HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

MAYA | AZTEC | INCA

RESEARCH PAPER

10/30/2009

AISHWARYA | AKANKSHA | ANUJ | AMRI | BHAVIKA | UZAIR

 MAYA | AZTEC | INCA
October 30, 2009

3,000 years before the European discovery, exploration and colonization of the New
World, the Native Americans of pre- Columbian America had developed civilizations that
rivalled ancient China, India, Mesopotamia, and the Mediterranean world. Their artistic
and intellectual accomplishments are even more impressive because most of the basic
technology common to the eastern-hemisphere civilizations was unknown to them.

The wheel, for instance, was used in Mesoamerica only for toys and was never developed
into the potter's wheel, wagon wheel, or pulley system. Metal tools were rarely used, and
that too only in the last stages of pre-Columbian history. The elaborate sculptures and
intricate jade ornaments of the Maya, therefore, were created by carving stone with stone.

The Americas thus developed like an isolated island, completely cut off from the rest of
the world. The technology they developed was their own. 5000 years after the Natufians1
and others in the Fertile Crescent had first dabbled with agriculture, hunter-gathering
people in the Americas were just beginning to farm. They had absolutely no idea that
people on the other side of the world were building huge civilizations based on crops such
as wheat, barley and rice, and farm animals like pigs, sheep, cows and goats.

For thousands of years these people lived in harmony with nature, and faced many
challenges which made their attempts at civilization unique. For example, in south-
central Mexico, where the river valley provided the right soils for cultivation and the
climate was conductive to growing annual crops, the only grass capable of domestication
was a weedy and rather unappetizing wild bush called teosinte which grew along the
banks of the Balsas River. Teosinte had just five seeds, each of which was encased in a
hard shell designed to withstand the most acidic of animal stomachs. By choosing those
plants with abnormally numerous seeds and those with the softest shells, the patient
people of Central America eventually engineered the crop we now know as maize. It took
as long as 5000 years of painstaking artificial selection to convert unappetizing teosinte
into a nutritious cob suitable for harvesting on an annual basis.()

The enormous and lengthy struggle to come up with easy to cultivate crops reaped huge
rewards for these people, and when the Spanish came in the sixteenth century, they
possessed many great accomplishments about which much has been written.

There were two main cultural regions in pre- Columbian America:

• the Mesoamerican Area, encompassing the present countries of Mexico, Belize,
Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador
• Central Andean Area, including Peru and Bolivia

In terms of chronology, the major phases of pre-Columbian civilizations were:

• the Pre-Classic, or Formative, period (c. 1500 BC- c. AD 300)
• the Classic, or Florescent, period (c. 300-c. 900)
• the Post-Classic period (c. 900-1540)

1 The Natufian culture existed in the Mediterranean region of the Levant. It was a Mesolithic culture, but
unusual in that it was sedentary, or semi-sedentary, before the introduction of agriculture. The Natufian
communities are possibly the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region, which may
have been the earliest in the world.

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In the Pre-Classic period, the Americas were primarily isolated chiefdoms and small
kingdoms whose respective cultures developed largely independently of one another.
However, some religious ideas and visual motifs are common.

During the Classic period complex empires developed. Their rulers were often priests,
rather than the warrior-priests who were the principal heads of Post-Classic civilizations,
and cultures were more readily spread and incorporated. Earlier considered to be a
peaceful period, recent evidence suggests that major Classic civilizations were warlike.
Conquest and extensive trade resulted in wealth that was spent on constructing
ceremonial centres or cities, as well as creating increasingly luxurious personal
belongings and high-quality objects for funerary or ritual use.

The Post-Classic period was characterized by frequent wars resulting from social and
economic pressures: increased population and technological development. The cultures
and civilizations of this period are the best documented because they were directly
encountered by the Spaniards.

The Mayans occupied the Yucatan peninsula, modern Honduras, and modern Guatemala.
They date back perhaps to the second millennium BC, but peaked between 600 and 900
AD. While the many Maya city-states never achieved political unity on the order of the
central Mexican civilizations, they exerted a tremendous intellectual influence upon
Mexico and Central America. The Maya built some of the most elaborate cities on the
continent, and made innovations in mathematics, astronomy, and calendrics. The Mayans
also evolved the only true written system native to the Americas using pictographs and
syllabic elements in the form of texts and codices inscribed on stone, pottery, wood, or
highly perishable books made from bark paper.()

The Aztec Empire dominated Mesoamerica from Mexico and Guatemala to the territories
of Salvador and Honduras in the 15th and 16th centuries for almost 100 years. The
Mexica-Aztecs were the rulers of much of central Mexico by about 1400, having
subjugated most of the other regional states by the 1470s. At their peak, 300000 Aztec
presided over a wealthy tribute-empire comprising about 10 million people. The modern
name "Mexico" comes from their name, and their capital, Tenochtitlan, is the site of
modern-day Mexico City. ()

Holding their capital at the great cougar-shaped city of Cuzco, the Inca civilization
dominated the Andes region from 1438 to 1533. Known as Tawantin suyu, or "the land of
the four regions", in Quechua, the Inca civilization was highly distinct and developed.
Inca rule extended to nearly a hundred linguistic or ethnic communities, some 9 to 14
million people connected by a 25,000 kilometer road system. Cities were built with
precise, unmatched stonework, constructed over many levels of mountain terrain. Terrace
farming was a useful form of agriculture. There is evidence of excellent metalwork and
even successful brain surgery in Inca civilization. They flourished at the same time as the
Aztec empire.()

Certain features were more or less common to all three pre- Columbian civilizations,
although they were all distinct in details.

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Pre-Columbian civilizations were primarily agricultural. They had many species of

cultivated plants and developed many superior varieties, and raised nearly all the known
varieties of maize, beans, potatoes, squashes, pumpkins, melons, peanuts, cacao, banana
and pineapples. Cultivated maize (corn) became the staple food in Mesoamerica, and the
potato did in Andean Peru and Bolivia. They also raised many medicinal plants, and had
domesticated turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasants and other birds. These civilizations had
well established and elaborate irrigation and drainage systems.

Religion was also central to the formulation and development of pre-Columbian culture.
Religious ideas and rituals, however, were largely determined by concerns for crop
fertility that tend to dominate agricultural societies. The people were extremely
superstitious, and developed complicated religions and mythologies which became the
chief inspirations for their arts and their efforts- temples, monuments, sacred objects.
There was almost a fanatical fervour for religion, which was full of mysticism and
symbolism. Their gods, demigods, spirits were innumerable, and they had deities for
nearly every act, deed, use, purpose, object, art, industry and desire.()

They organized elaborate ceremonies to placate their invented deities, to win the favour
of the gods, and to save themselves from dire results. All held human sacrifices, though
varied in form, in occasion and their significance.

Much pre- Columbian art and architecture is connected with astronomy, by which the
Native Americans determined appropriate times for planting and harvesting their crops.
They had a deep knowledge of natural sciences and mathematics, and had well-worked
out calenders, sun-dials and other means of computing time.

The earliest pre-Columbian buildings were constructed from wood, bundled reeds, fibre
matting or thatch, and other perishable materials. Permanent, monumental structures built
of stone or adobe2 were developed later on.

Pre-Columbian building techniques were rudimentary. Most structures were built with the
post-and-lintel or trabeated3 system, although the Maya employed the corbelled, or false,
arch, in which one stone was extended above another to form an arch-like shape.

Stone rather than metal tools were used, and the transport and building of such
characteristic structures as pyramids, palaces, tombs, and platform temples (temples built
on earth platforms) were accomplished entirely by human labour unaided by any form of
machinery. The size of stones they use in their buildings, walls and fortresses was
remarkable.

Though none of the civilizations were exactly alike, all of them built on a titanic scale and
seemed to find it easier to quarry, move and use gigantic masses than to use smaller
blocks of materials. Stones weighing several tons each were used very commonly, and in
many instances, masses weighing from sixty to nearly two hundred tons each were

2 Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, and water, with some kind of fibrous or organic
material (sticks, straw, dung), which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun.

3 Post and lintel (or Post and beam) is a simple architrave where a horizontal member (the lintel—or header) is
supported by two vertical posts at either end.

