Maya warfare
Encyclopedia
Although the Maya
were once thought to have been peaceful (see below), current theories emphasize the role of inter-polity warfare as a factor in the development and perpetuation of Maya society. The goals and motives of warfare in Maya culture are not thoroughly understood, but there are several kinds of archaeological clues. These include fortified defenses around structure complexes, artistic and epigraphical depictions of war, and weapons such as obsidian
blades and projectile point
s. Warfare can also be identified from archaeological remains that suggest a rapid and drastic break in a fundamental pattern due to violence.
Like the city-states of ancient Greece, Maya polities engaged in violent warfare for political control of people and resources. Some scholars have suggested that the capture of sacrificial victims was a driving force behind warfare. Among the most critical resources were water and agricultural land. Economic control of resources such as obsidian
also increased competition among polities. As polities became more successful, they also became more complex. This led to improved efficiency in acquiring and holding valued resources, especially through military force. Population growth increased the competition between polities, resulting in increased levels of violence.
, which describes sacrifice through decapitation. Certain events such as the death of a leader or birth of an heir may have required sacrifice.
This seems to support the theory that war was fought by and for elites; that is, the Maya and non-Maya nobility. This may be because of the long distances that had to be traveled between cities. One estimate puts about 500-1000 men on the battlefield on each side of the conflict at maximum based on estimates about the logistics of the journey, such as amount of weight carried and how much food was needed on the journey.
It is thought that enemies would project missiles at long range, then as they advanced on each other, disciplined likely loosened, allowing individuals to attempt to personal feats of bravery The main body of the population does not appear to have been active in most conflicts unless it involved the overthrow of a ruler.
Military organization is somewhat unclear. Leadership seems to have been embodied mostly in the Halach Uinic, the ajaw
or lord of each geopolitical unit, known as a batab. The Halach Uinic was responsible for calling troops together and organizing the military effort.
and spear
, much of the actual fighting was done at close range with "thrusting, stabbing, and crushing". Weapons were crafted mostly from obsidian
and chert
, obsidian being the sharpest (but more brittle). Knapping chert or obsidian into bifacial projectile points and attaching them to atlatl darts, spears, and arrows was the dominant technology. Although joes and arrows were used, spears remained much more common.
, Mayapan
is considered to be one of the last major Pre-Columbian
Maya settlements. The site had defensive wall surrounding the structure, and a violent fire was the cause of downfall as evidenced by burnt remains.
is a Classic Maya site located in the south-western Petén
department of Guatemala . Aguateca was a member of the Petexbatún States among which included such polities as Seibal
, Itzan
, Dos Pilas
, Cancuén
, Tamarindito
, Punta de Chimino
,and Nacimiento.
The city was built on a 90 m. escarpment with a defensive fortifications surrounding the city. Archaeological remains, along with epigraphy and iconography at the site reveals an expansion of power and military influence from Aguateca by the ruling dynasty during the 8th century, a period noted for endemic warfare in the region. During this time, 4 km. of defensive walls were hastily constructed concentrically around the site.
Among the weapons found at the site are chert and obsidian bi-facial points, and chert small points which were likely used as arrowheads. Obsidian spear tips, which were found extensively throughout the site, were the primary weapon used based on the number found at the site. other weapons included darts and atlatl
darts.
The site reveals a key feature of Mayan war - that being the involvement of the royal elites in the manufacture and execution of warfare. For example, 30-40 broken chert biracial points were found in the royal residences of Aguateca, along with small bifacial thinning flakes which were the result of failed bifacial point manufacturing. All obsidian bifacial thinning flakes were found in a royal or elite context. This serves as evidence for the hypothesis that rulers, scribes, and artisans at Aguateca served as warriors.
The city was captured and destroyed approximately 810 AD. The capture lead to mass evacuations of the city, as marked by the plethora of remains left at the site. It appears that the goal of the capture was to terminate the influence of Aguateca, not to occupy the city or its power.
is located in north-central Belize, about 52 km. north of Belize City
in a chert
-rich area, Colha offers an in depth look at Maya warfare and collapsed polities during the Terminal Classic
. Colha is associated with extensive lithic production ranging in time from the early Classic and into the Post Classic. The site was captured and later abandoned during the Terminal Classic. The site's demise contains insights into the material motivations for Maya warfare and military strategy. Among the archaeological remains is the Colha Skull Pit, which contained the remains of 30 human skulls. The skull pit is particularly unusual because the faces of the individuals were flayed prior to decapitation. The skin was cut around the skull vault, around the orbital rims and external nasal aperture, inside the mandibular ramus, and along the lower edge of the mandible. Although this pattern is found around the world, it is unusual in Maya ritual.
