Obsidian- volcanic glass, used to make very sharp blades, three major sites

in maya higlands but traded throughout the region, in addition to males

using it for warfare and other cutting needs females used it to work with
fibers in weaving and brocading

AJ-ts’i-b(i)- scribe, painter

swidden/milpa- swidden is a term for slash and burn farming used in maya
agriculture, left trees if they were too large to be cut down or agriculturally
useful; milpa is the term the mayans used

Calakmul murals- pictures that could be evidence of a marketplace, or

preparation for a feast, david stewart may have deciphered a glyph that
means “he/she of the marketplace”

Primary Standard Sequence (PSS)- most common of all maya heirogylphic

texts, becoming prominent in the early classic, a highly formulaictext that
occupies a primary position on ceramics and infrequently monuments,
customarily wrapped around the rim of a vessel, about a dozen glyphs that
appear in the same order but are rarely found all together

Naj Tunich- cave in guatemala where there are paintings and glyphs, difficult
to get to, major destination, paintings of hunters and gods as hunters

yu-k m’i-b(i)- his/her vessel for drinking

u-la-k(a)- his/her plate

raised-field farming- used in swamp areas of the maya region for year-round
farming, pile dirt mounds to create a small and manageable field on top of
the swamp that is very fertile

ka-ka-w(a)- cocoa

chultun- cisterns used to collect and contain rainwater, prominent in areas

without cenotes, in the northern yucatan area

tribute manta- finely woven cloths given as tribute or to secure alliances,

likely woven by elite women with a backstrap loom, such as Lady Xook of
Yaxchilan, indicated status

K’UH- god, holy, sacred

Barkbeater- stone device with carved grooves on both sides used for beating
wood pulp into a felted cloth-like material

Chaak- rain and thunder/lightening god, carries an ax and a torch, brings and
controls rain, flint-knapping is associated with Chaak, offferings to chaak
most effective when made in caves
Balche- fermented drink made from bark of tree of same name with honey,
usually imbibed at festivals

Spondylus- deep sea conch, difficult to get, an important tribute offering

K’awiil- chief dynastic god, one leg terminates in bearded serpant with open
jaw, mirror on forehead may have to do with power of seeing

K’inich Ajaw- sun god; at night he is the jaguar god of the underworld, head
variant for numerical coeffiecent 4, often embodied by rulers who were
performing the gods to impress their people and show power

Metate- stone tool used by women to grind maize and other foods

Pawahtuun- quadripartite, scribal diety, aged (elderly appearance) that held

up the earth and the heavens, stands at the four corners of the universe,
presides over the end of the old year

way (pronounced “w-eye”)- animal coessence, a spirit companion or alter-

ego for elite personages, often depicted on elite polychrome and carved
ceramics

“original debt”- humans owe the gods for their existence and all relationships
between man and diety are defined by humans trying to repay the gods with
tribute and sacrifice; gods in turn are touchy, and easily angered

Ikats- bundle (tribute)

Polytheistic- belief in many gods, practiced by the maya people

Cauac- earth monster, spiritual embodiment of everything, everything has a

live essence, associated with cave as entrance to underworld

Encomienda- spanish colonial practice, spaniard assigned to a certain group

of natives to civilize them and have them work for land

God L- diety of merchants, shown elderly with cigar and broad-brimmed hat,
opulent dress, underworld, shown in oppostion to the ruling class

1. Demarest’s secret: adaptation that enables maya people to support

many people in the tropical forest (more than today), box gardens,
raised field farming, swidden/milpa, diverse agricultural practices and
dispersed populations, imitated the rainforest itself, biodiversity and
wide distribution; evidence- successful civilization for an extended
amount of time
2. Postclassic sites that differ from classic sites in terms of scale,
architechure, and location: iximche- postclassic capital of the
kakchiquel maya, not a lot of monuments, but do have ballcourts and
smaller pyrimads, nucleated, walled, square architechture, less
elaborate architechture, style like tuluum; tuluum- on ocean near
cozumel, lots of columns, open porticos, smaller pyramids, nucleated,
walled, architechure is fragile, lots of layers of stucco; mayapan- some
people from chichen itza so there are influences- primary pyramid,
decadent period but more relaxed than classic, walled, palace
columns, densely populated, nucleated, monumental architechture
scaled back due to lack or labor or labor directed to other needs,
emphasis on columns, good air flow in buildings, palace is stone but
with perishable roof, circular building and murals show some similarity
to mexican highlands – not in southern lowlands, walled, densely
populated, nucleated living, monumental architechture scaled back;
why—new patterns of trading (coast or closer to coastal ports) and
systems of government (no longer divine theater-states; now true
man, not kuhul ajaw) facilitated change in structure
4. Marketplaces- calakmul murals may show evidence, God L is
diety of merchants, dispersed agriculture and population size
leads to need for marketplace distibution, open public
spaces, physical evidence- soil sample in open plazas
showing higher concentrations of certain elements than in
areas around it which some experts and chemical analysts
believe indicative of possibility of market, ethnographic
evidence (current practices); however, no conclusive
evidence, just circumstantial