Egyptian Dreams

[Unas]

Is anyone here interested (as I am) in the Ancient Mayan civilization? Surprisingly, I haven't been able to find any forum like this one for that subject.

The Mayans are pretty interesting people, and have a number of similarities to the ancient Egyptians, for instance:

Elaborate pyramids (although not always tombs)
A writing system
Complex social hierarchy
Books (some of which are illustrated in ways remarkably similar to Books of the Dead)

In some ways, they were more advanced than the Egyptians, for instance, their mathematics and astronomy were top-notch.

Like the Egyptians, the Mayans also recovered from at least one 'intermediate' period.

So, what do others think, or am I the only one with an interest?

[Unas]

Oh---and farming. I almost forgot. That's another similarity.

[Naunacht]

[stephaniep]

Hi Naunacht,

Yes it is a fascinating culture. I too have been to almost all of the ancient mayan sites and love going to them (the price is right too). Nothing beats being in a vast bio/ecological rainforest park such as where Tikal is situated, full of animals and birds such as parrots, toucans etc with the howler monkeys singing away sounding like nothing on earth.

I am struck over and over by the similarities to ancient Egypt. Even the Popul Vuh bears some relation to the AE creation myths with the creation mound etc. I love the fact that the scientific community studies the culture from a shamanistic/magic viewpoint. It is so much more enlightening.

I've thought about the lack of a forum too, but came to the conclusion that the difference is that the study is relatively new, the language has only been deciphered with the last 20-30 years and since the Olmecs have been firmly placed as the mother culture & the Mayans lost their luster as a peace loving time obsessed culture there have been really no disagreements within the archaelogical community. So in that context, what would there be on a forum?

I find I can get all the information I want from books and museum catalogs.

[anneke]

I would love to hear more about the Mayas (and Incas for that matter).
You can use the general discussion area to post those threads.

If there are a handful if people posting that would be enough to get some interesting discussions going?
_________________
Math and Art: http://mathematicsaroundus.blogspot.com/

[Toth]

[stephaniep]

Anneke wrote:

[Unas]

Great! It's so nice to hear from people who share an interest. And indeed, the Inca's are equally interesting, although I know less about them (so much history, so little time!).

I've never been to the Mayan sites myself, but I'd be fascinated to hear from others who have.

stephaniep, your description of Tikal sounds so amazing, with the wildlife noises going on around you. You mention the Popul Vuh--I've been thinking about buying a copy, but there seems to be many different versions/translations...I'm wondering if any particular version is better than another?

The tropical environment of the Mayans certainly poses a challenge to the archeologists. Think of Egypt, where sites in the south are much better preserved due to the drier climate, where's the closer you get to the Delta, the faster things deteriorate. In the case of the Mayas, the jungle environment swallows things up pretty fast, despite the fact that the Mayan sites are much younger than those of Egypt.

Another area that intrigues me are the early Spanish encounters with the Mayans...apparently these first confrontations happened much more slowly and sporadically then those of the Incas and Aztecs. I'm trying to learn as much as I can, but there are a lot of books out there on the subject and it's hard to know which will be the most useful...wait a minute...haven't I gone through this before? (Oh yeah, when I looked up "ancient egypt" on amazon... )

More later...

[Naunacht]

[Osiris II]

I've often wondered how many sites there are in places such as the Yucatan that as still un-excavated. I know when I was at Citzen-Itza, from the top of the pyramid it was possible to see several jungle-covered mounds, which were obviously the remains of city/temple/pyramid sites.

[stephaniep]

Unas wrote:
stephaniep, your description of Tikal sounds so amazing, with the wildlife noises going on around you. You mention the Popul Vuh--I've been thinking about buying a copy, but there seems to be many different versions/translations...I'm wondering if any particular version is better than another?

I don't know what the authorities say, I like the Popul Vuh text by Dennis Tedlock, I thought it poetic and very readable.

Two basic books (both paperbacks) are the Maya by Michael D. Coe and The Art of Mesoamerican America by Mary ellen Miller.

If you're interested in art the Met has a very nice but small collection easily found in the data base by tying Maya. They have some great Olmec stuff too.

[stephaniep]

Naunaucht wrote

[stephaniep]

Osiris II wrote;

[anneke]

[Unas]

Thanks, stephaniep, for the book suggestions!