Monument of Maya civilization in Guatemala. Maja tribe. In the southern border of Maya civilization
About a small Central American country, located a little south of Mexico, the Russians are known. Meanwhile, Guatemala once was heart of Maja cultureAnd on its territory to this day you can find a significant number of monuments of ancient civilization.
The heritage of the ancient Maya.
Amazing exotic, Wet Tropical Forests, Volcanoes, Ancient Pyramids And even the colorful population of Guatemala itself, most of which make up direct descendants of the Indians, purebred Maya.who practically did not marry with Europeans and North Americans throughout the history of the country's existence - all this constitutes a unique image of Guatemala.
Descendant ancient Maya.
In addition to the capital of the country, Gwatela guests are often offered to visit N. tikal Challenge Chamber , one of the largest Latin America settlers of Maya civilization, climb on tops volcanoes Atitlan, San Pedro, Fuego , including two acting - Santiaigito and Pakaya .
Volcanoes Guatemala
The deepest lake Central America Atitlan. It is one of the most famous sights of the country. Located between three volcanoes, this lake occupies a valley, damaged by volcanic ash, and strikes tourists with its incredible beauty and transparent waters.
Deep lake Guatemala Attractions Guatemala left after Maya
Often travelers recommend visiting not only in large and most famous cities countries, but also drive around the local indian Village to feel unique local coloring and culture, which is called "whole skin".
Ancient Maya and modernity Here you can try dishes. national Kitchen, in many respects similar to Mexican, but still having certain differences. The most important of them, of course, remain maisic lepsekiwho eat literally with all: with vegetables, meat, chicken. Fakhitas (Meat with vegetables wrapped in Tortilla) escareche (chicken baked in a pot), tamale (corn flour pellets wrapped by corn leaves), bunuelo (Buns, similar to donuts, polished with anise syrup).
Kitchen Guatemala - Maya grooves
Traveler should be borne in mind that the local population is talking about 20 Maya dialects And in Spanish they say everything, but English knows, mostly, only some residents of the capital, and even that, for the most part, educated youth is largely experiencing the influence of American culture. Therefore, without at least the basic level of Spanish travel around the country, the tourist will not be too simple.
In addition, with all the originality and painting of the country, tourists should not forget about their own security, since, unfortunately, crime level In Guatemala, still remains very high, and attacks with the purpose of robbery here are quite familiar. Therefore, going to meet adventure, be careful.
Maya's cities are in Guatemala, Salvador, Belize and Honduras.
In Mexico, the Mayan city has long been a place of pilgrimage. There are many luxury resorts around them, and all hotels and travel agencies offer to make a tour of the ruins. But maya temples can be seen in other countries: Guatemala, Salvador, Belize and Honduras.
Maya city in Guatemala
In this country, the two main monuments maya - Tikal and El Mirador.
The most popular is Tikal. It is located in the National Park in the El Peten area, and in 1979 was included in the UNESCO list. More than 1000 years ago, Tikal was a huge city. The most amazing thing is that there are no sources next to him. fresh water. Tikal residents used only rainwater, which was collected in stone tanks. Agriculture fully depended on weather conditions, and overpopulation led to the cutting of forests, soil erosion and a gradual reduction of crops, which could be the cause of the decline of the city in the 9th century.
Hundreds of temples and other buildings turned into ruins and thickets. The city was hidden in the jungle for many years, but they did not forget about him local residents and different adventurers. In 1956, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania began archaeological excavations, during which many Tikal structures were restored. Now work is carried out under the control of the Government of Guatemala, and archaeologists suspect that there are still quite a few surprises in this area.
IN National Park Tikal 5. large temples, whose height reaches 70 meters. As well as royal Palaces There are residential buildings, administrative buildings and numerous stone sculptures.
In order to look at amazing monuments, you need to purchase entrance ticket In a park, which costs $ 20. Pedestrian trails lead to temple complexes, and the visitors center offers food and drink. Most tours begin in flores city Where is the airport, as well as in the village of El Remate, located halfway between Flores and the ruins of Tikal. 350 families who can provide accommodation live in El Remate, and there are several hotels with parking lots and souvenir shops.
