Download or read book Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya written by Walter R. T. Witschey and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-12-24 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Encyclopedia of the Ancient Maya offers an A-to-Z overview of the ancient Maya culture from its inception around 3000 BC to the Spanish Conquest after AD 1600. Over two hundred entries written by more than sixty researchers explore subjects ranging from food, clothing, and shelter to the sophisticated calendar and now-deciphered Maya writing system. They bring special attention to environmental concerns and climate variation; fresh understandings of shifting power dynamics and dynasties; and the revelations from emerging field techniques (such as LiDAR remote sensing) and newly explored sites (such as La Corona, Tamchen, and Yaxnohkah). This one-volume reference is an essential companion for students studying ancient civilizations, as well as a perfect resource for those planning to visit the Maya area. Cross-referencing, topical and alphabetical lists of entries, and a comprehensive index help readers find relevant details. Suggestions for further reading conclude each entry, while sidebars profile historical figures who have shaped Maya research. Maps highlight terrain, archaeological sites, language distribution, and more; over fifty photographs complement the volume.

Download or read book The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom written by Grant D. Jones and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On March 13, 1697, Spanish troops from Yucatán attacked and occupied Nojpeten, the capital of the Maya people known as Itzas, the inhabitants of the last unconquered native New World kingdom. This political and ritual center--located on a small island in a lake in the tropical forests of northern Guatemala--was densely covered with temples, royal palaces, and thatched houses, and its capture represented a decisive moment in the final chapter of the Spanish conquest of the Mayas. The capture of Nojpeten climaxed more than two years of preparation by the Spaniards, after efforts by the military forces and Franciscan missionaries to negotiate a peaceful surrender with the Itzas had been rejected by the Itza ruling council and its ruler Ajaw Kan Ek’. The conquest, far from being final, initiated years of continued struggle between Yucatecan and Guatemalan Spaniards and native Maya groups for control over the surrounding forests. Despite protracted resistance from the native inhabitants, thousands of them were forced to move into mission towns, though in 1704 the Mayas staged an abortive and bloody rebellion that threatened to recapture Nojpeten from the Spaniards. The first complete account of the conquest of the Itzas to appear since 1701, this book details the layers of political intrigue and action that characterized every aspect of the conquest and its aftermath. The author critically reexamines the extensive documentation left by the Spaniards, presenting much new information on Maya political and social organization and Spanish military and diplomatic strategy. This is not only one of the most detailed studies of any Spanish conquest in the Americas but also one of the most comprehensive reconstructions of an independent Maya kingdom in the history of Maya studies. In presenting the story of the Itzas, the author also reveals much about neighboring lowland Maya groups with whom the Itzas interacted, often violently.

Download or read book Tikal written by John Montgomery and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This concise illustrated volume recounts Tikal's rise from prehistoric obscurity to unparalleled success at the height of Maya Civilisation, as well as its spectacular collapse and abandonment. Through the many hieroglyphic inscriptions, grave gifts from tombs, and a rich architectural and artistic legacy, the book recreates the political, and social life of the city and of the Maya in general.

Download or read book Ancient Maya written by Arthur Demarest and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-12-09 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Maya comes to life in this new holistic and theoretical study.

Download or read book The Popol Vuh written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-07-19 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes excerpts of the Popol Vuh *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Many ancient civilizations have influenced and inspired people in the 21st century. The Greeks and Romans continue to fascinate the West today. But of all the world's civilizations, none have intrigued people more than the Mayans, whose culture, astronomy, language, and mysterious disappearance all continue to captivate people. In 2012 especially, there was a renewed focus on the Mayans, whose advanced calendar led many to speculate the world would end on the same date the Mayan calendar ends. The focus on the "doomsday" scenario, however, overshadowed the Mayans' true contribution to astronomy, language, sports, and art. Unlike most of the world's sacred books - the Quran, the Bible or the I-Ching for example - nobody knows the universal name, if there ever was one, for the Maya's collection of myths. Instead, the title that has been passed down, the "Popol Vuh," appears to be the specific title given to a particular copy of these tales. Its meaning, roughly translated as the Council Book, refers to the special role of this text: it was the shared property of the council of lords that ruled the Quich� kingdom and was apparently regularly consulted by that body for advice to guide their rule. However, in the opening sections, the scribes who penned the text also give it several other names, including "the Light That Came from Beside the Sea," "Our Place in the Shadows" and "The Dawn of Life" (pg 63). All of these names were originally in K'ichean Maya, the language spoken by the Maya of the Quich� Kingdom and its neighboring regions. The first of these names refers to a pilgrimage by the second generation of Quich� lords in Part V to the Yucatan coast to acquire a copy of at least a portion of the original text. The second refers to Part IV, the period before the first Dawn (the "Shadows") when the ancestral Quich� earned their particular right to rule. The final name refers to Part I, when the first gods created all of the various parts of life. This multiplicity of names and titles for sacred works is not uncommon, and perhaps comparable to the Bible being referred to as "the Good Book" or (in reference to the New Testament) "the Good News" or the "Gospel." The name Popol Vuh is itself controversial as the original text actually spells the name three different ways: "Popol Vuh", of course, but also "Pop Wuj" and "Popol Wuj." In general, the most correct form in contemporary Quiche spelling is probably "Popol Wuj", but as the text is best known in English with the word "Vuh", this convention will be maintained here (Eenriik 2014). There are a number of translations and editions of the Popol Vuh, which vary considerably in quality. Many early editions were not informed by the latest scholarship in Maya linguistics and sometimes the ways they translate names in particular can vary. This text will use the Second Edition (1996), translated by Dennis Tedlock and published by Simon and Schuster, for all of its quotations and page citations. The Popol Vuh: The History and Legacy of the Maya's Creation Myth and Epic Legends examines what's contained within and how the Popol Vuh survived to the present day. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Popol Vuh like never before.

