MAYAN SOCIETY  

               

DAILY LIFE  

Most   Mayans   lived   outside   of   city   centers   and   farmed.     Men   and  women   divided   their   labor   into   separate   domains.     Men   farmed,  hunted,  and  maintained  village  buildings.    Women  raised  the  children,  tended  to  small  gardens  outside  their  homes,  tended  to  livestock,  and  prepared  food.    Most  Mayan  families   lived   in  thatched  huts  with  their  extended  families  nearby.     It  was  common  for  multiple  generations  to  live  next  door  to  one  another.    

       

• Sedentary  lifestyle  • Developed  farming  • Lived  in  small  farming  

communities  

• Greatest  era  of  building,  writing,  and  sculpture  

• Increased  warfare  

Slash-­‐and-­‐burn  agriculture  technique  used  by  Mayan  farmers.  

Typical  Mayan  housing.  

FUN FACT

Mayan society was broken

into two main groups: nobles

and commoners. Each of

these main groups had sub

groups. Farmers were part of

the commoner group.

 

 

 

SOCIAL STRUCTURE  While  most  Mayans  were  farmers,  or  commoners,  throughout  the  Classic  Period  there  was  a  social  hierarchy  that  people  were  born  into.    It  is  as  follows                                  

             

MAYA RULE  

Each  major  Mayan  city  had  a  king  that  ruled  over  the  city  and  the  surrounding  farming  villages.    This  kingship  was  usually  passed  down  from  father  to  son.    Nobles  helped  the  king  run  the  city  and  the  king  turned  to  his  nobles  for  assistance  and  advice  on  a  regular  basis.    Kings  used  their  great  wealth  to  keep  nobles  loyal  to  them  so  no  one  would  try  to  overthrow  them.  

 Kings  increased  their  power  through  warfare.    They  were  able  to  gain  captives,  take  control  of  trade  routes,  and  take  land  from  neighboring  areas.    Mayans  never  really  formed  an  empire,  though.    They  more  formed  spheres  of  influence,  or  areas  were  they  had  a  strong  influence  or  control  over.    To  help  in  their  quest  for  more  power,  Mayan  kings  formed  alliances  with  other  strong  cities  that  could  extend  their  respective  spheres  of  influence.          

 

King  

Nobles  

Priests  

Merchants/Artisans  

Peasants  

Slaves  

• was  considered  a  god-­‐king  • responsible  for  political  leadership  • mostly  men,  but  women  had  influence  over  political  decisions  

• Lived  near  ceremonial  city  centers  and  helped  king  run  city  • Gathered  taxes,  supplies,  and  labor  for  construction  projects  • Served  as  war  captains  who  led  peasant  armies  during  war  

• Powerful  because  maintained  favor  with  gods  • Led  rituals,  calculated  positions  of  stars,  treated  sick  • Practiced  human  sacrifice  on  limited  scale  

• Traded  salt,  cotton,  fish  for  obsidian,  jade,    feathers,  cocoa  beans  over  long  distances  

• Produced  sculptures,  codices,  murals  for  gods  

• Men  worked  fields,  women  ran  households  • Rewarded  for  loyalty  by  being  able  to  attend    

       special  ceremonies  • Recruited  from  surplus  children,    

POWs,  criminals  • Required  to  do  undesirable  tasks  • Not  treated  badly  

 MAYAN ECONOMY  Mayan  merchants  were  highly  respected  members  of  Mayan  society.    They  even  had  their  own  god,  Ek  Chaub.    These  merchants  created  vast  trade  routes,  some  of  which  went  throughout  the  Caribbean  Islands.        Through  the  interior  of  the  Yucatán  Peninsula,  merchants  used  human  caravans  of  slaves  to  carry  goods.    They  used  no  animals  or  wheeled  vehicles  in  the  trade  process.    They  also  did  not  build  a  major  road  system  to  help  with  trade.    Instead,  they  used  small  pathways  that  crisscrossed  the  land.    

Along  the  coast,  Mayans  used  large  seagoing  canoes  to  get  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Caribbean.    Christopher  Columbus  reported  seeing  a  Mayan  canoe  in  1502.    He  recorded  that  it  was  over  50  feet  long  and  about  eight  feet  wide,  had  a  cabin  structure,  and  a  crew  of  about  12  men.    The  Mayas  used  the  barter  system.    Goods  were  exchanged  instead  of  money.    At  the  time,  Mayans  did  not  have  money,  they  used  cacao  (chocolate)  beans  instead.    One  Mayan  record  showed  that  a  slave  was  worth  100  cacao  beans.    Mayans  traded  fruits,  vegetables,  salt,  honey,  dried  fish,  turtle  eggs,  

deer  meat,  and  birds.    They  also  exchanged  items  such  as,  cotton  cloth,  animal  skins,  feathers,  shells,  gold,  emeralds,  and  jade.    Mayans  also  traded  slaves.    

Mayan  mural  of  Toltec  traders  at  Chichen  Itza.  

Cacao  beans  like  what  were  used  as  currency  in  the  Maya  civilization.  

CASE STUDY: TIKAL  

Tikal  was  one  of  the  first  major  Mayan  cities.    Archaeologists  believe  that    Tikal’s  location  was  no  accident.    The  position  of  the  temples  at  Tikal  aligns  with  the  largest  mountain  peak  in  the  region,  as  well  as  with  sunrise  and  sunset  times  of  the  solstices  and  equinoxes.    This  showed  the  advanced    astronomical  achievements  already  taking  place  in  the  Mayan  civilization    during  the  Pre-­‐Classic  era.    Tikal  continued  to  be  a  center  of  trade  and    strength  throughout  most  of  the  Classic  era,  as  well.    During  the  Classic    period,  Tikal  extended  their  sphere  of  influence  to  nearly  500,000  people,  with  an  immediate  city  center  of  almost  50,000.    They  also  created  alliances  with  other  powerful  cities,  like  Palenque.    This  made  Tikal  the  most  powerful  Mayan  city,  and  therefore  the  seat  of  government  for  the  civilization.    In  869  CE  the  residents  of  Tikal  mysteriously  left,  along  with  other  cities  in  the  region.    No  one  is  quite  sure  why  they  left,  but  the  reign  of  Tikal  was  over.