The ancient Maya were once one of the traditionally under-studied cultures, or "orphans" of research in the humanities. Until fairly recently, scholars concentrated on the "old world" cultures of Europe and the Near East, leaving many natives of the Americas to wonder about their origins. My attempt to redress this neglect is fairly weak (two classes, this one on Mesoamerica and next weeks on the American Southwest), but the materials I'll present should provide a foundation for further study.

We'll begin this week's exploration with a slide show that demonstrates the complexity and artistry of Maya life. Like many ancient cultures (such as the Aegean Bronze Age peoples and Rome under the Empire) the arts are completely integrated into everyday existence. Everything from common household utensils, to ritual objects, to monumental architecture, and even historical texts is imbued with an aesthetic sense that immediately identifies artifacts and buildings as distinctly Maya.

Like the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete, and Italy, the Maya developed a sophisticated writing system for what seems to be the sole purpose of recording events of cosmological importance: the cyclic movements of the stars and planets, and the ascension and deaths of kings. Even their sporting life reflected religious concerns, in that the Maya Ballgame reinacted events surrounding the creation of the world.

Even though all but four codices of Maya works were burned during early Spanish efforts to Christianize and colonize Mexico and the rest of "Mayaland," two major texts, the Chilam Balam (Book of the Jaguar) and the Popul Vuh (the Maya creation myth) have survived. It was, in fact, a priest (Francisco Ximénez), who transcribed the Popul Vuh in the early eighteenth century. We will watch a short animated film based on the latter text, and read selections from both.

The Mayan language is the only one of those spoken in the pre-Columbian Americas to have been recorded in a fully-developed written form. Its complexity and artistic variety made it difficult to decipher, and the story of the decipherment itself reads like a novel. A good source of information about how scholars managed to "break the Maya code" is available in the series, Out of the Past, from Annenberg Media, in the program called "Signs and Symbols." You can watch the video, which contrasts the ways in which the Sumerian and Mayan writing systems evolved, online at the link.

I urge you not only to read David Stuart's essay on Hieroglyphs and History at Copán (see below), but to watch his short presentation on Tatiana Proskouriakoff's breakthrough in the decipherment of Mayan glyphs on the Lost King of the Maya companion page.

For a variety of historical perspectives, see the sources listed on the sidebar. One fortunate aspect of the growing interest in Mesoamerican archaeology is that scholars are beginning to combine efforts with web designers to create high-quality information sources online. On the other hand, the recent silliness regarding the "end of the world" prophesies and the "end" of the Maya calendar have produced mounds of garbage. Some of the following resources may help--but remember to follow my advice in the toolkit essay on archaeology about extraordinary claims.

The Maya: a select list of web sources

Maya Rise and Fall by science writer Guy Gugliotta appeared in the August 2007 issue of National Geographic Magazine; the online version includes a picture gallery with the usual gorgeous photography.

The January 2007 episode of Science Now included a segment on remote sensing from space and its role in locating Maya sites--including the oldest mural found so far, with the earliest evidence of hieroglyphic writing in the Maya world. This is cutting-edge archaeology, but there's excitement and adventure to rival Indiana Jones in this episode as well. The video can be streamed.

Lost King of the Maya (PBS). This is the companion site to a film available in the Kelley Library (VHS GE 1255). A transcript of the narration is available here. See also this QuickTime video of Altar Q and Copán. There's also an interactive feature on Mayan glyphs.

Hieroglyphs and History at Copán: an article by David Stuart about the process of deciphering the Copán glyphs, and what archaeologists learned from them. It includes a detailed discussion of the decipherment of Altar Q and other objects mentioned in the film. This is particularly helpful if you didn't see the films in class.

A weblog on glyph decipherment (Maya Decipherment) was launched by David Stuart in 2007, and contains a huge amount of helpful information. It's pretty technical, but there are some good photos of inscriptions even if you don't understand all the linguistic stuff.

Even more technical is this page on Maya Calendar Conversions from Math DL (the Mathematical Association of America Digital Library)--but if you want the scoop on how the calendar works, here it is. The link is to the printer-friendly version.

Annenberg CPB Exhibits: The Maya This site is really designed for kids, but contains a good amount of information to supplement what we saw in class and focuses on why the Maya collapse occurred. The importance of archaeology is also stressed, and a "hands on" activity may actually be helpful. The site is inspired by the Out of the Past series, which compares the Maya to other ancient cultures. To see the list of available films--which can be watched online simply by registering as a student, go to the series home page.

Maya Archaeology includes information and images, and links to museums. There are also several articles available for download in .pdf--including one that lists prophesies from the Chilam Balam regarding the "end of the world" nonsense.

Historical Implications of a pattern of dates at Piedras Negras, Guatemala by Tatiana Proskouriakoff, 1960. This is the paper that discusses Proskouriakoff's discovery of the "king list" use for Maya glyphs. (Try to ignore the ads; scroll down to the document.)

Omniglot's page on Mayan script.

Maya Epigraphic Database Project Newly updated, this is truly comprehensive (and quite technical, but still interesting) glyph site out of the University of Virginia.

Mundo Maya This page contains several signed articles on topics related to the Maya.

Images of Maya culture from the Natonal Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

Weaving the Fabric of the Cosmos: a page on how modern descendents of the Maya carry on the artistic traditions of their ancestors.

The Linda Schele Drawing Collection from the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies contains an amazing number of Maya texts, meticulously drawn by Schele before her death in 1998.

For some beautiful photographs of Maya monuments, and also of modern-day Maya, see Kenneth Garrett's gallery of his work.

Just for fun: check out this board game called Tikal.