The Mayas

The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilitation, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state development during the Classic period (c. 250 AD to 900 AD), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish. At its peak, it was one of the most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world.

The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultutal diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and thecalendardid not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them.

Maya influence can be detected from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and to as far as central Mexico, more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are found in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest.

The agriculture:

Agricultural production in the Maya area, especially in the northern and southern lowlands, had to contend with a number of factors that constrained plant cultivation. These consist of a generally poor soil quality, an overall lack of nutrients in the soil necessary for intensive production, and, in some areas (especially the tropical environments of the southern lowlands), dense vegetation cover with a high canopy. In the semi-arid areas of the northern Maya lowlands, agriculturalists had to contend with reduced levels of rainfall, shallow soil deposits, and exposed limestone bedrock pavements. The Mayans were skilled farmers, clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce, building sizeable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater.

To fight these deficiencies, the Maya adopted a number of adaptive techniques that, if necessary, allowed for the clear-cutting of land and re-infused the soil with nutrients. Primary among these was slash and burn, or swidden, agriculture, a technique that cleared and temporarily fertilized the area to be cultivated. For example, the introduction of ash into the soil raised the soil’s pH , which in turn raised the content of a variety of nutrients, especially phosphorus, for a short period of time, which may be around two years long. However, the soil will not be suitable for planting for as many as ten years. This technique, common throughout the Maya area, is still practiced today in the Maya region. Complementing swidden techniques wascrop rotation and milpa farming, which were employed to maintain soil viability and increase the variability of cultivated crops.