Chapter 4

Around the happy village Lush fields were green, - Mondamin * slender grew In glossy long feathers, In golden soft braids.

* (Mondamine - corn, maize among the North American Indians.)

Longfellow G.

Separate cases of pre-Columbian connections between the two hemispheres had almost no effect on the knowledge of the ancients, so that the study of the rich and original culture of the American Indians began only with the European colonization of the New World, in the 16th-17th centuries. Since then, for more than 400 years, a fierce debate has been going on in science over the origin of the most developed cultures of pre-Columbian America - in Mexico and Peru.

All attempts to resolve this complex issue by referring to the "beneficial" and "stimulating" role of religion, or with the help of influences from outside - from the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Greece and Rome - invariably ended in failure. Even more perplexing among scientists was the fact that the first Indian states, and above all the ancient Maya, reached their apogee without many of the most important inventions of antiquity, which were available to almost all the peoples of the Old World. Moreover, some of these cultures arose and developed in the most remote and unfavorable, in our opinion, areas of Central America. What then explains the emergence of the high civilization of the Maya? Where to look for that life-giving force that gave rise to the colorful frescoes of Bonampak and the grandiose pyramids of Tikal?

Many researchers dealing with this problem believe that agriculture was such a life-giving force in the history of Ancient America.

Indeed, for the progressive development of human society, even the most seemingly insignificant improvement in agricultural methods or the improvement of labor tools is sometimes immeasurably more important than dozens of bloody battles won and all the intricacies of the policy of successful kings, rulers and pharaohs.

By the beginning of our era, the first civilizations of the Indians arise in the New World. Mighty empires are born, populous cities, priests create new religious teachings, sciences and art flourish. The peoples of Mexico and Central America are experiencing their "golden age". And this splendor would not have been viable without the farmer, without the fruits of his labor, and above all without the main agricultural crop of Ancient America - maize.

The fat cornfields and flowering gardens of the Indian communal farmers created the economic base on which all the brilliant achievements of the pre-Spanish civilizations of the New World were based.

But if in Central Mexico, judging by the data of archeology, a wide and extensive network of irrigation canals arose in ancient times, then in the territory of the Maya, until recently, the picture was somewhat different.

According to the traditional point of view, the Maya from time immemorial used the most primitive system of agriculture - "slash-and-burn" (the "milpa" system), which required large tracts of free land and frequent changes in burned areas due to the rapid depletion of the soil. Such agriculture could not, according to scientists, provide food for any significant population. How, then, did the Maya have populous and flourishing cities? Why did these cities exist for hundreds or even thousands of years in the same place?

It is known that all the great civilizations of antiquity arose on the basis of developed irrigation agriculture, in the valleys of large rivers with fertile soils. So it was in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. This circumstance led some foreign researchers to the idea that ancient civilizations in general could exist only on the basis of irrigation. And where it does not exist, for example, among the Mayans, there the population is very small, there are no real cities, and therefore there is no civilization. But, on the other hand, the splendor of the lost Mayan cities, with their monumental temples, palaces, observatories and stadiums, highly developed crafts and art, writing and calendar, directly contradicted this conclusion. A paradoxical situation has developed, sometimes leading even the most competent scientists into confusion. Hundreds of times in the specialized literature the question was raised of how, on the basis of such a primitive system of agriculture, one of the most striking civilizations of pre-Columbian America could have arisen and developed over the course of almost one and a half thousand years. However, they did not find an answer to it.

"Ritual sowing" scene, drawing from a Madrid Maya manuscript, 15th century. n. uh

The Indian term "milpa" means "cornfield", or a cleared area in the forest, cut down and burned before sowing maize. "Milpa" is an Aztec word and is derived from "milia" - to plant, sow and "pa" - in. This term is currently used only for maize crops. The Yucatan Maya also have their own special term for designating a maize field - "kol".

Milp farming consists of clearing, burning, and planting a patch of rainforest. Due to the rapid depletion of the soil, after two or three years, the site must be abandoned and a new one must be sought. Thus, this is a typical extensive farming system, traditionally considered to be low-productive and harmful to the natural environment (destruction of forests and shrubs, destruction of the fertile soil layer, etc.).

But was slash-and-burn agriculture really so primitive, as people sometimes try to show it?

“The main food of the Maya,” emphasizes the Spanish bishop Diego de Landa (XVI century), “is corn, from which they make various foods and drinks ... First of all, they (Maya. - V. G.) were farmers and collected corn and other crops. They kept them in very convenient cellars and barns to sell in due time. Mules and bulls were replaced by people. For each man and wife, they had the custom to sow a plot of 400 square feet, which they called juan-vinik measured by a pole 20 feet wide and 20 feet long These Indians have a good custom of helping one another mutually in all their work...

They sow in many places, so that in case of crop failure from one plot, they will compensate from another. When cultivating the land, they only collect weeds and burn them before sowing. They work from mid-January to April and sow with the onset of rains. When sowing, they carry a small bag over their shoulders, make holes in the ground with a pointed stick and put 6-7 grains there, then burying them with the same stick. When it rains, the crops sprout amazingly."

Maya ruler in the scene of "ritual sowing", image on stele 21 from the city of Tikal, Guatemala, VIII century. n. uh

In the so-called Indian books "Chilam Balam", in which the data of the colonial period (XVI-XVII centuries) were intricately intertwined with information dating back to the pre-Hispanic (post-classical - X-XVI centuries) and even to an even more ancient time (I millennium AD). . e.), there are a number of references to the main agricultural plants cultivated by Mayan farmers - beans, corn, sweet potatoes, etc. You can find there references to slash-and-burn agriculture and even selective selection of seeds of the most productive varieties of pumpkin, beans and corn.

We observe a similar picture among the mountain Maya. In the ancient epic "Annals of the Kaqchikels", the main part of which goes back, of course, to pre-Hispanic times, we find mention of the initial period of agriculture, which replaced gathering, hunting and fishing: "This was when we began to make our own crops of maize, cut trees, burn them and sow bread. Thus, we acquired some food ... " It is interesting to note that this ancient memory of maize farming is already associated in the memory of the kakchikels precisely with the "milpa" system.

In the section describing the adventures of the two divine twins Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque, the Maya Quiche epic "Popol Vuh" (also of largely pre-Columbian origin) paints a detailed picture of the daily work of the ancient farmer on the Milpe: "Then (Hun -Ahpu and, Xbalanque) began to work so that their grandmother and their mother would think well of them.The first thing they did was a cornfield.

We are going to sow the field, oh our grandmother and mother, they said... Without delay they took their axes, their hoes and their big wooden digging sticks and set off...

Soon they came to where they wanted to make a cornfield.

And when they just stuck the hoe in the ground, she started tilling the ground, she did all the big work by herself.

In the same way (the brothers) thrust the ax into the tree trunks and branches, and instantly they fell, and all the trees and creepers were lying on the ground. Trees fell quickly, from one blow of an ax, and a large clearing was formed. And the hoe also did a great job. It was impossible to count how many weeds and thorny plants were destroyed by one blow of a hoe. It is impossible to list what was dug and cleared, how many large and small trees were cut."

The myth of the creation of the first man by the gods from grains of white and yellow corn speaks quite eloquently about the huge role of maize agriculture in the life of the Mayan Indians.

As if a link between the materials of the colonial period and the eve of the Conquista, on the one hand, and archaeological data, on the other, are the surviving Mayan hieroglyphic manuscripts. Numerous color drawings accompanying hieroglyphic texts of religious and calendar content reflect with exceptional certainty all the main moments of the agricultural cycle: felling and burning of a plot in the forest, sowing, etc. Moreover, the actors in all these acts are the deities - the patrons of agriculture.

"Most often in Mayan manuscripts a character is depicted with the" eye of God ", with a long hooked nose and long crooked fangs sticking out of his mouth ... He is depicted with an ax, a burning torch and a digging stick, i.e. with slash-and-fire tools agriculture, as well as against the background of rain. This is the god of wind and rain, K "ash-esh (compare with K" ash-al - "come", "carry" rain, or Chak-Chaak from the pantheon of the 16th century). In manuscripts, you can often find images of the main agricultural tools of the Maya: a digging stick (st. "shul"), an ax (st. "baat"), a torch (st. "bat"). In ancient times, the patron saint of farmers bore the name Ch "ak - "axe". The ax in this case is the main tool of the farmer, and not a weapon.

According to the list of 13 heavenly gods, Ch "ak was the lord of the 6th heaven. The hieroglyph of the front version of the number 6 is a "portrait" of this deity - with a humpbacked, short nose and bared upper incisors. Its most characteristic distinguishing feature is a stylized ax sign inscribed in eye.

Thus, under the dominance of the slash-and-burn system of agriculture, the ax became the main tool of the Mayan farmers and the most important attribute of their patron god. Even more complete information about the agriculture of the Yucatan Maya on the eve of the conquest is contained in the hieroglyphic texts of the three mentioned manuscripts.

“In ancient times,” writes Yu. V. Knorozov, “the whole life of the population was strictly regulated, especially for farmers. The schedule of all affairs was provided for up to days. traditions as occupations of the gods.Calendar dates, which lost their real meaning, turned into some mystical periods, the onset of which could only be known by the priests at the direction of the manuscripts.Thus, the texts reflect not only the life of the Maya of the time to which the manuscripts belong, i.e. shortly before the Spanish conquest Some sections were probably compiled before our era and were copied from century to century, subject, of course, to a certain revision.

The ancient priests clothed their prescriptions in a very impressive form. They described what this or that god was doing at a certain time. Many deities lead the same life as the ancient Maya. The inhabitants could only follow the example of their god. Any violation of the sacred order was regarded as blasphemy, and the violator could end up on the sacrificial altar. The ancient Maya were primarily engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture. Therefore, a significant part of the manuscripts is devoted to describing the deeds of agricultural deities, especially the gods of rain. "Thus, we have before us the sacred agricultural calendar of the ancient Maya, like similar calendars in Sumer and Egypt, which once again confirms the deep inner relationship of all these ancient civilizations.

Among the various motifs of the rich art of the ancient Maya (I millennium AD), one can also note many motifs, one way or another connected with agriculture. A complex hoe-like tool is shown on one of the Tikal stone reliefs. The ruler (or priest) in a magnificent costume, with the image of a frog (or lizard) on his chest (amphibians among American Indians are always associated with water, rain, fertility), leans on a hoe or an improved digging stick with his left hand, and raised his right hand palm up, as if addressing the sky, to the gods.

