Maya, group of related Native American nations of the Mayan linguistic stock, living in Mexico, in the states of Veracruz, Yucatán, Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas, and also in the greater part of Guatemala and in parts of Belize and Honduras. The best-known people, the Maya proper, after whom the entire group is named, occupy the Yucatán Peninsula. Among the other politically significant peoples are the Huastec of northern Veracruz; the Tzental of Tabasco and Chiapas; the Chol of Chiapas; the Quiché, Cakchiquel, Pokonchi, and Pokomam of the Guatemalan highlands; and the Chortí of eastern Guatemala and western Honduras. With the exception of the Huastec, these peoples occupy contiguous territory. They were all part of a common civilization, which in many respects achieved the most complex level of development among the original inhabitants of the whole of the western hemisphere. 
Agriculture formed the basis of the Mayan economy in pre-Columbian times, maize being the principal crop. Cotton, beans, squash, manioc (or Cassava), and cacao were also grown. The techniques of spinning, dyeing, and weaving cotton were highly perfected. The Maya domesticated the dog and the turkey but had no draught animals or wheeled vehicles. They produced fine pottery, unequalled in the New World outside of Peru. Cacao beans and copper bells were used as units of exchange. Copper was also used for ornamental purposes, as were gold, silver, jade, shell, and colourful feathers. Metal tools, however, were unknown. The Mayan peoples were ruled by hereditary chiefs, descended from the male line, who delegated authority over village communities to local chieftains. Land, held in common by each village, was parcelled out by these chieftains to the separate families. 

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Architecture  

Mayan culture produced a remarkable architecture, of which great ruins remain at a large number of sites, including Palenque, Uxmal, Mayapán, Copán, Tikal, Uaxactún, and Chichén Itzá. These sites were vast centres for religious ceremonies. The usual plan consisted of a number of pyramidal mounds, often surmounted by temples or other buildings, and grouped around open plazas. The pyramids, built in successive steps, were faced with cut stone blocks and generally had a steep stairway built into one or more of their sides. The substructure of the pyramids was usually made of earth and rubble, but sometimes mortared blocks of stone were used. The most common type of construction consisted of a core of rubble or broken limestone mixed with mortar, and then faced with finished stones or stucco. Stone walls were also frequently laid without mortar. Wood was used for door lintels and for sculpture. The arch was not known, but its effect was approximated in roofing buildings by making the upper layers of stone of two parallel walls approach each other in successive projections until they met overhead. This system, requiring very heavy walls, produced narrow interiors. Windows were rare and were small and narrow. Interiors and exteriors were painted in bright colours. Exteriors received special attention and were lavishly decorated with painted sculpture, carved lintels, stucco mouldings, and stone mosaics. The decorations generally were arranged in wide friezes contrasting with bands of plain masonry. Commoners' dwellings probably resembled the adobe and palm-thatched huts seen today among Mayan descendants. 

Maya  
Mayan civilization dominated southern Mesoamerica in the second half of the first millennium AD. Although originating in the Pre-Classic period, Mayan culture reached its artistic and intellectual apex during the Late Classic phase, from about 600 to about 900. By the time of the Spanish conquest it was in decline. 
In the variety and quality of their architecture, the Maya were unrivalled by any other pre-Columbian civilization. Classic Mayan sites are primarily found in lowland tropical areas. With proportionally more emphasis on ceremonial features, they appear to be less truly urban than Teotihuacán. The majority of Mayan ruins are in Mexico; they include Palenque, Yaxchilán, and Bonampak and, in the Yucatán Peninsula, Chichén Itzá, Coba, Dzilbilchaltun, Edzna, Hochob, Kabah, Labná, Sayil, Uxmal, and Xpuhil. Other major sites are Copán in Honduras and, in Guatemala, Piedras Negras, Quirigua, and Tikal, the largest of all Mayan ceremonial centres. Mayan architecture is characterized by an exquisite sense of proportion and design and by structural refinement and subtle detailing. The Maya used sculpture more extensively for architectural decoration than any other pre-Columbian civilization. The corbel arch was employed not only to vault interior spaces, but also to construct free-standing arches. The Maya also built paved roadways connecting major religious and administrative centres; these seem to have been used mostly for ceremonial processions and to symbolize political links. 
Mayan art is the most highly refined and elegant of any pre-Columbian civilization. It has dignity and majesty, and is exuberant and sensual, with lavish ornamentation. 
Stelae with figurative carving and inscriptions are the most characteristic examples of the monumental free-standing stone sculpture of the Maya. The most elaborate examples are found at Copán, where the softness of the stone made possible Baroque flamboyance of ornament. Most major sites have well-developed traditions of architectural relief panels in stone, and at Palenque stucco was effectively used for reliefs. 
The Maya mastered all known pre-Columbian art forms except metalworking. Although no Mayan textiles remain, their character and decoration can be discerned from representations in painting, figurines, and sculptures. Jade was skilfully carved, as were wood, bone, and shell; in clay, however, the Maya excelled. Realistic figurines (especially those from the island of Jaina) and polychrome pottery with mythological or genre scenes (produced at Chama) are among the finest accomplishments of pre-Columbian painted pottery. 
Particularly fine examples of Mayan fresco painting have been found at Bonampak, Palenque, and Tikal. The Maya also produced codices, with hieroglyphic script. Of the surviving Mayan codices, the Dresden Codex (Sachsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden, Germany) best illustrates the Maya's descriptive and formally dynamic use of line. 

"Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. 

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Writings  

The Mayan peoples developed a method of hieroglyphic notation and recorded mythology, history, and rituals in inscriptions carved and painted on stelae (stone slabs or pillars), on lintels and stairways, and on other monumental remains. Records were also painted in hieroglyphs and preserved in books of folded sheets of paper made from the fibres of the maguey plant. Four examples of these codices have been preserved: the Codex Dresdensis, now in Dresden; the Perez Codex, now in Paris; and the Codex Tro and the Codex Cortesianus, both now in Madrid. The Codex Tro and Codex Cortesianus comprise parts of a single original document, and are commonly known under the joint name Codex Tro-Cortesianus. These books were used as divinatory, almanacs containing topics such as agriculture, weather, disease, hunting, and astronomy. 

Calendar and Religion  

Chronology among the Maya was determined by an elaborate calendar system. The year began when the sun crossed the zenith on July 16 and consisted of 365 days; 364 of the days were grouped into 28 weeks of 13 days each, the new year beginning on the 365th day. In addition, 360 days of the year were divided into 18 months of 20 days each. The series of weeks and the series of months both ran consecutively and independently of each other; however, once every 260 days, that is, the multiple of 13 and 20, the week and the month began on the same day. The Mayan calendar, although highly complex, was the most accurate known to human beings until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century. 
The Mayan religion centred on the worship of a large number of nature gods. Chac, a god of rain, was especially important in popular ritual. Among the supreme deities were Kukulcan, a creator god closely related to the Toltec and Aztec Quetzalcoatl, and Itzamna, a sky god. A Mayan trait was their complete trust in the gods' control of certain units of time and of all peoples' activities during those periods. 

From the Pre-Columbian period to the present day, the Maya people have inhabited an area centred on the Yucatán Peninsula, western Mexico. Maya civilization reached its high point between the 3rd and 10th centuries AD, but some Maya centres continued to flourish up to the Spanish Conquest. The Maya kept written records in their hieroglyphic script, which has still to be fully deciphered, and practised sophisticated astronomy and mathematics. Almost the whole of Maya literature was destroyed during the Conquest, so that the detailed nature of what was evidently a highly complex mythology is difficult to reconstruct with any certainty. 
The most important source for Maya mythology is the Popol Vuh ("Book of Advice"), which was written in the Quiché Maya dialect but in European script soon after the Conquest. The Popol Vuh presents versions, sometimes possibly with a Christianized colouring, of many myths and legends. One main element is an account of the Maya cosmogony, in which the universe is conceived on three levels: an underworld; a middle, earthly world; and a heavenly realm. The four corners of the world were marked by different colours and supported by four Atlantean deities corresponding to the colours and directions: Mulac-white-north; Kan-yellow-east; Cauac-red-south; and Ix-black-west. The great Ceiba tree connected all three levels and provided a route along which the souls of the dead and the gods could travel. The gods made several attempts to create humans-out of mud, wood, and finally maize. 
The principal Maya deity was Itzamná ("Lizard House"), who was the supreme creator and Moon deity, and the patron of writing and learning. He shares some characteristics with another major deity, Kukulcán ("Feathered Snake Who Traverses the Waters"), who was later adopted by the Aztec mythology as Quetzalcoatl. Itzamná's consort was Ix Chel ("Lady Rainbow"), the goddess of childbirth, weaving, and medicine. The Sun god, Ahau Kin, took the form of a jaguar to travel through the underworld between sunset and sunrise. 
The Popol Vuh also describes the exploits of the heavenly twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who were challenged to a ball game by the Lords of Xibalba (the underworld). Through bravery and cunning the twins survived many trials before engaging the gods in a game. The gods were impressed by the twins' ability to dismember then put themselves back together again. When the gods allowed themselves to be cut up, however, the twins left them in pieces, thus winning the contest. After this, Hunahpu and Xbalanque were deified as the Sun and Moon. 
 
 

"Native American Mythology," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. 

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Linguistic Stock  

Maya, (called also Yucatec), the language of the Maya proper, is spoken by about 350,000 people in Yucatán, Guatemala, and Belize. The other languages of the Mayan stock include the language of the Huastec and several groups of closely affiliated languages. 
 

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"Maya," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.