Architecture
Every culture has it's own art and style
of architecture. These disciplines that survive help to tell the
story of the people who created them. The Mayans, just like other
cultures, have their own art and architecture. The remains that are
left behind help to define who the Mayans were and perhaps what can be
learned from them.
RUINS
There are three main areas of Mayan ruins
that have been discovered: Uaxactun, Tikal, and Piedras Negras.
The ruins of these areas bear witness to high a level of development achieved
by the Maya civilization. These places were easily defensible because
they were built in the central part of the country. Because they
were easily defendable there are parts that have remained that have been
able to be studied today (World Geography Encyclopedia, 95).
GRAND
CEREMONIAL CENTERS
BALL COURTS
Mayans were not just known for architecture
of buildings but for their recreational centers as well. They are
a peculiar architectural feature. The game had a ritual significance.
The object was to win by shooting the rubber ball through stone rings projecting
from the walls of the "I" shaped court. Spectators watched from lateral
benches. In some places where the cult was most influential, the
spectators would also witness the sacrifice of the loser's life (The Cambridge
Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean, 416).
STONE
SCULPTURES
POTTERY
Pottery showed the inventive imagination
of Mesoamerica, better than any other medium in clay. It served as
an apprenticeship form of stone. Within the Maya area, grotesque
urns were made with the same skill as fine Nebaj vessels of 700 a.d., decorated
polychrome painted figures similar to those in relief carving (The Cambridge
Encyclopedia of Latin America and the Caribbean, 417).
JADE and STONES
Jade and stones of similar quality had
been traded since 900 b.c. Both the Olmecs and Mayans excelled in
dapidary work, producing calmly sophisticated masks, vessels, figures,
ear-flares and belts smoothly polished with sand. Sometimes they
were buried unused in prestigious caches, a practice which increased the
value of jade further (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America and
the Caribbean, 418).
GENERAL PICTURES OF ARCHITECTURE
FOUND THROUGHOUT GUATEMALA
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