Another mass grave at Colha was found to have unusual characteristics for a Maya grave site. This suggests that it was not a ritual or sacrificial grave, but was dug during the capture of Colha. Although the site was already an important site of lithic production, archaeological remains show an exponential increase in the volume of stemmed blades produced, which served as the primary weapon in the area. This, along with the large volume of human remains found inside the defensive walls, suggests that perhaps the inhabitants were prepared for an invasion. These remains indicate that the capture of Colha was a strategic move to cut off supply of weapons production for the area by an invader.
and more recent investigations at the Río Pasión site of Cancuén
.
. This view shifted as the result of detailed analysis of iconography
and the content of Maya script
. Ironically, the New Age perspectives common in Mayanism
suggest that modern use of ancient Maya wisdom will result in an era of world peace.
(2006), directed by Mel Gibson. The film depicts the attack on a small village by warriors from a larger polity for the purpose of capturing men to be sacrificed atop a pyramid during a solar eclipse
.
since the time of the Spanish Conquest. In recent times, this reached a peak during the regime of Efraín Ríos Montt
in Guatemala
in the 1980s, when a scorched earth
policy was used against indigenous
populations.
On January 1, 1994, several cities in the Mexican state of Chiapas
were taken over by members of the primarily indigenous group Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional in protest of the North American Free Trade Agreement
.
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
were once thought to have been peaceful (see below), current theories emphasize the role of inter-polity warfare as a factor in the development and perpetuation of Maya society. The goals and motives of warfare in Maya culture are not thoroughly understood, but there are several kinds of archaeological clues. These include fortified defenses around structure complexes, artistic and epigraphical depictions of war, and weapons such as obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
blades and projectile point
Projectile point
In archaeological terms, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a projectile, such as a spear, dart, or arrow, or perhaps used as a knife....
s. Warfare can also be identified from archaeological remains that suggest a rapid and drastic break in a fundamental pattern due to violence.
Like the city-states of ancient Greece, Maya polities engaged in violent warfare for political control of people and resources. Some scholars have suggested that the capture of sacrificial victims was a driving force behind warfare. Among the most critical resources were water and agricultural land. Economic control of resources such as obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
also increased competition among polities. As polities became more successful, they also became more complex. This led to improved efficiency in acquiring and holding valued resources, especially through military force. Population growth increased the competition between polities, resulting in increased levels of violence.
Ideological Roots, Tactics, Organization, and Weaponry
Ideology
Warfare was likely a driving force of cultural change. Although warring leaders undoubtedly benefited materially, one of the main goals may have been to acquire sacrificial victims. Sacrifice not only legitimized the ruler by intimidating rivals and awing the citizens, but was also associated with concepts of sacred fluids and the passage of time. Warfare is alluded to in to the mythology of the Popol VuhPopol Vuh
Popol Vuh is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic Quiché kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People."...
, which describes sacrifice through decapitation. Certain events such as the death of a leader or birth of an heir may have required sacrifice.
Tactics and Organization
Little can be known about how the ancient Maya planned and coordinated their attacks. However, it has been noted that the Maya cities kept some distance between themselves and their enemies with an estimated mean distance of 55 km (about two to three day's travel) between major settlements.This seems to support the theory that war was fought by and for elites; that is, the Maya and non-Maya nobility. This may be because of the long distances that had to be traveled between cities. One estimate puts about 500-1000 men on the battlefield on each side of the conflict at maximum based on estimates about the logistics of the journey, such as amount of weight carried and how much food was needed on the journey.
It is thought that enemies would project missiles at long range, then as they advanced on each other, disciplined likely loosened, allowing individuals to attempt to personal feats of bravery The main body of the population does not appear to have been active in most conflicts unless it involved the overthrow of a ruler.
Military organization is somewhat unclear. Leadership seems to have been embodied mostly in the Halach Uinic, the ajaw
Ajaw
Ajaw is a political rulership title attested from the epigraphic inscriptions of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, with a meaning variously interpreted as "lord", "ruler", "king" or "leader". It denoted any of the leading class of nobles in a particular polity and was not limited to a single...
or lord of each geopolitical unit, known as a batab. The Halach Uinic was responsible for calling troops together and organizing the military effort.
Weapons
Although the Maya had missile technology, such as the atlatlAtlatl
An atlatl or spear-thrower is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart-throwing.It consists of a shaft with a cup or a spur at the end that supports and propels the butt of the dart. The atlatl is held in one hand, gripped near the end farthest from the cup...
and spear
Spear
A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as flint, obsidian, iron, steel or...
