HIST 1010 Fall 2024 Lecture 10: The Mayans

HIST 1010 Fall 2024 Lecture 010: The Mayans By Matt Malczycki  Eurocentrism Again What we learn in the class is a Western perspective of a non-Western people, the Mayans. When Europeans first encountered the original Americans, they sought to prove the superiority of Eur...

HIST 1010 Fall 2024 Lecture 010: The Mayans By Matt Malczycki  Eurocentrism Again What we learn in the class is a Western perspective of a non-Western people, the Mayans. When Europeans first encountered the original Americans, they sought to prove the superiority of European ways over native ways. To that end, the early explanations of all things American Indian were heavily biased and sometimes demonstrably incorrect.  Some history that has changed … – 100 years ago: We had no knowledge of centrality of Mayan civilization to development of later American civilizations. Now we know it was the basis of many other Mesoamerican civilizations. – 50 years ago: We had no knowledge of Mayan writing. Some scholars insisted it was not a written language. Now we can read 80% of Mayan glyphs. – last 20 years: We have gone back, forth, in-between, & all-around on the issue of blood sacrifice. Today we acknowledge it as part of Mayan religion. The Mayans – modern Yucatan incl. Guatemala, Belize, & parts of Mexico – several city-states in Yucatan united in culture & language – long growing seasons = agriculturally wealthy – some ancient cities as large as 100,000 people Copyright (c) Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Mayan Religion – continuation of Olmec religion – polytheistic – ritualistic – large places of worship – blood sacrifice was important element, but blood sacrifice did not always = loss of life  The Polpol Vuh – a Mayan cosmogony below: Seven Macaw, key character in the Popol Vuh – respected not as word of God, but as “the ancient word” – incl. stories about playing sports vs. gods – heroes: twins Hunahpu & Xbalanque who defeat the Lords of Death, escape Xibulba (Hell), ascend the World Tree & become the Sun & Moon – in this cosmogony, Star, Flickr User: Urban Sea. "Seven Macaw or Vucub-Caquix." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified March 21, 2014. humans were created out of https://www.worldhistory.org/image/2423/seven-macaw-or-vucub-caquix/. corn Mayan Numerals – Mayans were very skilled at math, geometry, & astronomy – maintained several calendars, one of which was among most accurate in world until modern times – independently developed concept of zero, which was sign of high- level math Mayan Writing – glyphic script (not same as Egyptian) – formed basis of later Mesoamerican scripts – texts written on a kind of bark paper & they had books – Europeans destroyed much of it in the 1500s  Mayan Sports – Mesoamericans played & watched sports, especially ball games played w/solid rubber ball – sports & religion were connected – Mayans built courts & Vega, Adalberto Hernandez. "Ball Court, Copan." World History arenas as far back as Encyclopedia. Last modified September 15, 2013. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/1430/ball-court-copan/. 1400 BCE – many different games but rules unknown The End