Another group of stone sculptures depicted the scene of "ritual sowing", apparently performed personally by the ruler of the city-state: stele 21 from Tikal, stele 13 from Okosingo, stele 40 from Piedras Negras, etc.

On the first two monuments, a character in a magnificent costume and an elaborate headdress throws down a handful of grains (maize?) with his right hand, and with his left hand he holds a long and narrow bag (for seeds?), richly decorated with ornaments. On stele 40 from the city of Piedras Negras, the ruler, dressed in a headdress of maize leaves, kneeling on a platform or throne, throws down a handful of grains, apparently taken from a long and narrow bag, which he holds in his left hand. Below is the deity of the earth. The whole scene is framed on the sides by long stalks of maize. The general agrarian-cult character of this image is beyond doubt.

A rather significant group in the art of the ancient Maya is also made up of images of the patron deities of agriculture: the god of maize (a relief from the "Temple of the Leafy Cross" in Palenque, a sculpture from Copan, a terracotta figurine from Alta Verapas, etc.).

Information from written and archaeological sources is well supplemented by ethnographic observations.

The fact is that in many parts of Mexico, and especially on the Yucatan Peninsula, slash-and-burn agriculture has retained its significance to this day.

European colonization only led to the replacement of the stone ax with various steel tools (long machete knife, saw, axe, etc.). That is why the study of the economy, culture and life of the modern Maya allows you to simultaneously judge many aspects of the life of their distant ancestors. The American scientist Morris Steggerda, who lived for many years among the Yucatan Maya, found that the cycle of agricultural work among the local Indians consists of the following stages: choosing a future field; felling of trees and shrubs; burning out; field fencing; sowing; weeding; bending corn stalks; harvest.

In Yucatan, the year is divided into two seasons: dry (November - May) and rainy (June - October). At the end of the rainy season, the farmer looks for a suitable site in the forest. The most favorable places were considered to be overgrown with tall shrubs and trees - a sure sign of the presence of fertile soil.

Proximity to water sources - karst wells ("cenotes"), natural reservoirs, etc., also played a significant role. With the onset of the dry season, usually in December or January, felling of forest thickets began. True, it is difficult to understand how the Maya did it in the pre-Hispanic era with the help of stone axes. Obviously, only relatively small shrubs were cut down, and large trees were only cut down, stripped of their bark and left to dry slowly in the sun. At the end of March or in April, the forest area was burned. And approximately in the second half of May - in June, along with the beginning of the rainy season, sowing was carried out. Planting seeds, as in ancient times, was carried out using a wooden pole with a pointed end. Seeds are carried in a special bag woven from plant fibers or in a hollow dry gourd. In addition to a few grains of maize, pumpkin and black bean seeds are usually thrown into the same hole. The hole is covered with a heel. During the rainy season, the area is weeded once or twice to remove weeds. A month or two before harvesting, maize stalks are bent in order to deprive the cobs of excess moisture and speed up their ripening. Harvesting takes place from November to March, depending on the variety of maize. Only the cobs are taken, the stems remain in the field. The next year, the land is cleared of old stems and grass, burned out and sown again. But the harvest is already much less due to the rapid depletion of the soil.

A particularly fertile plot can be sown for three or even four years in a row, although this was done in extremely rare cases. Usually, already in the third year, a new plot is cleared in the jungle for crops. The old field is abandoned, and it is again overgrown with trees and shrubs. It took at least 8-10 years to fully restore soil fertility in such an abandoned area in the Yucatan.

As a result of recent research by botanists and ethnographers, it was possible to determine that Maya slash-and-burn agriculture, for all its shortcomings, was not so primitive and poorly productive.

The Mexican ethnographer Barrera Vazquez found, for example, that the modern Maya, who retained slash-and-burn agriculture, receive an average maize crop of 7 centners per hectare. To feed themselves, a family of five must sow about 3 hectares. If we take the daily consumption of maize as 4 kilograms per family, then in this case it takes 1,460 kilograms a year to feed it, and 640 kilograms remain. Processing a field of 1 hectare (taking into account all the main types of work) takes an average of 396 working hours. Therefore, it will take about 150 eight-hour working days to cultivate a field of 3 hectares. On the other hand, calculations made in the Yucatan by the American researcher M. Steggerda show that with an annual grain production of about 14 tons, each Maya household (a family consisting of an average of five people) spends only 1,513 kilograms of maize per year for its needs, leaving thus significant surpluses of agricultural products. A modern Yucatan Indian receives this amount of grain in about 102 working days, which allows him to use almost two-thirds of the year for other activities - hunting, building, leisure, etc.

M. Steggerda calculated, based on the amount of maize produced and consumed daily by one individual, that in ancient times the cultivated lands in the Yucatan could provide food for a population of over two million people. Let me remind you that now no more than 300,000 people live in this Mexican state. The average density of the modern agricultural population of Yucatan is only 23-25 ​​people per 1 square kilometer. The work of US scientists in Northern Guatemala (Peten department), where he was in the 1st millennium AD. e. the main center of the "Old Kingdom" of the Maya, showed that the natural and climatic conditions over the past one and a half to two thousand years have hardly changed here. Local Indians and Mestizos still use the old slash-and-burn farming methods everywhere. After harvesting one crop, it takes an average of about 4 years to restore soil fertility in Petén; after two or three harvests - from 6 to 8 years. Under such conditions, for the maintenance of one person, it is necessary to sow 1.2-1.6 hectares, which gives a population density of about 75-100 people per 1 square kilometer. Thus, in the tropical rainforests of Petén, where soil regeneration in scorched fields was faster than in the stony and dry Yucatan, the population density was much higher. The Mayan farmers did not need to periodically change the places of their settlements, since in a relatively short time the soil of the depleted plots completely restored its fertility. It should also be recalled that the Mayan territory is distinguished by an extraordinary variety of natural conditions, and there have always been areas (especially the valleys of large rivers - Usumacinta, Motagua, Ulua, etc.) where soil fertility was constantly maintained due to annual renewal during floods.

Local farmers, through long experiments and selection, managed to develop hybrid and high-yielding varieties of the main agricultural plants - maize, legumes and pumpkins. Finally, the manual technique of processing a small forest area and the combination of crops of several crops (for example, maize and beans) on one field made it possible to maintain fertility for a long time and did not require frequent change of plots. The natural conditions of Peten (soil fertility and abundance of warmth and moisture) allowed Mayan farmers to harvest here an average of at least two crops per year. In addition, in addition to fields in the jungle, near each Indian dwelling there was a personal plot with vegetable gardens, groves of fruit trees, etc. The latter (especially the Ramon breadfruit) did not require any care, but provided a significant amount of food, which contributed to settlement of the Mayan farmers.

We must not forget the valuable indications of the well-known Soviet scientist N. I. Vavilov about the general nature of Indian agriculture. “The fields in the Yucatan, as in Chiapas, in southern Mexico, in Guatemala near Antigua,” he writes, “often represent, as it were, a community of various cultivated plants: beans twine around corn, and various kinds of pumpkins grow between them. Mixed culture (italics mine. - V. G.) is dominant in ancient Mexico "And further:" Naturally, the manual culture of the Maya, as well as the Aztecs and Zapotecs, should have been intense (italics mine. - V. G.). Lack of farm animals forced a person to limit the area of ​​​​sowing to small plots, carefully cultivate small areas, develop peculiar plant care skills, such as breaking the cobs of corn before ripening ... Cultivation of plants in small plots forced to pay attention to the plant itself ... Many varieties of corn, papaya , beans, fruits and cotton have reached great perfection here ... "

The successes of ancient Maya agriculture were, of course, largely associated with the creation by the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. e. a clear and harmonious agricultural calendar that strictly regulates the timing and sequence of all agricultural work. Its creators and keepers were the priests, who clothed their prescriptions in a very strict form.

From old documents and chronicles, we know that the Mayan priests very carefully set the day for burning vegetation in the areas. This is understandable. If their calculations turned out to be erroneous, then the most important stage of field work would be disrupted. Since the burning was carried out at the very end of the dry season, the shift in timing, their delay would be fatal: heavy rains pouring here for five or six months in a row would then prevent the burning of trees and shrubs on the field.

The astronomical calculations of the Mayan priests were remarkably accurate. Exploring the ruins of the ancient city of Copan in Honduras, archaeologists discovered two stone monuments - stelae 10 and 12, located opposite each other on the tops of the hills that closed the valley of Copan from the west and east. They are separated by a straight line about 4 1/8 miles. When viewed from stele 12, it can be established that the sun sets directly behind stele 10 only twice a year: April 12 and September 7. The first date falls at the very end of the dry season, so scientists suggest that April 12 determines the beginning of the burning of vegetation in the fields.

When the sun set right behind stele 10 on the evening of April 12, messengers were sent throughout the valley in ancient times, informing the farmers that the gods had ordered the burning of the fields to begin the next morning.

The significance of the calendar for the Maya farmers is best seen in the tribes that lost it. The Czech traveler Norbert Fried in his book "Smiling Guatemala" cites one curious fact: "In 1950, many Mexican newspapers reported on the desperate situation of the Lacandon Indians in the areas of Hatate and Chulehuitz. They were threatened with starvation. But selfless and disinterested people managed to collect a fairly large amount of money and delivered by plane to the jungle several tons of beans and maize.The Indians told their saviors the unusual reason for the disaster that befell them: Pancho Viejo died - the last of the Lacandons, who understood the secrets of the calendar and could determine the dates of the main field work by the stars.After his death the tribe had two crop failures only because the forest clearing they burned was flooded with rain, and the Indians were late with sowing.

But the surprises of Mayan agriculture do not end there. It has now been firmly established that in the 1st millennium A.D. BC, in addition to slash-and-burn, the Maya were familiar with other forms of agriculture. In the south of the Yucatan and in Belize, on the slopes of high hills, agricultural terraces were found with a special system of soil moisture. And in the Candelaria river basin (Campeche, Mexico), archaeologists using aerial photography discovered distinct traces of the most real intensive agriculture - canals and the so-called "raised fields" - artificially made long and narrow beds of land, half-flooded by the waters of the river. Such agricultural systems, which are very reminiscent of the famous "floating gardens" ("chinampas") of the Aztecs, were able to produce huge crops several times a year and had practically inexhaustible fertility.

