Columbian civilizations | Britannica. Settlement pattern. There is still controversy over whether the Late Classic sites built by the lowland Maya were actually cities or whether they were relatively empty ceremonial centres staffed only by rulers and their entourages. The common people built their simple pole- and- thatch dwellings on low earthen mounds to keep them dry during the summer rains. Thus, total mapping of a particular site should always include not only masonry structures but house mounds as well. Several Maya sites have been so mapped. The mightiest Maya centre of all, Tikal in northern Petén, has a total of about 3,0. The Tikal population has been estimated from this survey to be 1.
Tikal. This sounds very much like a city, but the evidence actually can be differently interpreted. First, at the time of the conquest the Maya generally buried their dead beneath the floors of houses, which were then abandoned. Thus, an increase in number of house mounds could just as easily indicate a declining population in which the death rate exceeded the birth rate. Check out this site for facts and information about Indian Tribes. Comprehensive guide to Indian Tribes including the Apache, Sioux, Cherokee, Hopi, Cheyenne and Chinook. Second, the appearance of even such a tremendous centre as Tikal is quite different from that of such true cities as Teotihuacán. An ordinary Maya family typically occupied two or three houses arranged around a rectangular open space. ![]() These were grouped into unplanned hamlets near good water and rich, well- drained soils. A survey of Petén has shown that for every 5. Several zones formed a district for which a major centre like Tikal acted as the ceremonial and political nucleus. Neither Tikal nor any other such centre shows signs of town planning or neatly laid out streets. There are also ecological factors that must have set certain limits upon the potential for urban life in the Maya lowlands. Slash- and- burn cultivation would have made for widely settled populations; and, as has been argued, the uniformity of the lowland Maya environment would have worked against the growth of strong interregional trade, always a factor in urban development. Yet these statements must be qualified. It is known that raised- field, or chinampa- type, farming was used in many places and at many times in the Maya lowlands. This would have allowed for greater population concentration. It is also known that there was a brisk trade in some commodities from one lowland Maya region to another. What, then, can be concluded about lowland Maya urbanism? Clearly, the urban form, even at a metropolis such as Tikal, was not as large or as formally developed as it was at highland Teotihuacán. At the same time, a centre whose rulers could draw upon the coordinated efforts of 7. Major sites. While there are some important differences between the architecture of the Central and Northern subregions during the Late Classic, there are many features shared between them. A major Maya site generally includes several types of masonry buildings, usually constructed by facing a cement- and- rubble core with blocks or thin slabs of limestone. Temple pyramids are the most impressive, rising in a series of great platforms to the temple superstructure above the forests. The rooms, coated with white stucco, are often little more than narrow slots because of the confining nature of the corbeled vaults, but this was probably intentional, to keep esoteric ceremonies from the public. The so- called palaces of Maya sites differ only from the temple pyramids in that they are lower and contain a great many rooms. Their purpose still eludes discovery; many scholars doubt that they really served as palaces, for the rooms are damp and uncomfortable, and there is little or no evidence of permanent occupation. The temples and palaces are generally arranged around courts, often with inscribed stelae and altars arranged in rows before them. Leading from the central plazas are great stone causeways, the function of which was probably largely ceremonial. Other features of lowland sites (but not universal) are sweathouses, ball courts, and probably marketplaces. There are more than 5. Most are in the Central Subregion, with probably the greatest concentration in northern Petén, where Maya civilization had its deepest roots. Tikal is the largest and best- known Classic site of the Central Subregion. It is dominated by six lofty temple pyramids, one of which is some 2. Mesoamerican Indians. An illustrated guide to Native American Houses and homes of various Indian tribes with pictures and videos. The Native American Houses homes and shelters section. Lintels of sapodilla wood still span the doorways of the temple superstructures and are carved with reliefs of Maya lords enthroned amid scenes of great splendour. Some extraordinary Late Classic tombs have been discovered at Tikal, the most important of which produced a collection of bone tubes and strips delicately incised with scenes of gods and men. Ten large reservoirs, partly or entirely artificial, supplied the scarce drinking water for the residents of Tikal. Other important sites of northern Petén include Uaxactún, Naranjo, Nakum, and Holmul. To the southeast of Petén are two Maya centres—Copán and Quiriguá—that show notable differences with the Petén sites. Copán is located above a tributary of the Motagua River in western Honduras in a region now rich in tobacco. Its architects and sculptors had a ready supply of a greenish volcanic tuff far superior to the Petén limestone. Thus, Copán architecture is embellished with gloriously baroque figures of gods, and its stelae and other monuments are carved with an extraordinary virtuosity. Copán also has one of the most perfectly preserved ball courts in Mesoamerica. Quiriguá is a much smaller site 3. Copán. While its architectural remains are on a minor scale, it is noted for its gigantic stelae and altars carved from sandstone. The principal watercourse on the western side of the Central Subregion is the Usumacinta River, originating in the Guatemalan highlands and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. For much of its course the Usumacinta is lined with such great Maya ceremonial centres as Piedras Negras and Yaxchilán. Even more renowned