El Mirador - Mayan Civilization Cover
El Mirador is located in the virgin rainforest and is considered the cradle of the Mayan civilization. It covers a huge territory of 100 square meters. km, but unfortunately is not tourist object. There are only archaeological expeditions, which managed to dig the monumental pyramids of Dante and Tiger. The Government of Guatemala is going to make a complex more affordable, but it will be needed for it.
Nearest settlement is an village Carmelita Where can go to a five-day horses trek to the destination.
Monument to Hoya de Serena in El Salvador
Just a few minutes drive from San Salvador. The ruins of Hoya de Serene - the city, which was buried under the layer of volcanic ash, like Pompeium.
Hoya-de Serena Museum - Another Maja Monument in El Salvador!
Excavations showed that it happened almost instantly, since even the remains of food were preserved in housing. Hoya-de Serena discovered in 1976 during the construction of the granaries, and since then the archaeologists have restored 18 different structures: residential buildings, warehouses, baths and even restaurant (or kitchen).
If other Mayan monuments are majestic palaces and pyramids, then the daily life of ordinary farmers can be studied in Hoya de Serena.
Belize and the city of Maya - Lamanai
Traveling to the city of Lamanai is no less exciting than the inspection of the monuments themselves. Lamanai in Maya means "crocodile is immersed in water", and the New River river trip fully justifies this name. Maya lived here until the 17th century and left more than 700 structures, 3 huge temples and many stone structures.
Maya city in Honduras - Copan
Copan city is one of the most interesting Maja monuments.
It is distinguished by the fact that there are many large stone stele, on one side of which human faces are depicted, and intricate hieroglyphs are cut out on the other. Archaeologists found 4.5 thousand such structures and still continue to open new artifacts. The most famous monument of Copan is a hieroglyphic staircase consisting of 63 steps.
Kopan is available for tourists (Park ticket costs $ 15). For an additional fee, you can visit two tunnels, which found earlier buildings Maya.
The complex is located 170 km from San Pedro-Sula - international Airportwhere all tourists arrive. Historians argue that it is Copan that is the perfect city of the ancient civilization of Maya.
It's hard to call another one ancient civilization so highly developed and powerful for its time and at the same time mysterious and mysterious as maja tribe. Why outstanding mathematicians and astronomers, enlightened priests and faded wars turned out to be completely not ready to resist the more aggressive peoples to resist the onslaught of natural elements, why they fought endlessly among themselves. When and where did they come from? After all, their solar calendar, calculated with exceptional accuracy, fantastic for their contemporaries, begins long before the glacial period. What did they know about the distant past, why unexpectedly left their magnificent cities, significantly superior at the time European, why did they degenerate and confused the richest knowledge that came to them from the depths of thousands of years? And finally, which means their prediction of the Sunset of the "Fifth Sun" and the change of civilization on December 23, 2012.
Having become accurately with Incas and Aztecs, looking at the ancient Mayan cities in Mexico and, I wanted to continue acquaintance with the history of mesoamer. Scientists argue that the formation of the Mayan civilization began in the province of Peten, on the territory of modern Guatemala and Honduras, significant monuments were preserved on the territory of El Salvador and Belisa, there are traces of Mayan's stay in and. Having reopening the mountain chain with extinct and acting volcano, allowing the cloud of smoke in Guatemala from time to time, we head to the border with Salvador. From Antigua to drive about four hours. Here is a border point. As long as passports, you can wander through the border area. Raissed the changes with the collens - Salvadorny money, but they do not need anyone. In Salvador, all problems are easier to solve with the help of dollars. It's hot in the sun, but instead of ice cream, on the same usual trolley, sell orange juice. Oranges are folded with a pyramid. Barely catchy wave machete and the next orange is divided strictly for two halves. The seller with his hands carefully squeezes juice into a high faceted fuamer, and on top adds a raw chicken egg. The cocktail is not stirred, it is ready, you need to pay a dollar. Trade is fighting, but passports are already decorated, and you can go further.
Salvador is mainly located on volcanic Highlands - 600-700 meters above the ocean level. Highlands crosses the numerous rivers and the spurs of the mountains, bursting with steep ocean. In the intermountain depuse filled with volcanic ashes - quite a few lakes. Here often occur earthquakes and eruption of volcanoes. Rivers drying up in a dry season, during storm rains turn into muddy streams and often leave the shores. It happens from May to October, when abundant sediments brought by winds fall out across the country Pacific Ocean. Oak and pine forests alternate with grassy savanses and shrub thickets. In Salvador, only one good road is a Pan American highway that passes along the entire continent.
