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Ajaw
Ajaw or Ahau ('Lord') is a pre-Columbian Maya civilization, Maya political title attested from epigraphy, epigraphic inscriptions. It is also the name of the 20th day of the ''tzolkʼin'', the Maya divinatory calendar, on which a ruler's ''kʼatun''-ending rituals would fall. Background The word is known from several Mayan languages both those in pre-Columbian use (such as in Classic Maya language, Classic Maya), as well as in their contemporary descendant languages (in which there may be observed some slight variations). "Ajaw" is the modernised orthography in the standard revision of Mayan orthography, put forward in 1994 by the Guatemalan ''Academia de Lenguas Mayas'', and now widely adopted by Mayanist scholars. Before this standardisation, it was more commonly written as "Ahau", following the orthography of 16th-century Yucatec language, Yucatec Maya in Spanish transcriptions (now ''Yukatek'' in the modernised style). In the Maya hieroglyphics writing system, the represe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maya Calendars
The Maya calendar is a system of calendars used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in many modern communities in the Guatemalan highlands, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico. The essentials of the Maya calendar are based upon a system which had been in common use throughout the region, dating back to at least the 5th century BC. It shares many aspects with calendars employed by other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Zapotec and Olmec and contemporary or later ones such as the Mixtec and Aztec calendars. By the Maya mythological tradition, as documented in Colonial Yucatec accounts and reconstructed from Late Classic and Postclassic inscriptions, the deity Itzamna is frequently credited with bringing the knowledge of the calendrical system to the ancestral Maya, along with writing in general and other foundational aspects of Mayan culture. Overview The Maya calendar consists of several cycles or ''counts'' of different lengths. The 260-day count is known to sch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tzolkʼin
The tzolkʼin (, formerly and commonly tzolkin) is the 260-day Mesoamerican calendars, Mesoamerican calendar used by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The tzolkʼin, the basic cycle of the Maya calendar, is a preeminent component in the society and rituals of the ancient and the modern Maya. The tzolkʼin is still used by several Maya peoples, Maya communities in the Guatemalan highlands. While its use has been spreading in this region, this practice is opposed by Evangelicalism, Evangelical Christian converts in some Maya communities. The word ''tzolkʼin'', meaning "division of days", is a western neologism, coinage in Yucatec Maya language, Yucatec Maya. Contemporary Maya groups who have maintained an unbroken count for over 500 years in the tzolk'in use other terms in their languages. For instance, the Kʼicheʼ people, Kʼicheʼ use the term ''Aj Ilabal Qʼij'' [aχ ilaɓal qʼiχ] or ''Raj Ilabal Qʼij'' [ɾaχ ilaɓal qʼiχ], 'the sense of the day' or 't ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maya Civilization
The Maya civilization () was a Mesoamerican civilization that existed from antiquity to the early modern period. It is known by its ancient temples and glyphs (script). The Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. The civilization is also noted for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system. The Maya civilization developed in the Maya Region, an area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. It includes the northern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. Today, their descendants, known collectively as the Maya, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages, and reside in nearly the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classic Maya Language
Classic Maya (or properly Classical Chʼoltiʼ) is the oldest historically attested member of the Mayan language family. It is the main language documented in the pre-Columbian inscriptions of the classical period of the Maya civilization. It is also the common ancestor of the Cholan branch of the Mayan language family. Contemporary descendants of classical Maya include Chʼol and Chʼortiʼ. Speakers of these languages can understand many Classic Mayan words. Classic Maya is quite a morphologically binding language, and most words in the language consist of multiple morphemes with relatively little irregularity. It shows some regional and temporal variations, which is completely normal considering the long period of use of the language. Even so, the texts make it clear that it is a single, uniform language. Classical Maya shows ergative alignment in its morphology, as well as syntactically in focus constructs. Although the descendant Cholan languages limit this pattern of e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halach Uinik
Halach uinik or halach uinic (Yucatec Maya:'real man') was the name given to the supreme ruler, overlord or chief, as they were called in the colonial period of a Maya ''kuchkabal''. Most ''kuchkabal'' were run by a halach uinik, who ruled on behalf of one of the gods of their pantheon, constituting a theocracy. The succession occurred in the same family, with power passing from parent to child, under the law of primogeniture. The halach uinik concentrated all religious, military and civil power in one person. They chose officials from among the members of the theocracy who helped in the administration of the ''kuchkabal''. They usually designated their family members as heads or ''batab'' of the ''batalib'' (municipalities) that formed the ''kuchkabal''. These ''batabob'' commanded their own soldiers, presided over the local council, implemented justice, and controlled the payment of taxes. In addition to these assignments, they also took care of the fields at the times indica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coba
Coba () is an ancient Maya city on the Yucatán Peninsula, located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The site is the nexus of the largest network of stone causeways of the ancient Maya world, and it contains many engraved and sculpted stelae that document ceremonial life and important events of the Late Classic Period (AD 600–900) of Mesoamerican civilization. The adjacent modern village bearing the same name, reported a population of 1,278 inhabitants in the 2010 Mexican federal census. The ruins of Coba lie 47 km (approx. 29 mi) northwest of Tulum, in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The geographical coordinates of Coba Group (main entrance for tourist area of the archaeological site) are North 19° 29.6’ and West 87° 43.7’. The archaeological zone is reached by a two-kilometer branch from the asphalt road connecting Tulum with Nuevo Xcán (a community of Lázaro Cárdenas, another municipality of Quintana Roo) on the Valladolid to Cancún highway. Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maya Priesthood
Until the discovery that Maya stelae depicted kings instead of high priests, the Maya priesthood and their preoccupations had been a main scholarly concern. In the course of the 1960s and over the following decades, however, dynastic research came to dominate interest in the subject. A concept of royal ʼshamanismʼ, chiefly propounded by Linda Schele and Freidel, came to occupy the forefront instead. Yet, Classic Maya civilization, being highly ritualistic, would have been unthinkable without a developed priesthood. Like other Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican priesthoods, the early Maya priesthood consisted of a hierarchy of professional priests serving as intermediaries between the population and the deities. Their basic skill was the art of reading and writing. The priesthood as a whole was the keeper of knowledge concerning the deities and their cult, including calendrics, astrology, divination, and prophecy. In addition, they were experts in historiography and genealogy. Priests ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maya Inscriptions
Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a population native to the old Wej province in Ethiopia * Sibuyanon, a Visayan population sometimes "May-" native to Sibuyan Island in the Philippines Religion and mythology * Maya (religion), in Indian religions, relates to the illusion of reality *Maya (mother of the Buddha) (died 563 BC), mother of the historical Buddha *Mayasura or Maya, a Hindu demon * Maya religion, the religious practices of the Maya peoples of parts of Mexico and Central America ** Maya mythology, the myths and legends of the Maya civilization People * Maya (given name), a feminine name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) Places * Maya (Aldan), a river in Yakutia and the north of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia * Maya (Uda), a river in Amu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Government Printing Office
The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO), formerly the United States Government Printing Office, is an agency of the Legislature, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government. The office produces and distributes information products and services for all three branches of the Federal Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the official publications of the Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court, the United States Congress, Congress, the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Executive Office of the President, United States federal executive departments, executive departments, and Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agencies. An act of Congress changed the office's name to its current form in 2014. History Establishment of the Government Printing Office The Government Printing Office was created by Joint resol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trust instrumentality and is not formally a part of any of the Federal government of the United States#branches, three branches of the federal government. The institution is named after its founding donor, British scientist James Smithson. It was originally organized as the United States National Museum, but that name ceased to exist administratively in 1967. The Smithsonian Institution has historical holdings of over 157 million items, 21 museums, 21 libraries, 14 education and research centers, a zoo, and historical and architectural landmarks, mostly located in Washington, D.C. Additional facilities are located in Maryland, New York (state), New York, and Virg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bureau Of American Ethnology
The Bureau of American Ethnology (or BAE, originally, Bureau of Ethnology) was established in 1879 by an act of Congress for the purpose of transferring archives, records and materials relating to the Indians of North America from the Department of the Interior to the Smithsonian Institution. But from the start, the bureau's visionary founding director, John Wesley Powell, promoted a broader mission: "to organize anthropologic research in America." Under Powell, the bureau organized research-intensive multi-year projects; sponsored ethnographic, archaeological and linguistic field research; initiated publications series (most notably its Annual Reports and Bulletins); and promoted the fledgling discipline of anthropology. It prepared exhibits for expositions and collected anthropological artifacts for the Smithsonian United States National Museum. In addition, the BAE was the official repository of documents concerning American Indians collected by the various US geological su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of books or individual stories in the public domain. All files can be accessed for free under an open format layout, available on almost any computer. , Project Gutenberg had reached over 75,999 items in its collection of free eBooks. The releases are available in plain text as well as other formats, such as HTML, PDF, EPUB, MOBI, and Plucker wherever possible. Most releases are in the English language, but many non-English works are also available. There are multiple affiliated projects that provide additional content, including region- and language-specific works. Project Gutenberg is closely affiliated with Distributed Proofreaders, an Internet-based community for proofr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
