Maya society
[citation needed] The Maya lived in Mesoamerica, concentrated in the Yucatán Peninsula, the Peten district of northern Guatemala and southern Mexico.
These are tlatoani and tlahtocayotl in Nahuatl, and the Spanish words rey, majestad, and reino and señor for ruler/leader/lord and señorío or dominio of realm.
The land (chan chʼeʼn) of the kingdom and its capital were called Wakabʼnal or Maxam and were part of a larger geographical entity known as Huk Tsuk.
[4] Despite constant warfare and eventual shifts in regional power, most kingdoms never disappeared from the political landscape until the collapse of the whole system in the 9th century.
Mayanists have been increasingly accepting the "court paradigm" of Classic Maya societies that puts the emphasis on the centrality of the royal household and especially the person of the king.
It considers the role of places and spaces (including dwellings of royalty and nobles, throne rooms, temples, halls and plazas for public ceremonies) in establishing and negotiating power and social hierarchy, but also in producing and projecting aesthetic and moral values that define the order of a wider social realm.
Spanish sources invariably describe even the largest Maya settlements of Yucatán and Guatemala as dispersed agglomerations of dwellings grouped around the temples and palaces of the ruling dynasty and lesser nobles.
Though there was economic specialization among Classic period Maya centers (see Chunchucmil, for example), it was not conducted at a scale similar to that of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
The fall of a royal court as in the well-documented cases of Piedras Negras or Copán would cause the inevitable 'death' of the associated settlement.
Archaeological remains including artistic depictions or figurines exhibiting modified skull shape help to illuminate the importance of distinguishing one's self through the various types of modification.
[4] Neonatal deformation was performed in two main ways: compression of the head with pads and adjusted bindings, or restraining the child on specially designed cradles.
Erect deformation was modification through the use of cradle boards, which often left the occipital flattening asymmetrical, and affected a child's mobility.
[12] With the use of new and different techniques emerging in the Classic period, 250-900 CE, new cranial modification styles were endured, possibly as an indicator of membership within a kin group, or as a sign of a specific status.
Within the Western Maya lowlands, the popular style of modification imitated the shape of the Maize God's head, and therefore, more people were discovered to have slanted skulls.
[12] Evidence of the social hierarchy of the Maya was shown in pottery, figurines, drawings, monuments, and architecture picturing high-status elites with the oblique cranium modification.
This type of dental modification appeared during the Early Preclassic period (1400-1000 BCE) and was completed with stone abraders and water.
[13] Inlay was drilling holes to insert different materials, and was popular throughout the Middle Preclassic period (900-600 BCE).
Iconographic or images of dental modification, including filling and inlay, are pictured on ceramics or within paintings found at Maya or other Mesoamerican sites.
Pakal, the Maya King, had his teeth filed in the shape of a “T” as a way to change the structure of his facial features to make it look as though he were squinting, a direct reflection of the maize god.
Enduring this type of pain exhibited traits about the overall character of an individual, and congratulated members for reaching a milestone of life.
[12] Another popular culture, and one that was possibly the most valued among the Maya was a blue or green pigment made with indigo and a mineral called Palygorskite.
Diego de Landa says: "A thief from the highest class is punished by having his face tattooed on both sides from the beard to the forehead.
"[14] The practice of piercing one's ears, lips, nose, or cheeks was shared by all Maya, but it was the type of jewelry worn that was used to differentiate social status.
The majority of evidence for Maya piercings comes from archaeological remains of jewelry found in tombs, such as labrets and ear spools.
The Mayas employed warfare in each period of their development for the purposes of obtaining sacrificial victims, settling competitive rivalries, acquiring critical resources and gaining control of trade routes.
[17] Warfare was important to the Maya religion, because raids on surrounding areas provided the victims required for,[18] as well as slaves for the construction of temples.
[20] There was a core of warriors that served year-round as guards and obtained sacrificial victims, but most large Maya cities and religious centers had militias.
The militia units were headed by nacoms, hereditary war chiefs, that employed ritual as well as strategic methods in warfare.
Before going into battle, the armies would call upon the gods with dances and music of drums, whistles, conch shell horns and singing.
They usually wore padded cotton armor, a mantle with religious insignia, and elaborate wooden and cloth headdresses, that represented the animal spirit or “way” of the warrior.