We fold from the highway and we go on a two-way road. Per openwork bridgeFinally, destination. it ancient settlement Maya Hoya de Serene, which is 15 km from the capital of San Salvador at the village of Santa Tesla. At the turn of 600 AD. It was buried under the ashes of volcanic eruption. This is "American Pompeii", only in this case, the entire population of the village managed to escape. The coola layer and volcanic slags reaches six meters. Clearing work is carried out immediately on several fenced areas and you can see an ancient settlement in its original form. Under the ash, houses, streets and even the objects of life of the Maya tribe in untouched by the form, which significantly distinguishes these excavations from other larger historical monuments, looted in a century by vandals.
In five kilometers from here, San Andres is one of the largest monuments of Maya's civilization in El Salvador. It covers more than three square kilometers. Here is the ancient city of Maya. According to scientists, in 650-900, N.E., when the city reached his heyday and was the capital of the fertile valley, called Sapotan, about 12 thousand people lived here. While open only a small part of the structures on the hill, and, only the side walls, and the buildings themselves are reminiscent of the hills or mounds, whipped with juicy grass. Here, Otar Sheep is completely free and indifferently plots grass on ancient relics. Among the buildings, the Acropolis with the quarreals adjacent to it are distinguished. Southern Square is quite significant - a paved stone platform on which various pyramids and turrets are placed. The observatory characteristic of some Mayan cities is not here. From the south side of the platform there is a temple with an altar, with Eastern - funeral pyramids, with North - Market Square. From the height of the city offers a magnificent view of the neighboring valley and hills. The territory of the complex is all in greenery: trees, shrubs and high grass.
Maya has achieved great success in mathematics. For the first time in the history of mankind, they applied the idea of \u200b\u200baccounting for the location of numbers when recording large numbers, almost a thousand years earlier than in Europe. For the first time in the world, the concept of zero was introduced, without which it is impossible to operate in large numbers, which was in itself a brilliant discovery, for a long time inaccessible to other peoples. They had a twenty number system on which the Mayan calendar was founded. The literature states that the Mayan astronomers have determined the duration of the year in 365, 242 days, much more accurately, which was created by the creators of Julian and modern Gregorian calendar! Maya identified the moon rotation cycle around the earth up to: 29,53059 days. They studied other planets: Mars, Venus, special attention was paid to the constellation of twins. They calculated the Venus circulation phase around the Sun with a mistake only for 14 seconds per year. And this is all a few hundred years before in Europe just found out that the earth is round, that it is spinning, and not immediately wanted to believe it. The last famous Mayan calendar is dated 903 a year of our era.
Maya were not only mathematicians and astronomers, but also astrologers. They even for modern standards with amazing accuracy were determined by certain astronomical events. Maya believed that the Universe exists within the framework of the great cycles and argued that there were already four such cycles before our civilization. Now the fifth cycle, and humanity lives in the Epoch of the "Fifth Sun". All previous cultures died during great cataclysms, and only few people stayed alive and told about what happened. The first civilization died due to earthquakes, the second - catastrophic cyclones, the third - from the eruptions of volcanoes, the fourth - from the flood. Our civilization, in their opinion, should die due to the "earth movement", which will be accompanied by the strongest flood.
In the northern and eastern regions of El Salvador, there are quite wild and low enough. Even the conquistadors did not particularly want to go here: on the one hand, due to numerous volcanoes in the east behind the Rio Lempa River, on the other - desert hilly pastures in the north. The people in these areas traditionally lived poorly, the events of the recent civil war were most dramatically unfolded. In these places, partisans were especially active, and the local population still applies to any "palenolitis" is not friendly, so the tourists come here is still too early. Even in sufficiently calm areas of Salvador, many men weapons: rapid rifles, pistols, or at least an impressive machete. That they have a surplus home remains only to guess.
As a result of the backwardness, many years of civil war and other circumstances, the tourist business in El Salvador is still poorly developed, a few tourists come here, so we go to the neighboring Honduras of the civilization of Maya.