"Raised fields" are usually located on higher and dry treeless parts of the river valley, at some distance from the main channel. Their total area in the area of ​​the city of Itsamkanaka (Campeche) is 1.5-2 square kilometers. And although this figure is not so great, compared with 100 square kilometers of "floating gardens" in the Valley of Mexico and vast systems of "raised fields" in some areas of South America, the very fact of the discovery of intensive agriculture in the territory of the Maya lowlands is important.

According to the data obtained, these fields in the area of ​​the Candelaria River are partially flooded during the rainy season every year, so that only their upper part protrudes from the water. True, there are both high and low types of "fields": some are completely flooded with water, while others are not. Apparently, this was due to the different conditions necessary for growing different types of cultivated crops.

In the locality of El Tigre (Campeche, Mexico), test pits were laid in one of these "elevated fields". In the first case, archaeologists determined the structure of the soil, but did not find any substances or ceramics. In another pit, near the river, we managed to find two large pieces of hard wood. According to C 14 data, the age of the tree is 1721 ± 50 years, that is, 229 AD. e. "This may prove, - write the authors of the study, - that the mentioned "fields" were built somewhere from the end of the preclassic to the end of the postclassic period."

An even more impressive picture is presented by the channels extending from the main channel of the Candelaria River. They served not only as a source of water for irrigation, but also as a convenient means of communication (by boat) between the city, small villages and miles.

On June 30, 1980, the Pravda newspaper reported on a new sensational discovery made in the very heart of the "Old Kingdom" of the Maya - in Peten (Northern Guatemala). "Specialists from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (California, USA)," writes the Soviet correspondent S. Svistunov, "have developed a radar system, the purpose of which is to break through the dense clouds of Venus and give a more complete picture of the relief and landscapes of the "sister of the Earth." They decided to test the new equipment on their home planet.As a result, one of the mysteries of the ancient Maya Indian civilization in Central America was solved.Scientists have long puzzled over how the swampy jungle of the region could feed 2-3 million people.Radar found under a dense canopy of tropical greenery remains of an extensive system of irrigation canals".

There is only one inaccuracy in this important message. The channels found by the radar were not irrigation channels, that is, irrigation channels. On the contrary, they removed excess water from swampy areas, turning them into fertile fields suitable for cultivation.

To do this, the ancient Maya dug many rows of two parallel channels in the swamps, throwing the excavated earth into the gap between the channels to create raised, even islands of earth. This method provided the planted plants with a sufficient amount of moisture, and its excess was removed from the site. Before us, therefore, is not so much irrigation as melioration. And the Maya built in the wet jungles of Peten not irrigation, but diversion channels.

The canals built by the Maya simultaneously collected and brought rainwater into artificial reservoirs, served as an important source of animal protein (fish, waterfowl, freshwater edible mollusks), were convenient ways of communication and delivery of heavy loads on boats and rafts. Remains of channels and "raised fields" are now found in the swamps of Tikal and Nakum, as well as southwest of the ruins of the ancient city of El Mirador.

In the Mexican state of Campeche, among the ruins of the ancient Mayan city of Etzna, using aerial photography, another interesting pre-Columbian hydraulic system was discovered and studied: channels and water tanks. Under natural conditions, water is found in Campeche on the surface only in seasonal reservoirs - "aguadas". During the rainy season, over 1000 millimeters of precipitation falls here. And in order to survive on a hot limestone plain during the dry season, the first Mayan colonists had to mobilize all available local water resources. First of all, the Indians deepened and widened the natural seasonal reservoirs so that rainwater was stored there all year round. They then built a network of drainage channels and artificial reservoirs. In them, by the end of the 1st millennium AD. e. the inhabitants of Etsna could collect water reserves with a total volume of up to 2 million cubic meters. The longest canal in the city was over 12 kilometers long, up to 50 meters wide and 1.5 to 2 meters deep. It connected the center of Etsna with its distant outskirts. In total, for the construction of this complex hydraulic network (channels and reservoirs), the ancient inhabitants of the city needed to excavate approximately 1.75 million cubic meters of soil. For comparison, we can say that about the same amount of work was spent around the turn of our era for the construction of the giant pyramids of the Sun and the Moon in ancient Teotihuacan (Mexico Valley). The height of the first of them is 60 meters, and the second - 42 meters.

Thanks to a carefully designed drainage network, the ancient Maya were able to turn about 400 hectares of swamps and mud around Etzna into flowering gardens and fields. In addition to a permanent source of water, the canals served as important means of communication for transporting goods and people between the city center and its periphery using boats.

B. L. Tarner (USA), who devoted many years to studying the intensive farming systems of the ancient Maya, wrote the following in this regard: “These structures prove that the Maya practiced constant and intensive agriculture capable of supporting a significant population. If you could fly by plane over Peten at the height of the local classical civilization, you would see something similar to the modern agricultural landscape of the American state of Ohio.

Thus, it is now quite clear that the ancient Maya, along with slash-and-burn agriculture, also widely used more intensive agricultural systems. And this, in turn, explains to us in many ways the mystery of the "economic miracle" of one of the most brilliant civilizations of pre-Columbian America.

In one Aztec tradition there are such remarkable words:

Our ancestors taught that we owe our lives to the gods, they created us. The gods give us our food, everything that we drink and eat, that which preserves life - maize and beans.

And in fact, all the vital interests of the Indian were previously connected with maize. Mais was worshiped as a deity. Maize paid tribute to the conquered peoples. It was considered the most important item of trade. For the sake of capturing grain and new fertile lands, the legions of Indian warriors strewed their battlefields with their bones. And the greatest damage was done to the enemy by burning his maize crops.

About twenty-five years ago, Sylvanus Griswold Morley said: "Maize is the most reliable key to understanding the Mayan civilization." His words turned out to be prophetic. For modern scientists, maize and pre-Columbian agriculture as a whole have become that magical "Ariadne's thread", with the help of which they now successfully penetrate the secrets of the formation and development of the ancient civilizations of America.

The Mayan Indian people are rightfully considered the creator of one of the most developed and vibrant civilizations of pre-Columbian America. Maya and today there are a total of over two million people. By the time the Spanish conquerors arrived, they, as in antiquity (1st millennium AD), inhabited a vast territory that included the Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo, Campeche, part of Tabasco, Chiapas in Mexico, all of Guatemala, Belize, western regions of El Salvador and Honduras.

Nature is majestic and varied here. "Jungles full of suffocating fumes, stony plateaus scorched by the sun, where heat scorches during the day and water freezes at night, formidable volcanoes covered with snow, from time to time flooding the valleys with red-hot lava, frequent destructive earthquakes, predatory animals and poisonous snakes - such is that environment, - writes V. M. Polevoy, “in which local Indians have settled since time immemorial.”

Their origin is shrouded in a veil of mystery. We only know that the birth of the "classical" Mayan civilization dates back to the first centuries of our era. And then for many centuries populous kingdoms and cities flourished here, science and art developed.

Tikal, Guatemala. Central Mexican terracotta figurine. Middle of the 1st millennium AD e.

VII - VIII centuries - the time of the highest prosperity, the "golden age" of this civilization. The rulers of the country are conducting successful military operations on the western and southern borders. Caravans of ubiquitous traders penetrate into the most remote and remote corners of Mexico and Central America, taking out the precious green mineral - jade, bright feathers of tropical birds, fabrics, cocoa beans, elegant ceremonial ceramics, salt and obsidian (for making tools and weapons). Architects, sculptors and artists create their immortal creations on the orders of powerful rulers and priests: the multi-colored frescoes of Bonampak, the tower-like temples of Tikal, the harsh images of kings and gods on the steles of Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras. It seemed that nothing could threaten the well-being of the country.

But something strange is happening. By the end of the 9th century, in most of the territory of the forest lowlands of the Maya (Northern Guatemala, Belize, east of Chiapas, Yucatan), life in cities stops altogether or is reduced to a minimum. They did not build new temples and palaces, steles and altars with calendar dates disappeared.

Scientific research has stopped. Markets freeze. The workshops were empty. Lush palaces fell into disrepair. “On the sacred altars,” writes the American archaeologist C. Gallenkamp, ​​“the fragrant copal no longer smoked. The echo of human voices fell silent in the wide squares. The cities remained untouched - without traces of destruction or rebuilding, as if their inhabitants were going to return soon. But they did not return Silence enveloped the cities... Courtyards were overgrown with grass. Creepers and tree roots penetrated the doorways, destroying the stone walls of pyramids and temples. Within a single century, the abandoned Mayan cities were once again swallowed up by the jungle."

In the course of some 100 to 150 years, America's most populous and culturally developed region falls into desolation and decline from which it has never recovered.

Tikal, Guatemala. Depiction of the Central Mexican god of water and rain, Tlaloc, on a Mayan stele, 6th century BC. n. e.

A wide variety of hypotheses have been proposed to explain this grandiose catastrophe. According to one of them, the cities of the "Old Kingdom" (an outdated term, chronologically corresponds to the "classic" period in the history of the Maya (300-900 AD) Maya were destroyed by strong earthquakes. It is based on the fact that many late classical architectural buildings in Mayan cities represent a solid heap of ruins, as if broken by one gigantic force blow.

In addition, unusually active volcanic activity is known in the mountainous regions of Chiapas and Guatemala. But the fact is that the department of Peten (Northern Guatemala), where the largest Mayan cities were located, is located outside the belt of active volcanic activity. The deplorable state of most of the stone buildings of the late classical period is associated with the destructive effect of rainstorms and lush tropical vegetation. The design of Maya stone buildings with a "false" arch is such that the destruction of the lower part of the supporting walls leads to the collapse of a huge mass of stone that forms this high stepped arch.

There is also an assumption that the catastrophic decrease in rainfall and the resulting "water famine" could be the cause of the death of the Mayan civilization. But recent geochemical and botanical surveys in the jungles of Petén have shown that the slight reduction in precipitation, which was actually observed towards the end of the classical period, could in no way affect the development of the Mayan culture, much less cause its collapse.

The version about the general epidemics of malaria and yellow fever, which allegedly caused the desolation of this entire vast territory, is also untenable. Both diseases mentioned were not known in the New World until the arrival of Europeans.

