 Mayanists
divide pre-Hispanic history into three periods: Pre-Classic,
Classic and Post-Classic, subdivided as well into Early, Mid
and Late Periods, taking in a timespan of three thousand years,
from the beginning of Mayan civilization to its collapse in
the 16th century. The Mayan civilization must be considered
amongst the great mesoamerican civilizations, due to the many
common cultural characteristics among them - Olmec, Teotihuacan,
Zapotec, Mixtec, Toltec and Mexic.
For example:
* The use of a sacred or divinatory calendar, named the Tzolkin,
alongside the solar calendar of 365 days;
* A stratified society; city-states governed by a single person
in whom political, civil and religious power was concentrated.
* The great precision in their measurement of time; being
able to determine any past or future date with precision;
* The ability to indicate the phases of the moon and Venus
for any chosen day, although measuring several thousands of
years from the moment of calculation.
* The only American civilization that made use of written
expression, by means of a combination of logograms and phonetic
signs allowing expression of any idea or to relate facts.
* The use of a false arch that allowed unusual embellishment
and enlargement of its construction.
* The erection of stone monoliths called stelas, in regular
cycles of time, celebrating historical events with their corresponding
dates, sometimes accompanied by a life-size carving of the
personage who commanded the erection the stela.
* An integrated cosmovision of space and time, the division
of the heavens and the earth and the underworld, each one
with its interrelated inhabitants, up to and including the
governor, who was their intermediary with the Gods, and with
their ancestors and other sentient beings.
* The combination of astronomical and mathematical knowledge
which allowed architectural works that even today would be
difficult or impossible to achieve, since many of their monuments
have an exact position in relation to the points of the compass
and to the movement of the stars.
* It is astonishing to realize that the Mayans used the concept
of zero at least 800 years before the Europeans
.
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