Download or read book Maya History written by Captivating History and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-08-09 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did you know that the Mayans used saunas for healing purposes? In the past decade or two, there has been an upsurge of interest in Maya history. This was partly fueled by the mythical Maya prediction of the end of the world in 2012, which for a short period of time put this civilization under the media spotlight. But there is much more to their culture than the common misconception about their calendar. You see, this is one of the most important and most influential civilizations of the whole Mesoamerican region. The Mayans did not only make achievements in the field of astronomy; they also made revolutionary accomplishments in agriculture, engineering and communications. In this new captivating history book, you will discover amazing little-known facts about the Mayans as well as the truth about their remarkable history. Maya History: A Captivating Guide to the Maya Civilization, Culture, Mythology, and the Maya Peoples' Impact on Mesoamerican History includes: Revolutionary Findings Provided by Modern Archaeological Detective Techniques A Simple Explanation of the Maya Civilization and Its Location Fascinating Discoveries of Maya Art Remarkable Insights into the Maya Government and Society A Startling Exploration of the Mayans Everyday Life Amazing Insights into Myths, Legends, Gods and Beliefs of the Maya People, Including Shocking Findings Related to Human Sacrifice Warfare The Spanish Conquest and Its Impact From Colonial Times to Today And much, much more! So if you want to go on a remarkable journey into the History of the Maya Civilization, click "add to cart"!

Download or read book The Chocolate Tree written by Linda Lowery and published by First Avenue Editions. This book was released on 2009 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The god Kukulkan decides to give the Mayan people the gift of chocolate, the favorite food of the gods, but when Kukulkan 's brother Night Jaguar tells the other gods what he has done Kukulkan is banned from paradise forever.

Download or read book The World of the Ancient Maya written by John S. Henderson and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theirs was one of the few complex societies to emerge in and to adapt successfully to a tropical-forest environment. Their architecture, sculpture, and painting were sophisticated and compellingly beautiful.

Download or read book A Maya Universe in Stone written by Stephen Houston and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2021-12-28 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first study devoted to a single sculptor in ancient America, as understood through four unprovenanced masterworks traced to a small sector of Guatemala. In 1950, Dana Lamb, an explorer of some notoriety, stumbled on a Maya ruin in the tropical forests of northern Guatemala. Lamb failed to record the location of the site he called Laxtunich, turning his find into the mystery at the center of this book. The lintels he discovered there, long since looted, are probably of a set with two others that are among the masterworks of Maya sculpture from the Classic period. Using fieldwork, physical evidence, and Lamb’s expedition notes, the authors identify a small area with archaeological sites where the carvings were likely produced. Remarkably, the vividly colored lintels, replete with dynastic and cosmic information, can be assigned to a carver, Mayuy, who sculpted his name on two of them. To an extent nearly unique in ancient America, Mayuy can be studied over time as his style developed and his artistic ambition grew. An in-depth analysis of Laxtunich Lintel 1 examines how Mayuy grafted celestial, seasonal, and divine identities onto a local magnate and his overlord from the kingdom of Yaxchilan, Mexico. This volume contextualizes the lintels and points the way to their reprovenancing and, as an ultimate aim, repatriation to Guatemala.

Download or read book Ancient Maya Gender Identity and Relations written by Lowell S. Gustafson and published by Praeger. This book was released on 2002-07-30 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book to examine how the ancient Maya defined gender. Contributors explain what it meant to be male and female. They show how gender was experienced and what the bases were for gender designations. They demonstrate how gender relations affected other areas of Mayan life, such as the arts, cosmology, economics, politics, religion, and social structure. And they analyze the changes in Mayan gender relations and identities that were fostered by evolving historical systems. There was no single Mayan polity nor was there a unitary cultural approach. Certain similarities in culture account for the observation of a general commonality among the ancient Maya, but there clearly were significant differences between Mayan sites, within the same site over time, and even between social sectors at the same site in any given time—this is no less true for ancient Maya gender identity and relations. Thus, the authors seek to explain why emphasis upon bilateral inheritance of power and prerogative was emphasized in artwork at some periods and some sites and not at others. Avoiding the vain attempt to provide a single explanation, they seek to offer a clearer sense of the richness of their topic.