Until recently, one of the most widespread was the hypothesis of Sylvanus Morley, who explained the decline of the "classical" cities by the crisis of the Mayan slash-and-burn agriculture system. In his book The Ancient Maya, he writes: “The continuous destruction of the forest to use the cleared area for corn crops gradually turned the virgin jungle into artificial savannahs covered with tall grass. When this process was completed and the centuries-old rainforest was almost completely reduced and replaced with artificially created grasslands , then agriculture, as it was still practiced by the ancient Maya, fell into decline, because they did not have any agricultural tools (hoes, picks, harrows, spades, shovels and plows). man, was carried out very slowly, eventually causing the decline of those cities in which it reached a critical state.This process did not proceed simultaneously, but in different places in different ways, depending on such factors as population size, duration of land use and general fertility of the surrounding areas.Of course, other unfavorable factors also played a role in this collapse. blowing usually on the heels of hunger - popular uprisings, crisis of power and religious heresies. However, it is highly likely that it was this economic bankruptcy that was the main cause of the death of the Ancient Mayan Kingdom.

This assumption has long enjoyed universal recognition among specialists, and only recent studies have forced us to revise the main provisions of the S. Morley hypothesis. First of all, the question was raised: did the Maya really exhaust their vast reserves of uncultivated land? The American archaeologist A.V. Kidder established that the soil of the Motagua river valley in Guatemala is annually renewed during floods and, therefore, these lands could be cultivated constantly (the same in the valleys of other large rivers - Usumacinta, Ulua, etc.).

Another specialist in Maya culture, Eric Thompson, during a survey of the archaeological sites of Peten noticed that empty fields (milps) immediately overgrown with high rainforest, and not with grasses. Thus, it is unlikely that the depletion of the land in the entire vast and diverse area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe Maya could cause the rapid death of their cities. According to S. Morley's hypothesis, land depletion should have occurred first of all in the most ancient centers.

However, for example, a city like Tikal, which existed for at least ten centuries, fell into decay much later (after 869) than the younger centers in the Usumasinta river basin. And studies of botanists and specialists in the field of agriculture in the area of ​​​​Lake Peten Itza (Northern Guatemala) showed that slash-and-burn agriculture still dominates here, which has hardly changed its character since the time of the ancient Maya. Moreover, it is characterized by a rather high productivity and stability, which makes it possible to provide food for relatively densely populated areas (approximately 100-200 people per square mile). There is no threat of invasion of grassy savannahs (as in ancient times) here.

In recent years, the hypothesis put forward by the famous American archaeologist Eric Thompson has become increasingly popular. In his opinion, the decline of the "classical" centers of Maya culture is associated with internal social upheavals. The starting point for the conclusions of the scientist was one seemingly unremarkable fact. During the excavations of the ancient city of Tikal, archaeologists discovered that almost all stone sculptures depicting rulers and gods found there were either damaged or completely broken. Who did it? For what purpose? In the material culture of Tikal there are no traces of the invasion of foreign armies: burned and collapsed buildings, broken weapons and randomly piled on top of each other skeletons with pierced skulls. Obviously, foreigners had nothing to do with those dramatic events that played out at the last stage of the city's existence, around the end of the 9th century. As Thompson believes, here we can only talk about the uprising of the oppressed masses, and a vivid picture of these distant but stormy events arises in the scientist's imagination.

So, the cup of people's patience overflowed. In dozens of cities and villages scattered at the foot of the mountain ranges of Chiapas and on the forested swampy plains of Northern Guatemala, including in Tikal itself, life outwardly flowed as before. But one must imagine the whole complex and contradictory structure of Mayan society in order to understand what a hurricane of popular anger was ready to fall on the heads of the ruling caste from day to day. A small core of secular aristocrats and priests, whose efforts maintained the external splendor of the Maya civilization, deliberately doomed their numerous subjects to poverty and lack of rights. The share of ordinary farmers was only unbearable taxes, endless requisitions and hard work in the construction of palaces and temples. Lush ritual centers grew among the forests and swamps like mushrooms after rain, and farmers tightened their belts.

It is not known who was the first to call for an uprising, but everyone took up arms, unanimously and furiously, with the hope of better times. And no one could resist this all-destroying wave of the peasant war. Selected detachments of the tsarist soldiers were scattered and killed. The rulers fled in panic. - And when the success of the uprising became obvious, the sacred fury of the people fell upon the stone idols, who had the most direct relation to the just overthrown rulers and priests.

Something similar happened in many other Mayan cities. Broken monuments with the faces of kings and gods are found not only in Tikal, but also in Piedras Negras, Iaxchilan, Altar de Sacrifices. A huge and prosperous country suddenly experienced all the devastating consequences of the most severe social crisis. After a while, the victorious farmers dispersed to their villages, scattered in the surrounding forests, and the majestic cities of the Maya were enveloped in silence. This is, in general terms, the content of E. Thompson's hypothesis.

How to treat her? Major social upheavals (rebellions, rebellions, etc.) - the inevitable companions of any class society - could indeed be the cause (or one of the reasons) of the death of some Mayan city-states in the 1st millennium of our era. But at that time there were several dozen such city-states, and it is unlikely that all of them were attacked almost simultaneously by the insurgent masses of the people. In addition, as recent studies have shown, there is no real evidence in favor of such a development of events. In Tikal and other cities of the "classic" period, stelae and altars with images of rulers and gods were subject to damage and destruction throughout the centuries-old history of local civilization.

It was some kind of important ritual or ceremony: after a certain time, the monument was damaged or broken, thereby committing its ritual "murder". But even after that, he continued to be an object of zealous reverence: they brought him sacrifices and gifts, burned incense.

In our opinion, the decline of the "classical" Mayan cities is most naturally explained by the invasion of foreign tribes. This hypothesis has been around for many years. Most researchers believe that the various Central Mexican peoples, either the armies of the Toltecs who broke into the Yucatan at the end of the 10th century, or the Teotihuacans in an even earlier period (7th century), were responsible for the death of the "Old Kingdom".

But there is still much that is unclear here. The Teotihuacan invasion of the Maya could have occurred, apparently, no later than the end of the 7th century. The Toltecs appeared in the Yucatan only at the end of the 10th century. Who, then, crushed the most important Maya cities, which fell into desolation just between the end of the 8th and the beginning of the 10th century?

Opponents of the hypothesis of a foreign invasion usually put forward two serious arguments: in Mayan cities there are no traces of destruction and battles - the inevitable companions of conquest; the Toltec invasion of the Yucatan did not lead to the disappearance of the inhabitants of the Mayan villages there, as happened in more southern regions.

The well-known historian and writer K. Keram writes, for example, as follows: “The simplest explanation seems to be that the Mayans were expelled by foreign invaders. But what, where did they come from? The Mayan state was in its prime, and none of the neighbors could even remotely compare with him in military power. However, this hypothesis is fundamentally untenable: no traces of conquest have been found in the abandoned cities.

However, three years after these lines were written, archaeologists found in the depths of the Guatemalan jungle such vivid traces of "foreign invasion" that they silenced the most hardened skeptics. True, these were not the majestic ruins of fortress walls and towers and not traces of bloody battles in the form of a pile of human bones and broken weapons, but only modest shards of pottery, lying in abundance in the dust of abandoned streets and squares of Mayan cities.

During the excavations of the Altar de Sacrifices, an ancient Mayan center located at the confluence of the Salinas and Pasion rivers, scientists have clearly established that the last stage in the life of the city was full of truly dramatic events. At the end of the ninth century, the disappeared "classical" Mayan traditions were replaced by a completely different cultural complex, devoid of any local roots. It was called "Himba" and consisted only of fine orange-surfaced pottery and terracotta figurines, reminiscent of some Central Mexican examples of sculpture. The physical type of people depicted on these figurines, their clothes, jewelry and weapons are completely different from the Mayan. All this indicates a complete change of culture and population in the city within 869-909 (the chronological framework of the Himba complex). After some time, the conquerors left the Altar de Sacrifices, and the city was completely absorbed by the jungle in a matter of years.

75 miles east of the Altar de Sacrifisios are the ruins of another major center of the "Old Kingdom" of the Maya - Seibal. According to the calculations of archaeologists, this city existed from 800 BC to the middle of the 10th century AD. Moreover, the last stage - "Bayal Boka" - lasted (judging by the calendar dates on the steles and specific types of ceramics) from 830 to 950 AD. It was then that many features appeared in Seibal that were alien to the "classical" Maya culture. Firstly, there is a mass of elegant orange ceramics and terracotta figurines already familiar to us. Secondly, the whole group of stone stelae with calendar dates from 850 to 890 AD has sculptures that are completely alien to the "classical" Maya art and are close in style to the art of Central Mexico.

Finally, very unusual for Mayan architecture is the round temple building recently discovered at Ceibal. But round buildings are quite common in Central Mexico and on the Toltec monuments of the Yucatán. All this is complemented by a flat stone head, the so-called "acha" (Spanish for "axe"). Such products are very characteristic of the culture of the tribes of Southern Veracruz and Western Tabasco at the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD.

Thus, all the data obtained during the excavations indicate that in the 9th century, Seibal was captured by some group of foreigners, culturally associated with the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and with Central Mexico. However, unlike the Altar de Sacrifices, events in Seibal developed differently: the conquerors settled in the city for quite a long time, while partially merging with the local Mayan population. As a result, a kind of syncretic culture arose (this is evidenced, for example, by late steles depicting characters in Central Mexican costumes, but with calendar dates recorded in the Mayan era).

In the vast city of Palenque, located far to the west of the Mayan territory and certainly one of the first to take the blow of the conquerors, soon after the sudden appearance of a large number of orange pottery there (at the end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century), there is a rapid decline of the local culture. It should be emphasized that even here, during the excavations, elaborate stone objects were repeatedly found, which received the conditional names "yokes" and "axes". These products serve as one of the most specific signs of the civilization of the Totonacs and other tribes that lived in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco.

Similar finds are now known in many other Mayan cities - Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Tikal, Copan.

Such is the purely archaeological background of those dramatic events that led to the death of the main centers of the "classical" Maya culture. Two important conclusions can be drawn: firstly, the time of the alien invasion of the Mayan lands is now known (the beginning of the 9th - the middle of the 10th century); secondly, it was possible to establish the initial area from which the conquerors set off on a campaign (the coastal regions of the Mexican states of Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche).