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quarried, accurately cut and faced, moved many kilometres and places in position at
considerable heights. Immensely high and thick walls were built of enormous stones so
accurately cut and fitted, without the use of mortar or cement, that even today it is
impossible to insert a knife blade between the blocks.()

The pre-Columbian pyramid was once regarded as different from its Egyptian counterpart
because it was intended not as a burial structure but as the residence of a deity. Recent
excavations, however, increasingly indicate that tombs were sometimes incorporated into
pyramids. Pictographs in Mesoamerican screen-fold books known as codices4 suggest that
pyramids had a strong civic and cultural significance. The Aztec symbol for conquest was
a burning pyramid of which the calli, or house of the god (the temple atop the pyramid),
had been toppled by the conqueror. In order to make them more monumental, and
therefore increase the prestige of the current ruler, many Mesoamerican pyramids were
periodically rebuilt over a pre-existing structure.()

The pre- Columban people also had a very extensive knowledge of engineering, and built
bridges, aqueducts5, irrigation facilities and roads throughout their regions.

Urban development in the Americas occurred in two ways:

• one was the ceremonial centre, a complex of structures primarily consisting of
religious and administrative buildings constructed around plazas, but without
common houses or streets. Only the secular and religious rulers and their courts
lived in these centres, while the majority of the population resided on small farms
in a surrounding suburban zone.
• the other type, akin to true cities, had streets segregating the residences of rich and
poor, as well as plaza-oriented temples and administrative buildings.

Both ceremonial complexes and true cities served as centres for religion, government, and
commerce. While trade was important for supplying necessities and luxuries, it was also
through trade that ideas, technology, and art forms and motifs were transmitted.()

There has been a prevalence of certain forms and figures; a striking feature common to
nearly all of these civilizations is that they were sun-worshippers. Other common figures
are the plumed serpent, a squatted human figure and masked human faces.

All three civilizations were very rich in gold, silver and precious stones, although it seems
as if the precious metals were valued only for their beauty and ornamental purposes.
From its probable origins in the northern Central Andean Area about 700 BC,
metalworking spread north and reached Mesoamerica around AD 1000. Because of the
insatiable demand for gold and silver on the part of Europeans during and after the
Conquest, most objects that were not buried or hidden were melted down by the Spanish
conquerors and exported to Spain as ingots6. Although iron and steel were unknown,
copper was widely worked and the alloying of bronze was discovered about AD 1000.
Tumbaga, an alloy of copper and gold, was used by the Incas. Many techniques were
4 A codex (Latin for block of wood, book; plural codices) is a book in the format used for modern books, with
separate pages normally bound together and given a cover.

5 An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel (conduit) constructed to convey water.

6 An ingot is a material, usually metal, that is cast into a shape suitable for further processing.

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used for working metal, including the cire perdue (lost-wax) process, soldering, and
repoussé or embossing. Metalwork was frequently engraved, gilded, or inlaid with
various stones and shells.

The majority of surviving pre-Columbian sculptures are clay figurines and effigy7 pots.
Pottery may have developed first in Colombia or Ecuador, and displaced baskets and
gourds8 as containers. Both hand-modelled and moulded pots and clay objects were made.
Decoration took the form of incised designs, carved or moulded reliefs, and various
techniques of painting and polishing. Although ceramics were sometimes decorated in
polychrome, most pottery was either painted in one or two colours or left unpainted.

Stone sculpture is found primarily in Mesoamerica and only occasionally in the Central
Andean area, a region in which metalworking developed earlier and was used more
extensively. Although metalworking technology was highly sophisticated, carving was
done with stone rather than metal tools; though innumerable bronze or copper tools and
implements have been found, none of them can cut even the softest stone.

Thus these people executed the most amazing sculptures in hard stone -rock crystal,
agate, jasper, jade and obsidian- with crude and rudimentary stone implements. Judging
by the amount of rock cut away, the relief of the sculptures and the accuracy of the
carvings, it is almost impossible to fully grasp the magnitude of their skill. There are
single blocks of stone, weighing many tons, fifteen feet by nine- ten feet large and nearly
three feet thick, which have been elaborately sculpted and formed into monolithic
gateways, with openings cut with great mathematical accuracy.()

There are immense buildings, such as temples, pyramids and underground chambers
whose entire façades have been covered with deeply cut, intricate carvings. There are also
ornamented idols and monuments, and human and animal figures carved from transparent
quartz, black obsidian, and even gemstones.

Archaeological excavations continue to reveal new examples of painted architectural

decoration. At Teotihuacán, in Mexico, both the interior and exterior walls of buildings
were covered with a thick plaster that was painted either with decorative patterns or with
narrative scenes. At Chichén Itzá, also in Mexico, the Maya painted their temple interiors
with realistic frescoes depicting historical events. ()

The refined painting and drawing abilities of many pre-Columbian peoples can be seen in
the pictographic writing in Maya and Aztec codices. The pages of these screen-fold
books, made from deerskin, vegetable fibres, or the bark of various trees, were covered
with colourful and meticulously drawn figures and symbols recording historical or semi-
mythological events. Codices were diligently destroyed during the 16th century by
Spanish missionaries, who saw them as instruments of evil. Among the few preserved, all
of which date from the Post-Classic period, are three Mayan codices (now in Dresden,
Paris, and Madrid) and some Aztec works.()

7 An 'effigy' is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture.

8 Hollow melon/ pumpkin shells

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Pre-Columbian painting also extended to the decoration of pottery. Maya ceramics

provide many of the finest examples of design and technique.

Many objects excavated at pre-Columbian sites are associated with burials and have a
utilitarian or ceremonial, rather than decorative, function. Even without the advantages of
even the most basic mechanized techniques, these objects, in their design and execution,
are equal to any of the finest examples of art in any part of the pre-industrial world.

The Maya, Aztec and Inca all wove textiles of hair, wool or fibres. Because of its
extremely dry climate, the Peruvian coast is the only region where major examples of
early pre-Columbian textiles have survived. Buried in desert tombs, especially on the
Paracas Peninsula, 2,500-year-old textiles have been perfectly preserved. Cotton was the
most common fibre used for weaving cloth, although in the Central Andean Area llama,
alpaca, and vicuña wool was also used. These materials were often coloured with mineral
and vegetable dyes. Patterns and images were created in the weaving itself, or by
painting, stamping, embroidering, and appliqué9. In Post-Classic Mesoamerica and Peru,
fabric was also made out of feathers; they were also woven into blankets or cloaks.

All three maintained large standing armies, well armed and trained, and constructed
remarkable forts and defences placed at strategic locations. They expanded by conquering
other tribes and collected tribute and taxes. The majority of their weapons were strikingly
alike in character. Bows and arrows, blow-guns10 and darts, wooden clubs (with or
without stone heads), axes, stone knifes, daggers and spears were common to all.
Although stone weapons were most familiar, these people also made use of bronze and
copper weapons.

9 An applique or appliqué is a smaller ornament or device applied to another surface.

10 A blowgun (also called a blowpipe or blow tube) is a simple weapon consisting of a small tube for firing
light projectiles, or darts. The wielder blows into one end, forcing the dart out the other.

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The Maya was a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed
written language of the pre-ColumbianAmericas, as well as its art, architecture, and
mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Preclassic period
(c. 2000 BC to 250 AD), many Maya cities reached their highest state of development
during the Classic period (c. 250 AD to 900 AD), and continued throughout the
Postclassic period until the arrival of the Conquistadors. At its peak, it was one of the
most densely populated and culturally dynamic societies in the world.

The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to
the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region.The
Mayan civilization fully developed writing, epigraphy, and the calendar. Maya influence
can be detected from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and to as far as central Mexico,
more than 1000 km (625 miles) from the Maya area. Many outside influences are found
in Maya art and architecture, which are thought to result from trade and cultural exchange
rather than direct external conquest. The Maya peoples never disappeared, neither at the
time of the Classic period decline nor with the arrival of the Conquistadors.

As the largest sub-region in Mesoamerica, the Mayan civilization encompassed a vast and
varied landscape, from the mountainous regions of the Sierra Madre to the semi-arid
plains of northern Yucatán. Climate in the Maya region can vary tremendously, as the
low-lying areas are particularly susceptible to the hurricanes and tropical storms that
frequent the Caribbean.

