ABSTRACT

This chapter describes the origins and growth of Maya and other lowland civilizations in Central America. From the earliest times, barter networks linked village to village and lowland groups to people living on the semi-arid highlands or in the Basin of Mexico. The same exchange networks also spread compelling ideologies, which were to form the symbolic foundation of ancient Mesoamerican civilization. By 2000 BC, sedentary villages were common throughout Mesoamerica, dispersed in small communities across highly diverse agricultural environments in both lowlands and highlands. To the north, the serried mountains of the highlands give way to the low-lying limestone peninsula of the Yucatn, the so-called Maya lowlands. Kingship was at the heart of lowland Maya civilization. Maya rulers linked their actions to those of the gods and ancestors, sometimes legitimizing their descent by claiming it reenacted mythical events. Olmec artists grafted eagles' feathers and claws onto serpents and other beasts to form mythical creatures.