It remains to resolve the most important question of the ethnicity of the people who crushed the foundations of the largest civilization of pre-Columbian America. And here, to the aid of archeology, it is necessary to draw on those meager and contradictory data of a historical nature, brought to us by ancient Indian chronicles, which managed to be saved from persecution by Catholic inquisitors. The study of these chronicles showed that the Mayan lands were successively subjected to major invasions at least three times.

The first wave of conquerors came from Central Mexico, or rather, from Teotihuacan (Mexico Valley) - the capital of a large and powerful state created at the turn of our era by the Nahua ancestors. In the 7th century, Teotihuacan became the prey of the northern barbarian tribes, who later received the collective name of the Chichimecs. The brilliant capital was completely looted and burned.

The surviving inhabitants of Teotihuacan and a number of nearby villages were forced to move to other regions, most likely to the east and southeast. In the ancient Aztec legends about this important historical event, vague memories have been preserved in the form of a legend about the resettlement of "tlamatinime" (in Aztec "wise, knowledgeable people").

Teotihuacan influence was especially noticeable in the Maya mountain regions. In Kaminalguya (Central Guatemala; Teotihu-Acanian elements of culture in ceramics, architecture and art are so numerous and specific that we are talking, apparently, about the invasion of a significant group of foreigners and the direct conquest of the city. This invasion dates back to about 300-600 years.

On the southern shore of Lake Amatitlán (Guatemala), near the town of Mexicanos, a Teotihuacan clay vessel of a cylindrical shape was found. Radiocarbon analysis of the shell inside the vessel showed that the product dates back to 650 (±130) years.

In Copan (Western Honduras), archaeologists discovered a stele, on the front side of which a character is carved with the face of the Teotihuacan god of water and rain, Tlaloc. Typical Teotihuacan religious symbols and signs are clearly visible on his sandals. The calendar inscription on the stele corresponds to the year 682.

All these facts speak of the invasion of the Teotihuacans into the territory of the Maya (mainly in mountainous regions) between 600 and 700 years. Apparently, this time the city-states managed to resist and, having quickly overcome the devastating consequences of the enemy invasion, entered the most brilliant and bright period of their history.

The death of Teotihuacan had very serious consequences for the peoples of Central America. The whole system of political unions, associations and states, which had been taking shape over the centuries, was shaken to its foundations. A kind of chain reaction began - a continuous period of campaigns, wars, migrations, invasions of unknown tribes, which moved many peoples from their homes. Soon, this whole tangle of ethnic groups, different in culture and language, rolled like a giant wave to the south, to the western borders of the Maya.

It was to this time (VII - VIII centuries) that most of the victorious reliefs and stelae erected by the rulers of the Mayan city-states in the Usumacinta river basin - Palenque, Pied ras Negras, Iashchilan and others, belong.

Seibal, Guatemala. Maya stone stele, combining the features of local and Central Mexican art, 9th century. n. e.

On a stele from Piedras Negras dating back to 795, such a triumphal scene is especially vividly depicted. In the upper part of the monument, the ruler of the city - "halach vinik" is depicted sitting on a throne in a magnificent headdress and a rich suit. With his right hand he leans on a spear. At the foot of the throne are military leaders and courtiers, and even lower - a large group of naked captives with their hands tied behind their backs.

“It draws attention,” writes the Soviet ethnographer R.V. Kinzhalov, “the emphasized individuality in the transfer of images of prisoners; different ethnic types are clearly shown: one has a characteristic decoration in the nose, reminiscent of Toltec ones, the other has a thick beard (a very rare feature in miya)".

But soon the forces of resistance to the enemy dried up. And when a new wave of conquerors moved from the west, the days of the Mayan cities were numbered. This second wave of foreign invasion is associated with the Pipil tribes, whose ethnic and cultural affiliation has not been fully established. Mexican scientist Vigberto Jimenez Moreno puts forward a very plausible hypothesis. He recalls that, according to ancient chronicles, around the end of the 8th century AD, the so-called historical Olmecs captured the city of Cholula (Mexico), where the former (Teotihuacan) population remained for a long time after the death of Teotihuacan and continued to develop the traditions of this culture.

The inhabitants of Cholula were forced to flee to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and settled for some time in the southern part of the present states of Veracruz, Tabasco and Campeche. Here they were apparently strongly influenced by the culture of the Totonacs (it was from them that the settlers adopted the complex "ax" - "yoke"). As a result, the heirs of the Teotihuacan traditions, having adopted a number of features of foreign cultures and partially merged with the local (including the Mayan, who lived in Tabasco) population, turned into the very "pipil" that are known to us from written sources. Pressed by their enemies - the Olmecs, the Pipil moved southeast, into the Mayan region. This is the same wave of conquerors that brought a new culture to the Mayan cities.

The Pipil invasion of the Mayan lands took place from 800 to 950 in two main directions: 1) along the Usumacinta River and along its tributaries to the southeast (Palenque, Altar de Sacrifices, Seibal); 2) along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico to the cities of Yucatan.

The advance of the enemy hordes through the territory of the Maya can be traced quite well thanks to one interesting circumstance. The fact is that the Maya in the "classical" era had a widespread custom to erect stelae and altars with calendar dates in all major cities, accurately fixing the time of the grand opening of the monument. After orange pottery and other Central Mexican features of culture appeared on the territory of the "Old Kingdom", the erection of stelae ceased. Thus, the latest date carved on one or another monument of the city reflects (of course, approximately) the beginning of its decline.

Judging by the surviving dated stelae, the Mayan cities in the Usumacinta River basin were the first to be defeated. Then, almost simultaneously, the most powerful city-states of Petén and Yucatan perished. The latest Mayan calendar date currently known is 909.

The third wave of conquerors were the Central Mexican tribes of the Toltecs, who invaded the territory of the Maya at the end of the 10th century and established their dominance over the Yucatan (Chichen Itza) for several centuries. However, the events connected with this are beyond the scope of our topic, since by the time the Toltecs appeared, all the main centers of the “Old Kingdom” of the Maya had already been defeated.

In conclusion, let us return to the question of whether, after all the events described, the low-lying areas of the Maya turned out to be completely deserted, as some authors believe.

Chichen Itza. Stone relief with paintings of battles between Maya and Toltec warriors. Moreover, the latter always win over the enemy. X-XII centuries AD

According to Spanish chronicles, quite a lot of people lived in the forests of Peten and Belize in the 16th-17th centuries, although, of course, less than in the "classical" era. Cortes, during a campaign in Honduras against the rebels of the hidalgo Cristobal de Olida, met in these places numerous villages and towns, carefully cultivated maize fields, and an extensive network of roads. Part of the population of Petén was a newcomer. But another (and, apparently, most) part of it was made up of direct descendants of the inhabitants of the cities of the "classical" era. In the very center of the former "Old Kingdom", on an island in the middle of Lake Peten Ina. there was a huge city of Tayasal - the capital of the independent Mayan state, which existed until the end of the 17th century. This fits perfectly with the foreign invasion hypothesis.

It should also be emphasized that the cessation of monumental construction and the construction of dated stone stelae does not mean that life in Maya cities completely froze at the end of the 1st millennium of our era. There is evidence that even in such major centers of the "Old Kingdom" as Tikal and Vashaktun, the Mayan population persisted into the 10th-16th centuries.

Moving in the most convenient ways, the hordes of invaders gradually devastated the Mayan lands. And the fact that the group of cities at the head of Tikal, located in the very heart of the "Old Kingdom", in the depths of the impenetrable jungle, survived the longest of all proves once again that it was the enemy invasion that caused the death of culture in such a large and flourishing area as it was Mayan territory at the end of the 1st millennium AD.

It is possible that internal social upheavals (uprisings, rebellions, civil strife), which weakened the forces of resistance to the enemy, also played a certain role in the death of this culture.

Empty couch

Let's continue talking about the norms of relationships? On ouch...

Extracts from the excellent monograph by Professor V.I. Gulyaeva
Ancient Civilizations of America (M., 2008).
(and no, this is not a reissue of a 1970s book, but a completely revised, new presentation)

New horizons of Maya archeology. Exhibition in New York.
Secrets of ancient pottery

On April 20, 1971, New York's elite club, the Grolier, was in a frenzy of excitement.
In the spacious halls, behind the sparkling glass of the showcases, the most diverse and unexpected objects shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow - clay figurines of gods, tall ceramic vases with elegant painting, carved plates of translucent greenish jade, bone tubes and shell pendants. These were exhibits of the exhibition "Writing of the ancient Maya". They belonged to a distinctive and vibrant culture that flourished in southern Mexico and Guatemala in the 1st-9th centuries AD.

The divine pair of Twins of the ancient Maya before the Creator Itzamna
(Cylinder Vase, Peten, Guatemala, AD 593-830)
When the well-known American archaeologist Professor Michael Koh was offered to become the organizer and main manager of such an exhibition, he was initially even confused: what kind of Maya writing was there?
[...] And after much hesitation, Michael Ko chooses a different path.
He decided to collect for the exhibition at the Grolier Club those products of the ancient Maya that belonged to the 1st millennium AD. and had some kind of hieroglyphic inscription on them.

Having very broad connections in various circles of society, he quickly established contact with museums and with the largest private collectors in the United States. The positive results of his energetic activity were not long in coming. By the appointed day, hundreds of magnificent products of potters, jewelers and bone carvers of the ancient Maya were placed in the halls of the club.
Among the exhibits of the exhibition there were especially many elegant clay vases with multi-color paintings of various contents and short hieroglyphic inscriptions, which were applied with bright mineral paints with great skill by a Mayan calliographer directly onto the smooth surface of the vessel.
In this sense, every Mayan vessel of the 1st millennium AD. resembled Mayan manuscripts of the 12th-15th centuries, where images of gods and various mythological characters were also accompanied by a short explanatory text.
The exhibition was a great success with the public, but more importantly, it gave very significant scientific results. Shortly after its closing, Professor Koh released a colorful album in New York, which included photographs of all the ceramic vases presented at the exhibition at the Grolier Club.
They were accompanied by lengthy and qualified comments.

And when experts got acquainted with this edition, it became obvious that the world is on the verge of a new scientific sensation. It was a discovery of great significance, and, moreover, in a field of Mayan archeology that no one had taken seriously before.

