Facts About The Mayans

The earliest known Maya settlements date to approximately 1800 B.C. These early Maya peoples were agricultural, and grew various crops, such as corn, beans, squash and cassava. During the classical Maya period, from A.D. 250 to 900, the Maya built impressive cities from stone, including huge stepped…

Mexico’s population has greatly increased since World War II, but the distribution of wealth remains imbalanced. Due to negligible legislative assistance, the poor are generally unable to improve their socio-economic status. The state of Chiapas exemplifies the problems caused by financial imbalance…

Tikal is just two hours away from the Belizean border and remains one of the most popular attractions in Guatemala. Almost any traveler who visits the western part of Belize (San Ignacio Town) travels to Guatemala for the day to visit this majestic Maya site. Located in the Peten Region of Guatemala…

No matter how far you have traveled; no matter how many historical and cultural sites you have taken in; no matter how many spectacles you have beheld, you cannot help but be captured by the Mayan site of Copan. The lost city makes us lost, too – lost in our imaginations, in wondering what life must…

A singular visual scheme defines the precariousness of Tulum: abandoned yards, old tires, trash, a few chickens or dogs running around, and the smell of excrement. Blue, red, pink, purple, violet garments hang from clotheslines in the yards lending movement and structure to these apparently disordered…

The term Mesoamerica is derived from the Greek and means Middle America. It refers to a geographical and cultural area which extends from northern Mexico down through Central America, including Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. It is therefore seen as partly in North America, and encompassing…

Although the Maya are well known for creating a multitude of art—sketches, wood carvings, stone works—they are perhaps best known for their pottery. Driven both by function and aesthetics, pottery became a ceramic canvas for the Maya to tell stories, venerate the gods, commemorate the deceased and much…

Excerpt from The Watchman s Rattle by American sociobiologist, Rebecca D. Costa As rainfall levels declined, fifteen million Mayan citizens never came face-to-face with their deteriorating situation. The population was exploding, the need for water was rapidly escalating, and the annual rainfall was…

Unraveling the mystery of who the Maya were, how they lived-and why their civilization suddenly collapsed. The crowd at the base of the enormous bloodred pyramid has been standing for hours in the dripping heat of the Guatemalan jungle. No one moves; every eye stays fixed on the building s summit, where…