The development process of the Mayans has gone through about twenty-five centuries and is divided into six stages, namely:
"Formation period" (about 500 BC to 300 AD), the situation in this period is very unknown;
"Ancient period" or "Classical period" (about 300-800 AD), during which Mayan art reached its peak, mainly developed in Mount Palank and Bonanpak in Chiapas, Sal, Kabbah and Udesmar in Yucatan, Honuta in Tapasco, Heiner, Leobek and Eitel in Campeche, Copan in Honduras, Tikal and Waxectown in Guatemala.
The "end of ancient empire" (800-975) is characterized by the disappearance of big city centers, population migration and cultural retrogression;
"Mexican period" (975- 1200) experienced the invasion of Toltecs, who mainly lived in chichen itza.
During the Mayapan period (1200 to 1450), although a powerful empire was established around the new center of Mayapan in Yucatan Peninsula, the civilization declined day by day.
"Disintegration period" (1450 to 1697), that is, the empire contending for hegemony collapsed. The Spanish landed in Guatemala in 1523 and invaded Yucatan Peninsula in 154 1 year, but soon occupied the whole of Mexico. Only a small tribe of the Mayans, the Iza people, fled to the small island of Ta Yasar in Lake Peten and remained independent until 1697.
The development of Mayan civilization began with the agricultural economy which mainly planted corn. Although the Mayans are as famous as the greatest architect of mankind, the Egyptians have never surpassed the Stone Age (they mastered the smelting method of gold and copper, but they only used it as decorations); So they can only use stone tools and bone tools to carve the whole boulder weighing 30 tons, carve extremely fine hieroglyphs and make these exquisite and beautiful bas-reliefs. Another unusual phenomenon in their history is that they collected a lot of astronomical data and created the most concise almanac so far without any scientific instruments. The Maya first used the number "zero". They have been able to predict solar and lunar eclipses and calculate the rendezvous period of Venus. So far, only a part of their characters can be released, which is a combination of monosyllabic symbols and ideographic symbols. Their "book" is made of paint coated on bark fibers. Unfortunately, these books were destroyed by a Spanish bishop in the16th century, and only three books survived, namely the Dresden Pharmacopoeia, the Madrid Pharmacopoeia and the Paris Pharmacopoeia (named after the place where the books were kept). People still have two great Mayan bibles, but they are both versions of16th century: Popol Vuh (Genesis) and Chilam Balam (Collection of Prophecy and Hint).
The Mayans inherited the Olmec script and undoubtedly the basic elements of their religion. Although Mayan architecture has its primitive aspects, it also has the same characteristics as all other Mexican cultures: temple figures and important buildings are built on artificial mounds. Some relics in Waxak town show that it has been like this since its formation. In the classical period, the Mayans built huge pyramids to replace these "mounds". The pyramid tower is proportional to its height, so the weight of the whole tower seems to be offset by various lines that escape upwards, giving people the feeling of towering into the sky, but there is no feeling of being bloated and heavy. It can be said that the pursuit of height is the ideal of architects. For example, in Tikal, the pyramid tower they built is very steep, and its height is one and a half times the width of the tower foundation. In addition to imposing manner, Mayan architecture also designed a kind of false vault or cantilever arch, that is, instead of embedding the arch stones into each other to cover the space between the two branches, the slabs were laid flat and laminated layer by layer to form a shallow cantilever beam. These slates are built in a triangular "arch" with concave sides. This kind of * * * is quite heavy and needs huge wall support-however, it is precisely because of the thick walls that Mayan architecture has been preserved. However, the internal hall of this kind of building is very narrow. Buildings generally have only one floor, and the top is decorated. The third feature of Mayan architecture is that Maya used to decorate the inner wall with murals, while the outer wall was decorated with a lot of gypsum, with countless images and symbols on it, which looked like a mask as a whole. The most beautiful examples of Mayan architecture are undoubtedly in Smal (with palaces, tortoise shrines, Defen pyramids and Nones quadrangles) and Palank (Grand View Hall, Sun Hall, Pyramids and Inscription Hall). 1949, a secret staircase leading to the center of the pyramid was found in the temple of inscriptions in Palank, leading to an underground tomb, where there was a sarcophagus covered with heavy stone slabs, and inside the sarcophagus was a skeleton covered with jewels. This type of catacombs have not been unearthed in other places, but the problem is to find out whether there has always been a grave under the pyramid, or whether the pyramid should be built on the grave of an important person. Only when this person dies can a place become an auspicious place or a sacred place. Although the building of Itsa in Chen Chi is a little late, it also provides a beautiful Mayan building (Nones Temple, Church and Snail Temple) and a mixed Mayan and Tortek building (such as castle, samurai temple and a large stadium).
