Devermont, Olivia
Professor Horowitz
History 196LS
2 May 2001
The Ancient Mayans
"The Maya" in Across the Centuries gives a good overview of the Maya. However, the text
fails to expand and several key issues such as the influence of the Olmecs, social structure, the relevance of
sacrifices, Spain's influence on the history of the Maya, and how the Mayan civilization fell. By leaving out
the aforementioned issues the Maya are given less recognition than they deserve. By glossing over the
Maya the authors of Across the Centuries essentially teach children that the Maya are not of crucial
importance. Across the Centuries' inadequate "The Maya" not only teaches students to not care about other
cultures, it denies them the knowledge of an ancient culture more than worthy of
recognition.
"The Maya" begins with a quote from John Lloyd Stephens, one of the first Europeans to
come across the remnants of the Mayan civilization. The chapter then explains where the Maya lived and
the conditions of their environment. The agricultural methods are then elaborated on, followed by a
section devoted to priests and kings. Finally "the Maya" ends with Mayan achievements. The whole chapter
consists of only six pages, a rather small amount of information for a culture of such importance.
According to The Maya "whether or not one thinks of the Olmecs as the "mother culture" of
Mesoamerica, the fact is that many other civilizations, including the Maya, were ultimately dependent on the
Olmec achievement"(Coe 50). It is believed that the Olmec, a civilization that inhabited the Yucatan
Peninsula before the Maya, is responsible for many of the Mayan achievements in mathematics,
architecture, and astrology. Unfortunately, Across the Centuries only mentions the Olmecs in "the Maya"
when referring to the Mayan location. "Like the Olmec, the Maya settled in a fertile region" (Armento,
Nash, Salter and Wixson 404). Across the Centuries"The Olmec" refers to several of the Olmec
achievements, but fails to delineate how their achievements are also recognized and may even be the
precursor to similar achievements in other early American civilizations, like the Maya. Across the Centuries
should make a reference to how it is believed the Olmec influenced several of the Mayan's achievements
like the Chinese did to Western Europe to help students understand how cultures are often built on
the knowledge of their predecessors.
Across the Centuries fails to mention the Mayan social structure altogether. The Maya was a
"class society with strong political power in the hands of an hereditary elite" (Coe 196). Unlike most
stratified societies, the nobles who remained at the top of the social structure were
responsible for several duties. The nobles "had private lands and held
the more important political offices, as well as filling the roles of high-ranking warriors, wealthy farmers
and merchants, and clergy" (Coe196). The commoners were stratified into rich and poor, like
today's society classifies the middle class as upper and lower. At the bottom of the social scale were the
slaves who were taken as prisoners of war from Mayan conquests. Although slavery was hereditary, Mayan
slaves had the distinct privilege of being freed through payments made by relatives. Another
interesting aspect of Mayan social structure omitted by "the Maya" was lineages. Like several other
cultures, inheritance of property and titles were patrimonial. Matrilineage was very important to
the Maya in respect to marriage. Marriage to maternal relatives was strictly forbidden, whereas marriage to a
paternal relative was encouraged. This lineage testifies to both the importance of men and women in Mayan
society. (Coe 196). Although all complex societies contain social stratification it is important to note the
differences between traditional social structures and those of the Maya. Across the Centuries should refer
to the responsibilities of the nobles, slaves' ability to buy freedom, and women's role
in ascertaining marriage arrangements.
The Mayans are depicted as blood thirsty in Across the Centuries. By mentioning that the
Maya performed human sacrifices and "pierced their own skin and shed their own sacred blood" (Armento,
Nash, Salter and Wixson 407), the Maya have essentially become dehumanized. If the book had
explained the Maya religious beliefs as dictated by the Popol Vuh, then perhaps the Maya would not be
viewed in a negative light. "According to Maya priests, the gods had shed their own blood to water the earth
and nourish crops of maize, and they expected human beings to honor them by imitating their sacrifice"
(Bently and Ziegler 103). The Maya believed bloodletting and human sacrifices ensured the gods'
appeasement, and hence their survival. The ritual of blood letting is no different than Jewish boys becoming
circumcised, however taken out of context this ritual could be considered cruel and barbaric as well. Before
the 1980s the Maya were believed to be peaceful people, however after learning how to read glyphs
researchers have discovered that the "Maya were obsessed with war" (Coe 197). Despite the fact that the
Maya were a warring people this should not undermine their accomplishments in architecture, mathematics,
and astrology. Like the Romans the Mayans were concerned with territory and boundaries. The Romans
often used horrendous torturous techniques such as using the crucifix to establish their dominance
and to punish criminals. Roman achievements have not been undermined by their distasteful actions, just
like Mayan achievements should not be undermined. Across the Centuries can avoid dehumanizing the
Mayans by explaining that like all cultures the Mayan have good as well as bad aspects to them.
