Classic Period of the Maya (Central America)
(250 to 900)
What happened?
The Classic Period was the first great heyday of the Maya civilization. The culture is fully blossoming. Agricultural production peaks and expands. Settlements and villages grew into full-fledged cities and continued to grow for hundreds of years. Just like in Ancient Greece, the Maya area consists of independent city-states. The civilization of the Maya was in Central America. It stretched from the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico, 2021) to parts of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Belize. Tikal grew in that period into one of the most powerful city-states, which was regularly in conflict with others. Mayans were at war. The subjugated peoples were obliged to pay for goods and services to their rulers.
Agriculture was an important livelihood. They established fields on which vegetables such as maize and beans were cultivated. They also kept turkeys. Other Maya lived as traders or carried out a craft.
The period was marked by peaks of astronomical, mathematical, and architectural achievements. Writing was well developed for that time. The Maya had their own writing system that was fully developed. They used pictographs, a form of hieroglyphic writing. The signs were set in stone and painted on walls. In the field of mathematics, they introduced the number 0. The Maya made very accurate astronomical measurements and made their own calendar. A well-known day that was on our calendar, December 21, 2012, is a well-known date. This day would mean the end of the world. However, the world has not yet been destroyed.
The Maya designed large cities with temples, pyramids, and palaces. They made jewelry from precious stones, gold, and shells. They made headdresses with bird feathers. They also produced many stone sculptures, wooden figures and painted vases and dishes.
The Maya believed in multiple gods. They honored them by making sacrifices. This often happened to animals, although they also sacrificed humans. All this to appease the gods, if necessary, with their own blood. Ceremonies were held where the Maya made music and danced. The main god was Itzamna. He was the supreme god. Gods were there for all kinds of different things.
Around 800 the situation changed drastically. The Maya suffered from severe drought and the cities became even bigger. Conflicts arose among each other. Continued drought and depleted soil did not improve the situation. Important centers fall. Cultural decline and exodus of the central Maya area mark the end of the Classic Period.
Restored from many pieces (Large). Found: La Gateada, Nicaragua (JN0650)
Mayan Bowl
± 600 to ± 800
This beautifully Pre-Columbian painted polychrome (= multicolored) Copador bowl comes from the Maya culture, Nicaragua. The bowl has a wide outer band with images.
Of all American civilizations, no culture has known more awe and secrecy than that of the Maya. Their artifacts are no exception. Mayan pottery is synonymous with the highest achievements in the world of ceramics. The term “Copador” is a combination of “Copan” and “El Salvador”. It refers to both regions.
The beautifully painted bowls are made with polychrome colors, mostly red, black, and cream. The bands are painted with various geometric motifs, some linear in nature, others curvilinear, along with depictions of esoteric knowledge in the form of what are known as pseudo-glyphs (= signs or elements resembling hieroglyphics in terms of placement and appearance, but do not conform to the established canons of inscription). They are in fact complex references to mythology.
During the Classic Period of the Maya, the polychrome slip (= diluted clay) was frequently used. They used three or more colors to decorate the pots. This method of decoration became almost homogeneous for Mayan potters. It marked the beginning of the Classic Period when their achievements in the art form reached a pinnacle of perfection. The bowl clearly shows wear that corresponds to a date from this period.
Like many of the recovered pots and bowls, it has undergone an in-culture repair. The various pieces were glued together and beautifully restored. Friction, minor scratches, minor cracks, and general wear are visible. This guaranteed authentic bowl is an excellent addition to our collection of artifacts.
Mayan Ear Spool
± 600 to ± 900
An ear spool is a short, cylindrical piece of jewelry worn in the context of body modification. It is an older form of large size body piercing. During the New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, both sexes wore jewelry, including ear spools and earrings. An ear coil or ear tunnel is an ornament that sticks into the earlobe. Native cultures of the Americas, including Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Maya and the Aztecs used them. This can cause the earlobe to be stretched considerably. This already happened in the Pre-classic Period (2000 BC to 100 BC).
The fact that jade remained unchanged for centuries, it was linked to longevity. They are often found wearing “death masks”. Jade was considered the most precious of all materials in the ancient Maya world. The green color was compared to precious things, including ripening crops and the tail feathers of the quetzal bird. Polished it always feels cool. However, it quickly absorbs heat when handled. The ancient Maya saw jade as a breathing, living and ensouled substance. It was not only beautiful, precious, and exotic, but also the incarnation of water, mist, floral aroma and living breath. In addition, caves, holes, and all manner of passages serve as entry points to supernatural worlds. The opening in earlobes was seen as small-scale jewel-lined pathways to the human body. Decorating the ears with jade not only marked them as sacred paths, but also transformed the sounds the wearer heard into divine, sacred, perfumed, and precious phenomena.