This video was inspired by Solaris’s music quoted below. As I was listening to it, a series of flashes passed through my mind and the idea of creating a short artistic view about the Mayan culture was started. The fascination with a race of people who at their peak had formed fully functioning cities of more than 100,000 inhabitants each and then simply dissipated was overwhelming.
Below I added some background and history to better explain this puzzle/ tragedy.
Mayan kings were known as “Jaguars”. An exploration of Mayan culture, buildings/ruins, language, poetry and its descendants are presented. Most photography was shot in Guatemala and next to Belize and Mexico’s borders. The sound track contains brief excerpts of a poem by Popol Vuh.
Elements Used in this Production:
Music: Deep Rising by Solaris :: jamendo.com/en/track/476520
Photography all @ Flickr.com :
~ Dennis Jarvis-Archer10;
~ Chris Dumbar-Chris Bottles;
~ Pedro Szekely-Szeke (HDR);
~ Leo Bar
Animation, Effects and Montage: Leo Bar
Background & History:
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state development during the Classic period (c. 250 AD to 900 AD), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world.
The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected from Honduras, Guatemala, Northern El Salvador and to as far as central Mexico, more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest.
The Maya peoples never disappeared, neither at the time of the Classic period decline nor with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and the subsequent Spanish colonization of the Americas. Today, the Maya and their descendants form sizable populations throughout the Maya area and maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs that are the result of the merger of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideas and cultures. Many Mayan languages continue to be spoken as primary languages today; the Rabinal Achí, a play written in the Achi’ language, was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.