The Maya area is generally divided into three loosely defined zones: the southern Maya
highlands, the southern (or central) Maya lowlands, and the northern Maya lowlands.

These areas were initially inhabited around the 10th century BC.Time-withstanding
remnants of Mayan glory include monumental structures. The Maya calendar, which is
based around the so-called 'Mesoamerican Long Count calendar', commences on a date
equivalent to 11 August, 3114 BC. However, according to "accepted history" the first
clearly “Maya” settlements were established in approximately 1800 BC in Soconusco
region of the Pacific Coast. For many centuries it controlled the Jade and Obsidian
sources for the Petén and Pacific Lowlands. The important early sites of Izapa, Takalik
Abaj and Chocolá at around 600 BC were the main producers of Cacao. Mid-sized Maya
communities also began to develop in the northern Maya lowlands during the Middle and
Late Preclassic, though these lacked the size, scale, and influence of the large centers of
the southern lowlands.

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The Classic period (c. 250–900 AD) witnessed the peak of large-scale construction and
urbanism, the recording of monumental inscriptions, and a period of significant
intellectual and artistic development, particularly in the southern lowland regions. They
developed an agriculturally intensive, city-centered empire consisting of numerous
independent city-states. This includes the well-known cities of Tikal, Palenque, Copán
and Calakmul, and also the lesser known Dos Pilas,Uaxactun, Altun Ha, and Bonampak,
among others.

The most notable monuments are the stepped pyramids they built in their religious centers
and the accompanying palaces of their rulers. The palace at Cancuen is the largest in the
Maya area, though the site, interestingly, lacks pyramids. Other important archaeological
remains include the carved stone slabs usually called stelae (the Maya called them tetun,
or "tree-stones"), which depict rulers along with hieroglyphic texts describing their
genealogy, military victories, and other accomplishments.

The Maya civilization participated in long distance trade with many of the other
Mesoamerican cultures, including Teotihuacan, the Zapotec and other groups in central
and gulf-coast Mexico, as well as with more distant, non-Mesoamerican groups, for
example the Tainos in the Caribbean.Important trade goods included cacao, salt, sea
shells, jade and obsidian.

During the succeeding Postclassic period (from the 10th to the early 16th century),
development in the northern centers persisted, characterized by an increasing diversity of
external influences. The Maya cities of the northern lowlands in Yucatán continued to
flourish for centuries more for example Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Edzná, and Coba. After the
decline of the ruling dynasties of Chichen and Uxmal, Mayapan ruled all of Yucatán until
a revolt in 1450. (This city's name may be the source of the word "Maya", which had a
more geographically restricted meaning in Yucatec and colonial Spanish and only grew to
its current meaning in the 19th and 20th centuries). The area then degenerated into
competing city-states until the Yucatán was conquered by the Spanish.

Shortly after their first expeditions to the region, the Spanish initiated a number of
attempts to subjugate the Maya and establish a colonial presence in the Maya territories
of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan highlands. It took some 170 years before
the Spanish established substantive control over all Maya lands.

Unlike the Aztec and Inca Empires, there was no single Maya political center that, once
overthrown, would hasten the end of collective resistance from the indigenous peoples.
Instead, the conquistador forces needed to subdue the numerous independent Maya
polities almost one by one, many of which kept up a fierce resistance. Most of the

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conquistadors were motivated by the prospects of the great wealth to be had from the
seizure of precious metal resources such as gold or silver; however, the Maya lands
themselves were poor in these resources.

The Spanish Church and government officials destroyed Maya texts and with it the
knowledge of Maya writing but by chance three of the pre-Columbian books dated to the
post classic period have been preserved.The last Maya states, the Itza polity of Tayasal
and the Ko'woj city of Zacpeten, were continuously occupied and remained independent
of the Spanish until late in the 17th century. They were finally subdued by the Spanish in
1697.

A typical Classic Maya polity was a small hierarchical state (ajawil, ajawlel, or ajawlil)
headed by a hereditary ruler known as an ajaw (later k’uhul ajaw).Such kingdoms were
usually no more than a capital city with its neighborhood and several lesser towns,
although there were greater kingdoms, which controlled larger territories and extended
patronage over smaller polities. Each kingdom's identity was that of a political unit
associated with a particular ruling dynasty. Interestingly, 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 AD. In this respect,
Classic Maya kingdoms are highly similar to late Post Classic polities encountered by the
Spaniards in Yucatán and Central Mexico: some polities could be subordinated to
hegemonic rulers through conquests or dynastic unions and yet even then they persisted
as distinct entities.

Mayanists have been increasingly accepting a "court paradigm" of Classic Maya societies
which puts the emphasis on the centrality of the royal household and especially the
person of the king. This approach focuses on 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 power and social hierarchy, and also in
projecting aesthetic and moral values to define the wider social realm.

Even the largest Maya settlements were dispersed collections of dwellings grouped
around the temples and palaces of the ruling dynasty and lesser nobles. None of the
Classic Maya cities shows evidence of economic specialization and commerce of the
scale of Mexican Tenochtitlan. Instead, Maya cities could be seen as enormous royal
households, the locales of the administrative and ritual activities of the royal court. They
were the places where privileged nobles could approach the holy ruler, where aesthetic
values of the high culture were formulated and disseminated, where aesthetic items were
consumed. 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 Copan would cause the inevitable "death" of the associated settlement.

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Many consider Maya art of their Classic Era (c. 250 to 900 AD) to be the most
sophisticated and beautiful of the ancient New World. The carvings and the reliefs made
of stucco at Palenque and the statuary of Copán are especially fine, showing a grace and
accurate observation of the human form that reminded early archaeologists of Classical
civilizations of the Old World, hence the name bestowed on this era.The things that have
survived are mostly funerary pottery and other Maya ceramics, and a building at
Bonampak that holds ancient murals that survived by chance. A beautiful turquoise blue
color that has survived through the centuries due to its unique chemical characteristics is
known as Maya Blue or Azul maya, and it is present in Bonampak, TajínCacaxtla, Jaina,
and even in some Colonial Convents. The use of Maya Blue survived until the 16th
century when the technique was lost.With the decipherment of the Maya script it was
discovered that the Maya were one of the few civilizations where artists attached their
name to their work.

Maya architecture spans many thousands of years; yet, often the most dramatic and easily
recognizable as Maya are the stepped pyramids from the Terminal Pre-classic period and
beyond. There are also cave sites that are important to the Maya, like Jolja Cave, the cave
site at Naj Tunich, the Candelaria Caves, and the Cave of the Witch.

It has been suggested that temples and pyramids were remodeled and rebuilt every fifty-
two years in synchrony with the Maya Long Count Calendar. The rebuilding process was
often instigated by a new ruler or for political matters, as opposed to matching the
calendar cycle. However, the process of rebuilding on top of old structures is indeed a
common one. Most notably, the North Acropolis at Tikal seems to be the sum total of
1,500 years of architectural modifications. In Tikal andYaxhá, there are the Twin
Pyramid complexes (seven in Tikal and one in Yaxhá, that commemorate the end of a
Baktún). Through observation of the numerous consistent elements and stylistic
distinctions, remnants of Maya architecture have become key to understanding the
evolution of their ancient civilization.In the variety and quality of their architecture, the
Maya were unrivalled by any other pre-Columbian civilization. Mayan architecture is
characterized by an exquisite sense of proportion and design and by structural refinement
and subtle detailing. The Maya used sculpture more extensively for architectural
decoration than any other pre-Columbian civilization. The corbel arch was employed not
only to vault interior spaces, but also to construct free-standing arches. The Maya also
built paved roadways connecting major religious and administrative centres; these seem
to have been used mostly for ceremonial processions and to symbolize political links.

Mayan art is the most highly refined and elegant of any pre-Columbian civilization. It has
dignity and majesty, and is exuberant and sensual, with lavish ornamentation.

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Stelae with figurative carving and inscriptions are the most characteristic examples of the
monumental free-standing stone sculpture of the Maya. The most elaborate examples are
found at Copán, where the softness of the stone made possible Baroque flamboyance of
ornament. Most major sites have well-developed traditions of architectural relief panels in
stone, and at Palenque stucco was effectively used for reliefs.