, much of the actual fighting was done at close range with "thrusting, stabbing, and crushing". Weapons were crafted mostly from obsidian
Obsidian
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock.It is produced when felsic lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimum crystal growth...
and chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
, obsidian being the sharpest (but more brittle). Knapping chert or obsidian into bifacial projectile points and attaching them to atlatl darts, spears, and arrows was the dominant technology. Although joes and arrows were used, spears remained much more common.
Mayapan
Located in the Mexican state of YucatánYucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
, Mayapan
Mayapan
Mayapan , is a Pre-Columbian Maya site a couple of kilometers south of the town of Telchaquillo in Municipality of Tecoh, approximately 40 km south-east of Mérida and 100 km west of Chichen Itza; in the state of Yucatán, Mexico...
is considered to be one of the last major Pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
Maya settlements. The site had defensive wall surrounding the structure, and a violent fire was the cause of downfall as evidenced by burnt remains.
Aguateca
AguatecaAguateca
Aguateca is a Maya site located in northern Guatemala's Petexbatun Basin, in the department of Petén. The first settlements at Aguateca date to the Late Preclassic period , and the city was sacked and abandoned in the early 9th century. Aguateca sits on top of a tall limestone bluff, creating a...
is a Classic Maya site located in the south-western Petén
Petén
Petén or Peten may refer to:*Petén , a department of Guatemala*Petén Basin, the geographical / archaeological region of Mesoamerica and a center of the Maya civilization*Lake Petén Itzá, a lake in the Petén Basin region...
department of Guatemala . Aguateca was a member of the Petexbatún States among which included such polities as Seibal
Seibal
Seibal, known as El Ceibal in Spanish, is a Classic Period archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the northern Petén Department of Guatemala. It was the largest city in the Pasión River region....
, Itzan
Itzan
Itzan is a Maya archaeological site located in the municipality of La Libertad in the Petén Department of Guatemala. Various small structures at the site were destroyed in the 1980s during oil exploration activities by Sonpetrol and Basic Resources Ltd, prompting rescue excavations by archaeologists...
, Dos Pilas
Dos Pilas
Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, being founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD 629 in order to control trade routes in the Petexbatún region,...
, Cancuén
Cancuén
Cancuén is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Pasión subregion of the central Maya lowlands in the present-day Guatemalan Department of El Petén. The city is notable for having one of the largest palaces in the Maya world.- Ancient Cancuén :Cancuén was a...
, Tamarindito
Tamarindito
Tamarindito is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization located along an escarpment in the Petén department of Guatemala. The city was the capital of the Petexbatún region of the southwestern Petén during the Early Classic period but was displaced by the newly founded conquest state of Dos...
, Punta de Chimino
Punta de Chimino
Punta de Chimino is a Maya archaeological site in the Petexbatún region of the department of Petén in Guatemala. Occupation at the site dates to the Preclassic and Classic periods of Mesoamerican chronology...
,and Nacimiento.
The city was built on a 90 m. escarpment with a defensive fortifications surrounding the city. Archaeological remains, along with epigraphy and iconography at the site reveals an expansion of power and military influence from Aguateca by the ruling dynasty during the 8th century, a period noted for endemic warfare in the region. During this time, 4 km. of defensive walls were hastily constructed concentrically around the site.
Among the weapons found at the site are chert and obsidian bi-facial points, and chert small points which were likely used as arrowheads. Obsidian spear tips, which were found extensively throughout the site, were the primary weapon used based on the number found at the site. other weapons included darts and atlatl
Atlatl
An atlatl or spear-thrower is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart-throwing.It consists of a shaft with a cup or a spur at the end that supports and propels the butt of the dart. The atlatl is held in one hand, gripped near the end farthest from the cup...
darts.
The site reveals a key feature of Mayan war - that being the involvement of the royal elites in the manufacture and execution of warfare. For example, 30-40 broken chert biracial points were found in the royal residences of Aguateca, along with small bifacial thinning flakes which were the result of failed bifacial point manufacturing. All obsidian bifacial thinning flakes were found in a royal or elite context. This serves as evidence for the hypothesis that rulers, scribes, and artisans at Aguateca served as warriors.
The city was captured and destroyed approximately 810 AD. The capture lead to mass evacuations of the city, as marked by the plethora of remains left at the site. It appears that the goal of the capture was to terminate the influence of Aguateca, not to occupy the city or its power.
