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This website shows the history of the Maya: an ancient civilization uncovered. This website gives a brief introduction on how the Mayans grew and also explores the different ruins and cities. Moreover, it also touches on the Mayan religion and human sacrifices.

Connection

The human sacrifices were chosen by the higher authorities to offer human blood for the gods and these sacrifices were conducted near the ruins. When the critical thinking process is used, this connects to the red flag of appeal to authority as the commoners appealed to the higher authority and joined in the ritual of human sacrifice for the gods. A flaw in this website is that there are no sources cited for the claims made. A limitation within this website is that it is journalized by one author.

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The endlessly fascinating history of the Maya is a constant draw for travelers to Mexico. Who could resist the grand pyramids, the ancient temples, or the stories of human sacrifice and war?

But who were the ancient Maya? And what happened to their once-mighty ancient civilization? Read through this brief history of the ancient Maya to learn the basics of this captivating civilization.

Who were the ancient Maya?

Although the term "Maya empire" is still sometimes used, the civilization actually consisted of separate city-states, ruled individually from each other. These stood in modern-day Mexico´s Yucatan Peninsula and parts of Chiapas and Tabasco plus Guatemala, Belize, sections of Honduras, and parts of El Salvador.

No one government or royalty ruled over these city-states. Instead, they were connected by shared languages, religion, fashion, and behavior - although differences can be seen from city-state to city-state.

History of the Maya: In Brief

The earliest Maya communities started settling from around 1800 BC. In this time, the ancient Maya lived a relatively simple village life, working the land for their food. This early period, which runs until around 250 AD, is known as the Pre-Classic Period and saw great advancements in pyramid building, city development, religion, and math.

The peak of the ancient Maya civilization, known as the Classic Period, is generally considered to have run from 250 AD to 900 AD. In this time, the majority of the grand temples, pyramids, and ball courts that tourists visit today were constructed.

When did the Maya disappear?

From around 950 AD to 1500 AD, known as the Post-Classic Period, the ancient Maya abandoned their cities. As to why... historians and archeologists are not sure. Plenty of reasons have been put forward, including war, overpopulation, a volcano eruption, and drought. But the true answer probably lies in a combination of factors.

However, the Maya didn't disappear. There are still an estimated six million descendants of the ancient Maya living today, including around 300,000 Yucatec Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula, 120,000 Tzotzil-Maya, and 80,000 Tzeltal-Maya in the highlands of Chiapas, according to the History Museum of Canada.

Ancient Maya religion

The ancient Maya religion was polytheistic, with deities representing different aspects of daily Maya life. Itzamná, for example, was thought to be the ruler of the heavens and to have created writing, while Chaac was known as the god of rain.

Religious ceremonies, which were led by either kings, priests, or shaman, were often held to appease the gods. These varied in nature but could include bloodletting and sacrifices.

Did the ancient Maya make human sacrifices?

Yes, the ancient Maya did make human sacrifices. It was believed that human blood served as a form of sustenance for the gods and was therefore viewed as an act of offering. Typically, the victims would be prisoners of war, particularly those from the upper classes. However, children were also sacrificed as their blood was considered of greater value.

Human sacrifice was not a ritual from the beginning, however. Initially, the upper classes would engage in "auto-sacrifice," in which they would pierce their own bodies and drain the blood before burning it. They would also sacrifice animals as well.

The act of human sacrifice, which appears to begin in the early Classic Period around 250 BC, is thought to have derived from the people who lived in the area of modern-day Mexico City.

Famous ancient Maya cities in Mexico

Chichen Itza

One of the most famous archeological sites in the world, Chichen Itza is an icon of Mexico. It's believed it was formed around the beginning of the 5 th century AD and hit its peak from the 7 th century AD. Now, Chichen Itza is one of Mexico's most important tourist attractions and, in 2007, was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Its most famous structure is undoubtedly El Castillo, also known as the Temple of Kukulkan, a large stepped pyramid sitting in the center of the site. Other ruins at Chichen Itza include The Great Ball Court, The North Temple, and the Temple of the Warriors. There's also an on-site cenote in which human sacrifices were made.

