set of features such as hieroglyphs painted in a pink or pale red color and scenes with dancers wearing masks. One of the most distinctive features is the realistic representation of subjects as they appeared in life. The subject matter of the vessels includes courtly life from the Peten region in the 8th century A.D, such as diplomatic representations, feasting , bloodletting scenes of warriors and the sacrifice of prisoners of war. Bone of humans and animals were also sculpted, human bones may have been trophies, or relics of ancestors. Around the 10th century A,D, metallurgy arrived in Meso-America from South America, and the Maya began to craft small items from gold, silver and cooper. The Maya generally hammered sheet metal into objects such as beads , bells and disks. In the last centuries before the Spanish Conquest, the Maya began to use the lost-wax method to craft items from metal.
Graffiti, was a poor studied area of Maya, it was incised into the stucco of inferior walls, floors and benches, in a wide variety of buildings, including temples, residences and store-rooms. Graffiti has been recorded at 51 Maya sites, particularity clustered in the Peten Basin ,southern Campeche, and the Chenes region of Yucatan. At Tikal, where a great quantity of graffiti has been recorded the subject matter includes drawings of temples, people,animals,banners and thrones. Graffiti was often inscribed with drawings overlapping each other, and display a mix of crude, untrained art.        

Architecture 

Maya produced a vast array of structures, and have left an extensive architectural legacy that places their civilization as one of the greatest preindustrial civilization of the world. Their architecture incorporates various art forms and hieroglyphic texts. Masonry architecture built by the Maya evidences craft specialisation in Maya society and a large workforce. It is estimated that a large elite residence at Copan required an estimated 445 man-days to build, which compares to 67 man-days for a commoners hut. It is estimated that two to three months were required for the construction of the residence for the single noble at Copan, using between 80 and 130 full time labourers. A classic period city like Tikal was spread over 20 square kilometers with an urban core covering 6 square kilometers. The labour required to build such a city was immense, running into many millions of man-days. The most massive structures ever erected by the Maya were built during the Preclassic period.
     



  Pyramids and temples  

Temples were sometimes referred to in hieroglyphic texts as K`uh nah, means "God`s house" . Temples were raised on platforms, and most often upon a pyramid. The earliest temples were probably thatched huts built upon low platforms. By the Classic period, temple roofs were topped with roof combs that extended the height of the temple and served as a support for monumental art. The temple shrine contained between one and three rooms, and were dedicated to important deities. Such as deity might be one of the patron gods of the city, or a deified ancestor. In general, freestanding pyramids were shrines honoring powerful ancestors. The triadic pyramid remained a popular architectural form for centuries after the first examples were built, it continued in use into the Classic period , with later examples being found at Uaxactun ,Cacarol ,Seibal ,Nakum, Tikal and Palenque. The Q`umarkai example is the only one that has been dated to the Postclassic period. The triple-temple form of the triadic pyramid appears to be related to Maya mythology. Triadic pyramids first appeared in the Preclassic. They consisted of a dominant structure flanked by two smaller inward-facing buildings, all mounted upon a single basal platform. The largest known triadic pyramid was built at El Mirador in the Peten Basin; it covers area six times as large as that covered by Temple IV, the largest pyramid Tikal.



Mathematics

Maya used a base 20(vigesimal) system. The bar and dot counting system that is the base of Maya numerals was in use in Mesoamerica by 1,000 B.C; the Maya adopted it and added the symbol for zero. The Maya numeral system was in place by the Late Preclassic; this included the mathematical concept of zero. This may have been the earliest known occurrence of the idea of an explicit zero worldwide, although it may have been predated by the Babylonian system. The earliest explicit use of zero occurred on monuments dated to 357 A.D . in its earliest uses, the zero served as a place holder, indicating an absence of a particular calendrical count. This later developed into a numeral that was used to perform calculation, and was used in hieroglyphic text for more than a thousand years until its use was extinguished by the Spanish.



Calendar  

The origin of Maya calendar is in the Preclassic period. Maya developed the calendar to its maximum sophistication , recording lunar and solar cycles, eclipses and movements of planets with great accuracy. In some cases , the Maya calculations were more accurate than equivalent calculations in the Old World; for example, the Maya solar years was calculated to greater accuracy than the Julian Year. The Maya calendar was intrinsically tied to Maya ritual, and it was central to Maya religious practices. The basic unit the Maya calendar was one day, or K`in. This was multiplied by twenty to form a winal.The next unit,instead of being multiplied by 20, as called for by vigesimal system, was multiplied by 18 in order to provide a rough approximation of the solar year(producing 360 days). This 360 day year was called a tun . Each succeeding level of multiplication followed the vigesimal system.

Astronomy

Maya made meticulous observations of celestial bodies, patiently, recording astronomical data on the movements of the sun, moon, Venus and the stars. This formation was used for divination. so Maya astronomy is more accurately termed astrology. Maya astrology didn`t serve to study the universe for scientific reasons but it was rather used by the priest-hood to comprehend past cycles of time,and project them into the future to produce prophecy. The priest-hood refined observations and recorded eclipses of the sun and moon, and movement of Venus and the stars; these were measured against dated events in the past, on the assumption that similar events would occur in the future when the same astronomical conditions prevailed. Illustrations in the codices show that priests made astronomical observations using the naked eye, assisted by crossed sticks as a sighting device. The Maya measured the 584 day Venus cycle with an error of just two hours. Five cycles of Venus equated to eight 365 day haabcalendrical cycles, and this period was recorded in the codices. The Maya also followed the movements of Jupiter, Mars and Mercury. When Venus rose as the Morning Star, this was associated with the rebirth of the Maya Hero Twins.
Analysis of the few remaining Postclassic codices has revealed that, at the time of European contact, the Maya had recorded eclipse tables, calendars, and astronomical knowledge that was more accurate at that time than comparable knowledge in Europe.