This show takes us to the little-known world of the Mayan Empire. It delves into the culture, unique weaponry (like the atlatl and obsidian club), scientific achievements and mysterious disappearance of the Mayans. The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to AD 250), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state of development during the Classic period (c. AD 250 to 900), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish. The Maya civilization shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations due to the high degree of interaction and cultural diffusion that characterized the region. Advances such as writing, epigraphy, and the calendar did not originate with the Maya; however, their civilization fully developed them. Maya influence can be detected in Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and western El Salvador to as far away as central Mexico, more than 1,000 km (620 mi) from the central Maya area. The many outside influences found in Maya art and architecture are thought to have resulted from trade and cultural exchange rather than direct external conquest. The Maya peoples survived the Classic period collapse and the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and sixteenth-century Spanish colonization of the Americas. Today, the Maya and their descendants form sizable populations throughout the Maya area; they maintain a distinctive set of traditions and beliefs resulting from the merger of pre-Columbian and post-Conquest ideas and cultures. Millions of people speak Mayan languages today. In 2005 the Rabinal Achí, a play written in the Achi language, was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Scholars continue to discuss when this era of Maya civilization began. Discoveries of Maya occupation at Cuello, Belize have been carbon dated to around 2600 BCE. The people built monumental structures. The Maya calendar, which is based on the so-called Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, begins on a date equivalent to 11 August 3114 BC. The most widely accepted view, as of 2010, is that the first clearly Maya settlements were established around 1800 BCE in the Soconusco region of the Pacific Coast[citation needed]. This period, known as the Early Preclassic, was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines. Important sites in the southern Maya lowlands include Nakbe, El Mirador, Cival, and San Bartolo. In the Guatemalan Highlands, Kaminaljuyu emerged around 800 BC. For many centuries it controlled the jade and obsidian sources for the Petén and Pacific Lowlands. The important early sites of Izapa, Takalik Abaj, and Chocolá at around 600 BCE were the main producers of Cacao. Mid-sized Maya communities also began to develop in the northern Maya lowlands during the Middle and Late Preclassic, though these lacked the size, scale, and influence of the large centers of the southern lowlands. Two important Preclassic northern sites include Komchen and Dzibilchaltun. The first written inscription in Maya hieroglyphics also dates to this period (c. 250 BCE). Scholars disagree about the boundaries that define the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and neighboring Preclassic Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec culture of the Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe--Zoque- and Zapotec-speaking peoples of Chiapas and southern Oaxaca, respectively. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone, and evidence suggests that these cultures and the formative Maya influenced one another. Takalik Abaj, in the Pacific slopes of Guatemala, is the only site where Olmec features have been clearly succeeded by Mayan ones. Around 100 AD, a widespread decline and abandonment of Maya cities occurred -- called the Preclassic Collapse. This marked the end of the Preclassic era.

Comments

1. best warriors ever bro !
2. They never dissapeared and they were NEVER an empire, their ancient civilization was more like the Greek city states.
3. Great empire. I swear these euros are full of s***
4. lmao
5. best fricking video😢
6. a lot of negative comments on here, but you know what? I don't see a lot of people bringing forth or exploring maya culture. I'm from that area and i'm always curious about what happened to those peoples and what their lives were like. Appreciate ya.
7. nothing Mysterious. God say "how many generation had we destroy" "do you heard about them?"
8. sensationalist garbage
9. I came to watch this documentary about mayans, very disappointed... history channel sucks, misinformation, overly dramatic music, blurred picture, wanker presenter... just awful...
   
   ... gonna pass
10. I loved that statement. To really understand the Maya, you must be able to crack the Maya code. That means the matrix.  What that means is your first language, from birth. That is the 1st matrix in your mind. That is the code of knowing who you are.
11. They are still here. but were decimated by guess who. their empire was stopped, but their culture is not as what was. However, they are still here. they are going back to their roots and rediscovering their original language and their culture and their beliefs.
12. Props to him though for keeping the show going whilst he's got a gash in his leg hahaha
13. This presenter is such a meat head lmfao. Bro History!!
14. i wish the young mayans that are in the wild would become people like these people or get interviewed and give all the info these idiots need
15. Your answer.
    
    
    
    Read more
    
    
    
    He died from crap that happens in the world.
    (No one witnesses it so now we have nosie people making it way more than what it is)
16. wow the history channel employs bros now?
17. This is what happens when Fallen Angels go around masquerading as "gods" to ancient civilizations.
18. the narrator is the same kind of warrior as were the maya warriors.
19. all theories. thanks to the Spanish by burning all meds, and history of the mayan, aztec, Inca empires. the mayan know some, but wont tell the white man. all that boold sacrifice. I'm not sure about that. look at who's decoding the language. I don't believe them.
20. this guy is motherfucker