Tulum

In the bohemian beach-side city of Tulum sits the only ancient Maya city in Mexico overlooking the Caribbean Sea. It's thought the city reached its peak between the 13 th and 15 th centuries and was known for being a center of trade for jade and turquoise.

Now, along with Chichen Itza, it is one of the most popular archeological sites for tourists in the region. This is partly due to the stunning ruins that can be seen there, such as El Castillo and the Temple of Frescoes. But also thanks to the sheer beauty of the site, which overlooks the blue waters below.

Uxmal

Not as famous as Chichen Itza, but no less spectacular, Uxmal was established around the 8 th century AD and flourished for 300 years or so. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Uxmal is home to some stunning structures, including the Pyramid of the Magician, a Maya ball court, the Great Pyramid, and the Governor's Palace.

It's also the beginning (or end) of the Puuc Route, a collection of five ancient Maya sites in the Yucatan that display architecture typical of the Puuc-Maya people. The other sites on the route are Kabah, Sayil, Xlapak, and Labna.

Coba

The ancient Maya city of Coba is thought to have been populated as early as the 1 st century AD but truly hit its peak from around 600 AD to 900 AD. Around this time, it's understood that around 50,000 people lived there, making it one of the most important city-states in the ancient Maya world.

Now, many of the tourists who explore the Coba ruins do so on bicycles, which makes it much easier to get around this sprawling site. Coba is also home to the Nohoch Mul pyramid, which visitors can climb for gorgeous views over the forest-covered landscapes.

Visit Mexico for an insight into the ancient Maya culture

The only true way to learn about and appreciate the history of the ancient Maya people is to visit the ancient ruins. To go on the ultimate exploration of the ancient Maya world, speak to a Journey Mexico Travel Planner who can arrange every detail of your vacation, from the moment you touch down to the moment you leave.

Not only can we organize stays in the finest hotels and resorts in the region, but we also enjoy access to the sites very few others can offer. This includes off-hours private tours of Chichen Itza and Tulum to see these incredible wonders without the crowds.

Visit our Plan Your Trip page to speak to an expert Travel Planner today.

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History of the Maya: An Ancient Civilization Uncovered

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The endlessly fascinating history of the Maya is a constant draw for travelers to Mexico. Who could resist the grand pyramids, the ancient temples, or the stories of human sacrifice and war? But who were the ancient Maya? And what happened to their once-mighty ancient civilization?

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Made by Usama Nadeem, working individually.

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Description:

This video shows the 10 most amazing Mayan ruins that you can currently visit. There are also many tours available that explain the history and civilization. These ruins vary in sizes and are located all over southern Mexico.

Connection:

There is a clear pattern (patternicity) in the ruins in terms of the structure. The stones used are the same and the designs are identical as well. Applying the critical thinking process to determine which ruins were the most important or last to be abandoned can be helpful. A red flag that could be found through the critical thinking process is ancient wisdom. Mayan was a civilization on which there have been many theories connected (i.e Mayan calendar), it has been passed on over years and it is considered for them to be more knowledgeable than modern day science. A flaw is that all ruins are chosen by the uploader, hence “amazing” ruins are subject to their choice. A limitation within this video is that it only shows the 10 ruins.

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10 Most Amazing Mayan Ruins - Travel Video

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Mayan Arti crafts prove Alien Visitation

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Mayan Arti crafts prove Alien Visitation

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This video shows Mayan artifacts that prove alien visitation. In 2018-2019, archaeologists made incredible discoveries in the areas of Mayan ruins. Moreover, 200 more artifacts were found inside Chichen Itza (the most famous Mayan ruin).