The Maya mastered all known pre-Columbian art forms except metalworking. Although
no Mayan textiles remain, their character and decoration can be discerned from
representations in painting, figurines, and sculptures. Jade was skilfully carved, as were
wood, bone, and shell; in clay, however, the Maya excelled. Realistic figurines
(especially those from the island of Jaina) and polychrome pottery with mythological or
genre scenes (produced at Chama) are among the finest accomplishments of pre-
Columbian painted pottery.

Particularly fine examples of Mayan fresco painting have been found at Bonampak,
Palenque, and Tikal. The Maya also produced codices, with hieroglyphic script. Of the
surviving Mayan codices, the Dresden Codex (Sachsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden,
Germany) best illustrates the Maya's descriptive and formally dynamic use of line.

As Maya cities spread throughout the varied geography of Mesoamerica, site planning
appears to have been minimal. Maya architecture tended to integrate a great degree of
natural features, and their cities were built somewhat haphazardly as dictated by the
topography of each independent location. For instance, some cities on the flat limestone
plains of the northern Yucatán grew into great sprawling municipalities, while others built
in the hills of Usumacinta utilized the natural loft of the topography to raise their towers
and temples to impressive heights. However, some semblance of order, as required in any
large city, still prevailed.

Classic Era Maya urban design could easily be described as the division of space by great
monuments and causeways. Open public plazas were the gathering places for people and
the focus of urban design, while interior space was entirely secondary. Only in the Late
Post-Classic era did the great Maya cities develop into more fortress-like defensive
structures that lacked, for the most part, the large and numerous plazas of the Classic.

At the onset of large-scale construction during the Classic Era, a predetermined axis was
typically established in a cardinal direction. Depending on the location of natural
resources such as fresh-water wells, or cenotes, the city grew by using sacbeob
(causeways) to connect great plazas with the numerous platforms that created the sub-
structure for nearly all Maya buildings. As more structures were added and existing
structures re-built or remodeled, the great Maya cities seemed to take on an almost
random identity that contrasted sharply with other great Mesoamerican cities such as
Teotihuacan and its rigid grid-like construction.

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At the heart of the Maya city were large plazas surrounded by the most important
governmental and religious buildings, such as the royal acropolis, great pyramid temples
and occasionally ball-courts. Though city layouts evolved as nature dictated, careful
attention was placed on the directional orientation of temples and observatories so that
they were constructed in accordance with Maya interpretation of the orbits of the
heavenly bodies. Immediately outside of this ritual center were the structures of lesser
nobles, smaller temples, and individual shrines; the less sacred and less important
structures had a greater degree of privacy. Outside of the constantly evolving urban core
were the less permanent and more modest homes of the common people.

A surprising aspect of the great Maya structures is their lack of many advanced
technologies seemingly necessary for such constructions. Lacking draft animals necessary
for wheel-based modes of transportation, metal tools and even pulleys, Maya architecture
required abundant manpower. Yet, beyond this enormous requirement, the remaining
materials seem to have been readily available. All stone for Maya structures appears to
have been taken from local quarries. They most often used limestone which remained
pliable enough to be worked with stone tools while being quarried and only hardened
once removed from its bed. In addition to the structural use of limestone, much of their
mortar consisted of crushed, burnt and mixed limestone that mimicked the properties of
cement and was used as widely for stucco finishing as it was for mortar. Later
improvements in quarrying techniques reduced the necessity for this limestone-stucco as
the stones began to fit quite perfectly, yet it remained a crucial element in some post and
lintel roofs. In the case of the common Maya houses, wooden poles,adobe and thatch
were the primary materials; however, instances of what appear to be common houses of
limestone have been discovered as well. Also notable throughout Maya architecture is the
corbel arch(also known as a "false arch"), which allowed for more open-aired entrances.
The corbelled arch improved upon pier/post and lintel doorways by directing the weight
off of the lintel and onto the supporting posts.

Notable constructions

Ceremonial platforms were commonly limestone platforms of typically less than four
meters in height where public ceremonies and religious rites were performed. Constructed
in the fashion of a typical foundation platform, these were often accented by carved
figures, altars and perhaps tzompantli, a stake used to display the heads of victims or
defeated Mesoamerican ballgame opponents.

Palaces were large and often highly decorated, and usually sat close to the center of a city
and housed the population's elite. Any exceedingly large royal palace, or one consisting
of many chambers on different levels might be referred to as an acropolis. However, often
these were one-story and consisted of many small chambers and typically at least one

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interior courtyard; these structures appear to take into account the needed functionality
required of a residence, as well as the decoration required for their inhabitants stature.

E-Groups are specific structural configurations present at a number of centers in the Maya
area. These complexes are oriented and aligned according to specific astronomical events
(primarily the sun’s solstices and equinoxes) and are thought to have been observatories.
These structures are usually accompanied by iconographic reliefs that tie astronomical
observation into general Maya mythology. The structural complex is named for Group E
at Uaxactun, the first documented in Mesoamerica.

Pyramids and temples. Often the most important religious temples sat atop the towering
Maya pyramids, presumably as the closest place to the heavens. While recent discoveries
point toward the extensive use of pyramids as tombs, the temples themselves seem to
rarely, if ever, contain burials. Residing atop the pyramids, some of over two-hundred
feet, such as that at El Mirador, the temples were impressive and decorated structures
themselves. Commonly topped with a roof comb, or superficial grandiose wall, these
temples might have served as a type of propaganda. As they were often the only structure
in a Maya city to exceed the height of the surrounding jungle, the roof combs atop the
temples were often carved with representations of rulers that could be seen from vast
distances.

Observatories. The Maya were keen astronomers and had mapped out the phases of
celestial objects, especially the Moon and Venus. Many temples have doorways and other
features aligning to celestial events. Round temples, often dedicated to Kukulcan, are
perhaps those most often described as "observatories" by modern ruin tour-guides, but
there is no evidence that they were so used exclusively, and temple pyramids of other
shapes may well have been used for observation as well.

Ball courts. As an integral aspect of the Mesoamerican lifestyle, the courts for their ritual
ball-game were constructed throughout the Maya realm and often on a grand scale.
Enclosed on two sides by stepped ramps that led to ceremonial platforms or small
temples, the ball court itself was of a capital "I" shape and could be found in all but the
smallest of Maya cities.

The Maya writing system was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is
most often classified as alogographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in
which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only writing system of the Pre-
Columbian New World which is known to completely represent the spoken language of
its community. In total, the script has more than a thousand different glyphs, although a
few are variations of the same sign or meaning, and many appear only rarely or are
confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than around 500 glyphs were in
use, some 200 of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.

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The earliest inscriptions in an identifiably-Maya script date back to 200–300 BC.In the
succeeding centuries the Maya developed their script into a form which was far more
complete and complex than any other that has yet been found in the Americas.

Since its inception, the Maya script was in use up to the arrival of the Europeans, peaking
during the Maya Classical Period (c. 200 to 900). Although many Maya centers went into
decline (or were completely abandoned) during or after this period, the skill and
knowledge of Maya writing persisted amongst segments of the population, and the early
Spanish conquistadors knew of individuals who could still read and write the script.
Unfortunately, the Spanish displayed little interest in it, and as a result of the dire impacts
the conquest had on Maya societies, the knowledge was subsequently lost, probably
within only a few generations.

At a rough estimate, in excess of 10,000 individual texts have so far been recovered,
mostly inscribed on stone monuments, lintels, stelae and ceramic pottery. The Maya also
produced texts painted on a form of paper manufactured from processed tree-bark, in
particular from several species of strangler fig trees such as Ficus cotinifolia and Ficus
padifolia.This paper, common throughout Mesoamerica and generally now known by its
Nahuatl-language name amatl, was typically bound as a single continuous sheet that was
folded into pages of equal width, concertina-style, to produce a codex that could be
written on both sides. Shortly after the conquest, all of the codices which could be found
were ordered to be burnt and destroyed by zealous Spanish priests. Only three reasonably
intact examples of Maya codices are known to have survived through to the present day.
These are now known as the Madrid, Dresden, and Paris codices.