Mayan polychrome ceramic vessel depicting
dancing characters and a stylized maize plant,
(Naranjo, Guatemala, VII-VIII centuries AD)

Placing the exhibits in the showcases of the exhibition and describing them, Michael Ko noted to himself that, despite all his rich archaeological experience, he had never seen so many magnificent and well-preserved examples of painted polychrome Maya ceramics of the 1st millennium AD. e. The vast majority of these beautiful vessels have not yet come to the attention of the scientific world at all, since they were kept in closed private collections, where they fell from the hands of grave robbers - “guaqueros”. Naturally, the place of each such discovery remained, as a rule, unknown.

True, similar vessels were also found by scientific archaeological expeditions. They were found in rich tombs and burials, probably belonging to the rulers and the highest aristocracy of the Maya.
Thus, there were certain grounds for assuming that the painted earthenware vases shown at the Grolier Club were once in the royal tombs of various ancient Mayan cities in southern Mexico and northern Guatemala.

More carefully becoming acquainted with this ceramics, Professor Ko first of all drew attention to the hieroglyphic inscriptions. They were divided into two large groups. The first, applied with a brush or chisel of an ancient master, was usually placed along the edge of the vessel and has a standard, repetitive character. The inscription in this case begins with a verbal hieroglyph, which is also known from manuscripts of the 12th-15th centuries and means “to lead the lineage”, “to be a descendant”. In the middle of the inscription are signs that convey the concepts of "road" and "death". It ends with a not entirely clear epithet, most likely referring to the personality of the ruler or king. Between these more or less understandable hieroglyphs are signs in the form of heads of gods, most of which are associated with death and the afterlife.

The second group of inscriptions is located, as a rule, near the figures depicted on the vase and is strictly individual in nature (names and titles?).

Upon careful study of the images located on the walls of most vessels, one could notice that they all boil down to several basic motives:
* a ruler or king sitting on a throne surrounded by his courtiers and servants (“palace scene”);
* two young men in rich clothes and outwardly similar to each other (“young rulers”);
* a deity in the form of a vampire bat with symbols of death on its wings;
* some disgusting skeletal spirits and creatures;
* ritual ball game;
* scenes of human sacrifice.

Maya polychrome pottery vessel with court scene
Yomchilak (Mexico), 600-900
According to the point of view, which was very common then among specialists, these scenes on painted ceramics of the 1st millennium AD. reflect the real life and deeds of those Mayan rulers and aristocrats, in whose tombs these vessels were placed.

However, how to explain in this case the abundance of various gloomy symbols on these polychrome vases: skulls, crossbones, black painting of faces and bodies of characters - the color of war and death, etc.? Why do they so often feature hideous spirits and deities?

And so, contrary to the opinion of most colleagues, Michael Koh decides:
"Both the scenes and the texts imprinted on these graceful vessels do not refer to the daily life of the Mayan elite, but to the afterlife - to the Underworld of death."

Thus, according to the assumption of this scientist, the polychrome ceramics of the ancient Maya were purely funerary in their purpose and were made only in order to immediately get into the tombs of kings and the highest nobility. But what exactly was this done for? The answer has not yet been found.

Professor Koh was further strengthened in his conclusions after he managed to prove a direct coincidence of some plots of painted Mayan ceramics of the 1st millennium AD. with the content of the myth about the adventures of the divine twins in the Underworld, which is set forth in the epic of the Maya-Kiche Indians "Popol-Vuh".
This is a very important and unique document that gives a general idea of ​​the cosmology and theology of the ancient Maya. "Popol Vuh" was written down in the 16th century, shortly after the conquest, in Maya-Kiche, but in Latin letters. There is no doubt that the epic was based on information gleaned from some ancient Mayan hieroglyphic manuscripts, subsequently lost.

Before describing the myth about the adventures of the twin heroes in the gloomy labyrinths of the underworld in more detail, it is necessary, at least in the most general form, to acquaint readers with the Mayan philosophical views on the problems of life, death and the fate of man.

In the depths of the underworld

Judging by written sources, the Mayan ideas about the universe and about death were as follows.

Above the flat surface of the rectangular earth are thirteen layers of the sky, each of which had its own deity. The sky rested on five large world trees, standing on the four cardinal points and in the center of the earth. Birds perched on the tops of the trees. Under the earth there was an afterlife kingdom, which, according to some sources, consisted of nine tiers. The souls of warriors who died on the battlefield or from the sacrificial knife of a priest, and women who died in childbirth, were sent to heaven, to the paradise of the sun god. And those who drowned, killed by lightning, died from diseases associated with water, went to the heavenly paradise of the god of rain.

However, the souls of most people who died an ordinary death, in the "home bed", fell into the underworld - " Mictlan”(Aztec. -“ The area of ​​​​the dead ”,“ The area where we lose ourselves ”,“ The area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe incorporeal) - a cold and dark realm of death, where they wandered until their final death. Mayan word " Metnal", probably comes from the Nahua term "Miktlan" - "Death". But there is another, purely Mayan word - “ Xibalba ”, from the term “shib” - “fear”, “horror”.

During its long journey through the labyrinths of the Underworld, the human soul was subjected to severe trials, vividly described in Mayan and Aztec myths: it crossed a fetid river of blood and pus, made its way between mountains colliding with each other, crossed high plateaus with cold winds penetrating through like obsidian knife. After four years of wandering, the soul fell into the lowest tier of the underworld, where a pair of terrible gods reigned - miktlantecuhtli(among the Aztecs), the ruler of the Land of the Dead and his wife.
Both of them were depicted as skeletons.
Sitting in a palace built from human bones, this couple ruled over their terrible kingdom.
All other deities of the Underworld were subordinate to them.

Kerr 7226.
Incidentally, David Stewart believes that the deities of the Lower "D" and "N"- one character;
meanwhile, both are depicted on the right, peacefully talking to each other. A case of hypostases?

In the Mayan manuscripts of the 12th-15th centuries, the god of death bears the name Yum Tzek(lit. "Lord of Skulls") and is also usually depicted as a skeleton. He has the permanent epithet " Ye-Cham-El"-" Threatening Death", but sometimes it is called " Yum Kim-il- "Lord of Death".
According to Mayan beliefs, the entrance to Mictlan is located in the Alta Verapaz region rich in caves in the Guatemala Mountains.

But even there, in the gloomy depths of the Underworld, the ultimate fate of a person depended on his social position during life. The kings "resurrected" again and turned into heavenly gods, and ordinary community members forever remained in the underworld.
The burial ritual of the rulers fully corresponded to such ideas.

Maya- pokomam, who lived in the Verapaz region in Mountainous Guatemala, in the 16th century the deceased ruler was placed in a large clay vessel, which was lowered into the grave pit along with the wealth and jewelry of the deceased. A hill was subsequently poured over this place, the size of which depended on the strength and power of the deceased. A stone statue of the ruler was installed on top and worshiped.
In other cases, the dead king was dressed in the finest clothes, adorned with jewels, and seated on the throne. Friendly rulers and their subjects came to the funeral, bringing with them slaves and bringing gifts. Then the deceased was placed in a wooden box or in a stone sarcophagus in a sitting position, with legs crossed. Together with him they put gold, paper raincoats and other valuables.
The box was lowered into a grave dug at the top of the mountain.
Slaves were killed and placed around the box. If the slave was a farmer, agricultural implements were buried with him; if he was a hunter, then he had a bow and arrows with him. With the slaves they put "manos" and "metates" - "stone mirror grinders" for making flour from corn grains, clay vessels for cooking food, drinking bowls, plates and bowls. In a word, everything was done so that in the afterlife the existence of the ruler was no different from the earthly one.
A small stone altar was built over the tomb, on which the Indians usually burned fragrant resin and made other sacrifices.

But back to the myth of the divine twins.

“The old mother goddess Shmukane,” says the epic “Popol-Vuh”, “had two sons, Hun Hun Ahpu and Vukub Hun Ahpu". They were very fond of playing with a rubber ball and therefore spent whole days on the playground. Once, their noisy fun seriously angered the rulers of the Underworld, or Xibalba according to the Maya, and the lords of the underworld lured the brothers into their terrible possessions. After a series of difficult and unsuccessful tests for them, the twins suffered a final defeat during a ritual ball game and were sacrificed by the inhabitants of the underworld.

As a token of their victory, the lords of Xibalba cut off Hun-Hun-Ahpu's head and hung it on a gourd tree. The daughter of one of the lords of the Underworld once passed by this tree, and the saliva from the head of the executed twin fell on her hand, as a result of which the girl became pregnant. Learning about this and fearing the revenge of her father, she fled from the underworld to the surface of the earth, where she gave birth to another pair of divine twins - Hunahpoo and Xbalanque.

Twin heroes on a vessel for drinking chocolate
(San Pedro Mártir River / Usumacinta, Guatemala 600-900 A.D.)

They soon developed into handsome youths, ritual ball gamers and skilled hunters.
Like their uncle and father, they aroused the wrath of the Lords of Xibalba with their romp. And they ordered them to appear in the Underworld. Descending down very steep stairs, the young men set off on their difficult journey, which, apparently, coincided with the path of the soul of a deceased person, as the ancient Maya imagined it.

They passed between hills and ravines, they reached the intersection of four roads of different colors. Here the twins outwitted the lords of Xibalba by sending a mosquito ahead of them along the black road they had chosen. The mosquito, biting each of the rulers of the underworld in turn, recognized their names, and, according to the myth, they immediately lost their magical power.
There were twelve named gods of Xibalba in all; at their head were the supreme lords Hong Kame("First Death") and Vukub Kame("Seventh Death"). Other gods of the underworld probably personified various diseases.

The twins also went through a series of dangerous ordeals in the five chambers or "houses" of the Underworld: "House of Cold", "House of the Jaguar", "House of Bats" (led by Kama Sotsem, or "Vampire Bat") and "House of Obsidian Knives".
Finally, the lords of Xibalba gave the twins in the "House of Gloom" cigars and torches, which they were to smoke and burn all night, but return in the morning safe and sound. By planting fireflies on the tips of cigars and tying bunches of red feathers to the torches, simulating smoking and burning, the twins thus coped with this task.

Hunahpu and Xbalanca play ball with the deities of Xibalba
(Mayan polychrome vase of the 1st millennium AD)

Illustration of the descent into Xibalba; ritual ball game

They won a complete victory in the ritual ball game.
Further, surprising the lords of the underworld with the fact that they could chop themselves into pieces and rise again, the twins tempted the lords to do the same with themselves. Hun-Kame and Vukub-Kame were cut by the twins with large flint knives, but were not resurrected again.

