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Design on Vase from Chama representing Mayan Deities

Can the Mayans be Dated to the Younger Dryas Ice Age?

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How does a story one is told, or that one has read in a textbook, become irrefutable historical fact?

Everyone knows the Mayans were a terrifying civilization, steeped in long range calendars, ballgames, pyramids and human sacrifice. They inherited many of these traits from a culture called Olmec, frequently called the ’Mother Culture’ of Mesoamerica, because they gave birth to what became the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Toltecs. The Mayans flourished between 300 to 950 AD and were followed by the Aztecs, who were in power when the Spanish arrived. This is the traditional story, but how much of it is factual?          

Tikal National Park - Petén Basin, Flores, Guatemala UNESCO World Heritage Site (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Tikal National Park - Petén Basin, Flores, Guatemala UNESCO World Heritage Site (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mayan architecture is, indeed, spectacular. Tourists flock to be overwhelmed at the sight of the long, steep stairs and monumental extravagance of ruins such as Tikal or Ceibal. When carbon dating and other methods were used to date those structures, traditional history was cast in stone. Even now, if one looks up these magnificent temples in any standard text or Internet site, one will find authoritative statements listing date of construction and occupation, purpose, general description and date of demise. It sounds so official that it is hard to argue about whether or not it is all true.  

Drawing of what part of Tenochtitlan may have looked like (Public Domain)

Drawing of what part of Tenochtitlan may have looked like (Public Domain)

Digging Deeper Professor Inomata

But Takeshi Inomata, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona, had problems with the traditional story. Pyramids as complex and sophisticated as these do not just spring into existence. A civilization does not wake up one fine morning and say: "Let's build a pyramid!" So, Inomata decided to dig deeper. He began to excavate under the visible remains at Ceibal to see if there was evidence of earlier building. What he found was that his predecessors - the ones who wrote the textbooks and composed the traditional story - had drawn their conclusions much too quickly. There was a more complex story to be discovered. Inomata decided to ignore what he had been taught and assumed that what one sees on the surface is simply a later construction built on the remains of a much earlier ritual site. Inomata found signs of an earlier complex that dated to at least 1000 BC.

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Jim Willis is author of nine books on religion and spirituality, he has been an ordained minister for over forty years while working part-time as a carpenter, the host of his own drive-time radio show, an arts council director and adjunct college professor in the fields of World Religions and Instrumental Music. He is author of Supernatural Gods: Spiritual Mysteries, Psychic Experiences, and Scientific Truths and Ancient Gods: Lost Histories, Hidden Truths, and the Conspiracy of Silence

Top Image: Design on Vase from Chama representing Mayan Deities (Public Domain)

By Jim Willis

 

Comments

jim willis's picture

Mr. St. Clair,

Please read the opening paragraph again, carefully. It doesn’t state a factual case. It says that “everyone knows” something that the rest of the article goes on to suggest is wrong. It’s called irony, and I understand that in these days of speed reading and sound bites, irony is frequently lost on people. The truth is that, as the article goes on to point out, Mayan scholarship is currently in a great state of flux, and altough it has been the traditional standard that Olmec is parent to Maya, that is simply no longer accepted by all modern acadmics. 

Thank you

jolly r hansen

"They inherited many of these traits from a culture called Olmec, frequently called the ’Mother Culture’ of Mesoamerica, because they gave birth to what became the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Toltecs. The Mayans flourished between 300 to 950 AD and were followed by the Aztecs,"

How can I take anything this article says seriously when the opening paragraph is so factually wrong. The Olmec's were as far as we know the parent civilization of the Maya but not of the Aztec nor the Toltecs. Both their cultures were hundreds of miles away from the Olmec/Mayan region and thousands of years separate them in time. Also the Aztec's own creation myth has them coming from outside the region that became their center around what is Mexico city. In fact their creation myth has them coming from the north. The Olmecs and later Mayans were far to the south. Also the Mayans were not replaced by the Aztec.

jim willis's picture

Jim

After graduating from the Eastman School of Music, Jim Willis became a high school band and orchestra teacher during the week, a symphony trombonist on the weekends, a jazz musician at night and a choral conductor on Sunday mornings. ... Read More

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