Passports on the border are drawn up for quite a long time, even a small queue is built. So far we are waiting for, you can still have time to take a picture of the muddy stream of mountain rivers from the bridge for which we drove up to the border. Picks fine rain. Passports are decorated, go through the border, but the men on the opposite side are screaming and lively with their hands. Probably, we were not waiting for Honduras. However, carefully looking at the road right in front of me, we notice a thin light green snake that fell from the tree. She quickly slides on gravel and after a while hiding in the bushes. Obviously, it is a tree snake and she is poisonous. Everything happened unexpectedly, only then understood that we were lucky with a delay at the border. Pass on this place for a minute earlier, and she could please someone for the collapse.
High mountain arrays, rose from the border itself with Salvador, reaching markers over 2700 meters in the west. A deep tectonic valley cuts mountainous terrain from north to south. In the mountains a little cool, pines and oaks grow on the slopes. Honduras is often exposed to the strongest hurricanes, which leads to numerous victims and undermines the economy, especially agriculture. Honduras is unusually rich in a variety of plant and animal world. Here are: bears, monkeys, tapir, coyotes, jaguars, pums, lynx, crocodiles, iguana and many other animals. Even compared to Salvador, Honduras looks more exotically. The road leads through the serpentine, along the burst slopes on one side and the valley covered with jungle, on the other. Rain and cloudy. The clouds are raised below and through the lumens are visible by the jungle. At times, the road becomes dangerous. Because of the abundant rainfall on the eve, there are many landslides that clutter the highway. Road workers are trying to remove them, but new, breed from the slopes will appear. From the window of the bus it is seen how small pebbles slide and roll down. A rather weighty piece of rock is broken right behind us. By bouncing and falling on the asphalt, it splits and climbs the road. Probably, it will be not easy to remove this, but if he landed into the bus, there would also have to cause rescuers.
Maya was hunted using arrows and spears with flint and obsidian tips, satisfied traps, used trained dogs, but, despite the wealth of the surrounding animal world, the main source of food was agriculture. In the lagoons along the coast, they hunted on Lamanins with the help of harpunov, caught iguan, turtles, fish. The skins of larger animals killed during the hunt did not have such an important value for the manufacture of clothes, like other peoples. The hot and wet climate dictated its fashion. Scenes of hunting practically did not reflect in numerous drawings on archaeological monuments in mesoamerica.
The most famous and unique archaeological monument In Honduras, Copan is the ancient city of Maya. It is located in the west of the country, near the border of Guatemala. This city arose at the turn of our era, and his flourishing falls on the VII-VIII century. After sunset of the Mayan civilization in the 9th century, the city was abandoned and almost completely hidden the land and jungle. Kopana Square 24 square meters. kilometer on which numerous architectural and sculptural monuments of the classical Mayan period and Archaeological Museum. Copan was the main center for the development of Mayan science and above all astronomy. The astronomical tables found in Copane are superior to all other Maya calendars with their accuracy.
Unfortunately, still on the entrance to this unique placeWe will rain, and during the tour he goes into a shower. At the entrance they sell raincoats and umbrellas. Umbrella can be rented for the dollar. On the main Square ancient City Dance-Princal Between the majestic steles depicting Kopan rulers, a huge puddle was formed, which had to go. The famous hieroglyphic staircase is descended to the square, covered by a continuous band of cut-out pictograms that narrow about the history of the Board of Kopan's king. This is the longest "inscription" of Maya in Central America, which has 1250 continuously replacing each other of the hieroglyphs. It is partially destroyed and is currently restored. The staircase is under a canopy and at its reason, it was possible to smoke from the water and listen to an explanation of the guide.
Further, we climb the pyramid on slippery steps among the jungle, and from her tops there is a magnificent panorama of the area with steles, drowning in water, with a small pyramid in the center, on the Mayan field for playing the ball, temples and other buildings. It feels that during a heyday - it was a rich city. Throughout the territory of Copan, about 200 buildings, including 38 carved steles scattered throughout the complex. The main temple is allocated, with large bas-reliefs carved on its walls, the sacred stone on which sacrifices accomplished, Acropolis. Basically, the buildings are built from a greenish volcanic stone, and stucco decorations from a special plastic mass, which included gypsum, lime, sand and water. On the walls and sculptures are visible traces of paint. The underground part of the Copan is chosen by numerous tunnels and trenches. You can get to the inner temple. About 1,300 years ago, Maya builders carefully poured a small temple of sand, and a different cult pyramid was built above it. Work on clearing the underground part of Kopana began quite recently, and there will still be a lot of discoveries.