The decipherment and recovery of the now-lost knowledge of Maya writing has been a
long and laborious process. Some elements were first deciphered in the late 19th and
early 20th century, mostly the parts having to do with numbers, the Maya calendar, and
astronomy. Major breakthroughs came starting in the 1950s to 1970s, and accelerated
rapidly thereafter. By the end of the 20th century, scholars were able to read the majority
of Maya texts to a large extent, and recent field work continues to further illuminate the
content.

Most surviving pre-Columbian Maya writing is from stelae and other stone inscriptions
from Maya sites, many of which were already abandoned before the Spanish arrived. The
inscriptions on the stelae mainly record the dynasties and wars of the sites' rulers. Also of
note are the inscriptions that reveal information about the lives of ancient Maya women.
Much of the remainder of Maya hieroglyphics has been found on funeral pottery, most of
which describes the afterlife.

Although the archaeological record does not provide examples, Maya art shows that
writing was done with brushes made with animal hair and quills. Codex-style writing was

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usually done in black ink with red highlights, giving rise to the Aztec name for the Maya
territory as the "land of red and black".

Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts. 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 inkpots. Although the number of logograms and
syllabic symbols required to fully write the language numbered in the hundreds, literacy
was not necessarily widespread beyond the elite classes. Graffiti uncovered in various
contexts, including on fired bricks, shows nonsensical attempts to imitate the writing
system.

In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya used a base 20
(vigesimal) and base 5 numbering system. Also, the preclassic Maya and their neighbors
independently developed the concept of zero by 36 BC. Inscriptions show them on
occasion working with sums up to the hundreds of millions and dates so large it would
take several lines just to represent it. They produced extremely accurate astronomical
observations; their charts of the movements of the moon and planets are equal or superior
to those of any other civilization working from naked eye observation.

In common with the other Mesoamerican civilizations, the Maya had measured the length
of the solar year to a high degree of accuracy, far more accurately than that used in
Europe as the basis of the Gregorian Calendar. They did not use this figure for the length
of year in their calendars, however; the calendars they used were crude, being based on a
year length of exactly 365 days, which means that the calendar falls out of step with the
seasons by one day every four years. By comparison, the Julian calendar, used in Europe
from Roman times until about the 16th Century, accumulated an error of only one day
every 128 years. The modern Gregorian calendar is even more accurate, accumulating
only a day's error in approximately 3257 years.

Like the Aztec and Inca who came to power later, the Maya believed in a cyclical nature
of time. The rituals and ceremonies were very closely associated with celestial and
terrestrial cycles which they observed and inscribed as separate calendars. The Maya
priest had the job of interpreting these cycles and giving a prophetic outlook on the future
or past based on the number relations of all their calendars. They also had to determine if
the "heavens" or celestial matters were appropriate for performing certain religious
ceremonies.

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The Maya practiced human sacrifice. In some Maya rituals people were killed by having
their arms and legs held while a priest cut the person's chest open and tore out his heart as
an offering. This is depicted on ancient objects such as pictorial texts, known as codices.
It is believed that children were often offered as sacrificial victims because they were
believed to be pure.

Much of the Maya religious tradition is still not understood by scholars, but it is known
that the Maya, like most pre-modern societies, believed that the cosmos has three major
planes, the underworld, the sky, and the Earth.

The Maya underworld is reached through caves and ball courts.It was thought to be
dominated by the aged Maya gods of death and putrefaction. The Sun (Kinich Ahau) and
Itzamna, an aged god, dominated the Maya idea of the sky. Another aged man, God L
was one of the major deities of the underworld.

The night sky was considered a window showing all supernatural doings. The Maya
configured constellations of gods and places, saw the unfolding of narratives in their
seasonal movements, and believed that the intersection of all possible worlds was in the
night sky.

The life-cycle of maize lies at the heart of Maya belief.

The Mayan creation MYTH:

how the world was created- three divine creatures in the form of water dwelling
feathered serpents decided to create humans to keep them company. First they tried to
make them out of mud, but that didn’t work. Next they used wood, but that also proved
unsuccessful. Finally, ‘true people’ were modelled out of maize.This shows importance
and dependence of Mayans on crops, particularly maize.

Among the many types of Maya calendars which were maintained, the most important
included a 260-day cycle, a 365-day cycle which approximated the solar year, a cycle
which recorded lunation periods of the Moon, and a cycle which tracked the synodic
period of Venus.

Philosophically, the Maya believed that knowing the past meant knowing the cyclical
influences that create the present, and by knowing the influences of the present one can
see the cyclical influences of the future.

The ancient Maya had diverse and sophisticated methods of food production. It is
believed that permanent raised fields, terracing, forest gardens, managed fallows, and
wild harvesting were crucial to supporting the large populations of the Classic period in
some areas. Indeed, evidence of these different agricultural systems persist today: raised

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fields connected by canals can be seen on aerial photographs, contemporary rainforest

species composition has significantly higher abundance of species of economic value to
ancient Maya, and pollen records in lake sediments suggest that corn, manioc,sunflower
seeds, cotton, and other crops have been cultivated in association with the deforestation in
Mesoamerica since at least 2500 BC.

Contemporary Maya peoples still practice many traditional forms of agriculture, although
they are dynamic systems and change with changing population pressures, cultures,
economic systems, climate change, and the availability of synthetic fertilizers and
pesticides

The Maya appear to be the only pre-telescopic civilization to demonstrate knowledge of

the Orion Nebula as being fuzzy, i.e. not a stellar pin-point.

The Maya were very interested in zenial passages, the time when the sun passes directly
overhead. The latitude of most of their cities being below the Tropic of Cancer, these
zenial passages would occur twice a year equidistant from the solstice. The maya even
had a God to represent the position of the Sun overhead.

The Dresden Codex contains the highest concentration of astronomical phenomena

observations and calculations of any of the surviving texts (the data in this codex is
primarily or exclusively of an astronomical nature). Examination and analysis of this
codex reveals that Venus was the most important astronomical object to the Maya, even
more important to them than the sun.

Spanish clergy and administrators dating to the 16th century were largely familiar with
ancient Maya sites, writing and calendar systems. These spurred serious investigations of
Maya sites by the late 18th century.In 1839 United States traveler and writer John Lloyd
Stephens, familiar with earlier Spanish investigations, visited and rediscovered Copán,
Palenque, and other sites with English architect Frederick Catherwood.

In many locations, Maya ruins have been overgrown by the jungle, becoming dense
enough to hide structures just a few meters away. To help find ruins, researchers have
turned to satellite imagery. The best way to find them is to look at the visible and near-
infrared spectra. Due to their limestone construction, the monuments affected the
chemical makeup of the soil as they deteriorated.The effects of the limestone ruins are
still apparent today to some satellite sensors.

Much of the contemporary rural population of theYucatán Peninsula, Chiapas (both in

Mexico),Guatemala and Belize is Maya by descent and primary language.

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There are hundreds of significant Maya sites, and thousands of smaller ones. The largest
and most historically important include:

Cancuén

Chichen Itza

Coba

Comalcalco

Copán

Dos Pilas

Kalakmul

El Mirador

Nakbé

Naranjo

Palenque

Piedras Negras

Quiriguá

Seibal

Tikal

Uaxactún

Uxmal

Yaxh

For reasons that are still debated, the Maya centers of the southern lowlands went into
decline during the 8th and 9th centuries and were abandoned shortly thereafter. This
decline was coupled with a cessation of monumental inscriptions and large-scale
architectural construction. Although there is no universally accepted theory to explain this
“collapse,” current theories fall into two categories: non-ecological and ecological.

Non-ecological theories of Maya decline are divided into several subcategories, such as
overpopulation, foreign invasion, peasant revolt, and the collapse of key trade routes.
Ecological hypotheses include environmental disaster, epidemic disease, and climate
change. There is evidence that the Maya population exceeded carrying capacity of the
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environment including exhaustion of agricultural potential and overhunting of

megafauna.Some scholars have recently theorized that an intense 200 year drought led to
the collapse of Maya civilization.

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The last major Mesoamerican civilization was that of the Aztec, who were also called
Mexica (from which the name Mexico is derived). Between 1428 and 1521 the Aztec
produced and collected as imperial tribute artefacts that constitute some of the finest
examples of pre-Columbian art surviving to this day.

