CAS AR 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Yaxchilan, Lapidary, Tropical Year
Document Summary
Postclassic: ad 900-1519: cosmopolitan art and architecture style, more collective rule, more scenes of war and sacrifice taking place. Widespread use of hieroglyphic system to express shared language: probably only elite were literate placed in strategic places, mostly glorify the king. 1st: 260-day calendar, 365-da(cid:455) (cid:862)solar(cid:863) (cid:272)ale(cid:374)dar (cid:894)(cid:271)ut (cid:374)ot 365. 2422 tropical year, 52-(cid:455)ear (cid:272)ale(cid:374)dar (cid:272)(cid:455)(cid:272)le: e(cid:454)pe(cid:272)ted le(cid:374)gth of a perso(cid:374)"s life. 2nd: long count: based on intervals of 20, multiplying backward, runs in incarnations, (cid:862)e(cid:374)d of the (cid:449)orld prophe(cid:272)(cid:455)(cid:863) based on this calendar. Allowed the elite to control all of the hydrological resources of the site. Let the ash sit and fertilize the land. Cut down all the trees, burn it. Ca(cid:374) o(cid:374)l(cid:455) use for a fe(cid:449) seaso(cid:374)s (cid:271)efore it"s i(cid:374)fertile have to move on to the next spot. Writing system may have been used only for political use. Stone monuments are most of what is left. There were many mayan codices depicting their religion.