Maya Culture: Did you mean...?

Xochicalco in central Mexico was an important hilltop centre from the 8th century CE and was a rival and successor of Teotihuacán. Architecture at the site is closely connected to that of the Classic Maya, Teotihuacan, and Veracruz...

Archaeologists and National Geographic grantees George and David Stuart offer keen insights into the art and culture of the Mayans.

The Predynastic Period in ancient Egypt is the time before recorded history, from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age and on to the rise of the First Dynasty, and is generally recognized as spanning...

European explorers began to probe the Western Hemisphere in the early 1500s, and they found to their utter amazement not only a huge landmass but also a world filled with several diverse and populous indigenous...

Discovered in 1570 by Diego García de Palacio, the ruins of Copán, one of the most important sites of the Mayan civilization, were not excavated until the 19th century. The ruined citadel and imposing public squares...

The sport known simply as the Ball Game was played by all the major Mesoamerican civilizations and the impressive stone courts became a feature of many cities. More than just a game, it could have a religious significance...

3-4th century CE, Guatemala, Mesoamerica. Metropolitan Museum of Art A favored vessel type of the Maya lowlands was one made in the shape of a tropical bird, perhaps a cormorant, in the act of catching a fish in its beak...

A seated Maya warrior. This stone and plaster figure is from the exterior of The Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza. Mexico, 1000-1100 CE. (St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri)

The Maya glyph for Tikal. From a stela in the Archaeological Museum of Tikal.

Learn the basics for how to read ancient Maya, and learn to read the glyph for chocolate: cacao!