At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, now the site of
Mexico City, was possibly the largest and one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Built in Lake Texcoco on natural islands and artificial islands called chinampas,
Tenochtitlán was similar in concept to the Italian city of Venice. The streets were
primarily canals, and boats were the major form of transport. Today, the central plaza of
Mexico City overlies the main Aztec ceremonial centre. Recent excavations in the Aztec
Templo Mayor by Mexican archaeologists have yielded some of the most spectacular
archaeological discoveries of this century in Mexico.

The Aztec produced monumental free-standing stone sculpture. In this sculpture the
Aztec were capable of abstraction, as well as a realism that reveals both the internal and
external character of the deity, person, or animal portrayed. Much Aztec stone sculpture
was used for architectural decoration and representations of deities; it was also employed
for human sacrificial altars, cuauhxicalli (containers for human hearts and blood),
calendar stones, and other major ceremonial objects.

In execution and conception the codices produced by the Aztec are of an extremely high
quality. Only a few survived the destruction of the Aztec libraries by Spanish
missionaries during the 16th century.

According to their own history, when the Mexicas arrived in the Anahuac valley (Valley
of Mexico) around Lake Texcoco, the groups living there considered them uncivilized.
The Mexicas borrowed much of their culture from the ancient Toltec whom they seem to
have at least partially confused with the more ancient civilization of Teotihuacan. To the
Mexicas, the Toltecs were the originators of all culture; "Toltecayotl" was a synonym for
culture. Mexica legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl with the
mythical city of Tollan, which they also identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan.

The center of the Aztec civilization was the Valley of Mexico, a huge, oval basin about
7,500 feet above sea level. The Aztec empire included many cities and towns, especially
in the Valley of Mexico. The largest city in the empire was the capital, Tenochtitlan.

The early settlers built log rafts, then covered them with mud and planted seeds to create
roots and develop more solid land for building homes in this marshy land. Canals were
also cut out through the marsh so that a typical Aztec home had its back to a canal with a
canoe tied at the door.

The story of the Aztecs' rise to power is awe inspiring one, and is one of the most
remarkable stories in world history. They were a relatively unknown group of people who
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came into the Valley of Mexico during the 12th and 13th century A.D., and rose to be the
greatest power in the Americas by the time the Spaniards arrived, in the 16th century.

Little is known of the earliest Aztecs, they did not keep a written record. Their history
was passed on by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Legend has it that they
came from an Island called Aztlan, meaning White Place - Place of Herons.

In the Aztec codex Tira de la Peregrinacion, commonly called the Migration Scrolls. The
scrolls have the Aztecs leaving Aztlan, which was described as an island in a lake with
Chicomoztoc depicted as seven temples in the center of the island. The Aztecs felt they
were the "chosen people" of Huitzilopochtli. The Aztecs believed Huitzilopochtli their
war god was their protector, how had them search for their promised land.

Sometime during the 12th & 13th century the Aztecs straggled into the Valley of Mexico,
led by their chieftain Tenoch. They were a poor, ragged people who survived on vermin,
snakes, and stolen food. They were hatred and rejected by all the surrounding inhabitants
of the valley, for their barbarous and uncultured habits. They were driven from one
location to another. Early in the 14th century, Huitzilopochtli told Tenoch to lead his
people to a place of refuge on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco. When they reached their
destination, they were to look for an eagle perched on a cactus, growing from a rock or
cave surrounded by water. At that location, they were to build their city and honor
Huitzilopochtli with human sacrifices. The city they built was called Tenochtitlan, the
city of Tenoch.

In the beginning stages of Tenochtitlan, development, Aztec life was very difficult in
their undesirable location. Tenochtitlan was located on a marshy island with limited
resources, they built a few thatch and mud huts, and some small temples. The Aztecs
would have to work constantly to maintain a city on swampy land. There was also
continuing tensions between the Aztecs and the neighboring peoples on the mainland who
despised them. Despite these obstacles, the Aztecs worked hard to improve the quality of
their lives. They adopted an agricultural system of farming called the Chinampas. and in a
short period of time, the land was transformed into a fertile and highly productive island.

As the Aztec empire expanded, specialized craftsmen and common laborers were brought
to Tenochtitlan to expand the city. Since it was built on swamp land, large wooden stakes
were driven into the soft ground to provide secure foundations for the new buildings.
They were able to use the stone Tezontli to construct the buildings on the unstable
ground. Despite these precautions, the larger temples and palaces would often sink below
ground level. As a result, the older building were continuously repaired or rebuilt with the
newer structures built over the older core.

By 1376, the Aztecs knew that they had to select a emperor of royal lineage, to gain
respect of their neighbors. With political genius, they chose a man by the name of
Acamapichtli as their emperor. He was related to the last rulers of Culhuacan, and his
lineage extended back in time to the great Toltec ruler Quetzalcoatl. With the selection of

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Acamapichtli as the Aztecs first true emperor, their were able to claim descendancy from
the great Toltecs.

During the 15th century the military strength of the Aztecs increased. They grew from a
small tribe of mercenaries into a powerful and highly disciplined military force. They also
formed alliances with their powerful neighbors Texcoco and Tacuba, known as the Triple
Alliance. It was a time for building and the city Tenochtitlan grow and prospered.

By the end of Tenochtitlans rule, in 1520, 38 conquered tributary provinces had been
made, who had to make payments. However, some of the tribes at the borders stayed
strongly independent. This made it easy for the Spanish captain, Cortez to defeat them. In
1521, in what is probably the most widely known episode in the Spanish colonization of
the Americas, Hernan Cortes, along with a large number of Nahuatl speaking indigenous
allies, conquered Tenochtitlan and defeated the Aztec Triple Alliance under the
leadership of Hueyi Tlatoani Moctezuma II in the series of events often referred to as
"The Fall of the Aztec Empire". Subsequently the Spanish founded the new settlement of
Mexico City on the site of the ruined Aztec capital.

The city of Tenochtitlan was built according to a fixed plan and centered on the ritual
precinct, where the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan rose 50 m above the city. Houses were
made of wood and loam, roofs were made of reed, although pyramids, temples and
palaces were generally made of stone.

Around the island, chinampa beds were used to grow foodstuffs as well as, over time, to
increase the size of the island. Chinampas, misnamed "floating gardens", were long raised
plant beds set upon the shallow lake bottom. They were a very efficient agricultural
system and could provide up to seven crops a year. On the basis of current chinampa
yields, it has been estimated that 1 hectare of chinampa would feed 20 individuals and
9,000 hectares of chinampas could feed 180,000.

Since the land was not a great place to grow crops, the Aztecs were forced to work
around this fact, which they did very well. Most of the citizens who lived in Tenochtitlan
held jobs which were not associated with food. The residents of the metropolis made
crafts, preached their religion, traded with other civilizations, or became part of the
government. The Spaniards and other nations were amazed with the sheer quality of the
city and its residents, so therefore traded much with them. The Aztecs received nearly all
of their food from foreign trade.

The principal food of the Aztec was a thin cornmeal pancake called a tlaxcalli. (In
Spanish, it is called a tortilla.) They used the tlaxcallis to scoop up foods while they ate or
they wrapped the foods in the tlaxcalli to form tacos. They hunted for most of the meat in
their diet and the chief game animals were deer, rabbits, ducks and geese. The only
animals they raised for meat were turkeys and dogs.

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The Aztecs have been credited with the discovery of chocolate. The Aztecs made
chocolate from the fruit of the cacao tree and used it as a flavoring and as an ingredient in
various beverages and kinds of confectionery.

Song and poetry were highly regarded; there were presentations and poetry contests at
most of the Aztec festivals. There were also dramatic presentations that included players,
musicians and acrobats.

Anthropologist Eduardo Noguera estimates the population at 200,000 based in the house
count and merging the population of Tlatelolco (once an independent city, but later
became a suburb of Tenochtitlan). If one includes the surrounding islets and shores
surrounding Lake Texcoco, estimates range from 300,000 to 700,000 inhabitants.

