>asked /his/ what did they know about ancient mayans a while ago.
>0 answers
Still can't believe you guys know nothing about the greatest american pre european civilization. Why don't we start a Maya thread? Post what you know about them, your favorite works of art, architecture and other pics about Mayas.
>>321620
https://mega.nz/#!0UBimRTT!1vFFGOCJzlSq65dfmRBMlbAehuWhvSDZWgfOFiW6lo4
One of my favorite academic texts on the Maya.
>>321620
It's a shame most of their culture, history and achievements are lost.
Pisses me off to no end when people say hurr durr aliums did it, because these ppl r simpule n dum hahaha
Fuck they had a magnificant cultute, and the agricultureal methods they employed made excellent use of their environment
>>321620
The region in which they occupied was lush but had no source of fresh water. No lakes or rivers. They collected rainwater by channeling rainwater across their cities into cisterns. Their civilization was held together by priests who both "brought the rains" and distributed the stored rain.
The civilization collapsed when a record breaking drought undermined the authority of those priests.
>>321620
How often did people fall of those tall ass stairs? The steps look really small.
>>321620
I studied their calendar, I converted it into our Gregorian calendar, then created an app that counted down to 21 December 2012.
Interesting numbers.
>>321715
And they would usually go up there running.
>>321620
I know they actually inherited a lot of their stuff from the Olmec.
>>321729
cont-
I have no idea how it works anymore, years since I opened it.
>>321687
thanks for uploading so much literature ape. Much appreciated.
I have Mayan grandparents, never visited Southern Mexico or Guatemala/Belize/El Salvador, though, or come close to any modern day Mayan. I am learning some Mayan languages though, they are still alive and well. I hope Mayan civilization gets a bit of a boost, revival, independence, or something of the like. I know Mayan writing is becoming more popular to teach, and that in certain parts of Guatemala you have more children with Mayan names as opposed to Spanish names. Good times to live in.
OP, do you speak Spanish by any chance? You should check out TVMaya on YouTube or on the internet, they have some interesting programming straight from Mayan people, and they also have a translator that translates segments into different Mayan languages. Understanding modern Mayans provides insight into the ancient Mayan civilizations like no other literature can. Because this is one of those rare exceptions where a lot of people can truly say they are the direct descendants of an ancient civilization.
>Mayans are greatest native American civ
>not the Incas
Really?
>>321800
this is why you comment your code, anon :^)
>>322217
Mayans predicted the end of the world.
Incans built a road.
>>321704
I know the feeling.
>Looking for youtube videos on Sumeria/Mesopotamia
>It's 99% Ancient Aliens/Annunaki shit
>>322251
Even using your shitty comparison, which one of these things helped their civilization? Which one proved useful and which one caused unnecessary idiocy 3 years ago?
Also, their walls are absolutely amazing.
>>322217
All Inca literature was on quipus, which, being made of fabric, are inherently fragile.
The Mayans at least had the good sense to carve some stuff in stone.
I just finished up a Mayan art course. If you guys have any questions about Mayan visual culture, ask away and I will do my best to answer.
>>321620
Also, it depends on how you define "greatest" - in terms of political unity, economic power and military might, the 'greatest' pre-Columbian civilization was likely the Aztec.
Fuck yeah, Mayans
Friendly reminder that Vucub Came is the best mayan god.
>>322427
Any place I can find art like pic related? Doesn't matter if it's aztec , mayan , incan. Seems a bit hard to find anything like that.
>>324743
Incorrect.
Mayan painting is really amazing. I wish more of it had survived, all we have left are ceramics and a handful of murals and codices.
>>324985
Are you looking for painting or reliefs?
For relief, look up the lintels from Yaxchilan and reliefs from Palenque. For paintings, look up Codex vessels, murals from Bonampak, Calakmul, and Cacaxtla, and the Dreden Codex.
