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Anthropological Archaeology 284 > Maya > Flashcards

Maya Flashcards

1
Q

What was the Northern Lowland landscape like?

A

There were no rivers or streams. Instead, there were natural wells used as a source of water called cenotes. This is where the Yucatan Peninsula was, with a thin layer of topsoil with limestone underneath.

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2
Q

What natural resources and commodities were found in the Northern Lowlands?

A

Limestone was used for construction of various things. Flint was used to make tools. They burned limestone to make quicklime to make mortar and plaster. They made salt and grew cotton and raised stingless bees

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3
Q

What was the Southern lowland landscape like?

A

It was thick jungle. It was wetter and hillier. There were also actual lakes, swamps and rivers.

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4
Q

What natural resources and commodities were found in the Southern Lowlands?

A

There was a source of copal resin (used for pom incense), chocolate, jaguar pelts, Quetzalcoatl feathers

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5
Q

What was the Maya Highlands landscape like?

A

It had a high plateau region with mountains of volcanic origin

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6
Q

What natural resources and commodities were found in the Maya highlands?

A

It was a source of volcanic stone (basalt and obsidian) and jade

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7
Q

Most of our data on the Archaic Maya comes from sites in this Central American country

A

Guatemala

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8
Q

People in the Archaic lived in ___ societies

A

Egalitarian

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9
Q

What style of living did the Archaic people have?

A

Nomadic

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10
Q

How did they get food?

A

Hunting and gathering

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11
Q

When was the Formative period?

A

1500BC - AD 150

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12
Q

When was the EARLY Formative

A

1500 - 800 BC

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13
Q

What was a major lifestyle change that occurred during the early formative period

A

People started living in villages and making pottery

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14
Q

What were the three most common animals eaten by Early Formative villages?

A

Deer, turtle and dog

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15
Q

What were early Maya houses made of?

A

They were built of cane and thatch. Commoners lived in houses like this throughout the entire Maya sequence

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16
Q

What did archaeologists find under many house floors

A

Dedicatory caches

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17
Q

What did dedicatory caches serve to do?

A

Animate and bring life to the house

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18
Q

What kind of drink and objects were used in Early Formative ritual?

A

Drink used in ritual included a cacao drink. Rituals were concentrated in households including scenes created with figures that represented ancestors

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19
Q

When did the MIDDLE Formative period occur?

A

800-400 BC

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20
Q

When did the LATE Formative period occur?

A

400 BC - AD 150

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21
Q

What were minimal chiefdoms?

A

Less complex chiefdoms that had a two tiered hierarchy

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22
Q

Examples of minimal chiefdoms

A

Blackman Eddy, K’Axob, Cuello

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23
Q

What were maximal chiefdoms?

A

More complex chiefdoms that had a three tiered hierachy

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24
Q

Examples of maximal chiefdoms

A

Nakbe, El Mirador

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25
Q

What kind of interaction existed between Maya chiefdoms?

A

Constant competition (both internally and externally) and warfare

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26
Q

What kind of archaeological evidence is there for chiefly warfare

A

Mass burials, defaced masks on temples, and fortification ditches/moats (version of a palisade)

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27
Q

What is the evidence of a ranked society that we see in burials at K’axob

A

Similar to patterns in formative Oaxaca burials reveal some men receive special mortuary treatment (high status). Infants buried with special artifacts that clearly could not have inherited these goods through their achievement

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28
Q

Where did Maximal Chiefdoms first arise?

A

The Mirador Basin

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29
Q

What is an E-Group?

A

An architectural observatory. Three small temples on a plaza that the equinoxes and solstices could be viewed from a small temple a little further away. They had a great interest in astronomy

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30
Q

When did El Mirador peak in power?

A

400 BC - AD 100

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31
Q

What is El Tigre?

A

A very large temple (the largest Maya pyramid ever built)

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32
Q

What architectural features made their first appearance at El Mirador?

A

Triadic temples, stela in front of stairways, two room temples on top of pyramids

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33
Q

What writing systems cam before the Maya writing system?

A

Isthmian and Zapotec

34
Q

What is the major improvements that Mayan writing made compared to earlier scripts?

A

Emphasis and tense were placed on words. So writing was more detailed and the tense could be determined

35
Q

Why did Maya rulers commission written texts?

A

They wanted to record names and events associated with Maya rulers. It could be used as a propaganda tool

36
Q

How many days exist in the sacred calendar?

A

260

37
Q

How many days exist in the secular calendar

A

365

38
Q

What was the advantage of the Maya long count calendar?

A

It could provide exact dates by listing how many units of time to count forward from the base date?

39
Q

What date does the long count use as a base date?

A

August 13, 3114 BC

40
Q

What 3 traits define a writing system?

A
  1. 3 signs in a row or column
  2. Must be read in a specific order
  3. Must represent a spoken language
41
Q

Where do the first generation of Maya states arise?

A

The Southern Lowlands between 100 and 500 AD

42
Q

What is some evidence of the shift from chiefdoms to states?

