Maya society concerns the social organization of the Pre-Hispanic Maya, its political structures, and social classes. The Ancient Maya people were indigenous to Mexico and Central America and the most dominant people groups of Central America up until the 6th century.
In the Neolithic Age, Maya society has contributed to the fields of astronomy, mathematics, agriculture, art and writing. The Maya would peak as a civilization between 250 - 900 AD. This included complex cities, social life, and politics. Maya civilization began to decline after this time period, and remaining Maya would revert to more of a hunter-gatherer society. These remaining tribes would eventually be conquered by Europeans in the 1500s.
The Maya lived in Mesoamerica, concentrated in the Yucatán Peninsula, the Peten district of northern Guatemala and southern Mexico. The Maya reached the height of their civilization during the Classic Period of Maya civilization (A.D 250 to 900) before a decline starting about 900 AD. The Maya Civilization, centered in these tropical lands, reached their peak of power and influence around the sixth century.
The Maya practiced body modification, including cranium modification, dental modification, skin modification and piercings. The Maya valued individualism through body modification. Body modification sometimes reflected one's political status, a cultural belief that body modification may ward them from evil spirits, impersonating important cultural figures and to signify important events that have happened through one's life.
The Maya were known to engage in warfare to procure nearby resources, assert political control over neighbors, procure slave labor and sacrificial victims for rituals. Warfare in Maya society was frequent.
Kingdom, court, and royalty A Classic period Maya polity was a small kingdom (ajawil, ajawlel, ajawlil) headed by a hereditary ruler – ajaw, later kʼuhul ajaw. Both terms appear in early Colonial texts including Papeles de Paxbolón where they are used as synonyms for Aztec and Spanish terms for rulers and their domains. These are tlatoani and tlahtocayotl in Nahuatl, and the Spanish words rey, majestad, and reino and señor for ruler/leader/lord and señorío or dominio of realm. Such kingdoms were usually no more than a capital city with its neighborhood and several dependent towns (similar to a city-state). There were also larger polities that controlled larger territories and subjugated smaller polities; the extensive systems controlled by Tikal and Caracol serve as examples of these.
Each kingdom had its name that did not necessarily correspond to any locality within its territory. Its identity was that of a political unit associated with a particular ruling dynasty. For instance, the archaeological site of Naranjo was the capital of the kingdom of Saal. The land (chan chʼeʼn) of the kingdom and its capital were called Wakabʼnal or Maxam and were part of a larger geographical entity known as Huk Tsuk. Despite constant warfare and eventual shifts in regional power, most kingdoms never disappeared from the political landscape until the collapse of the whole system in the 9th century. In this respect, Classic Maya kingdoms were similar to late Postclassic polities encountered by the Spanish in Yucatán and Central Mexico: some polities were subordinate to hegemonic centers or rulers through conquest and/or dynastic unions and yet even then they persisted as distinct entities.
Mayanists have been increasingly accepting the "court paradigm" of Classic Maya societies that puts the emphasis on the centrality of the royal household and especially the person of the king. This approach focuses on the totality of Maya monumental spaces as the embodiment of the diverse activities of the royal household. It considers the role of places and spaces (including dwellings of royalty and nobles, throne rooms, temples, halls and plazas for public ceremonies) in establishing and negotiating power and social hierarchy, but also in producing and projecting aesthetic and moral values that define the order of a wider social realm. It focuses on the possessions and embodiment of which objects held in their society.
Spanish sources invariably describe even the largest Maya settlements of Yucatán and Guatemala as dispersed agglomerations of dwellings grouped around the temples and palaces of the ruling dynasty and lesser nobles. Though there was economic specialization among Classic period Maya centers (see Chunchucmil, for example), it was not conducted at a scale similar to that of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Some argue that Maya cities were not urban centersSanders and Webster 1988:523-524. but were, instead, structured according to and conceptualized as enormous royal households, the locales of the administrative and ritual activities of the royal court. Within the theoretical framework of this model, they were the places where privileged nobles could approach the holy ruler, where aesthetical values of the high culture were formulated and disseminated, and where aesthetic items were consumed.Sanders and Webster 1988:524. They were the self-proclaimed centers and the sources of social, moral, and cosmic, order. The fall of a royal court as in the well-documented cases of Piedras Negras or Copán would cause the inevitable 'death' of the associated settlement.
The noble class was even more than complex and specialized in the climate of Maya society. Noble status and the occupation where only served and passed on through elite family lineages. Thus revealing that the Maya Civilization was set and it was very difficult to move upwards within the society. Occupations for Maya men was limited to their father's occupation. Thus, if your father was a farmer, then you were a farmer. The upper caste was composed of rulers, nobles and priests. The middle caste were businessmen, merchants and soldiers. Kinship Ancient Maya kinship and descent have alternatively been described as patrilineal, matrilineal, and bilateral. Maya political organization has been characterized as both segmentary (involving well-defined lineages and clan-like structures) and centralized.
