Pre-Columbian

Across the Bering Land Bridge

People and animals from Asia crossed the Bering land bridge into North America in the Pleistocene epoch about 50,000 years ago, when sea levels were much lower. As early as 10,000 B.C., Ice Age humans hunted woolly mammoth and other large animals roaming the cool, moist landscape of Central Mexico.

The earliest traces of humans in the Yucatán Peninsula [1] are obsidian spear points and stone tools dating to 9,000 B.C. The Loltún caves in the state of Yucatán [2] contained a cache of mammoth bones, which are thought to have been dragged there by a roving band of hunters. As the region dried out and large game disappeared in the next millennia, tools of a more settled way of life appeared, such as grinding stones for preparing seeds and plant fibers.

Ancient Civilization

Between 7,000 and 2,000 B.C., society evolved from hunting and gathering to farming; corn, squash, and beans were independently cultivated in widely separated areas in Mexico. Archaeologists believe that the earliest people who we can call Maya, or proto-Maya, inhabited the Pacific coast of Chiapas [3] and Guatemala [4]. These tribes lived in villages that held more than 1,000 inhabitants a piece; beautiful painted and incised ceramic jars for food storage have been found from this region and time period.

After 1,000 B.C. this way of life spread south to the highlands site of Kaminaljuyú (now part of Guatemala City [5]) and, through the next millennium, to the rest of the Maya world. Meanwhile, in what are now the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco, another culture, the Olmecs, was developing what is now considered Mesoamerica’s first civilization. Its influence was felt throughout Mexico and Central America. Archaeologists believe that before the Olmecs disappeared around 300 B.C., they contributed two crucial cultural advances to the Maya: the Long Count calendar and the hieroglyphic writing system.

Late Preclassic Period

During the Late Preclassic era (400 B.C.– A.D. 250), the Pacific coastal plain saw the rise of a Maya culture in Izapa near Tapachula, Chiapas [6]. The Izapans worshipped gods that were precursors of the Classic Maya pantheon and commemorated religious and historical events in bas-relief carvings that emphasized costume and finery.

During the same period, the northern Guatemalan highlands were booming with construction; this was the heyday of Kaminaljuyú, which grew to enormous size, with more than 120 temple-mounds and numerous stelae. The earliest calendar inscription that researchers are able to read comes from a monument found at El Baúl to the southwest of Kaminaljuyú; it has been translated as A.D. 36.

In the Petén jungle region [7] just north of the highlands, the dominant culture was the Chicanel, whose hallmarks are elaborate temple-pyramids lined with enormous stucco god-masks (as in Kohunlich). The recently excavated Petén sites of Nakbé [8] and El Mirador [9] are the most spectacular Chicanel cities yet found. El Mirador contains a 70-meter-tall (230-foot) temple-pyramid complex that is the tallest ancient structure in Mesoamerica. Despite the obvious prosperity of this region, there is almost no evidence of Long Count dates or writing systems in either the Petén jungle or the Yucatán Peninsula just to the north.

Early Classic Period

The great efflorescence of the southern Maya world stopped at the end of the Early Classic period (A.D. 250–600). Kaminaljuyú and other cities were abandoned; researchers believe that the area was invaded by Teotihuacano warriors extending the reach of their Valley of Mexico–based empire. On the Yucatán Peninsula, there is evidence of Teotihuacano occupation at the Río Bec site of Becán and at Acanceh near Mérida [10]. You can see Teotihuacano-style costumes and gods in carvings at the great Petén city of Tikal and at Copán in Honduras. By A.D. 600, the Teotihuacano empire had collapsed, and the stage was set for the Classic Maya eras.

Late Classic Period

The Maya heartland of the Late Classic period (A.D. 600–900) extended from Copán in Honduras [11] through Tikal in Guatemala [12] and ended at Palenque in Chiapas [13]. The development of these city-states, which also included Yaxchilán [14] and Bonampak [15], almost always followed the same pattern. Early in this era, a new and vigorous breed of rulers founded a series of dynasties bent on deifying themselves and their ancestors. All the arts and sciences of the Maya world, from architecture to astronomy, were focused on this goal. The Long Count calendar and the hieroglyphic writing system were the most crucial tools in this effort, as the rulers needed to recount the stories of their dynasties and of their own glorious careers.

During the Late Classic era, painting, sculpture, and carving reached their climax; objects such as Lord Pakal’s sarcophagus lid from Palenque are now recognized as among the finest pieces of world art. Royal monuments stood at the center of large and bustling cities. Cobá [16] and Dzibilchaltún [17] each probably contained 50,000 inhabitants, and there was vigorous intercity trade. Each Classic city-state reached its apogee at a different time; the southern cities peaked first, with the northern Puuc region cities following close behind.

By A.D. 925 nearly all of the city-states had collapsed and were left in a state of near- abandonment. The Classic Maya decline is one of the great enigmas of Mesoamerican archaeology. There are a myriad of theories—disease, invasion, peasant revolt—but many researchers now believe the collapse was caused by a combination of factors, including overpopulation, environmental degradation, and a series of devastating droughts. With the abandonment of the cities, the cultural advances disappeared as well. The last Long Count date was recorded in A.D. 909, and many religious customs and beliefs were never seen again.

Early Postclassic Period

After the Puuc region [18] was abandoned—almost certainly because of a foreign invasion—the center of Maya power moved east to Chichén [19]. During this Early Postclassic era (A.D. 900–1200), the Toltec influence took hold, marking the end of the most artistic era and the birth of a new militaristic society built around a blend of ceremonialism, civic and social organization, and conquest. Chichén was the great power of northern Yucatán. Competing city-states either submitted to its warriors or, like the Puuc cities and Cobá, were destroyed.

Late Postclassic Period

After Chichén’s fall in A.D. 1224—probably due to an invasion—a heretofore lowly tribe calling themselves the Itzá became the Late Postclassic (A.D. 1200–1519) masters of Yucatecan power politics. Kukulcán II of Chichén founded Mayapán [20] in A.D. 1263–1283. After his death and the abandonment of Chichén, an aggressive Itzá lineage named the Cocom seized power and used Mayapán as a base to take over northern Yucatán.

They succeeded through wars using Tabascan mercenaries and intermarrying with other powerful lineages. Foreign lineage heads were forced to live in Mayapán, where they could easily be controlled. At its height, the city covered 6.5 square kilometers (4 square miles) within a defensive wall that contained more than 15,000 inhabitants. Architecturally, Mayapán leaves much to be desired; the city plan was haphazard, and its greatest monument was a sloppy, smaller copy of Chichén’s Pyramid of Kukulcán.

The Cocom ruled for 250 years until A.D. 1441–1461, when an upstart Uxmal-based lineage named the Xiu rebelled and slaughtered the Cocom. Mayapán was abandoned, and Yucatán’s city-states were weakened in a series of bloody intramural wars that left them hopelessly divided when the conquistadors arrived. By the time of that conquest, culture was once again being imported from outside the Maya world. Putún Maya seafaring traders brought new styles of art and religious beliefs back from their trips to Central Mexico. Their influence can be seen in the Mixtec-style frescoes at Tulum [21] on the Quintana Roo coast.