Maya Rise and Fall Photo Gallery - National Geographic Magazine

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Maya Rise & Fall

The saga of a civilization in three parts: the rise, the monumental splendor, and the collapse.

/galleries/bcove/assets/c6387830-ee18-4e61-bf91-6dc2373226a1.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/0b4edbd0-8945-4659-8a79-24f466961566.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/67f2575b-5bbf-43f3-b75a-01b2a7eab95b.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/67f2575b-5bbf-43f3-b75a-01b.jpg A.D. 683, he was laid to rest laden with jade—this mask, a large pendant, earplugs, rings, necklaces, and bracelets—beneath a temple where he would be venerated for generations to come.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/e2d040a5-22e0-4c7c-9753-064ba4d63d15.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/50e8789e-323a-4db8-9450-9a4e93251f82.jpg http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1077715 /galleries/bcove/assets/911158e1-76f8-4d0f-9a94-9fce2d769c33.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/3b726b45-afeb-449a-bf3c-369a7ec166f6.jpg A.D. 378. Its shape recalls the feather-adorned ball court markers typical of central Mexico, the homeland of Fire is Born. The writing on the shaft describes him as the envoy of a mysterious ruler named Spear-thrower Owl, represented in the medallion at the top by an owl with an atlatl, or spear-thrower. Other sources reveal that Fire Is Born installed Spear-thrower Owl’s son as the new king of Tikal.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/f3154068-73cd-425d-a705-190f31fe5da9.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/732453e9-7c42-4cab-86c8-3b98013cf940.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/c29bdd86-b312-4d94-84f9-8c1af750ff55.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/cf945da8-301f-423c-9774-c0ab390f8e57.jpg http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1077714 /galleries/bcove/assets/6a79127c-b013-47e3-9f4b-ad848dddcaa6.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/9c71cf4d-8f2b-4747-aa2c-662b9c5ba5e7.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/b14ab299-8220-4c65-be42-639b85f85cc9.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/223a3123-db5a-453e-a59c-6959cf748153.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/7338a729-5b66-4d76-86a8-b065cea0e61c.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/c656d871-3238-4590-8850-c881c5760e23.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/b0ea3352-8c89-4140-8999-a115b82898ee.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/8c1a6582-d216-400d-ab71-4c4bc8503017.jpg A.D. 600, was discovered in a royal tomb at the site of Waka, in northern Guatemala, along with 22 other figurines—dwarfs, courtiers, ball players, a shaman, a queen, and a king. Archaeologists believe the burial belonged to a ruler who may have been named Tzih Bahlam (Emergent Jaguar). “The figurines appear to represent a court scene of conjuring, appropriate for sending the soul of the deceased to his ancestors,” says Southern Methodist University’s David Freidel, the site’s lead archaeologist. “They could be ancestral figures, or the contemporary court.”]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/90e567ec-d627-4b3c-b2d2-16d85a67aff5.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/9068ef74-64dc-4a7f-b14c-b0e906983bfa.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/2357e207-f26e-4753-841f-26fc5bee0eed.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/ed158f3e-0d0e-4474-8e77-4c51bd8337f4.jpg A.D. 426 that lasted almost four centuries.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1077717 /galleries/bcove/assets/8f59cd6c-a27d-4440-9181-ca3218df7a10.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/5c5a4b98-1952-4a79-99d9-b9821fa738e4.jpg A.D. 378. During the next five centuries, it became a superpower with alliances—and enemies—throughout the Maya realm.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/9714ef86-dc59-4ffe-858e-9108fdb349a6.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/532d4132-5cfb-463c-bc3f-9def36564090.jpg A.D. 800 after it was defeated by Toniná, in league with Tikal’s rival Calakmul.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/953054b5-251f-4fce-860a-73f22f93d5a1.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/e0c41255-7886-4943-89e5-f50536d9825f.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/c010ccaf-7d3e-4eae-b50f-2e1c30240d40.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/fb367986-9642-4296-8309-ad0172be09d5.jpg sacbe, or stone causeway. Its most famous monument, the Palace of the Masks, displays 260 images of Chac, the long-nosed rain god. Repeated on many buildings in this arid site, this motif was likely meant to summon rain. The snouts could have held offerings of copal, the sacred incense.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/7468c88b-25c7-4625-a649-9c02e1ac66e8.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/6c960968-0397-4d80-a3c7-75d65b490f6c.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/671f32b7-a8bb-4717-84cd-4b8523a53327.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/b2138245-c594-4438-961a-3e0974e2752f.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/52d1c676-fc1b-4920-b415-9994b0c3c8d2.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/f4f0dbd6-abce-4984-aede-986ab6c2b1ea.jpg http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1077716 /galleries/bcove/assets/cc8220f0-edcb-457b-9f4e-9156fb68556f.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/3c0ceb54-3f76-443f-a47e-c0c65e50d75c.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/88d112f8-507b-4cdc-9c1e-581a549a7874.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/f8986e15-e07a-4d7c-b469-29480aa70275.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/9b672c5e-e1bb-435b-95fe-a1a0d1155cb0.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/eecaf522-7621-4f57-a991-11711f9f48c8.jpg http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1077718 /galleries/bcove/assets/7365078a-3724-4adb-bcee-be778b464d88.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/0705009b-54bd-4f15-9829-2846fb6a8643.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/74f75062-64ad-41d5-9801-8a2d5c841fab.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/7853bf04-8933-4222-a70b-c5aff7730df1.jpg wayob, the affliction-spewing alter egos of kings that were used to curse enemies. They work here amid a scaffold bearing the heads of human sacrifices.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/84dba44e-e640-4734-8e38-5834eddc88df.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/61afffd2-d36b-4fea-858b-6cc9cef30a51.jpg A.D. 909—the last known date in the Long Count, a calendar system that spanned centuries. As the once great cities collapsed and the divine kings lost their power, most people probably drifted away in search of a better life, leaving no one to carve monuments—and no one to care that the recording of history had come to an end.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/8310d978-21ac-4b7b-ad17-55a2ab314e0c.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/2bf61a4d-dfe5-436b-be13-cf1e9e444845.jpg A.D. 800, a clay figurine of a warrior embodies the catastrophic upheaval of war that destroyed the Classic Maya. Many such figurines were found as offerings in burials at Cancuén, most of them designed to be played as flutes. A blowhole hides behind the feet of this warrior, and finger holes pierce his back.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/f7bdb53a-6979-49f6-9e11-819a9bc14701.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/404120b6-a31b-46cf-bf22-3c30bd491ed4.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/17c82b5c-f801-4ddf-b735-6c3d277d6b7a.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/93593fbe-0906-4f14-8e78-5f39f21265f1.jpg http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1077719 /galleries/bcove/assets/7829e1b4-72b3-4b68-a444-053c811ac530.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/5391b6e8-b3c1-47f2-bf5f-9755aff0f0e5.jpg A.D. 795 on a recently uncovered masterpiece of Maya art. With hundreds of sites still to be investigated, many more such testaments to the glory of the Maya civilization await discovery.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/409b71d2-518e-40fe-b409-fdaa16c8616d.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/b9982814-788b-4f31-b1f0-b23436a0e2e6.jpg