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Mayan Civilization

By LoganAessi
  • Period: 7000 BCE to 2000 BCE

    Hunter Gatherers

    The Archaic Period in Mesoamerica during which hunter-gatherer culture moved toward agriculture. This is when the ancient Mayan people first started settling in the area.
  • 2600 BCE

    Mayan Culture

    Mayan Culture
    Mayan Culture buries their dead individually under homes. The bodies of higher-ranking members of society were buried inside sarcophagi. They sometimes were buried in crypts or underneath the family home. These funerary constructions of the royal often destroyed the residence itself.
  • Period: 1200 BCE to 300 BCE

    First Mayan Cities

    The Olmec Period which saw the rise of the Olmec culture's work in stone, first major cities appear. The civilization springs from the grouping of ancient villages along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
  • 700 BCE

    Tomb of Mayan King K'utz Chman

    Tomb of Mayan King K'utz Chman
    Tomb of Mayan King K'utz Chman of Retalhuleu constructed in Guatemala. King K’utz Chman introduced many cultural features that eventually defined the Maya, including building pyramids instead of square structures and commissioning the production of carved sculptures that depicted the royal family. The tomb is very important to Mayan people because of this reason and is kept in good condition.
  • Period: 600 BCE to 799 BCE

    The Zapotec Period

    The Zapotec Period in which writing, mathematics, and astronomy were disseminated. Calendar developed.
  • 331 BCE

    Maya Copán

    Maya Copán
    Traditional founding date of Maya Copán. 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 reveal the three main stages of development before the city was abandoned in the early 10th century.
  • Period: 250 BCE to 900 BCE

    The Classic Maya Period

    The Classic Maya Period which saw the height of the Maya Civilization in cities such as Chichen Itza, Palenque, Tikal, Copan and Uxmal.
  • Period: 200 BCE to 900 BCE

    The Teotihuacan Period

    The Teotihuacan Period in which the city of Teotihuacan dominates as an important religious and cultural center.
  • 378

    First contact between Teotihuacan and Tikal

    First contact between Teotihuacan and Tikal
    First contact between Teotihuacan and Tikal. Two different cities in ancient Maya. Tikal became the key ally and trading partner of Teotihuacan in the Maya lowlands.
  • Period: 429 to 437

    Reign of K'inich Yax K'uk Mo

    Reign of the first named Copan ruler K'inich Yax K'uk Mo. The Yax Kuk Mo dynasty was the royal house that reigned in the city-state of Copan (Oxwitik) for four centuries. This was installed in the city in the year 426 AD, due to Teotihuacan influence and military support from the ruler Sihyaj Chan K'awiil II of Tikal, who ruled between the 5th and 9th centuries.
  • Period: 580 to 800

    Maya Yaxchilan flourishes.

    Maya Yaxchilan flourishes. The Maya dated the founding of their city to 320 CE, but Yaxchilan flourished between c. 580 and c. 800 CE, benefitting from commerce via the Usumacinta River.
  • Period: 615 to 683

    Reign of Kinich Janaab Pacal

    Reign of Kinich Janaab Pacal I or Pakal the Great, king of Maya Palenque. He acceded to the throne in July 615 and ruled until his death. Pakal reigned 68 years—the fifth-longest verified regnal period of any sovereign monarch in history, the longest in world history for more than a millennium, and still the longest reign of any monarch in the history of the Americas.
  • 700

    Temple complex of Chacchoben

    Temple complex of Chacchoben
    The Maya city and temple complex of Chacchoben is built. This majestic, graceful pyramid rises off a platform base 5 tiers with an unrestored temple atop, and reaches a height of about 36 feet/12 meters. There are stairways on all four sides of the pyramid; two to the top and two that reach the fourth level.
  • Period: 747 to 1200

    Chichen Itza flourishes

    Chichen Itza flourishes in Yucatan, Mexico. From the ninth to the thirteenth century CE, Chichén Itzá was an incredibly important religious and ceremonial site, as well as a sophisticated urban center and hub of regional trade.
  • Period: 850 to 925

    Uxmal establishes itself as the capital

    Uxmal establishes itself as the capital of the Puuc region of Yucatan. Uxmal fully established itself as the capital of a collection of lesser cities in the eastern Puuc region. Along with other northern sites like Chichen Itza, Uxmal survived the collapse which affected most other Maya cities
  • 900

    Maya Tikal abandoned

    Maya Tikal abandoned
    Maya Tikal is definitively abandoned.
  • Period: 950 to 1524

    The Post-Classic Period

    The Post-Classic Period in which the cities were abandoned and the region was invaded by the Spanish conquerors.
  • 1524

    The Battle of Utatlan

    The Battle of Utatlan
    The Battle of Utatlan in which the last Maya resistance is crushed by the conquistador Pedro de Alvarado. Traditional date of the end of the Maya Civilization.
  • Jul 12, 1562

    Diego de Landa

    Diego de Landa
    Diego de Landa, Bishop of the Yucatan, burns the books and images of the Maya outside the church at Mani.

  • Discovered

    Discovered
    The Maya civilization is discovered by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood who explore and document the ruins.