Colha
ColhaColha, Belize
Colha, Belize is a Maya archaeological site located in northern portion of the country, about 52 km. north of Belize City, near the city of Orange Walk. The site is one of the earliest in the Maya region and remains important to the archaeological record of the Maya culture well into the...
is located in north-central Belize, about 52 km. north of Belize City
Belize City
Belize City is the largest city in the Central American nation of Belize. Unofficial estimates place the population of Belize City at 70,000 or more. It is located at the mouth of the Belize River on the coast of the Caribbean. The city is the country's principal port and its financial and...
in a chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
-rich area, Colha offers an in depth look at Maya warfare and collapsed polities during the Terminal Classic
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
. Colha is associated with extensive lithic production ranging in time from the early Classic and into the Post Classic. The site was captured and later abandoned during the Terminal Classic. The site's demise contains insights into the material motivations for Maya warfare and military strategy. Among the archaeological remains is the Colha Skull Pit, which contained the remains of 30 human skulls. The skull pit is particularly unusual because the faces of the individuals were flayed prior to decapitation. The skin was cut around the skull vault, around the orbital rims and external nasal aperture, inside the mandibular ramus, and along the lower edge of the mandible. Although this pattern is found around the world, it is unusual in Maya ritual.
Another mass grave at Colha was found to have unusual characteristics for a Maya grave site. This suggests that it was not a ritual or sacrificial grave, but was dug during the capture of Colha. Although the site was already an important site of lithic production, archaeological remains show an exponential increase in the volume of stemmed blades produced, which served as the primary weapon in the area. This, along with the large volume of human remains found inside the defensive walls, suggests that perhaps the inhabitants were prepared for an invasion. These remains indicate that the capture of Colha was a strategic move to cut off supply of weapons production for the area by an invader.
Warfare as a Cause of Maya Collapse
Endemic warfare is often cited as the cause of the collapse or disappearance of the Maya civilization and abandonment of what are now ruins. Although warfare certainly played a role in the transition to the Terminal or Postclassic, overpopulation, environmental degradation, and drought all played a role in the change of Maya society. The most detailed archaeological information on this phenomenon comes from sites of the Petexbatún statePetexbatún
Petexbatún is a small lake formed by a river of the same name, which is a tributary of the La Pasion river. It is near Sayaxché, located in the southern area of the Guatemalan department of Petén....
and more recent investigations at the Río Pasión site of Cancuén
Cancuén
Cancuén is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, located in the Pasión subregion of the central Maya lowlands in the present-day Guatemalan Department of El Petén. The city is notable for having one of the largest palaces in the Maya world.- Ancient Cancuén :Cancuén was a...
.
Misconceptions
The prevalent theory on the ancient Maya at the beginning of the 20th century held on to the notion that they had a predominantly peaceful society, idealizing the indigenous culture much like a noble savageNoble savage
The term noble savage , expresses the concept an idealized indigene, outsider , and refers to the literary stock character of the same...
. This view shifted as the result of detailed analysis of iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
and the content of Maya script
Maya script
The Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs or Maya hieroglyphs, is the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered...
. Ironically, the New Age perspectives common in Mayanism
Mayanism
Mayanism is a non-codified eclectic collection of New Age beliefs, influenced in part by Pre-Columbian Maya mythology and some folk beliefs of the modern Maya peoples...
suggest that modern use of ancient Maya wisdom will result in an era of world peace.
Ancient Maya Warfare in Popular Culture
Maya warfare was a major theme in ApocalyptoApocalypto
Apocalypto is a 2006 American epic action-adventure film directed by Mel Gibson. Set in Yucatan, Mexico, during the declining period of the Maya civilization, Apocalypto depicts the journey of a Mesoamerican tribesman who must escape human sacrifice and rescue his family after the capture and...
(2006), directed by Mel Gibson. The film depicts the attack on a small village by warriors from a larger polity for the purpose of capturing men to be sacrificed atop a pyramid during a solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
.
Warfare in Contemporary Maya Society
Living Maya peoples have been subjected to violent genocideGenocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
since the time of the Spanish Conquest. In recent times, this reached a peak during the regime of Efraín Ríos Montt
Efraín Ríos Montt
José Efraín Ríos Montt is a former de facto President of Guatemala, dictator, army general, and former president of Congress. In the 2003 presidential elections, he unsuccessfully ran as the candidate of the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front .Huehuetenango-born Ríos Montt remains one of the most...
in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
in the 1980s, when a scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
policy was used against indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
populations.
On January 1, 1994, several cities in the Mexican state of Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
were taken over by members of the primarily indigenous group Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional in protest of the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
.