>>324985
http://www.adeva.com/faks_index_az_en.asp?id_sektion=3&sektion=American%20Manuscripts
>>321620
>visit Yucatan peninsula with graduate Mayan cultural & linguistic study with researchers
>shirtless local guide w/ machete leads us into the woods
>a fucking city that hasn't been cleared or studied
>here are ports to giant underground cistern
>local guide shows us you can walk the archaeological remains fucking Sacbe ("White Road": sac=white, be=road in Mayan) through the jungle and find several uncleared cities like this
>go to remote Mayan villages where they don't even speak Spanish -- Yucatec Mayan is the main language -- houses have same design as the porticos in certain areas of ruins
>they love talking about Apocalypto, it's in their language
>U.S.-based scholar in Mayan translates relief sculptures off of walls, jade artifacts he has in his collection, and other sources that give chronologies of kings, etc. (e.g., the squarish icons upper right- and left-hand corners of the drawing in >>322427 and the L-shaped staff in the middle are actually glyphs, if you know the writing then you could read them)
Interesting thread
I think the most interesting thing about Mesoamerica is the apparent cyclic nature of civilizations there. They would crop up, last a few hundred years, collapse due to a drought/poor farming, then a new civilization would take it's place in a few hundred years.
>>325010
>>324743
kukulukan would like to have a word with you
realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Meso_America.htm
ROYAL
>>326074
>smoking
Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure they're stabbing their mouths with needles in a bloodletting ritual.
>>326074
WE WUZ KINGS
>>321709
They held thse cisterns to be sacred and sacrificed people to the rain god by throwing them into it. If someone survived, they were said to have the gift of prophesy.
>>327520
That sounds unlikely because they would all die of disease if they poisoned their only water supply with rotting members of their own species.
>>325227
Man that's awesome.
>>325953
Its the same in every region, isn't it?
>>327536
Maybe they took the bodies out after, I don't know. Come to think of it I dont remember where I heard it from so there's probably a decent chances its bullshit.
>>325227
>>325227
Muh dick.
Does anyone in those communities speak passing Spanish? I met Quecha people in very remote parts of Peru who spoke enough to communicate. Pic related
>>322314
A buttload of quipus survived. The problem is that no one knows how to decipher them.
>>322177
I'm from Guatemala :)
Something not many people know is that modern day indigenous are not mayas. We have 24 ethnic groups (not sure if mistaken) in Guatemala, of which 21 come from the mayans, but are not mayan. They're a mixture of ancient mayans, mexicas, tlaxaltecas and other shit tribes from Mexico. They were way less advanced than real mayans. You can see some cities like Q'umarkaj (from the K'iche civilization), Iximche (Kaqchikel civilization) or Zaculeu (Mam civilization). They're all much smaller than real Maya cities like Tikal, Chichen Itza, El Mirador, Copán, etc. That's why the Spanish conquistadores conquered Mesoamerica so easily. When they got there, all these Señoríos (as they were called) were already fighting among themselves.
>>322217
OP here, yes they are. They were astronomers, mathematicians, engineers and chemists. Incas only knew how to make nice walls and Aztecs knew how to make cannals. Mayas did both, better, and many other things.
Is there anything known or speculated how the mayans, aztecs and incas wrote ? Or are they still recommmened a high culture without wrtiting?
>>329193
We know almost nothing about Incas, quipu was probably protowriting.
Aztecs were long thought to be using protowriting only too, but new discoveries seem to imply that they possessed true writing too.
Maya used a genuine, mostly syllabic (although some concepts had their own signs), writing system, picrel.
If the Maya were so smart, then why did their civilization not expand?
All these American civilizations were hermit kingdoms.
Why?
>>330607
Transporting food over long distances is something certain civs had a harder time with, either because they had shit pack animals, staples that didn't store well, terrible terrain for travel, or some combination of the above. In such cases, keeping shit close to home will help you maintain control domestically. You could settle people further out, but they become progressively more difficult to govern as you can neither leverage their surplus at the core nor support them if they happen to need it nor quell rebellion if it should occur.
>>330607
>Mayas did not expand
They did, and greatly
>All these American civilizations were hermit kingdoms.
I'm in no way a specialist, but the Peruvian Empire was fucking huge.
In numerical terms, it had much more citizens than any contemorary nation (besides in China, IIRC), and spent it's existence swallowing neighbouring kingdoms.
>>329094
Those Spanish sure were some of the luckiest men of conquest, weren't they?
I thought there were some mostly non-mixed Maya in Guatemala at least, but I didn't know the population of non Maya indigenous/mix of indigenous was significant! My great grandfather though was Mayan and Totonac, though, so I guess that just goes to show what you mean
>>330538
awesome, thanks for the info mate!