The final words of the twin heroes addressed to the defeated gods of Xibalba sound like a real hymn to life and the victory of the human mind over death:
«... Here is our verdict, which we proclaim to you. Listen to him, all of you, inhabitants of Xibalba... You will get very little from blood and skulls, and the ball game will not be for you. You will spend your time making clay pots, pans, and corn stones. Only the children of the thickets and deserts will be given your patronage. But the creatures of the light, the sons of the light will not have fellowship with you ... Sinners, seekers of strife, bearers of sorrows, traitors who give themselves over to vices - these are those who will greet you».

But in the same words of the ancient myth, one of the greatest tragedies of mankind was also reflected - sharp social inequality not only during life, but also after death. After all, the revival and deliverance from the horrors of the kingdom of the dead did not fall to the lot of all people, but only the “sons of light”, that is, the divine twins themselves and the rulers and the highest Mayan nobility following their example.
Only they, after a four-year journey through Xibalba, will ascend to heaven and turn into gods.
« Then they moved away from them(from the inhabitants of the underworld. - V.G.), - it is said in the "Popol-Vuh" about the twin heroes, - and went up into the center of light, in an instant they were lifted up to heaven. One was given the Sun, the other the Moon. Then the dome of the heavens and the face of the earth were illuminated. Now they dwell in heaven».

"Young rulers" (twin heroes from "Popol-Vuh") in the Underworld.
Late Classic polychrome vessel from mountainous Guatemala.

Hunahpu - one of the divine twins - on the hunt

It should be noted that the veneration of twin heroes appeared a very long time ago and took place among many Mayan tribes. So the Indians of the Verapaz region in Guatemala worshiped as twin gods Hunahpoo and Ashbalanken. In the dictionaries of the Maya Pocomam (Guatemala) language, Hunahpu is called "one of the most important idols."

The Spanish chronicler Fuentes y Guzman, speaking of the funeral of the supreme rulers of the Maya Pocomam, indicates that the corpse was buried in the darkness of the night, after two days of ceremonies and sacrifices to the Xbalanque idol, so that this god would accompany the deceased on a journey through the Underworld.

Thus, the cult of divine twins was widespread throughout the territory of the ancient Maya. The twins were closely connected with the afterlife and, apparently, served as intermediaries between the Underworld and living people, in any case, they acted as such for the rulers and the highest nobility of the Maya.

Apparently, the story of the twin heroes is just one of many ancient myths dedicated to the underworld and its terrible gods; It is possible that in the 1st millennium A.D. e. there were entire hieroglyphic books on this topic. And the fragment about the divine twins that survived in the Popol Vuh was an important part of the funerary text or hymn at the funeral of representatives of the local elite.

The most remarkable thing about M. Ko's discovery is that he established a direct connection between the images on many painted Mayan vessels of the 1st millennium AD. with the myth about the adventures of the twin heroes in the Underworld from the Maya-Kiche epic "Popol-Vuh" (XVI century).

Mesoamerica in the classical era.

The territory on which the Maya civilization developed was once occupied by the modern southern Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche and Yucatan, the Petén department in Northern Guatemala, Belize and part of Western El Salvador and Honduras. The southern borders of the Maya possessions were closed by the mountain ranges of Guatemala and Honduras. Three-quarters of the Yucatan Peninsula is surrounded by sea, and the land approaches to it from Mexico were blocked by the endless swamps of Chiapas and Tabasco. The Mayan territory is distinguished by an extraordinary variety of natural conditions, but nature has never been too generous to man here. Each step on the way to civilization went to the ancient inhabitants of these places with great difficulty and required the mobilization of all the human and material resources of society.

The history of the Maya can be divided into three major eras in accordance with the most important changes in the economy, social institutions and culture of local tribes: Paleo-Indian (10000-2000 BC); archaic (2000-100 BC or 0) and the era of civilization (100 BC or 0 - XVI century AD). These eras, in turn, are divided into smaller periods and stages. The initial stage of the classical Maya civilization falls approximately at the turn of our era (1st century BC - 1st century AD). The upper border belongs to the 9th century. AD

The earliest traces of human presence in the area of ​​distribution of the Maya culture were found in central Chiapas, mountainous Guatemala and part of Honduras (X millennium BC).

At the turn of III and II millennia BC. in these mountainous regions, early agricultural cultures of the Neolithic type appear, the basis of which was maize agriculture.

At the very end of the II - the beginning of the I millennium BC. The development of the Mayan tribes of the tropical jungle begins. Separate attempts to settle on the fertile, game-rich lands of the plains were made before, but the mass colonization of these areas began precisely from that time.

At the end of the II millennium BC. the milp (slash-and-burn) system of agriculture is finally taking shape, progressive changes are observed in the production of ceramics, house-building and other areas of culture. Based on these achievements, the tribes of the mountain Maya gradually mastered the forest lowlands of Peten, eastern Chiapas, Yucatan and Belize. Their general direction of movement was from west to east. In the course of their advance into the interior of the jungle, the Maya used the most advantageous directions and routes, and above all the river valleys.

By the middle of the 1st millennium BC. the colonization of most of the plains of the jungle was completed, after which the development of culture here proceeded quite independently.

At the end of the 1st millennium BC. Qualitative changes are taking place in the culture of the plains of the Maya: palace complexes appear in cities, former sanctuaries and light small temples turn into monumental stone structures, all the most important palace and religious architectural complexes stand out from the general mass of buildings and are located in the central part of the city on special elevated and fortified places, writing and a calendar are being formed, painting and monumental sculpture are developing, magnificent burials of rulers with human sacrifices inside the temple pyramids appear.

The formation of statehood and civilization in the flat forest zone was accelerated by a significant influx of people from the south from the mountainous regions, where, as a result of the eruption of the Ilopango volcano, most of the land was covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash and turned out to be uninhabitable. The southern (mountainous) region, apparently, gave a powerful impetus to the development of the Mayan culture in the Central region (Northern Guatemala, Belize, Tabasco and Chiapas in Mexico). Here the Mayan civilization reached the peak of its development in the 1st millennium AD.

The economic base of the Mayan culture was slash-and-burn maize agriculture. Milp farming consists of clearing, burning, and planting a patch of rainforest. Due to the rapid depletion of the soil, after two or three years, the site must be abandoned and a new one must be sought. The main agricultural tools of the Maya were: a digging stick, an ax and a torch. Through long-term experiments and selection, local farmers have managed to develop hybrid high-yielding varieties of the main agricultural plants - maize, legumes and pumpkins. The manual technique of processing a small forest area and the combination of crops of several crops on one field made it possible to maintain fertility for a long time and did not require frequent change of plots. Natural conditions (soil fertility and abundance of heat and moisture) allowed Maya farmers to collect here an average of at least two crops per year.

In addition to fields in the jungle, near each Indian dwelling there was a personal plot with vegetable gardens, groves of fruit trees, etc. The latter (especially breadfruit "ramon") did not require any care, but provided a significant amount of food.

The successes of ancient Maya agriculture were largely associated with the creation by the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. a clear and harmonious agricultural calendar that strictly regulates the timing and sequence of all agricultural work.

In addition to slash-and-burn, the Maya were familiar with other forms of agriculture. In the south of Yucatan and Belize, on the slopes of high hills, agricultural terraces were found with a special system of soil moisture. In the Candelaria River basin (Mexico), there was an agricultural system reminiscent of the "floating gardens" of the Aztecs. This so-called "raised fields", which have almost inexhaustible fertility. The Maya also had a fairly extensive network of irrigation and drainage canals. The latter removed excess water from swampy areas, turning them into fertile fields suitable for cultivation.

The canals built by the Maya simultaneously collected and brought rainwater into artificial reservoirs, served as an important source of animal protein (fish, waterfowl, freshwater edible mollusks), were convenient ways of communication and delivery of heavy loads on boats and rafts.

The craft of the Maya is represented by ceramic production, weaving, the production of stone tools and weapons, jade jewelry, and construction. Ceramic vessels with polychrome painting, graceful figured vessels, jade beads, bracelets, diadems and figurines are evidence of the high professionalism of Mayan artisans.

In the classical period, the Maya developed trade. Imported Mayan ceramics of the 1st millennium AD. discovered by archaeologists in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Strong trade ties were established with Teotihuacan. In this vast city, a large number of shards of Mayan ceramics and carved jade gizmos were found. Here was a whole quarter of Mayan traders, with their dwellings, warehouses of goods and sanctuaries. A similar quarter of Teotihuacan traders existed in one of the largest Mayan cities of the 1st millennium AD. Tikal. In addition to land trade, sea routes were also used (images of dugout rowing boats are quite common in the works of art of the ancient Maya, starting at least from the 7th century AD).

The centers of the Mayan civilization were numerous cities. The largest of them were Tikal, Palenque, Yaxchilan, Naranjo, Piedras Negras, Copan, Quirigua, and others. All these names are late. The original names of the cities are still unknown (the exception is Naranjo, which is identified with the Jaguar's Ford fortress, known from the inscription on a clay vase).

Architecture in the central part of any major Mayan city of the 1st millennium AD. represented by pyramidal hills and platforms of various sizes and heights. On their flat tops there are stone buildings: temples, residences of the nobility, palaces. Buildings were surrounded by massive rectangular squares, which were the main planning unit in Mayan cities. Ordinary dwellings were built of wood and clay under roofs of dry palm leaves. All residential buildings stood on low (1-1.5 m) platforms lined with stone. Usually residential and auxiliary buildings form groups located around an open rectangular patio. Such groups were the habitat of a large patriarchal family. In the cities there were markets and craft workshops (for example, for processing flint and obsidian). The location of a building within the city was determined by the social status of its inhabitants.

A significant group of the population of Mayan cities (the ruling elite, officials, warriors, artisans and merchants) was not directly connected with agriculture and existed at the expense of a vast agricultural district, which supplied it with all the necessary agricultural products and mainly maize.

The nature of the socio-political structure of Maya society in the classical era cannot yet be unambiguously determined. It is clear that, at least in the period of its highest prosperity (7th-8th centuries AD), the Mayan social structure was quite complex. Along with the bulk of community farmers, there was nobility (its layer was made up of priests), artisans and professional merchants stood out. The presence of a number of rich burials in rural settlements testifies to the heterogeneity of the rural community. However, it is too early to judge how far this process has gone.