Connection

One of the artifacts looked like a flying aircraft (0:05 timestamp). If we use the critical thinking process, we can determine that people believe it to be an aircraft because of perception and simplicity. Moreover, author of knowledge apocalypse, Jason Martell mentioned that, “All these great ancient cultures including Mayan seemed to have knowledge of math and science which we cannot explain how they got this information.” This connects to the unexplained as we cannot explain it. A flaw in this video is that there are a lot of claims that do not have concrete evidence. A limitation in this video is that they do not show a lot of evidence to back up the claims.

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Ancient Aliens: MAYAN ARTIFACTS PROVE ALIEN VISITATION (Season 14) | History

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This video explores the possibilities on why the Mayans abandoned their cities and ruins. It corresponds with one of the events in their calendar. Every 400 years, Mayans celebrated “baktun”. On the 10th cycle, they did not celebrate and it aligns with the time period of when they possibly abandoned and disappeared.

Connection

One of the theories is that their disappearance was planned because of their well knowledge about time and detailed calendars. A red flag associated with this claim is confirmation bias. Since the fact that their possible disappearance links with one of the baktuns, it coincides with people’s belief and they start to believe in it. Moreover, it is also mentioned in the video that the Mayans of today that have survived mention that their ancestors went “home”. If a critical thinking process is used, this can be believed due  it being unexplained. A flaw in this video is that there is not concrete evidence for the claims mentioned, they are simply just assumptions. A limitation in this video is that it features authors and journalists but not modern Mayans.

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Ancient Aliens: The Great Mayan Disappearance (Season 9) | History

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This website showcases the Maya’s ingenious secret to survival. It mentions about 60,000 structures hidden by thick jungle which could have encompassed as many as 10-15 million people in total. Even though there were no rivers or lakes nearby, Mayans were able to create a network of huge reservoirs at Tikal (biggest city of Maya civilization) and structures to store rainwater as well.

Connection

The more the Mayan ruins are explored, the more impressive feats of Mayans are found. The advanced knowledge of the minerals and technology to build structures are admirable by modern day archaeologists and scientists. We cannot explain how Mayans were able to build these efficient structures (unexplained) and some people connect it to aliens as it is the simplest answer. This links back to the video on Mayan artifacts that prove alien visitation. Many people believe that aliens must have visited or else how could Mayans be so technologically advanced at that time. If we use the critical thinking process, we can link claims to ideology (red flag) as well. The claims of aliens and Mayan ruins have been going around as an idea that has been followed by many groups around the world.

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Tikal was the economic and ceremonial hub of the Maya civilisation. But its stone palaces and temples would never have been constructed without mastery over one vital substance.

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Discovery of an 'untouched' cave for 1,000 years

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Discovery of an 'untouched' cave for 1,000 years

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This website describes an ‘untouched’ Maya ritual cave for 1000 years that was recently discovered. Archaeologists who were hunting for a sacred well beneath Chichen Itza accidentally discovered a trove of more than 150 ritual objects which have not been touched in more than a thousand years.

Connection

They discovered ritual objects relating to gods which hints to the ancient wisdom that was followed by the Mayans during their civilization. Most of the items discovered are still unexplained, hence they are believed to be used for rituals. A flaw within this website is that you must be subscribed to view the article. There are not many if any limitations within this website.

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Archaeologists hunting for a sacred well beneath the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula have accidentally discovered a trove of more than 150 ritual objects-untouched for more than a thousand years-in a series of cave chambers that may hold clues to the rise and fall of the ancient Maya. The discovery of the cave system, known as Balamku or "Jaguar God," was announced by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in a press conference held today in Mexico City.

After its initial discovery by farmers in 1966, Balamku was visited by archaeologist Víctor Segovia Pinto, who wrote up a report noting the presence of an extensive amount of archaeological material. But instead of excavating the site, Segovia then directed the farmers to seal up the entrance, and all records of the discovery of the cave seemed to vanish.

Balamku remained sealed for more than 50 years, until it was reopened in 2018 by National Geographic Explorer Guillermo de Anda and his team of investigators from the Great Maya Aquifer Project during their search for the water table beneath Chichén Itzá. Exploration of the system was funded in part by a grant from the National Geographic Society.