Download or read book The Ancient Future of the Itza written by and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-06-28 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The title of Edmonson's work refers to the Mayan custom of first predicting their history and then living it, and it may be that no other peoples have ever gone so far in this direction. The Book of Chilam Balam was a sacred text prepared by generations of Mayan priests to record the past and to predict the future. The official prophet of each twenty-year rule was the Chilam Balam, or Spokesman of the Jaguar—the Jaguar being the supreme authority charged with converting the prophet's words into fact. This is a literal but poetic translation of one of fourteen known manuscripts in Yucatecan Maya on ritual and history. It pictures a world of all but incredible numerological order, slowly yielding to Christianity and Spanish political pressure but never surrendering. In fact, it demonstrates the surprising truth of a secret Mayan government during the Spanish rule, which continued to collect tribute in the names of the ruined Classic cities and preserved the essence of the Mayan calendar as a legacy for the tradition's modern inheritors. The history of the Yucatecan Maya from the seventh to the nineteenth century is revealed. And this is history as the Maya saw it—of a people concerned with lords and priests, with the cosmology which justified their rule, and with the civil war which they perceived as the real dimension of the colonial period. A work of both history and literature, the Tizimin presents a great deal of Mayan thought, some of which has been suspected but not previously documented. Edmonson's skillful reordering of the text not only makes perfect historical sense but also resolves the long-standing problem of correlating the two colonial Mayan calendars. The book includes both interpretative and literal translations, as well as the Maya parallel couplets and extensive annotations on each page. The beauty of the sacred text is illuminated by the literal translation, while both versions unveil the magnificent historical, philosophical, and social traditions of the most sophisticated native culture in the New World. The prophetic history of the Tizimin creates a portrait of the continuity and vitality, of the ancient past and the foreordained future of the Maya.

Download or read book The Legacy of the Maya written by Laila Schwab-Mansour and published by tredition. This book was released on 2023-12-03 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover the ageless knowledge of one of the most remarkable civilizations in the annals of human history by immersing yourself in the enthralling world of Mayan legends. Within the pages of this book, which has been meticulously researched, the author takes you on a journey through the epic stories that are at the core of Mayan culture. Learn about the exploits of the twin heroes Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who are on a quest to find their way to divinity, and allow yourself to be captivated by the mysterious prophecies of the Mayan calendar. Learn more about the mysteries that surround King Pacal and his journey through death, the afterlife, and rebirth. The legends are not the only thing that this book has to offer. It demonstrates how the knowledge of the Maya continues to have an effect in the present day and locates significance in the world that we live in today. From the astronomical orientation of their buildings to the sacred architecture that they left behind, from the fascinating calendar systems that they left behind to the influences that they had on art and science, the Maya leave behind a legacy that both inspires and challenges us for the future. This book takes us on a journey into a world that no longer exists, while simultaneously enhancing our knowledge of history, culture, and ourselves. Get a new perspective on Mayan mythology and allow yourself to be captivated by the profound wisdom it contains.

Download or read book The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology written by James A. O'Kon and published by Career Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Maya have been an enigma since their discovery in the mid- 19th century. Maya science developed an elegant mathematic system, an incredibly accurate astronomy, and one of the world's five original written languages. This technology was more advanced than similar European technology by more than a thousand years. In this book, you'll see how James O'Kon, a professional engineer, synergistically applied field exploration, research, forensic engineering, and 3-D virtual reconstruction of Maya projects to discover lost Maya technological achievements. These lost principles of technology enabled Maya engineers to construct grand cities that towered above the rainforest, water systems with underground reservoirs for water storage, miles of all-weather paved roads tracking through the jungle, and the longest bridge in the ancient world. Maya engineers developed structural mechanics for multi-story buildings that were not exceeded in height until the first "skyscraper" built in Chicago in 1885, invented the blast furnace 2,000 years before it was patented in England, and developed the vulcanization of rubber more than 2,600 years before Charles Goodyear. Discover a host of unknown wonders in The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology.

Download or read book The Ancient Maya written by Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2013 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the Ancient Mayan civilization, including their religious views, intellectual achievements, and everyday life.

Download or read book The Ancient Maya written by Sylvanus Griswold Morley and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 940 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Comprehensive synthesis of ancient Maya scholarship. Extensive summary of the archaeology of the Maya world provides the historical context for a detailed topical synthesis of chronological and geographic variability within the Maya cultural tradition"--

Download or read book Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World written by Lynn V. Foster and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive and accessible reference explores the greatest and most mysterious of civilizations, hailed for its contributions to science, mathematics, and technology. Each chapter is supplemented by an extensive bibliography as well as photos, original line drawings, and maps.

Download or read book A Mayan Life written by Gaspar Pedro González and published by Yax Te' Foundation. This book was released on 1995 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: