While the Maya area was initially inhabited
around the 10th millennium BC, the first clearly
“Maya” settlements were established in approximately
1800 BC in Soconusco region of the Pacific Coast.
This point in time, known as the Early Preclassic,
was characterized by sedentary communities and the
introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines.
Archaeological evidence suggests the construction of
ceremonial architecture in Maya area by approximately
The earliest configurations of such architecture
consist of simple burial mounds, which would be the
precursors to the stepped pyramids subsequently
erected in the Late Preclassic.
The Classic period (c. 250 AD – 900
AD) witnessed the peak of large-scale construction and
urbanism, the recording of monumental inscriptions,
and a period of significant intellectual and artistic
The Mayans developed an agriculturally
intensive, city-centered empire consisting of numerous
independent city-states. This includes the well-known
cities of Tikal, Palenque, Copán and Calakmul.
The most notable monuments are the
stepped pyramids they built in their religious centers
and the accompanying palaces of their rulers.
||Other important archaeological remains
include the carved stone slabs usually called stelae (the
Maya called them tetun, or "tree-stones"), which depict
rulers along with hieroglyphic texts describing
their genealogy, military victories, and other
The Mayan civilization participated in long distance trade
with many of the other Mesoamerican cultures, including
Teotihuacan, the Zapotec and other groups in central and
gulf-coast Mexico, as well as with more distant,
non-Mesoamerican groups. For example the Tainos in the
caribbean, also archaeologists found gold from Panama in
the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza. Important trade
goods included cacao, salt, sea shells, jade and obsidian.
Left: Photo by
The Classic Maya collapse
The Classic Maya Collapse refers to the
decline and abandonment of the Maya cities of the southern
Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica between the 8th and 9th
centuries. This decline was coupled with a cessation of
monumental inscriptions and large-scale architectural
The Classic Maya Collapse is one of the
biggest mysteries in archaeology. What makes the collapse
so intriguing is the profound heights reached culturally
by the Maya before the collapse; and the relative
suddenness of the collapse itself.
Theories of Maya decline are overpopulation, foreign
invasion, peasant revolt, and the collapse of key trade
routes. Ecological hypotheses include environmental
disaster, epidemic disease, and climate change.
Some scholars have recently theorized
that an intense 200 year drought led to the collapse of
The drought theory originated from research performed by
physical scientists studying lake beds, ancient
pollen, and other data, not from the archaeological