During those months, it is just too wet to conduct an archaeological dig. Additionally, all archaeological work stopped from September to May because of the rain. Historically, archaeologists could not use airplanes or helicopters to track down cities hidden in the rainforest. The rainforest is a dense tangle of trees and vines. Because of that, many Maya sites remained a mystery for hundreds of years. Many of the Maya centers of religion and learning - their cities - were built in the rainforest, on the Yucatan Peninsula.
#Ancient maya civilization map series
The result is a series of rivers that were vital to the Maya for the transportation of both people and trade goods. Additionally, it is fed by the mighty Usumacinta River. This area gets as much as 160 inches of rainfall annually. The Yucatan Peninsula separates the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean Sea. Notably, this area included the Yucatan peninsula of southeastern Mexico. The southern lowlands include tropical rainforest. The southern lowlands were starkly different from the northern lowlands. Large sinkholes filled with rainwater provided precious water for settlers in that part of the lowlands. The northern lowland climate is hot, and infrequent rainfall means that there are few permanent rivers or lakes.
However, Maya farmers also grew squash, beans, chili peppers, cacao, cotton for the weaving of light cloth, and sisal for the manufacture of heavy cloth and rope. The main crop for the Maya was maize, or corn. The lowlands in the north produced crops. The Maya civilization stretched from southern Mexico in the north - an area referred to as the lowlands that included a hot coastal plain along the Pacific Ocean and a tropical rainforest in the Yucatan Peninsula - to the highlands of modern-day Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras.
The challenges, however, did not stop the Maya people from building the longest lasting, most dominant civilization in the Americas. The places the Maya settled posed challenges, as you will see. The place a people settle can influence - even determine - everything from the type of government they have and their religious practices to the types of jobs they work at and the kind of clothing they wear. Remember that geography is the study of how people interact with their environment. As always, you will begin your study with geography. Today, you will begin your study of the Maya, a people who built a civilization that lasted 1500 years. They even believed that mirrors were portals, a way to communicate with their gods. The Maya studied art, architecture, medicine, drama, music, dance, and magic. The roads that they built to link these centers of religion and learning ran for miles through the jungles and swamps that surrounded them. Throughout Central America, the Maya built hundreds of religious centers and cities, each filled with huge pyramids and temples, and always at least one ball court. From around 400 BCE until 900 CE, the Maya were the civilization in Mesoamerica. Despite the time difference, there is probably a link between the Olmecs and the Maya. About two thousand years later, around 400 BCE, a new people suddenly appeared. A long, long time ago, about 2500 BCE, an ancient tribe of Central American Indians called the Olmecs settled in the rainforests of the Yucatan Peninsula of Central America.
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