Chitzen Itza is a Maya ruin located on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The Maya are the best known
of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Based mainly in the Yucatan, they rose to prominence
around A.D. 250. The Maya developed astronomy, calendar systems, and hieroglyphic writing. The Maya
were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including
pyramids, palaces and observatories. They were farmers who cleared large sections of rain forests.
They also built underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater or to access underground rivers.
The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters, and cleared routes
through jungles and swamps to foster extensive trade networks with distant peoples.
The Maya adopted a hierarchical system of government ruled by kings who used the
knowledge they had acquired to predict astronomical events such as eclipses and the appearance of
comets to convince the common people that they held supernatural powers. Their entire civilization
was based on holding this knowledge to the small group of rulers to propagate their influence over
the masses.
Maya mathematics constituted the most sophisticated mathematical system ever developed in the Americas. The Maya counting system required only three symbols: a dot representing a value of one, a bar representing five, and a shell representing zero. The fact that the Maya understood the value of zero is remarkable because most of the world's civilizations at that time had no concept of zero. They numbering system was based on 20 instead of 10. Instead of just using the number of fingers to count to 10, the Maya also used their toes to be able to count to 20. Mathematics was an important discipline among the Maya. So much so that it appeared in Maya art such as wall paintings,
where mathematics scribes or mathematicians can be recognized by number scrolls which trail from
under their arms.
The Maya calendar is very accurate, and the calculations of Maya priests were so precise that their calendar correction is 10,000th of a day more exact than the standard calendar the world uses today. Of all the ancient calendar systems, the Maya and other Mesoamerican systems are the most complex and intricate. They used 20 day months, and had two calendar years: the 260 day Sacred Round, or tzolkin, and the 365 day Vague Year, or haab. These two calendars coincided every 52 years. The 52 year period of time was called a bundle and meant the same to the Maya as our century does to us. The Sacred Round of 260 days is composed of two smaller cycles: the numbers 1 through 13, coupled with 20 different day names. The ancient Maya believed in recurring cycles of creation and destruction and thought in terms of eras lasting about 5,200 modern years. The current cycle is believed by the Maya to have begun in either 3114 B.C. or 3113 B.C. of our calendar, and is expected to end in either A.D. 2011 or 2012.
In Maya cities, structures were precisely aligned with compass directions and dimensions. The structures often took on a special meaning during the spring and fall equinoxes. For example at
Chitzan Itza, on the day of the spring and fall equinoxes, the Sun gradually illuminates the pyramid
stairs and the serpent's head at its base, creating the image of a snake slithering down the pyramid
to the ground. Had the stairs been a few inches to high or too low, or not exactly facing in the
exact compass directions, it would have disrupted the shadows and the desired effect would have not
occurred. The construction of the pyramid attests to the original designer's foreknowledge of the
exact placement of each stone to achieve this effect. There is no evidence that the stones were
modified after being placed in their final positions. And to make this feat even more astonishing
is that the designers were not able to test their plans because the equinoxes only occur twice a
year.
Their society started to decline around A.D. 900 when the southern Maya abandoned their cities. By A.D. 1200, the Maya dynasty finally came to a close, although some cities continued to thrive until the Spanish Conquest in the early sixteenth century.
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Last updated August 18, 1998