60 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
known. Even after destruction of the major buildings along the Street of the Dead,
a sizable population remained within the city, and people continued to inhabit the
area through the Aztec period and up to the present.The Classic Mayas.
We have seen that the antecedents of Classic Mayan civilization appeared in the Late
Formative period, but in the southern lowlands the Classic period was a time of cultural
florescence. During the Classic period, the population reached its peak, building con-
struction was extensive, and there was widespread elaboration of a set of traits that
were uniquely Mayan and associated with Mayan elites. These traits include sophisti-
cated calendrical, mathematical, and astronomical systems, writing, and masonry ar-
chitecture using the corbelled arch, an architectural innovation that formed a vault.
The Classic period in the Mayan area typically is subdivided into Early (ca. A.D.
200–600) and Late (A.D. 600–900) periods. This division reflects what is often called
the Classic “hiatus,” a period of 136 years (A.D. 557–692) in which there was a sig-
nificant slowdown in the construction of buildings and the erection of stone monu-
ments in the Tikal heartland. This decline may have been triggered by political
competition and warfare initiated by Tikal’s rival state, Calakmul, and the latter’s
ally, Caracol. Hieroglyphic records reveal evidence of the attack of Tikal, and rival
cities prospered in conjunction with its hiatus. The beginning of the Late Classic pe-
riod marks a new cycle of political dynamics and changes in ceramic pottery styles as-
sociated with this period. The vast majority of surviving hieroglyphic records were
created during this time period.
A number of ideas once held about the Classic Mayas have been revised in recent
years as new evidence has come to light. At one time the Mayas were perceived to be
a peaceful people; commoners were thought to have lived in dispersed settlements,
practicing simple slash-and-burn horticulture while a priestly class resided in empty
ceremonial centers, conducting rituals based on an obsession with time. Archaeo-
logical fieldwork in the 1960s and 1970s followed by glyphic decipherment from the
1970s to the present day have modified this picture considerably.
We now know that Mayan cities, like other archaic states known in world history,
were ruled by political elites who interacted in courts filled with intrigue, engaged in
warfare, and were supported by a complex subsistence and luxury economy. The pop-
ulation in the lowlands was large, and many areas were densely populated. Agricul-
tural systems were not limited to slash-and-burn techniques, as the discovery of features
such as channeled wetland fields, terracing, arboriculture, and kitchen gardens have
documented. Mayan centers once thought to be vacant ceremonial precincts are now
known to have been true urban centers with a variety of functions (Box 1.4). The rural
landscape was filled with towns and villages, and farmers and craftspeople produced
surplus goods for exchange in local markets and as tribute payments to overlords.
Our understanding of the events of the Classic period in the Mayan lowlands
has increased markedly in recent years as more of the Mayan writing system has been
deciphered (see Chapter 11). Inscriptions appear primarily on stelae, but they also
are found on stucco facades, on wooden or stone lintels above doorways, on stairways,