After
the collapse in the central and southern lowlands, Maya
civilization continued and even flourished in the northern
lowlands of Yucatán and in the southern highlands of Guatemala.
George
Holton/Photo Researchers, Inc.
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Located
at the northeastern end of the Yucatán Peninsula
in Mexico, the Maya city of Tulum was once one
of the great cities of Maya civilization. The
city was built during the 13th century, 1000 years
after the zenith of the culture. Anthropologists
still do not know what caused the decline of the
civilization. Ruins of cities like Tulum reveal
fascinating aspects of the culture that once thrived
in southern Mexico and Central America. Temples
such as the one in the background were used by
the Maya in religious ceremonies honoring their
many gods and goddesses.
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The
decline of the older powers in the south led to unprecedented
growth in the Yucatán Peninsula and the rise of a number
of new cities in that region. Among these were Uxmal,
Sayil, and Labna, characterized by a distinctive architectural
style known as Puuc, which features elaborate mosaic decoration.
In Postclassic times (AD 900 to 1521) the city-states
of Yucatán were ruled by a hereditary halach uinic (also
called ahau) who was also the highest religious authority.
The halach uinic had very broad powers. He formulated
domestic and foreign policy and appointed batabs (lesser
lords), who administered the surrounding towns and villages.
Local councils made up of clan leaders aided the batabs.
Other local Maya officials collected taxes and kept order.
Postclassic merchants and professional craftworkers composed
a kind of middle class.
A high priest, known as ahaucan, conducted major ceremonies
and was in charge of the education of priests and nobles.
He was assisted by a hierarchy of priests who took part
in ceremonies, kept vigils in the temples, performed healing
rituals, taught, and served as oracles for the gods.
Although
similar features and patterns existed in the Classic political
structure, the institution of priesthood appears only
in the Postclassic.
At
the same time, during the 9th century, a new group of
Maya, known as the Putun (or Chontal) Maya, began to arrive
in Yucatán from their homeland in the Gulf Coast region
of Mexico.
The
Putuns were warriors and traders without equal in the
Maya area. At first they were interested in trade along
rivers and overland routes. Eventually they became seafaring
people whose merchants plied coastal trade routes around
the peninsula and beyond in canoes.
These
large oceangoing canoes traveled the coast transporting
huge loads of heavy and bulky goods much more efficiently
than was possible in earlier times. Italian-Spanish explorer
Christopher Columbus encountered such a canoe off the
Caribbean coast of Honduras on his fourth voyage to the
Americas in 1502.
Ports
of trade, such as Xicalanco (now in Tabasco, Mexico),
served as international meeting places that attracted
not only Maya but also traders from highland Mexico to
the west and Central America to the south.
Wealthy
Maya merchants organized expeditions that traveled great
distances in fleets of canoes or over well-constructed
stone roads and causeways. Along the routes they built
warehouses for goods and rest houses for their carriers.
The
need to protect the trade networks led the Putuns to develop
very aggressive military forces.
Ethnically
Maya, the Putuns adopted many stylistic influences from
central Mexico in their art and architecture. Especially
common was the image of the feathered serpent representing
the deity known as in Mexico and as Kukulcan to the Maya.
One very powerful Putun group, the Itzá, founded their
capital at Chichén Itzá.
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