A favorite among adventure travel and jungle tours, The "Mundo Maya", or Mayan World, is an area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers (116,000 square miles) in Central America, covering the whole of Belize and Guatemala and parts of Honduras, El Salvador and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo. The ancient Mayans left evidence of their existence in the form of limestone constructions throughout this vast tropical region.

The classic Mayan period

According to historians, ancient Mayan history dates back to over 2,000 years ago, however, new discoveries are revealing ancient ruins, that date back even further. The oldest Mayan ruin found to date was discovered recently in San Bartolo, Guatemala. It dates back to the year 300 B.C., and it is thought that there are still many temples, stellae and tombs hidden under the thick jungles of Mesoamerica from this time period.

The ancient Classic Period ranges 250 to 900 A.D. Anything before that is called Pre-Classic and anything afterwards is Post-Classic. In the Pre-Classic period, Mayan settlements were formed and the first limestone temples were constructed. The Classic Period saw the peak of architecture, constructions, and inscriptions all throughout the Mayan world.

Classic Mayan history is as interesting as it is impossible. If scientists and historians in the field are accurate and honest, then they have to admit that it they no clue. You can, however, divide Mayan archaeology into two streams: Traditional, which is more mainstream archaeology, and Spiritual Archaeology, something more recent.

Mainstream Mayan archaeology started back in the late 1800’s, when the first Western archaeologists (like Maudsley, Mahler, and Thompson) started studying the ancient culture. A more recent concept of Mayan archaeology started to grow about 40 years ago. This type of archaeology believes that the Maya had a highly developed but brutal civilization, in which wars were fought over power and territory in a cast system, where slaves were forced to build temples for their polytheistic priests and kings and an elite ruled over the poor.

The more recent Spiritual stream of Mayan archaeology thinks of the ancient Maya as a more peaceful people that were in close contact with nature and the universe. In this philosophy, the temples were built not for god worshipping or elite housing, but for observation of the universe and alignment with universal cycles.

Both streams agree that around 900 AD the Mayan Classic period came to an abrupt end. Some think it was war or the lack of a powerful figure that ended this advanced civilization, others say the Maya had to destroy their environment to keep up with a growing number of citizens and constructions, while others claim the Mayans understood that their cycle had come to an end and abandoned their cities without leaving a trace.

Chantal Willigers

Duende Tours