A
  1. Shifts from 3 to 4 levels of administrative hierarchy
  2. Palaces
  3. Inter-site roads to subordinate areas
  4. Various strategies of consolidation, including records of dynastic founders
43
Q

How does Calakmul gain power and population?

A

El Mirador loses clout

44
Q

When does Calakmul peak in political power?

A

400 to 600 AD

45
Q

What is the significance of AD 636-686

A

A fifty year reign of Yuknoon Che’en during which Calakmul subjugated Dos Pilas and kept Tikal under its thumb

46
Q

What is the significance of AD 695?

A

Tikal captured the ruler of Calakmul (Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ak)

47
Q

With respect to Calakmul, when did Tikal exist?

A

At the same time, but Tikal peaked in power later than Calakmul

48
Q

What important structure at Tikal dates to AD 360?

A

Tikal built the first palace in the Maya region?

49
Q

How did Tikal finally get the upper hand on Calakmul?

A

They capture their ruler in AD 695

50
Q

When did Tikal’s dynasty end?

A

AD 561 when Calakmul allied with Caracol to defeat them

51
Q

Who was the dynastic founder of Copal?

A

Knich Yax Kuk Mo’

52
Q

What does archaeological evidence tell us about this founder?

A

He underwent a royal naming ceremony, therefore he is thought to be an outsider who had military prowess to assume leadership

53
Q

Bone chemistry of the founder’s skeleton revealed Knich Yax Kuk Mo’ was from

A

Tikal

54
Q

After founding the state at Copan, how did Knich Yax Kuk Mo’ legitimize his authority?

A
  1. Commissioning monuments and text
  2. Marrying prominent local women
  3. Acquiring new territory through conquest or diplomacy
55
Q

What policy was incorporated into the Copal state the day he assumed office

A

He incorporated quirigua

56
Q

What is an example of how rulers traced their descent to dynastic founders

A

Altar Q

57
Q

What is the significance of AD 629?

A

A prince arrive from Tikal at Dos Pilas, lending the community royalty and authority

58
Q

What is the significance of AD 648?

A

Dos Pilas became a satellite settlement of Calakmul

59
Q

What is the significance of AD 672?

A

Dos Pilas was attacked by Tikal

60
Q

What happened as the two primary states fought over Dos Pilas?

A

The leaders of Dos Pilas ultimately allied with Calakmul so that their leader could regain the throne

61
Q

What is a cache? How are they related to Maya religion?

A

They are found under houses and temples, they did this because it animated it (animatism). A way to make the building come alive and keep their ancestors close to them

62
Q

Maya religion was ___

A

polytheistic

63
Q

What is animatism?

A

Attributing life to things we consider inanimate. These objects were attributed with ik (vital force) and ku (sacred, holiness)

64
Q

What was the Maya idea of reciprocity?

A

They believe that if they do there part, by giving respect and doing rituals for their ancestors, that there life would be successful. If things went bad in life, it was because they were not giving enough to their ancestors. It was a sort of contract.

65
Q

What is metamorphosis?

A

A belief that at a person’s death, there was a spiritual transformation into an “altar ego” animal

66
Q

What is apotheosis

A

Attributing life to things we consider inanimate. Objects had eek (vital force) and coo (sacred, holiness)

67
Q

What is eek?

A

Vital force

68
Q

What is coo?

A

Sacred, holiness

69
Q

What was the substance frequently burned as part of Maya rituals

A

Incense (pom or copal)

70
Q

What is the role of caves, springs and cenotes in Maya religion?

A

They were prominent religious sites

71
Q

Two Maya sites from which we can infer connections with Central Mexico are

A

Kaminaliuyu and Tikal

72
Q

What are the implications of archaeologists finding Teotihuacan pottery and pottery in the style of Teotihuacanos?

A

Pottery made in Teotihuacan was clearly

gotten by trade, while pottery made in Teotihuacan style clearly shows that Maya people are emulating the Teotihuacano

73
Q

Imported pottery from Puebla is called

A

Thin orange pottery

74
Q

What was the architecture that imitates that at Teotihuacan?

A

Taluce-tablero

75
Q

When was the Postclassic Maya period?

A

AD 600 - 1000

76
Q

Under what kind of administrative system was Chichen Itza ruled during the postclassic?

A

Administered by joint rule (Mul Tepal)

77
Q

Why was access to the coast important to Chichen Itza?

A

They wanted access to port sites (emal and Isla Cerritos)

78
Q

Mayalan administered a state that unified what region?

A

The Yucatan Peninsula

79
Q

When did the Mayapán join rule collapse?

A

1441 AD

80
Q

What did the Maya area look like when the Spaniards arrived?

A

Consisted of 16 independent provinces called cuchabalob

81
Q

How did the relationship between Calakmul and Tikal differ from that of Teotihuacan and Monte Alban?

A

The Maya states were bitter rivals, while the Aztec knew if they fought each other they would both be destroyed

Anthropological Archaeology 284 (3 decks)

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