The history of the Mayan civilization is full of riddles. One of them is the reason for the sudden disappearance of this ancient people who has achieved a surprisingly high level of culture.
Origin and territory of habitat
Maya, one of the civilizations of mesoames, began to form about 2000 BC. e. It has developed in the territory of the Mexican States Yucatan and Tabasco, Gwatela and Belize countries, Honduras and Salvador. The locality in which these ancient tribes lived is divided into three climatic zones: a stony and arid mountainous territory, tropical settlement and areas with a rich fauna.
Regarding the origin of the people, as well as the Maja, there are several theories. There is a version that they came from Asia, and even a fantastic assumption that these are descendants of the inhabitants of the mythical Atlantis. Another theory argues that they are immigrants from Palestine. The proof leads the fact that many elements are similar to Christian (the idea of \u200b\u200bthe arrival of the Messiah, the symbol of the cross). In addition, the people are very like Egyptian, and this suggests that it is somehow connected with an ancient Egypt.
Maya Indians: History of Great Civilization
Researchers were lucky - a lot of sources were preserved, for which the picture of the life of this ancient people can be made. His story is divided into several large periods.
In the report of the Indians, the Indians were small tribes that extract food to hunting and collecting. About 1000 g. BC. e. There are many small settlements of farmers. El Mirador is one of the first Mayan cities, known now by its huge pyramidal complex height of 72 meters. It was the largest metropolis of the report.
The next era (400 BC e. - 250 g. E.) Is characterized by large changes in the life of the Indians. Occurs stormy growth Cities, monumental architectural complexes are erected.
250-600 n. e. - time of the classic era of the development of the people of mesoamerics. During this period, the city-state city was found in each other. Their architecture was represented by lush architectural structures. Usually buildings were located around the rectangular central square and decorated with masks of gods and mythological characters carved in stone. The history of the Mayan tribe says that the feature of their settlements was the presence of a pyramid in the center of the cities up to 15 meters high.
By the end of the classic period, the population of low-lying areas of Guatemala has reached an impressive number of 3 million people.
Late classic period - the time of the highest flourishing of the culture of the ancient people of mesoames. Then the Great Cities were founded - Ushmal, Chichen Iza and Koba. The population of each of them ranged from 10 to 25 thousand people. The history of the Mayan tribe can not not be surprised - at the same time there were no such major settlements in medieval Europe.
Maya classes and crafts
The main occupations of the Indians were agriculture (gravy-firing and irrigation), beekeeping and craft. Mais grown (basic culture), beans, tomatoes, pumpkins, various types of peppers, tobacco, cotton, batt and a variety of seasonings. An important culture was cocoa.
Maja and growing fruit. It is now difficult to say which of the fruit trees were cultural. Residents used in food Papaya, avocado, Ramon, Chikosapote, Nanse, Maranyon.
Despite the high level of development, Maya never stopped engaged in collecting. The leaves of the palm trees were used as a material for roofing roofs and raw materials for weaving baskets, the assembled resin was used as incense, and from the Corroso prepared flour.
Hunting and fisheries were also among the main occupations of the Indians.
From archaeological studies it is clear that skilled artisans lived in Yucatan and in Guatemala: weapons, weaver, jewelers, sculptors and architects.
Architecture
Maya is known for their majestic buildings: the pyramidal complexes and the Palaces of the rulers. In addition, they created excellent sculptures and bas-reliefs, the main motives of which were anthropomorphic deities.
Sacrifice
Among the buildings preserved to this day, the buildings of a religious nature are maintained. This fact and other sources make it possible to conclude that the religion occupied the central place in Maya. They are known for their rites of bloodletting and human victims, bringing the gods. The most cruel rites was buried the victim alive, as well as the ripping of the abdomen and breaking the heart from the body of another person. Not only prisoners, but also tribesmen were sacrificed.