There were four huge dikes all going out from the center of the city to separate docks and
small islands. These four dikes made up four quadrants in the city. Each of the quadrants
contains housing developments, and what were known as "floating gardens". The houses
were painted white with adobe roofs. The reason the houses were painted white was so
the light would reflect of them and keep the inhabitants living in the house cool.The
houses were also packed tightly together to make the only time when the sun would beam
down on them high noon.

The center of Tenochtitlan was made up of many temples, the most important one being
the Main Temple, palaces, pyramids, and a great plaza. The center was roughly five-
hundred and fifty square yards, but seemed much bigger because everything was packed
so tightly together. There were close to a dozen temples in the center, but the most
important one, the Main Temple was dedicated to rain god Tlaloc and sun god
Huitzilopochtli, whom the Aztecs considered their protector. There were also many
palaces and pyramids. The palaces were dedicated to the kings and nobles, and the
pyramids were made for sacrifices.

In this famous city, the government controlled and were responsible to deal with taxes,
punishment, famine, and market trading. Punishment in the city of Tenochtitlan was
enforced for breaking any of the code of government laws. Offenders were enslaved into
tedious work conditions for a specific amount of time. If the offense happened to be
minor, the law-breaker was charged with a string of fees or fines. This type of governing
system is only one of the many things that affected aspects of everyday life for the
Aztecs. The crime rate was extremely low, and it was almost impossible to find waste in
the city. The city's inhabitants were smart, and loyal to the city. The structures were
amazing, including the Main Temple, the Great Pyramid, and many famous palaces. The
Aztecs worked around things that were hard to come by, like food. Instead they
maintained other jobs and traded with foreign countries. Everything about Tenochtitlan
was wonderful, and the city stands out as one of the greatest empire of all time.

The Aztecs of Tenochtitlan though it necessary to nourish the deities with human hearts,
because if not, then the sun would not come up daily, or there would be an enormous

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drought. The people mostly used prisoners of war for their sacrifices. The main place of
sacrifice was the Great Pyramid. It had one-hundred and fourteen steps, and added to the
magnificent beauty of the city. The Plaza was in the dead center of the city, and was
whitewashed. It had no litter whatsoever, and great walls surrounding it. The Plaza and all
of these structures make the center look like a thing of beauty.

Poetry was the only occupation worthy of an Aztec warrior in times of peace. A
remarkable amount of this poetry survives, having been collected during the era of the
conquest. In some cases poetry is attributed to individual authors, such as
Nezahualcoyotl, tlatoani of Texcoco, and Cuacuauhtzin, Lord of Tepechpan, but whether
these attributions reflect actual authorship is a matter of opinion. Miguel Leon-Portilla, a
well-respected Aztec scholar of Mexico, has stated that it is in this poetry where we can
find the real thought of the Aztecs, independent of "official" Aztec ideology.

The Aztec people also enjoyed a type of dramatic presentation, a kind of theatre. Some
plays were comical with music and acrobats, others were staged dramas of their gods.
After the conquest, the first Christian churches had open chapels reserved for these kinds
of representations.

Plays in Nahuatl, written by converted Indians, were an important instrument for the
conversion to Christianity, and are still found today in the form of traditional pastorelas,
which are played during Christmas to show the Adoration of Baby Jesus, and other
Biblical passages.Music and dance formed an essential part of the indigenous rites and
ceremonies.

The Aztec sculptures which adorned their temples and other buildings were among the
most elaborate in all of the Americas. Their purpose was to please the gods and they
attempted to do that in everything they did. Many of the sculptures reflected their
perception of their gods and how they interacted in their lives. The most famous surviving
Aztec sculpture is the large circular Calendar Stone, which represents the Aztec universe.

There are few extant Aztec codices created before the conquest and these are largely
ritual texts. Post-conquest codices, like Codex Mendoza or Codex Rios, were painted by
Aztec tlacuilos (codex creators), but under the control of Spanish authorities.

The Aztec economy can be divided into a political sector, under the control of nobles and
kings, and a commercial sector that operated independently of the political sector.

The political sector of the economy centered on the control of land and labor by kings and
nobles. Nobles owned all land, and commoners got access to farmland and other fields
through a variety of arrangements, from rental through sharecropping to serf-like labor
and slavery. These payments from commoners to nobles supported both the lavish
lifestyles of the high nobility and the finances of city-states. Many luxury goods were
produced for consumption by nobles. The producers of featherwork, sculptures, jewelry,
and other luxury items were full-time commoner specialists who worked for noble
patrons.
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In the commercial sector of the economy several types of money were in regular use.
Small purchases were made with cacao beans, which had to be imported from lowland
areas. In Aztec marketplaces, a small rabbit was worth 30 beans, a turkey egg cost 3
beans, and a tamal cost a single bean. For larger purchases, standardized lengths of cotton
cloth called quachtli were used. There were different grades of quachtli, ranging in value
from 65 to 300 cacao beans. One source stated that 20 quachtli could support a commoner
for one year in Tenochtitlan. A man could also sell his own daughter as a sexual slave or
future religious sacrifice, generally for around 500 to 700 beans.

A small gold statue (approximately 0.62 kg / 1.37 lb) cost 250 beans. Money was used
primarily in the many periodic markets that were held in each town. A typical town
would have a weekly market (every 5 days), while larger cities held markets every day.
Cortes reported that the central market of Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan's sister city, was visited
by 60,000 people daily. Some sellers in the markets were petty vendors; farmers might
sell some of their produce, potters sold their vessels, and so on. Other vendors were
professional merchants who traveled from market to market seeking profits. The pochteca
were specialized merchants organized into exclusive guilds. They made lengthy
expeditions to all parts of Mesoamerica, and they served as the judges and supervisors of
the Tlatelolco market. Although the economy of Aztec Mexico was commercialized (in
its use of money, markets, and merchants), it was not "a capitalist economy because land
and labor were not commodities for sale."

The Mexicas were especially interested in education. Boys and girls were carefully
educated from birth. During the first years of life, fathers educated boys, while mothers
took care of girls. Once family education was over, the children of the nobles and priests
went to the calmecac, and all others went to the tepochcalli. The Aztecs believed that
education was extremely valuable and insisted that boys, girls and young people attend
school. There were two main types of school, the so-called tepochcalli and the calm-cac.
Boys and girls went to both, but were kept separate from each other.

Precolumbian Aztec society was the highly complex and stratified society that developed
among the Aztecs of central Mexico in the centuries prior to the Spanish conquest of
Mexico, and which were built on the cultural foundations of the larger region of
Mesoamerica.

Politically the society was based around the independent citystate, called an "Altepetl",
composed of smaller divisions called Calpulli, which were again normally composed of
one or more extended kinship groups. Socially the society depended on a rather strict
division between nobles and free commoners both groups which were divided into
elaborate hierarchies of social status, responsibilities and power. Economically the
society was dependent on agriculture and also to a large extent warfare, other
economically important factors was commerce, long distance and local, and a high degree
of trade specialization. Recreation was important.

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In Aztec society, warriors, priests, and the nobility were considered to be among the most
respected in the Aztecan social hierarchy Because of the Aztecs' emphasis on warfare, the
warrior class was highly valued, and often warriors would volunteer for the most
important Aztec sacrificial rituals.

The long distance traders also enjoyed considerable privileges and often served the
government as ambassadors and spies. The most outstanding artisans, physicians and
truly wise teachers were also highly respected.

The Aztec society was divided into 3 classes: slaves, commoners, and nobility.

The highest class were the pipiltin or nobility. Originally this status was not hereditary,
although the sons of pillis had access to better resources and education, so it was easier
for them to become pillis. Later the class system took on hereditary aspects.

The nobilities were the people who were nobles by birth, priests, and those who earned
their rank. The very highest social sphere was occupied by a minority of families known
as the pipiltin. These people were members of the hereditary nobility and occupied the
top positions in the government, the army and the priesthood. The nobles chose a
supreme leader known as the tlatoani from within their own group; in Nahuatl this name
means he that speaks. This leader was greatly revered and ruled until his death.

The second class were the 'macehualtin', originally peasants. Eduardo Noguera estimates
that in later stages only 20% of the population was dedicated to agriculture and food
production. The other 80% of society were warriors, artisans and traders. Eventually,
most of the macehuallis were dedicated to arts and crafts. Their works were an important
source of income for the city.