Certainly by pointing out several indiscretions in today's society students can learn that no culture is all
good or all bad; everything is relative and should be taken into account accordingly.
Codices, record books written by the Maya, were mentioned in Across the
Centuries, however the text failed to mention why only four codices exist today (interestingly enough the
text only claims three codices exist)."When Spanish conquerors and missionaries arrived in Maya lands in
the sixteenth century C.E., however, they destroyed all the books they could find in hopes of undermining
native religious beliefs" (Bently and Ziegler112). The Spanish destroyed hundreds of codices, thus
destroying Mayan history. These codices provided insight into the everyday life of the Maya.
Perhaps, if the Spanish had not destroyed the Mayan's books, then maybe the Maya would receive as much
attention as the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks. Although Spain did destroy the majority of Mayan
literature, Catholic priests like Bishop Landa are also responsible for the creation of records
pertaining to the Maya. As a result of the priests' efforts, four books remain in addition to the codices:
Popol Vuh, Books of Chilam Balam, Maya-Spanish Dictionary, and Theories of Mayan Origin.
Spain's destruction of Maya culture may have been omitted, so that Spain would not be viewed as pillagers
of other cultures. As the saying goes "only the winners get the write the history books". Across
the Centuries should mention Spain's participation in the decimation as well as preservation of the Mayan
culture. By explaining that even scholars can be wrong in their assumptions students will learn to be more
critical of their resources and be aware of who wrote them, which in turn will teach
students to become better readers.
Across the Centuries is very misleading when referring to the existence of the Maya today.
"The Mayan culture has survived, however, unlike many other early American cultures" (Armento, Nash,
Salter, and Wixson 409). At first glance a reader may believe that Maya to still exist as they did before the
Spanish Conquest. Unfortunately this is not true. Although some Maya exist today in Guatemala, Belize,
and parts of Mexico their numbers are nowhere near what they used to be. One of the great mysteries of the
Maya is: where did they go? To this day no one knows for certain why the Maya abandoned their cites and
their population dropped so abruptly between 800 and 900 C.E. "the period from the very peak of the
calendric cult to its final eclipse" (Culbert 106). According the Maya calendar the gods create and recreate
the world. The Maya calculated that their end would happen the very century it did. Several theories have
arisen to try to explain what happened to the Maya. These include "invasion by foreigners from Mexico,
internal dissension and civil war, failure of the system of water control leading to diminished harvest and
demographic collapse, ecological problems caused by destruction of the forests, the spread of epidemic
diseases like yellow fever, and natural catastrophes such as earthquakes" (Bently and Ziegler110). Although
we do not know how the Maya disappeared, one thing is for certain... something did occur.
With today's research and printing capabilities it would be nice to think our children have
the most updated and objective texts books available. Unfortunately this is not true. Public schools do not
have the funding to update their textbooks every time a previously accepted fact has changed. Also, in order
for a textbook to be accepted as appropriate curriculum it must pass the school board. Since this board is
predominately controlled by Anglo-Europeans, minority culture chapters tend to be squeezed out of
publication, when room is needed for Western European history. This leads to unequal proportions of
history pertaining to dominant versus minority cultural history, a sad fact especially in this day and age.
Unequal proportioning is clearly scene in Across the Centuries' "The Maya", which is only six pages long.
Hopefully one day our children will have textbooks with the latest objective information, until then
teachers will continue to modify their lessons to prevent this unequal historical proportioning.
Works Cited
Armento, Beverly and Nash, Gary and Salter, Chistopher and Wixon, Karen.
Across the Centuries. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991.
Bently, Jerry and Ziegler, Herber. Traditions and Encounters: A Global
Perspective on the Past.Boston: McGrawHill, 2000.
Coe, Michael. The Maya. 6th edition. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999.
Culbert, T. Patrick. The Lost Civilization: The Story of the Classic Maya.
New York: Harper and Row, 1974.