is Bonampak, a satellite of Yaxchilán located on a tributary of the Usumacinta. The discovery in 1. From floors to vault capstones, its stuccoed walls were covered with highly realistic polychrome scenes of a jungle battle, the arraignment of prisoners, and victory ceremonies. These shed an entirely new light on the nature of Maya society, which up until then had been considered peaceful. In the hills just above the floodplain of the Usumacinta lies Palenque, usually considered to be the most beautiful of Maya sites. The architects of Palenque designed graceful temple pyramids and “palaces” with mansard- type roofs, embellished with delicate stucco reliefs of rulers, gods, and ceremonies. The principal structure is the Palace, a veritable labyrinth of galleries with interior courts; over it looms a four- story square tower that may have served as both lookout and observatory. A small stream flowing through the site was carried underneath the Palace by a long, corbel- vaulted tunnel. The temples of the Cross, Foliated Cross, and Sun were all built on the same plan, the back room of each temple having a kind of sanctuary designed like the temple of which it was a part. It can be supposed that all three temples served the same cult. The most extraordinary feature of Palenque, however, was the great funerary crypt discovered in 1. Temple of the Inscriptions. Within a sarcophagus in the crypt were the remains of an unusually tall ruler, accompanied by the richest offering of jade ever seen in a Maya tomb. Over his face had been fitted a mask of jade mosaic, while a treasure trove of jade adorned his body. Northward from the Central Subregion, in the drier and flatter environment of the Yucatán Peninsula, the character of lowland Maya civilization changes. Just north of Petén is the Río Bec zone, as yet little explored but noted for temple pyramids and palaces with flanking false towers fronted by unclimbable “stairways” reaching dummy “rooms” with blank entrances. Río Bec structures are carved with fantastic serpents in deep relief, a feature that becomes even more pronounced in the Chenes country to the northwest, in the modern state of Campeche. At Chenes sites, Maya architects constructed frontal portals surrounded by the jaws of sky serpents and faced entire buildings with a riot of baroquely carved grotesques and spirals. This elaborate ornamentation of buildings is far more restrained and orderly in the style called Puuc, so named from a string of low hills extending up from western Campeche into the state of Yucatán. Breaking News: BLM’s Wild Horse Advisory Board Just Voted To Kill All 4. Captive Wild Horses In Holding. Horses Are Sentient Beings. Sentient beings are beings with consciousness, sentience, or in some contexts life itself and are composed of the five aggregates, or skandhas: matter, sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness. I have several friends who work with Horses as great healers, just as I also have several friends who have deep meaningful relationships with their horses. In my teens I had such a relationship with a horse that shared a period of my life with me – we were the greatest companion’s one to the other. I am aware of other who keep them for their earning potential as race horses, just as I know those who keep them as working horses on the land. Many view horses as sacred. This said, many see them as objects of pleasure, many as useful as money generating tools of the trade. Horses to me are sacred, sentinel beings that bring joy, friendship, meaning and healing into our lives. I once spent a day with a herd of healing/therapy horses in Gloucestershire and cannot truly put into words what this experience was like because it is one that is individual to each horse/pony and the soul with whom they interact . One would need to be experienced this for oneself in order for each soul to gain his or her respective understanding. These horses were kept in a natural herd rather than stabled as individual animals, something that gives them free expression. Horses have a natural herd instinct and in the wild face many challenges from in- fighting between stallions and natural predators of the foals. In one comment that I read on the attached feed it was said: “Isn’t dying a natural death part of a “thriving natural ecological balance” as any ecologist would define it?”This struck me because I feel that we have come to some strange relationship in relation to our ‘control’ over our natural habitat. In England we have New Forest Ponies and more locally to me in Oxford there is common land where locals can graze their cattle, horses/ponies that are rounded up each year and checked for injury, disease and ailment. I don’t know about you but I for one would adopt a Mustang to see them run free – could this be a solution over shamelessly slaughtering them? According to a study, in a post that I posed earlier this week entitled “Humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth’s wilderness in 2. I ask how much more do we wish to destroy because ‘WE’ need the room, the space, the ‘this and that’ which puts us above any other living creature. Gaia, in her Mother Earth – Earth Letter, says the following: “It is time to remember that you ARE a part OF nature – rather than apart FROM nature. Please join me in remembering your true understanding of your connection ‘with’ and ‘to’ me, and that – from this day onwards – you commit your love and respect to me, your Earth Mother – Mother to one and all. Constant giver, carer, supporter and loving nurturer – ever patient guide and teacher – all life is born from Gaia, each with purpose, each with equal importance; the tree, the ant, the deer in the park and fish in the sea, the soil, the rock – all life – no more or no less important!” Excerpt Mother Earth- Earth Letter 1. Solutions need to be found for this to be made so. Culling the weak, sick, unhealthy is one thing – killing the strong and healthy is quite another and in my understanding is not the answer. I have posted this upon my face book feed asking my contacts – “if you feel moved so to do – please do support this call for us to be the voice for those who do not have one.” As ‘Flesh and Blood Guardians of The Earth’ – We are their voice!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |