An outline, era by era

Maya Postclassic

Medieval / Post-Classical Era · ~500 – ~1500 CE

The Maya Postclassic is the archaeological period that followed the Classic, running from about 950 to 1524 CE. After the Classic Maya cities of the southern lowlands were largely abandoned, Maya life continued and in places flourished in the northern Yucatan peninsula, the Guatemalan highlands and along the Caribbean coast. Some Maya polities remained independent well after 1524, and the Itza kingdom was not conquered by the Spanish until 1697.

The best-known Postclassic centres include Chichen Itza, Mayapan, Tulum and the highland K'iche' capital Q'umarkaj (Utatlan). Power was held by rival city-states and lineages, trade by sea and land grew, and the art and architecture show contact with central Mexico. Maya writing in books called codices, and later in Maya texts written in the Latin alphabet, preserves much of what is known. The period matters because it shows Maya civilization as a living society that the Spanish met in the sixteenth century, not a vanished one.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Classic collapse in the southern lowlands

    Event

    What happened

    Between about 800 and 950 CE, the great cities of the southern Maya lowlands, such as Tikal, Calakmul and Copan, stop raising dated monuments. Their royal courts decline and many populations fall sharply or move away. The latest known Long Count date on a monument at a major Maya site is carved at Tonina, on the western edge of the Maya area, in 909 CE.

    The rest is history

    Historians point to a mix of causes, including drought, warfare, political breakdown and strain on farmland, and the weight given to each is debated. Population shifted toward the northern lowlands, the highlands and the coasts. These regions became the setting for the Postclassic world. Some southern sites, such as Lamanai and Tayasal, remained occupied.

    Sources

    1. BookDemarest, Arthur. Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
    2. ArticleKennett, Douglas J., et al. "Development and Disintegration of Maya Political Systems in Response to Climate Change." Science 338, no. 6108 (2012): 788-791.

  2. The rise of Chichen Itza

    Event

    What happened

    From about 850 to 900 CE, Chichen Itza in northern Yucatan grows into a major city. It builds the Castillo pyramid, a great ball court and the Temple of the Warriors. Its art mixes Maya styles with features also seen in central Mexico, such as feathered serpents and rows of warriors.

    The rest is history

    Chichen Itza was a leading power until about 1000 to 1100 CE. The reasons for its decline are debated. Scholars also still argue over how far the central Mexican features came from direct contact with Tula and how far from wider trade and shared ideas. The city stayed a pilgrimage site for centuries, centred on its sacred sinkhole, the Cenote Sagrado.

    Sources

    1. BookKowalski, Jeff Karl, and Cynthia Kristan-Graham, eds. Twin Tollans: Chichen Itza, Tula, and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2007.
    2. BookCoe, Michael D., and Stephen Houston. The Maya. 9th ed. London: Thames & Hudson, 2015.

  3. Mayapan, the main city of northern Yucatan

    Event

    What happened

    After Chichen Itza declines, Mayapan becomes the main city of northern Yucatan from about 1220 to 1440 CE. It is a walled city holding thousands of people in stone houses and temples. Excavation shows a dense, planned settlement with ceremonial buildings modelled on those at Chichen Itza.

    The rest is history

    Spanish-era sources, such as Diego de Landa, say the Cocom lineage ruled a league of towns from Mayapan, with other noble families sharing government. These accounts are late and the exact political structure is debated. Around the mid-1400s the city was attacked and abandoned, and Yucatan broke into rival provinces. Excavations by the Carnegie Institution in the 1950s mapped the city, and later work has refined its dates.

    Sources

    1. BookMasson, Marilyn A., and Carlos Peraza Lope, eds. Kukulcan's Realm: Urban Life at Ancient Mayapán. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2014.
    2. PrimaryLanda, Diego de. Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. Spanish account, c. 1566. Translated by Alfred M. Tozzer, Landa's Relación, Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum, 1941.

  4. Coastal trade and the port of Tulum

    Event

    What happened

    In the Postclassic, canoe trade around the Yucatan coast grows. Walled coastal towns such as Tulum and the island of Cozumel receive cacao, cotton cloth, salt, honey, obsidian and copper bells. In 1502 Columbus's men meet a large trading canoe off Honduras.

    The rest is history

    This sea trade linked the Maya to Mexico and Central America. Cozumel was also a pilgrimage centre for the goddess Ixchel. The contact helped the Spanish learn of the region's wealth, and Tulum was still occupied when Spanish ships passed in 1518.

    Sources

    1. BookSabloff, Jeremy A., and William L. Rathje, eds. A Study of Changing Pre-Columbian Commercial Systems: The 1972-1973 Seasons at Cozumel, Mexico. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum, 1975.
    2. PrimaryFerdinand Columbus. Historie del S.D. Fernando Colombo. Account of the fourth voyage, 1502, published 1571.

  5. The K'iche' kingdom in the highlands

    Event

    What happened

    In the Guatemalan highlands, the K'iche' build a kingdom from about 1400 CE with the capital Q'umarkaj. Under rulers such as K'iq'ab, they extend control over neighbouring peoples. Rival Kaqchikel people later break away and found their own capital at Iximche.

    The rest is history

    The K'iche' were the strongest highland power when the Spanish arrived. In 1524 Pedro de Alvarado defeated them with Kaqchikel and Mexican allies and burned Q'umarkaj. The Popol Vuh and other highland texts record their history.

    Sources

    1. BookCarmack, Robert M. Quichean Civilization: The Ethnohistoric, Ethnographic, and Archaeological Sources. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
    2. PrimaryAlvarado, Pedro de. Letters to Hernán Cortés, 1524. Translated in Sedley J. Mackie, An Account of the Conquest of Guatemala in 1524, New York: Cortes Society, 1924.

  6. The Maya codices

    Event

    What happened

    Maya scribes of the Postclassic paint folding books on bark paper. Only four are thought to survive, the Dresden, Madrid, Paris and Grolier codices. They hold calendars, almanacs, astronomical tables and ritual instructions.

    The rest is history

    The Dresden Codex includes tables for tracking Venus and eclipses. Spanish clergy burned many Maya books, notably at Maní in 1562 under Diego de Landa. The Dresden Codex came to Europe by the 1730s and is now in Dresden. The Grolier's authenticity was debated, but most scholars now accept it.

    Sources

    1. BookCoe, Michael D., and Mark Van Stone. Reading the Maya Glyphs. London: Thames & Hudson, 2001.
    2. PrimaryDresden Codex. Maya bark-paper book, Postclassic, c. 11th to 13th century CE. Saxon State Library, Dresden.

  7. The Spanish conquest of Yucatan

    Event

    What happened

    Spanish expeditions reach Yucatan in 1517 and 1518. Francisco de Montejo begins conquest in 1527, but Maya provinces resist for years. Campaigns, disease and the Spanish founding of Mérida in 1542 bring most of the north under Spanish rule.

    The rest is history

    The conquest of the Maya took far longer than the fall of the Aztec Empire. The Itza kingdom at Nojpeten, on Lake Petén Itzá, stayed independent until Martín de Ursúa took it in 1697. That ended the last major independent Maya state.

    Sources

    1. BookRestall, Matthew. Maya Conquistador. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
    2. BookJones, Grant D. The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.

  8. The sacrifice of maidens at the Sacred Cenote

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Chichen Itza's Sacred Cenote is said to have been the place where young maidens were thrown in as a sacrifice to the rain god, usually as virgins chosen for their beauty.

    The rest is history

    The idea comes largely from Diego de Landa's 1560s account of offerings and from Edward Thompson, who dredged the cenote from 1904. Thompson recovered gold, jade, pottery and human bones. Older studies of the bones reported both sexes, children and adults, while more recent ancient-DNA work on a sample of victims found male children, so the picture is contested. Offerings were made over several centuries, and human sacrifice is evidenced, but the maiden image is mostly a later romantic one.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLanda, Diego de. Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. Spanish account, c. 1566. Translated by Alfred M. Tozzer, Landa's Relación, Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum, 1941.
    2. BookCoggins, Clemency Chase, and Orrin C. Shane III, eds. Cenote of Sacrifice: Maya Treasures from the Sacred Well at Chichén Itzá. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984.

  9. Kukulcan, the feathered serpent

    Origin story

    The legend

    Later accounts of Yucatan tell of Kukulcan, a feathered serpent lord who is said to have come from the west, founded or ruled a great city and brought new rites. Some versions have him depart by sea, promising to return.

    The rest is history

    This single narrative is a mixture. Kukulcan is the Yucatec name for a feathered serpent figure attested in Postclassic and colonial sources, and Spanish writers such as Landa linked it to a ruler and to Chichen Itza and Mayapan. The arrival and promised return resemble central Mexican Quetzalcoatl traditions and were shaped by colonial-era retelling, so they are not securely attested as an old Yucatec story. Classic Maya serpent imagery does not by itself prove the same identity. Historians treat Kukulcan as both a deity and possibly a ruler's title. The Castillo pyramid has feathered serpent heads at its stairway, and at the equinoxes light and shadow create a serpent-like effect on its north stairs.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryChilam Balam of Chumayel. Yucatec Maya book in Latin script, copied 18th century from earlier sources. Translated by Ralph L. Roys, The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel, Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution, 1933.
    2. BookSchele, Linda, and David Freidel. A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. New York: William Morrow, 1990.

  10. The Popol Vuh and the Hero Twins

    Myth

    The legend

    In the Popol Vuh, the Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque descend to the underworld, Xibalba. They defeat its lords by trickery, rise again, and become the sun and moon. Earlier, the gods fail to make people from mud and wood before succeeding with maize.

    The rest is history

    The Popol Vuh is the sacred book of the K'iche'. It was written in K'iche' in the Latin alphabet in the 1550s, and the Spanish friar Francisco Ximénez copied it and translated it into Spanish in the early 1700s. Scenes resembling the twins appear on Classic Maya pottery centuries earlier, so the story rests on much older tradition. The only early manuscript copy is held at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPopol Vuh. K'iche' Maya text, written c. 1554-1558. Copy by Francisco Ximénez, c. 1701-1703, Newberry Library, Chicago.
    2. BookTedlock, Dennis, trans. Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

  11. The Maya prophecy of the end of the world in 2012

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Many people today say the Maya predicted the world would end on 21 December 2012, when a great calendar cycle finished.

    The rest is history

    The date marked the end of a 13th b'ak'tun in the Long Count calendar, a cycle that simply rolled over to a new one. No known Maya text predicts a world ending on that day. A monument at Tortuguero mentions the date in a damaged passage, but it speaks of a god's descent, not an apocalypse. The Long Count itself was a Classic-period system, mostly out of use in the Postclassic. On 21 December 2012, modern Maya communities held celebrations of a new cycle.

    Sources

    1. BookRestall, Matthew, and Amara Solari. 2012 and the End of the World: The Western Roots of the Maya Apocalypse. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2011.
    2. BookAveni, Anthony. The End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009.

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