Maya: Did you mean...?

The Maya Civilization flourished between 250-950 although it drew upon earlier civilizations such as that of the Olmecs (1500 - 200 BCE) and Zapotec (600 BCE - 800 CE) and lasted through the Post-Classic Period of 950-1524. The great cities...

This spouted vessel is one of the most elegantly sculpted stone containers in the corpus of Maya art. Its form with the vertical spout parallel to the central axis of the main chamber is known from the late 1st millennium B.C. and is especially...

Copán (in modern Honduras) is located on the floodplain of the river of the same name. It was the most southerly of the Classic Maya centres and, at an altitude of 600 metres, the highest. Copán reached the height of its power in the 8th...

Religion (from the Latin Religio, meaning 'restraint,' or Relegere, according to Cicero, meaning 'to repeat, to read again,' or, most likely, Religionem, 'to show respect for what is sacred') is an organized system of beliefs and practices...

This ancient Maya glyph is pronounced "kah-kah-oo." Various forms of this glyph can be found on Maya vessels, some of which are known to have contained chocolate in some form.

The ruins of San Gervasio — located on the island of Cozumel in Mexico — were once an important site of pilgrimage to Maya people who lived from c. 1000-1650 CE. A sanctuary of the Maya goddess Ix Chel used to be located at this location...

Artist's impression of a Maya priest performing a temple ritual. Created by Amplitude Studios for the video game Humankind.

A Maya vessel decorated with warrior figures. They are wearing animal headdresses and have trophy heads hanging from their belts. From Mexico or Guatemala, c. 600-800 CE. (Brooklyn Museum, New York)

This photograph shows some Maya ruins from the San Gervasio archaeological site, which is located on the island of Cozumel in Mexico. In the center, one sees the "Niches" structure, which was once composed of miniature shrines that were built...

A belief in an afterlife was central to every major civilization of the ancient world and this encouraged the recognition of the reality of ghosts as the spirits of the departed who, for one reason or another, either returned from the realm...