At the head of the hierarchical social system was the deified ruler. The Mayan rulers always emphasized their connection with the gods and performed, in addition to their main (secular) functions, a number of religious ones. They not only had power during their lifetime, but were revered by the people even after their death. In their activities, the rulers relied on the secular and spiritual nobility. From the first formed the administrative apparatus. Despite the fact that little is known about the organization of Mayan administration in the classical period, the presence of a control apparatus is undoubted. This is indicated by the regular planning of Mayan cities, an extensive irrigation system and the need for strict regulation of agricultural labor. The latter was the task of the priests. Any violation of the sacred order was regarded as blasphemy, and the violator could end up on the sacrificial altar.

Like other ancient societies, the Maya had slaves. They were used for various household chores, worked in the gardens and plantations of the nobility, served as porters on the roads and rowers on merchant boats. However, it is unlikely that the proportion of slave labor was significant.

After the 6th century AD in the Mayan cities there is a consolidation of the system of power based on the rules of inheritance, i.e. dynastic regime is established. But in many ways, the classical city-states of the Maya remained "chiefdoms" or "chiefdoms". The power of their hereditary rulers, although sanctioned by the gods, was limited - limited by the size of the territories controlled, the number of people and resources in these territories, and the comparative underdevelopment of the bureaucratic mechanism that the ruling elite had.

There were wars between the Mayan states. In most cases, the territory of the defeated city was not included in the state borders of the winner. The end of the battle was the capture of one ruler by another, usually with the subsequent sacrifice of the captured leader. The aim of the foreign policy of the Mayan rulers was power and control over neighbors, especially control over the lands suitable for cultivation and over the population in order to cultivate these lands and build cities. However, not a single state has managed to achieve political centralization over a large territory and has not been able to hold this territory for any long period of time.

Approximately between 600 and 700 years. AD Teotihuacan invaded Maya territory. Mostly mountainous areas were attacked, but even in the lowland cities at this time Teotihuacan influence increases significantly. The Mayan city-states managed to resist and rather quickly overcame the consequences of the enemy invasion.

In the 7th century AD. Teotihuacan perishes under the onslaught of the northern barbarian tribes. This had the most serious consequences for the peoples of Central America. The system of political unions, associations and states that had evolved over many centuries was violated. A continuous period of campaigns, wars, migrations, and invasions of barbarian tribes began. This whole motley tangle of ethnic groups, different in language and culture, was inexorably approaching the western borders of the Maya.

At first, the Maya successfully repelled the onslaught of foreigners. It was to this time (the end of the 7th-8th centuries AD) that most of the victorious reliefs and stelae erected by the rulers of the Mayan city-states in the Usumacinta river basin belong: Palenque, Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan, etc. But soon the resistance forces the enemy is exhausted. Added to this was the constant hostility between the Maya city-states themselves, whose rulers, for any reason, sought to increase their territory at the expense of their neighbors.

A new wave of conquerors moved from the west. These were the Pipil tribes, whose ethnic and cultural affiliation has not yet been fully established. The Mayan cities in the Usumasinta river basin were the first to be defeated (end of the 8th - first half of the 9th century AD). Then, almost simultaneously, the most powerful city-states of Peten and Yucatan perished (second half of the 9th - early 10th centuries AD). In the course of some 100 years, the most populous and culturally developed region of Central America falls into a decline from which it has never recovered again.

The low-lying areas of the Maya after these events did not turn out to be completely deserted (according to some authoritative scientists, up to 1 million people died in this territory in just one century). In the XVI-XVII centuries, a fairly large number of inhabitants lived in the forests of Peten and Belize, and in the very center of the former "Old Kingdom", on an island in the middle of Lake Peten Itza, there was a populous city of Taysal - the capital of an independent Mayan state that existed until the end of the XVII century .

In the northern region of Maya culture, in the Yucatan, events developed differently. In the X century. AD the cities of the Yucatan Maya were attacked by warlike Central Mexican tribes - the Toltecs. However, unlike the central Maya region, this did not lead to catastrophic consequences. The population of the peninsula not only survived, but also managed to quickly adapt to the new conditions. As a result, after a short time, a peculiar culture appeared in the Yucatan, combining Mayan and Toltec features.

The reason for the death of the classical Mayan civilization is still a mystery. Some facts indicate that the invasion of the militant groups "Pipil" was not the cause, but the result of the decline of the Mayan cities at the very end of the 1st millennium AD. It is possible that internal social upheavals or some serious economic crisis played a certain role here.

The construction and maintenance of an extensive system of irrigation canals and "elevated fields" required enormous efforts from society. The population, sharply reduced as a result of wars, was no longer able to support it in the difficult conditions of the tropical jungle. And she died, and the Mayan classical civilization died with her.

The end of the classical Maya civilization has much in common with the death of the Harappan culture in. And although they are separated by a rather impressive period of time, typologically they are very close. Perhaps G. M. Bograd-Levin is right, linking the decline of civilization in the Indus Valley not only with natural phenomena, but primarily with the evolution of the structure of sedentary agricultural cultures. True, the nature of this process is not yet clear and requires further study.

Maya lived in one of the most comfortable corners of our planet. They did not need warm clothes, they were content with thick and long strips of fabric, which they wrapped around their bodies in a special manner. They ate mainly corn and what was mined in the jungle, cocoa, fruits, and game. They did not keep domestic animals either for transportation or for food. The wheel was not used. According to modern concepts, it was the most primitive of the civilizations of the Stone Age, they were far from Greece and Rome. However, the fact remains that archaeologists have confirmed that during the period mentioned, this people managed to build several dozen amazing cities on a fairly large territory, far from each other. The basis of these cities is usually a complex of pyramids and powerful stone buildings, completely covered with strange mask-like icons and various dashes.

The highest of the Mayan pyramids are not lower than the Egyptian ones. For scientists, it still remains a mystery: how these structures were built!

And why were such cities of pre-Columbian civilization, perfect in beauty and sophistication, suddenly abandoned, as if on command, by their inhabitants at the turn of 830 AD?

At that very time, the center of civilization went out, the peasants who lived around these cities scattered into the jungle, and all the priestly traditions suddenly degenerated sharply. All subsequent bursts of civilization in this region were distinguished by sharp forms of power.

However, back to our topic. Those same Mayan, who left their cities, fifteen centuries before Columbus invented an accurate solar calendar and developed hieroglyphic writing, used the concept of zero in mathematics. The classical Maya confidently predicted solar and lunar eclipses and even predicted the Day of Judgment.

How did they do it

To answer this question, you and I will have to look beyond what is permitted by established prejudices and question the correctness of the official interpretation of some historical events.

Maya - Geniuses of the pre-Columbian era

During his fourth American voyage in 1502, Columbus landed on a small island off the coast of what is now the Republic of Honduras. Here Columbus met Indian merchants sailing on a large ship. He asked where they were from, and they, as Columbus recorded, answered: “From Mayan province". It is believed that the generally accepted name of the Maya civilization is formed from the name of this province, which, like the word "Indian", is, in essence, an invention of the great admiral.

The name of the main tribal territory of the Maya proper - the Yucatan Peninsula - is of a similar origin. For the first time anchoring off the coast of the peninsula, the conquistadors asked the local inhabitants what their land was called. The Indians answered all questions: "Siu tan", which meant "I do not understand you." Since then, the Spaniards began to call this large peninsula Siugan, and later Siutan became Yucatan. In addition to the Yucatan (during the conquest of the main territory of this people), the Maya lived in the mountainous region of the Central American Cordillera and in the tropical jungle of the so-called Metene, a lowland located in present-day Guatemala and Honduras. Maya culture probably originated in this area. Here, in the basin of the Usu-masinta river, the first Mayan pyramids were erected and the first magnificent cities of this civilization were built.

Mayan territory

By the beginning of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century Mayan culture occupied a vast and diverse territory in terms of natural conditions, which included the modern Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and Quintana Roo, as well as all of Guatemala, Belize (formerly British Honduras), the western regions of El Salvador and Honduras. millennium, apparently, more or less coincided with those mentioned above. At present, most scientists distinguish within this territory three large cultural and geographical regions, or zones: Northern, Central and Southern.

Maya civilization location map

The northern region includes the entire Yucatan Peninsula - a flat limestone plain with shrub vegetation, crossed in some places by chains of low rocky hills. The poor and thin soils of the peninsula, especially along the coast, are not very favorable for maize farming. In addition, there are no rivers, lakes and streams; the only source of water (except for rain) are natural karst wells - senates.

The central region occupies the territory of modern Guatemala (Peten department), the southern Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas (eastern) and Campeche, as well as Belize and a small area in the west of Honduras. This is a zone of tropical rain forests, low rocky hills, limestone plains and extensive seasonal swamps. There are many large rivers and lakes here: rivers - Usumacinta, Grijalva, Belize, Chamelekon, etc., lakes - Isabel, Peten Itza, etc. The climate is warm, tropical, with an average annual temperature of 25 above zero Celsius. The year is divided into two seasons: dry (lasts from late January to late May) and the rainy season. In total, from 100 to 300 cm of precipitation falls here per year. Fertile soils, the lush splendor of the flora and fauna of the tropics greatly distinguish the Central Region from the Yucatan.

The central region of the Maya is central not only geographically. This is also the area where Mayan civilization reached the pinnacle of its development in the first millennium. Most of the largest urban centers were also located here at that time: Tikal, Palenque, Yaxchilan, Naranjo, Piedras Negras, Copan, Quiriguaidr.

The southern region includes the mountainous regions and the Pacific coast of Guatemala, the Mexican state of Chiapas (its mountainous part), and certain regions of El Salvador. This territory is distinguished by an unusual diversity of ethnic composition, a variety of natural and climatic conditions, and a significant cultural specificity, which noticeably distinguishes it from the background of other areas of the Maya.

These three regions differ not only geographically. They are different from each other and their historical destinies.

Although all of them were inhabited from very early times, there was certainly a kind of transfer of the "baton" of cultural leadership between them: the Southern (mountainous) region, apparently, gave a powerful impetus to the development of the classical Maya culture in the Central region, and the last reflection of the great Mayan civilization is associated with the Northern region (Yucatan).