The most numerous social group was known as the macehualtin; these people were
engaged in agriculture and the common trades. Although they worked the land in family
units and were allowed to kept their produce, the land itself was collectively owned by
the inhabitants of the neighborhood or calpulli. Commoners were given lifetime
ownership of an area of land. The lowest group of commoners were not allowed to own
property. They were tenant farmers, they just got to use the land and never be owners.

The lower social orders were made up by peasants, who like the European serfs, were
attached to the lands owned by the nobility and were obliged to cultivate them in
exchange for part of the harvest.

Slaves or tlacotin also constituted an important class. Aztecs could become slaves
because of debts, as a criminal punishment or as war captives. A slave could have
possessions and even own other slaves. However, upon becoming a slave, all of the
slave's animals and excess money would go to his purchaser. Slaves could buy their
liberty, and slaves could be set free if they had children with or were married to their
masters. Typically, upon the death of the master, slaves who had performed outstanding
services were freed. The rest of the slaves were passed on as part of an inheritance.
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Traveling merchants called pochtecah were a small, but important class as they not only
facilitated commerce, but also communicated vital information across the empire and
beyond its borders. They were often employed as spies.

This slavery was very different from what Europeans of the same period were to establish
in their colonies, although it had much in common with the slaves of classical antiquity.
(Sahagun doubts the appropriateness even of the term "slavery" for this Aztec institution.)
First, slavery was personal, not hereditary: a slave's children were free. A slave could
have possessions and even own other slaves. Slaves could buy their liberty, and slaves
could be set free if they were able to show they had been mistreated or if they had
children with or were married to their masters.

Several pages from the Codex Mendoza list tributary towns along with the goods they
supplied, which included not only luxuries such as feathers, adorned suits, and greenstone
beads, but more practical goods such as cloth, firewood, and food. Tribute was usually
paid twice or four times a year at differing times.

Archaeological excavations in the Aztec-ruled provinces show that incorporation into the
empire had both costs and benefits for provincial peoples. On the positive side, the
empire promoted commerce and trade, and exotic goods from obsidian to bronze
managed to reach the houses of both commoners and nobles. Trade partners included the
enemy Tarascan, a source of bronze tools and jewelry. On the negative side, imperial
tribute imposed a burden on commoner households, who had to increase their work to pay
their share of tribute. Nobles, on the other hand, often made out well under imperial rule
because of the indirect nature of imperial organization. The empire had to rely on local
kings and nobles and offered them privileges for their help in maintaining order and
keeping the tribute flowing. The Aztecs had 3 basic crafts: metal work, feather work, and
music. The metal workers had no iron so they used copper, gold, and silver.

The main contribution of the Aztec rule was a system of communications between the
conquered cities. In Mesoamerica, without draft animals for transport (nor, as a result,
wheeled vehicles), the roads were designed for travel on foot. Usually these roads were
maintained through tribute, and travelers had places to rest and eat and even latrines to
use at regular intervals, roughly every 10 or 15 km. Couriers (paynani) were constantly
travelling along those ways, keeping the Aztecs informed of events, and helping to
monitor the integrity of the roads. Due to the steady surveillance, even women could
travel alone, a fact that amazed the Spaniards, as that was not at all possible in Europe
since the time of the Romans. After the conquest those roads were no longer subject to
maintenance and were lost.

Due to the aspirations of conquest and the religious beliefs of the Mexicas, war was a
very important activity. The Mexicas believed that the gods had sacrificed themselves for
mankind, that their blood had given man life, and that the Sun was nourished with the
blood of human hearts. This belief led them to sacrifice many prisoners at their temples.

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Some people were able to resist the Aztecs; the most powerful of these were the
Tlaxaltecas and the Purepechas.

The people were completely prepared for war and great emphasis was placed on the
creation of codexes and on the interpretation of the calendars, since both activities were
essential to religion and community life.

The administration of Tenochtitlan and its foreign provinces required a great deal of
paperwork. Taxes had to be collected, lawsuits between villages or private individuals
had all to be recorded, and the merchants kept accounts of their goods and profits.

Instructions and reports passed to and fro between the capital and the outlying cities, and
like any civilized people of today the Mexicans were familiar with both red tape and
official correspondence. The clans maintained land registers, and when Cortes reached
Tenochtitlan he had no trouble in procuring from the royal archive a map showing all the
rivers and bays along a 400-mile stretch of the north coast.

In addition each temple owned a library of religious and astrological works, while a large
private household, like that of Moctezuma, employed a full-time steward to look after the
accounts which were so many that they filled an entire house. Ixtiuxochiti, a brother of
the last native ruler of Texcoco, has left this account in the prologue to his Historia
Chichimeca.

They had scribes for each branch of knowledge. Some dealt with the annals, putting down
in order the things. which happened each year, giving the day, month, and hour. Others
had charge of the genealogies, recording the lineage of rulers, lords and noblemen,
registering the newborn and deleting those who had died.

Some painted the frontiers, limits, and boundary markers of the cities, provinces and
villages, and also the distribution of fields, whose they were and to whom they belonged.
Other scribes kept the law books and those dealing with the rites and ceremonies which
they practiced when they were infidels.

The priests recorded all matters to do with the temples and images, with their idolatrous
doctrines, the festivals of their false gods, and their calendars.

And finally, the philosophers and learned men which there were among them were
charged with painting all the sciences which they had discovered, and with teaching by
memory all the songs in which were embodied their scientific knowledge and historical
traditions.

In the law courts, especially those dealing with land and property rights, the disputants
supported their claims with genealogies and maps, showing the king's land in purple, the
lords' in red, and the clan fields in yellow.

Of this mass of paperwork hardly anything remains, and nearly all the surviving books
from the Aztec homeland are of post-Conquest date.
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Some are copies of earlier works, while others are written in Aztec script with Spanish or
Nahuati commentaries in European letters.

The best collection of preConquest books comes from Oaxaca, the land of the Mixtecs,
where more than a dozen examples have been preserved.

Each book, or codex, consists of a strip, anything up to 13 yards in length and some 6-7
inches high, made of paper, maguey cloth, or deer skin, and folded in zigzag or concertina
fashion like a modern map, so that wherever the user opened it he was confronted by two
pages.

The ends of the strip were glued to thin plaques of wood which served as covers and were
some-times decorated with paintings or with discs of turquoise. Both sides of the strip
were covered with writing and pictures, and the individual pages were divided into
sections by red or black lines.

Each page was normally read from top to bottom, though in some codices the
arrangement is zigzag or even goes around the page. The strip was scanned from left to
right.

This enormous production of documents was dependent on a steady supply of the raw
materials, and each year 24,000 reams of paper, the equivalent of 480,000 sheets, were
sent to Tenochtitlan. Aztec paper was made from the inner bark of various species of fig
tree. The bark was soaked in a river or in a bath of limey water, and the fibers were
separated from the pulp, then laid on a smooth surface, doubled over, and beaten with a
mashing stone which had a ridged surface.

A binding material (probably a gum of vegetable origin), was added, and the fibers were
beaten out into a thin, homogeneous sheet. After smoothing and drying, the processed
bark fibers had recognizably become paper, but the surfaces were still porous and rough,
unsuitable for painting until they had been given a coating of white chalky varnish or
size. On this background the scribe drew his figures, first sketching the outlines in black,
then adding the colors with his brush.

The Aztec used pictographs to communicate through writing. The principal colors were
red, blue, green, and yellow, and the pigments were sometimes mixed with an oil to give
added luster.

Color was important. The signs for grass, canes, and rushes look very much the same in
black and white, but in color there could be no mistake: in the Codex Mendoza grass is
yellow, canes are blue, rushes green. A ruler could be recognized at once from the shape
of his diadem and from its color, turquoise, which was reserved for royal use.

A scribe who could keep pace with court proceedings had every reason to be proud of his
skill Aztec. Both writing and reading were therefore specialized skills, and it is no
wonder that the mass of the population remained illiterate. Writing was not taught in the
schools attended by plebeian children, and indeed the ordinary man would have no need
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for it. In a bureaucratic and centralized society the common man received his instructions
from above, from the priests who looked after the religious side of his life, or from the
secular officials who were drawn from the nobility and had the benefit of a calmecac
education.

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