The mystery of the disappearance of the people
The question of where Maya was missing, continues to be interested in many researchers. It is known that the IX century the southern territories of the Indians began to be allowed. For some reason, the inhabitants began to leave the city. Soon this process has spread to Central Yucatan. Where did Maya disappear and for what reason did they leave the spaces have fallen? There is no answer to this question. There are hypotheses that are trying to explain the sudden disappearance of one of the peoples of mesoamerics. Researchers call the following reasons: enemy invasions, bloody uprisings, epidemic and ecological catastrophe. Perhaps Maya broke the balance between nature and man. The fast-growing population has completely exhausted natural resources And it became serious problems with a lack of fertile soils and drinking water.
The last hypothesis about the decline of the Mayan civilization assumes that this happened due to a strong drought, which led to the devastation of cities.
None of these theories received serious confirmation, and the question of where Maya was missing, still remains open.
Modern Maya.
The ancient people of mesoamers did not disappear without a trace. It has been preserved at his descendants - modern Maya Indians. They continue to live on their famous ancestors - in Guatemala and Mexico, retaining the language, customs and lifestyle.
At least 60 thousand buildings of the Mayan civilization hidden in the jungle, discovered scientists in the north of Guatemala. Among the objects found using the Optic Lidar Sensor from the aircraft are the ruins of houses, palaces and pyramids, wide roads, water tanks and irrigation canals, fortified settlements and wide roads. Nakhodka became a major breakthrough in Mayan archeology and can say that up to 10 million people had once lived on this territory.
The Lidar technology allowed researchers to "remove" a rope of a rainforest with aerial photographs of the currently unkind territory, and detected ruins showed that the network of pre-colombian civilization was much more complex and interrelated than previously thought, National Geographic writes on February 1.
"The pictures obtained using Lidar make it clear that the whole region was a system of settlements, the scale and density of the population of which were greatly undervalued," Thomas Harrison said, the archaeologist of the American-College, specializing in the use of digital technologies for archaeological studies. Harrison is a member of the project initiated by the Guatemalan Foundation "Panukov", which promotes scientific research and conservation cultural heritage countries.
As part of the project, a map of more than 2100 square kilometers is drawn up biosphere Reserve Maya in the Department of Peter Guatemala, which made it possible to prepare the largest set of lidar data ever obtained for archaeological research.
The results suggest that the Mayan civilization at the peak of its development was comparable to such complex cultures as Ancient Greece or China. In addition to hundreds of earlier famous objectsThe lidar images showed raised above the level of land ("overpass") roads that joined the city centers with careers. Complex irrigation and terraced systems that can feed a huge number of workers have completely changed the landscape. Raised roads were well passing even in the rainy season and were used, apparently like trading routes And for other types of interaction between cities.
Maja representatives did not know the wheels and did not use the former force, but according to the archaeologist of Tueli University Marcello Kanuto, also participating in the project, it was a civilization that literally moved the mountains.
"We had an opinion in the West that complex civilizations could not exist in the tropics: the tropics are a place where civilizations are dying. However, we must take into account that complex societies may have been formed in the tropics and came out from there," noted Danuto.
As the archaeologist of the Tueli University of Francisco Estrada Belly explained, Lidar produced a revolution in archeology like that the Hubble Space Telescope in Astronomy did.
During the study, it was possible to obtain a unique idea of \u200b\u200bthe nature of settlements, the relationship between cities and military facilities in the Mayan valleys. At its peak of Maja's development (approximately 250 - 900 years), civilization was located on the territory of about twice as many medieval England, but was much more densely. According to preliminary estimates of specialists, about 10 million people could live on this territory.
Among the most amazing finds are universally installed defensive walls, trees, terraces and fortresses. This suggests that wars occur not only at the end of the existence of civilization.
It is noteworthy that the pictures also revealed numerous pits, died with marauders. The detected objects are new to archaeologists, but not for black diggers, who managed here a considerable time, the President of the Foundation "Panukov" Marianna Hernandez appealed.
The study is the first stage of a three-year-old project, during which more than 14 thousand square kilometers of lowland Guatemalas will be examined, which is part of the territory of the Precuccian settlement extending to the north to the Gulf of Mexico.
The Mayan civilization reached a heyday in 300 - 900 years of our era, and by the time of the opening of America, it was declining. Maja's cities and settlements were located on the territory of such modern states as Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Salvador.
