The Yucatecan Books of Chilam Balam, which comprise the Chumayel, Tizimin, Mani and others, are notoriously difficult to translate and interpret because of archaic or obsolete words in the Mayan language, esoteric references – the meanings of which are now lost, and the sometimes unintelligible (to us at least) mixture of Spanish and Latin words scattered throughout the Mayan […]
Continue ReadingThe Books of Chilam Balam are indigenous Maya chronicles written in northern Yucatan during the century or so following the Spanish Conquest. The surviving texts we have are copies of the originals to which religious and historical material has probably been added. There are ten or twelve, some in a fragmentary state, others apparently complete. Among the […]
Continue Reading
Will the world really end in 2012? Is the ancient Maya prophecy true? What exactly is supposed to occur on December 21, 2012? Does the Maya calendar really predict a cataclysmic event on that date? People are talking about it, books have been written about it, and some folks — believing it — have contemplated […]
Continue ReadingThe most extensive documentation for the native historical tradition in Mesoamerica comes from the Valley of Mexico and surrounding area. This is hardly surprising, for the main thrust of the Spanish Conquest was aimed at the Aztec empire and its capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlán. Other conquests followed in the Petén and Guatemala, but the spectacular Conquest […]
Continue ReadingBased on the ‘Mystery of the Maya’ OVERVIEW B.C. 1000-1000 Olmec 1800-900 Early Preclassic Maya 900-300 Middle Preclassic Maya 300 B.C. – A.D. 250 Late Preclassic Maya A.D. 250-600 Early Classic Maya 600-900 Late Classic Maya 900-1500 Post Classic Maya 1521-1821 Colonial period 1821- today Independent Mexico DETAILED TIME-LINE B.C. 11,000 The first hunter-gatherers settle […]
Continue ReadingThe Maya make up the largest homogenous group of Indians north of Peru, inhabiting a vast area that encompasses Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula and parts of the states of Tabasco and Chiapas, as well as Guatemala, Belize and parts of western Honduras and El Salvador. While not the earliest of the great Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya […]
Continue ReadingBIBLIOGRAPHY FOR: The Ancient Maya An Exploration of Trade & Commerce During the Mayan Period Source Article: The Ancient Maya – A Commercial Empire Andrews, Anthony P. 1983 Maya Salt Production and Trade. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press. Chase, Alfred F. 1992, “Elites and the Changing Organization of Classic Maya Society.” In Mesoamerican Elites. Diane and Arlen […]
Continue Reading