De Anda recalls pulling himself on his stomach through the tight tunnels of Balamku for hours before his headlamp illuminated something entirely unexpected: A cascade of offerings left by the ancient residents of Chichén Itzá, so perfectly preserved and untouched that stalagmites had formed around the incense burners, vases, decorated plates, and other objects in the cavern.
See why archaeologists are exploring under an ancient pyramid for clues to the Maya underworld.
"I couldn't speak, I started to cry. I've analyzed human remains in [Chichén Itzá's] Sacred Cenote, but nothing compares to the sensation I had entering, alone, for the first time in that cave," says de Anda, who is an investigator with INAH and director of the Great Maya Aquifer Project, which seeks to explore, understand, and protect the aquifer of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

"You almost feel the presence of the Maya who deposited these things in there," he adds.

An unprecedented second chance

To access just the first of seven ritual offering chambers identified so far within Balamku, archaeologists must crawl flat on their stomachs through hundreds of feet of tortuously narrow passages. In the original report on the cave (recently located by archaeologist and GAM investigator James Brady of California State University, Los Angeles), Segovia identified 155 artifacts, some with faces of Toltec rain god Tláloc, and others with markings of the sacred ceiba tree, a potent representation of the Maya universe. In comparison, the nearby cave of Balankanché, a ritual site excavated in 1959, contains just 70 of these objects.

"Balamku appears to be the 'mother' of Balankanché," says de Anda. "I don't want to say that quantity is more important than information, but when you see that there are many, many offerings in a cave that is also much more difficult to access, this tells us something."

Why Segovia would decide to seal up such a phenomenal discovery is still a matter of debate. But in doing so, he inadvertently provided researchers with an unprecedented "second chance" to answer some of the most perplexing questions that continue to stir controversy among Mayanists today, such as such as the level of contact and influence exchanged between different Mesoamerican cultures, and what was going on in the Maya world prior to the fall of Chichén Itzá.

Entrances to the Underworld

"For the ancient Maya, caves and cenotes [sinkoles] were considered openings to the underworld," says Holley Moyes, a University of California, Merced expert on the archaeology and religious use of Maya caves who was not a part of the project. "They represent some of the most sacred spaces for the Maya, ones that also influenced site planning and social organization. They are fundamental, hugely important, to the Maya experience."

But until the concept of cave archaeology began to take shape in the 1980s, archaeologists were more interested in monumental architecture and intact artifacts than they were in analyzing the residues and materials found in and around objects. When Balankanché was excavated in 1959, caves were still mapped by hand in the dark and artifacts were routinely removed from their sites, cleaned, and later put back. Of all the incense burners found in Balankanché that were filled with material that could have provided definitive evidence related to the chronology of the site, for instance, only one was ever analyzed.
Explore the world's largest underwater cave system in Yucatán, Mexico.
Investigators of the Great Maya Aquifer Project see the (re)discovery of Balamku as a chance to implement a totally new model of cave archaeology, one that employs cutting-edge technology and specialized fields such as 3-D mapping and paleobotany. These new insights could give us a much more detailed idea of what was actually occurring in Maya cave rituals, as well as the history of the great city of Chichén Itzá, which declined for unknown reasons in the 13th century.

"Balamku can tell us not only the moment of collapse of Chichén Itzá," says de Anda. "It can also probably tell us the moment of its beginning. Now, we have a sealed context, with a great quantity of information, including useable organic matter, that we can use to understand the development of Chichén Itzá."

Further study of the site will also shed light on the intimate details of the catastrophic droughts that likely provoked the collapse of the Maya civilization. While this area has always been prone to drastic cycles of climate variability, some researchers have suggested that excessive deforestation in the Maya lowlands, which was once home to some 10-15 million people, could have exacerbated the problem and made the entire region uninhabitable.

