The following is a web reflection on the Mayan Culture of Central America (Who Were the Maya?). Included in this will be a variety of ideas that will be presented through words and pictures. To understand the Mayan world, one must understand the living Maya as well as the archaeological story that has been and is still being uncovered. Jeremy Sabloff in a book on Mayan prehistory began by saying that he has been led to and around many museums with beautiful artifacts of the Maya yet it not these that excite him. It is the story behind them that archaeologists like Sabloff want to be able to tell with as great an accuracy as possible. We have been blessed to know the Maya not only through the archaeological investigations of places such as Copan, Tikal, Palenque, Chitchen Itza, Caracol, Calakmul, or Dos Pilas but through the words of the ancient Maya themselves. Perhaps the greatest achievement in Mayan archaeology has come from the epigraphers who now read what the Maya wanted people to share about themselves. These writings were not written for us but for the Mayan themselves. They are a window into the minds of those past Mayan people however that provide a glimpse that few archaeologists ever have. The "breaking of the code" as Michael Coe puts it was a tremendous leap forward for our understanding. It is now possible to look into the hearts and minds of people once lost to the present. It is a lesson, we in a very different cultural world view, now explore....

This journey begins with murals from a site called Bonampak:

The murals of Bonampak depict a serious message from the Maya. Human sacrifice was part of ritual within Mayan culture that we may find offensive. To the Mayan, it was a part of their religion tied deeply to a sense of resurrection and the conquering of the forces of the world of Xibalba - the underworld where death, disease, and evil lives....Images of Ritual

The Maya saw the heavens and the underworld as 22 layers into which a shaman could pass between to visit ancestors and supernaturals.  It is important to understand the nature of heaven and the underworld before we explore further.
 

Creation for the Maya could be calculated in time to have occurred on August 13, 3114 B.C.  David Friedel, Linda Schele,and Joy Parker in their book Maya Cosmos believe there are some basic themes that can be drawn from the story we know of as the Popol Vuh: the creation of the cosmos, the ordering of the world of people, and of the gods and ancstors of the Otherworld; the triumph of the ancestral humans over the forces of death, decay, and disease through cunning and trickery; the miracle of true rebirth out of sacrifice; and the origins of maize as the substance of the Maya body and soul (page 43.)  The story of creation also enables us to see how sacrifice and the ball game become intertwined in Maya world view with the very essence of creation itself.  Here is the story of creation.
 
The ballgame is central to Maya world view.  It is as we have seen a portal to the other world known as Xibalba.  Click here for a short movie that depicts the ballgame.
 
The substance that the Maya called ITZ is another crucial aspect of the Maya world view that we must understand.  What is itz?

Maya kings and lords of old were shamans but contemporary Maya shamans are not kings:  who were the Maya elite?

The Maya were observers of the sky and were able to foretell heavenly events.  Perhaps the most interesting facet was their preoccupation with the planet Venus.  It was on the murals of Bonampak that archaeologists opened up new insights into the relationship the Maya had with Venus.  Click here to explore this relationship.

Once Maya society was thought to be peace loving and an example to the world that someone could avoid warfare.  We now know this is not true.  Click here for a reading on the significance of how the Maya viewed war.  It is a contrast to that view held by Western culture.

We may never know exactly why the Classic period Maya culture "collapsed".  Bill Fash provides for some insights from the site of Copan.
 
Maya people of today and what the archaeological insights may mean according to David Freidel.

New insights into the Mayan political ideology are emerging from research at a little knows, yet incredibly vast site of Calakmul. Research draws parallels with other Mesoamerican forms of empires....Super States in the Mayan World

Mayan research also has identified numerous efforts to create defensive fortifications. Image digging into solid limestone to excavate a moat to cut across a peninsula and spend vast amounts of energy toward defense. Examine this scene....depiction of defense

The Maya had an extremely keen sense of time.  Many scholars have marveled at their ability to create a calendar more accurate than that of the Old World. 

A glimpse of an early Mayan city....Nabke

The passage of time was so important to the Maya that they made precise measurement....A Lesson in Mayan Time Keeping
 

Maya prophecies by B.J. Moyer

You can always check out one of the best sources for the Maya at the Canadian Museum of Civilization: Mystery of the Maya

Also explore the following links:

Mayan Culture