The Maya civilization flourished between 1800 BCE and 900 CE, reaching its zenith in the sixth century CE. They were in Mesoamerica, which includes the present-day nations of Mexico and Central America. The Maya produced many artworks throughout this time, especially in stone sculptures, murals and paintings, and fantastic architecture. Religious themes dominated a lot of Maya art. The Maya also used stelae, which are vertical stone slabs. The Maya used stelae because they could be used to inscribe messages in their written hieroglyphic language and represent gods, significant rulers, and animals with mystical significance.
Maya Art Forms
The Maya employed various artistic techniques to represent important things to them. Deities, influential political individuals, or specific animal motifs are frequently portrayed in Maya art. These works of art also depicted historical events and everyday life. They built magnificent temples that resembled stepped pyramids to be used as places of worship for ceremonial purposes. These interiors were frequently adorned with wall paintings and murals portraying religious and ordinary life situations. The Maya were skilled ceramicists, producing storage containers with various colored motifs and patterns.
They also created books from tree bark to preserve their writings and created their language using glyphs. For their artwork, they employed various materials, including wood, stone, and stucco, which is molded plaster.
Source: Walters Art Museum
Murals by Maya
Murals are huge-scale paintings created by the Maya that cover large areas of wall space. Maya murals are still widely spread today. These murals frequently show people who would have held prominent positions in Maya society or various religious situations that illustrate the Maya faith. Bright blues, teals, oranges, browns, yellows, and greens are frequently present.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Maya Ceramics
Maya pottery was handcrafted rather than spun on a wheel. They imported clay occasionally from other city-states and obtained clay of various sorts and colors from the surrounding areas. The substance would subsequently be tempered to give it a sure consistency. The latter would have been imported from the Guatemalan highlands, home to a volcanic terrain, and these tempers included ground limestone. The pottery would be coated in mixes of various minerals suspended in water to give it distinct colors and patterns.
Maya Painting
The lives of simple people, such as maize and tobacco farmers, are depicted in Maya paintings that have been discovered, in contrast to the vast majority of murals that show royalty and other prominent figures. The Maya technique of construction, which involved constructing over the ruins of ancient structures rather than demolishing them and starting from scratch, is responsible for preserving these paintings. The paintings on the walls of the inner levels can then rest there, protected from the weather, creating an effect akin to an onion.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Architecture
Overlooking the rainforest are temples and towers. Large plazas surrounded by stepped pyramids, elegant palaces, affluent residences, and ceremonial platforms are characteristics of great city centers. The solstice or equinox was astronomically aligned with many of the city’s buildings. The heroic acts and royal ancestries are recorded on stone stelae. The surfaces of buildings and magnificent stairways are covered in intricate carvings of gods, masks, and myths. The royal ball courts, where death-defying games were played, are dotted with carved stone court builders. The longest sacbeobs, or stone causeways, were 100 kilometers long and connected Mayan cities. Most astounding, the Mayans did not use wheeled vehicles, draft animals, or metal equipment to construct their distinctive towns, roadways, and aqueducts.
Source: Pixabay
Writing
The intricate three interlocking calendars in one, the Mayan writing system, and the mathematics used for astronomy were all significant cultural achievements. The Mayans were among the few civilizations to develop the idea of zero. They could calculate hundreds of millions with a base 20 arithmetic system and basic number symbols. The Mayan script was the only Mesoamerican writing system accurately reflecting their spoken languages. Hundreds of glyphs and pictograms represent many objects, thoughts, concepts, syllables, and phrases. Many Mayans could undoubtedly read or recognize the public writings on buildings and monuments, even though only the noble class had complete literacy.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Maya Books
These were codices or Maya books. They manufactured the paper by concertina-folding the inner bark of fig trees. The characters and symbols were painted with brushes. Water was used to make the ink, thickened with clay before color pigments were added, such as cochineal (insects) for red and soot for black. White limestone dust and water were mixed to make a homogeneous background and applied to surfaces.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Complexity in Politics and Society
Initially, Mayan academics believed the Mayans had a straightforward aristocratic and peasantry social and political system. More recently, archaeological discoveries have uncovered a complex society with a sizable middle class that was more successful and powerful than previously thought. The Mayan middle class comprised merchants, soldiers, engineers, architects, doctors, artists, public servants, and administrators. The fact that clever, competent peasants could enter the middle class and that nobles frequently doubled as artists and soldiers show that there was some social mobility. A culture can expand and develop in socially stratified civilizations, resulting in structural inequality.
Miscellaneous
The Mayans made many technological advancements and inventions. They were skilled at producing rubber from gum trees. They had all the hues in the rainbow, including the well-known Maya Blue. Most Mayan paintings used mica, copper, or other minerals as their base materials. The main characteristic of Maya Blue is indigo, linked to the mineral palygorskite, which gives it a vivid blue hue. Long-lasting Maya Blue has withstood centuries of the humid climate of Mesoamerica. The Mayans developed intensive and comprehensive agricultural practices, such as terracing, raised bed farming, and irrigation, to feed their growing society. Chocolate is one Mayan cultural accomplishment that is well-known worldwide. People worldwide can eat this delectable dish because of Mesoamericans, including the Mayans.
The fantastic artistic accomplishments of the ancient Mayan society continue to influence and inspire contemporary designers and artists today.