Understanding these past cycles can have an added benefit for modern life as well, says National Geographic archaeologist-in-residence Fredrik Hiebert. "By studying these caves and cenotes, it's possible to learn some lessons for how to best use the environment today, in terms of sustainability for the future."

In this sense, de Anda believes archaeology has the potential to become a much more "useful" science.

"It's always been considered the opposite-a beautiful and interesting field of science, but without a great deal of utility," he says. "I think that here, we will be able to demonstrate the contrary, because when we begin to understand these marvelous contexts, we can understand the footprints of humankind's past, and what was happening on Earth during one of the most dramatic moments in history."

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Maya ritual cave 'untouched' for 1,000 years stuns archaeologists

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Archaeologists hunting for a sacred well beneath the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula have accidentally discovered a trove of more than 150 ritual objects-untouched for more than a thousand years-in a series of cave chambers that may hold clues to the rise and fall of the ancient Maya.

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Description

This is a picture of one of the seven wonders of the world, Chichen Itza. It is the most famous Mayan city that flourished in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.

Connection

The total number of steps is 365 days which also connects to the number of days in the solar year (patternicity). The structure is a testament to the Mayans’ astronomical abilities as well as the efficient design. If the critical thinking process is applied, a potential red flag could be red herring. Even though the place itself is a wonder and outstanding engineering, it distracts you from the fact that there were many rituals that occurred here including human sacrifices. The flaw in this picture is that we cannot comprehend the size of the structure. The limitation of this picture is that we can only see the outside of the ruin.

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This picture shows the various Mayan ruins across Mexico that are discovered so far.

Connection

A pattern was discovered by archaeologists who set up an estimated travel path and how the civilization expanded over time. Using the critical thinking process, we can also determine that there is a lot of information on this map which potentially leads to the red flag of proof by verbosity. The flaw in this picture is that it does not show where the Mayan civilization started from. The limitation of this picture is that it does not state all the ruins.

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Discovery of a 3000-year-old ceremonial complex

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Discovery of a 3000-year-old ceremonial complex

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In 2017, a massive 3,000-year-old ceremonial complex was discovered in ‘plain sight’. With the help of groundbreaking laser technology, they were able to see structures beneath the tree canopy. This is a picture of that complex. Researchers believe that it was a ceremonial center where rituals were conducted.

Connection

The sheer size of the complex is astonishing, as mentioned by Jon Lohse, an archaeologist. The claims of it being a ceremonial complex is based on little evidence with assumptions. There is not concrete evidence, but rather a lot of patterns that seem to be connecting with each other. There is not a lot of data that is explored, however, since this discovery has been made, in-person exploration of the complex will definitely occur. A flaw in this picture is that there is no scale and we cannot determine the size of the complex.

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1. The most surprising thing about this topic that I learned is the vast amount of ruins across Mexico and we have not even fully discovered the ruins.

2. This topic is interesting to me because I do want to explore all the seven wonders of the world. The wonder, Chichen Itza has peaked my interest the most because a lot of information relating to the ruins is unexplained (i.e flying aircrafts, why did Mayans leave and where did they go?”)

3. The research I found most interesting is the possibilities of the abandonment of the ruins. There are many theories as to why Mayans left their civilizations such as (drought and aliens). We do not have a clear answer to why a successful civilization such as the Maya just abandoned their homes. It makes me curious to say the least.

4. I am going to remember the recent discoveries made. I am going to keep researching about the Mayan ruins and follow new discoveries or information.

5. I believe the most harmful pseudoscience belief is simplicity. Just because it may seem simple, it does not mean that it is. We may just accept the belief since it is easy for us to comprehend. However, we must take into account the facts. I believe the least harmful pseudoscience belief is unexplained. It is not as harmful as other ones, since there is no explanation (unlike simplicity).

6. The most important thing that I would pass on to my family member or a friend is how technologically advanced the Mayans were (calendar, astronomical abilities, advanced structures and large cities).