Loving decoration will obviously promote the richness of carving art; The most popular form of sculpture is bas-relief. On the surface, this sculpture is an ornament, but in fact, it is not a "foil" on the wall, but makes the wall meaningful and a huge picture. The astronomical and religious symbols in the painting not only show some meditation, but also arouse it. In the oldest buildings, the style of sculpture is free and realistic, but it is constantly evolving into more and more stylized style. However, its main pattern (snake mask) incorporates ever-changing and increasingly complex geometric figures. And the image of people, even if it is decorated with feathers, pearls, symbols and so on, will always be naturalistic. It is said that Mayan sculptors, with the gradual aging of tradition, blindly pursued to fill the whole space. They have many forms of expression, and when they use these forms without restraint, they may have some subtle calculations: to capture time instead of expressing meaning. In any case, we can't call these huge symbolic comprehensive art forms "baroque" like others, and forget that the real baroque art should not only list the complicated decorations, but also list them. More importantly, the Mayan sculpture art does not give people the feeling of fat. Especially in Palank, people have found many "classical" pure and cautious works. The best example is on the walls of temples, but more on altars and stone pillars, which are erected to commemorate the transition from one period to another. This kind of building developed greatly from 3 17 to 550. From 650 to 8 10, there has been further development. The stone pillars and altars are all made of a whole boulder, showing amazing images of priests and soldiers. These statues are luxuriantly decorated, surrounded by hieroglyphs and symbolic patterns. Most of the images on the bas-relief are side faces, but there are few high-relief figures on the front and few circular carvings, among which the most beautiful is a naked amputated male statue (a vigorous god). The Maya sculpture now preserved in the National Museum of Mexico is also the most outstanding work of all art in the pre-Columbian period. It is not a stone sculpture, but a gray clay sculpture, that is, the head of a dedicated soldier found in the catacombs of Palank, which is now kept in the National Museum of Mexico. This head is a good expression of the panic that is suppressed in the face of ruthlessness. It concentrates all the advantages of Mayan culture: the skill of dealing with volume, balance and the majesty that seems to be full of silence.
Clay sculptures have created many beautiful and vivid little people, and many of them have been found in the tombs on Heiner Island near the northwest coast of Yucatan Peninsula (Campeche). Most of these small figures are whistles and bells, representing all kinds of people in Mayan society: priests, throne leaders, warriors, caddies, dancers, musicians, craftsmen and so on. Their clothes, manners and expressions are very accurate, so, on the whole, for us, this is like a documentary about Mayan life. However, from an artistic point of view, these portraits (now mainly produced in Honduras) have flexible lines, vivid shapes and high fidelity.
Mayan murals are undoubtedly extremely rich, because the interior of the temple is painted. However, if these cultural relics were not found in the Chiapas tropical forest center in 1945, but in the center of Bonampak (the Mayans are "painting walls"), then we really know nothing. There are still three halls on the top of the collapsed pyramid of the "Painting Hall", and the paintings on the walls are from the eighth century AD. The picture shows the scene to celebrate the victory. The temple is in the first hall of the temple. Some elites are waiting in a palace, while the leaders are surrounded by waiters and dressed up. Below the picture is the queue of musicians and dancers, and the beginning of the prayer ceremony to the God of Victory. In the picture in the second hall, there is a battle scene in a tropical forest. Prisoners of war were executed, and the leader was accompanied by the high priest, the leader's wife and officials. The lower part of the picture is the queue of victorious warriors. The picture in the third hall is celebrating victory, some great people are chanting, the chief's wife and some women are sacrificing themselves, and there are many acrobats, musicians and dancers. These pictures, like those colorful bottle paintings, remind us of the luxurious scenes of that world. At that time, people were absolutely subordinate to the hierarchy, and it was precisely because of this system that people got rid of loneliness. Those rulers and those who are dying all have the same face, because they only have different identities, without any differences in personality. They are all human beings in front of the weather, doing what they should do. For them, fate is just a reincarnation; At the end of the cycle, they released a heavy load and then died. They are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, they are just killing time.