Scribes Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts and had their own patron deities (see Howler monkey gods and Maya maize god). They often came from aristocratic families and likely were organized hierarchically. It appears that some scribes were attached to the royal house, while others were serving at temples and were, perhaps, counted among the priests. Maya art often depicts rulers with trappings indicating they were scribes or at least able to write, such as having pen bundles in their headdresses. Additionally, many rulers have been found in conjunction with writing tools such as shell or clay ink pots.
Body modifications To the ancient Maya, body modification was a reflection of a cultural, and individual, identity.William N. Duncan and Charles Andrew Hofling (2011). WHY THE HEAD? CRANIAL MODIFICATION AS PROTECTION AND ENSOULMENT AMONG THE MAYA. Ancient Mesoamerica, 22, pp 199-210 Through different modifications, the body could be experienced individually, used as a symbol, or as a political statement. Beauty was also used to outwardly show and perform social and moral values.
Physical remains of the Maya help piece together the motivation and significance for enduring vast amounts of pain, and using great amounts of their wealth to make themselves beautiful. Ancient Maya placed a high value on certain extreme body modifications, often undergoing tedious and painful procedures as a rite of passage, an homage to their gods, and as a permanently visible status symbol of their place in society that would last a lifetime, and into their afterlife. Therefore, there was aesthetic, religious, and social reasoning behind the modification.Romero-Vargas S, Ruiz-Sandoval JL, Sotomayor-González A, Revuelta-Gutiérrez R, Celis-López MA, Gómez-Amador JL, García-González U, et al. 2010. “A Look at Mayan Artificial Cranial Deformation Practices: Morphological and Cultural Aspects.” Neurosurgical Focus 29 (6): 2.
Cranium modification The origin of cranial modification among the Maya is unknown, but it possibly was inherited from the Olmecs, predecessors of the Maya, who were located near the Tuxtla Mountains. Cranial modification was one of the most important practices of the Olmec culture. Individuals enduring cranial modification could be of any status, but many more elite individuals were depicted with cranial modifications. Intentional deformation practices were used as a way to differentiate between members of the society. All members of an elite family were expected to go through cranial modification, starting shortly after birth. The procedure occurred while the skull of the child was not fully grown and still soft, making it easily shaped.
Evidence Most evidence of cranial deformation is found through osteological remains discovered through archaeological excavation of Maya sites. Through analysis of the different forms of the skulls, osteologists are able to differentiate between subtle differences in deformation styles to understand what these differences may mean. Interpretation of these different cranium types has been debated, but it is clear the shapes differed based on time and region. Spanish and other European records also provided detailed descriptions of cranium modification within their historical records. Some of the Spanish documentation included the different methods and materials used for cranium modification. Archaeological remains including artistic depictions or figurines exhibiting modified skull shape help to illuminate the importance of distinguishing one's self through the various types of modification.
Shapes There are as many as 14 different cranial shapes caused by several different types of purposeful modification or deformation techniques used by members of the Maya society. Neonatal deformation was performed in two main ways: compression of the head with pads and adjusted bindings, or restraining the child on specially designed cradles. Often, a binding device was attached to the forehead so instead of growing naturally into a round or circular form, the child's cranium grew into a long, and tapered form which indented above the brow line. These different modifications resulted in an abundant amount of stress on the new child's body, and often led to death.
The two main head shapes of cranial modification for the Maya were erect deformation and oblique deformation. Erect deformation was modification through the use of cradle boards, which often left the occipital flattening asymmetrical, and affected a child's mobility. Oblique deformation was modification through the use of a paddle applied to the head and was sometimes in use with a frontal board and bandaging. This type of deformation did not cause problems with mobility. Practiced by all members of society, there were distinct differences of temporal and regional preferences.
During the Preclassic period, 2000 BCE – 250 CE, Maya skull modification imitated the head form of Olmec gods depicted throughout Olmec artwork. With the use of new and different techniques emerging in the Classic period, 250-900 CE, new cranial modification styles were endured, possibly as an indicator of membership within a kin group, or as a sign of a specific status. Additionally, in the Classic period, the general population used the erect deformation style of modification, while children expected to have high-status positions were given oblique deformation. Around 900 CE, the modification style standardized, and most human remains were found with tall skulls and flattened foreheads, the same modifications documented by the Spaniards when they arrived in Mesoamerica.