It's amazing how many civilizations have come and gone on this planet and these are only the ones that we know about. Could a civilization that was even more advanced than we are today, have ever existed on the earth? I guess that is always a possibility, there are theories out there that state that this is not the first time around for humans on this planet. Right now we have no way of knowing if this is true or not, but most scientists don't accept this idea. For the time being let's just go along with the idea that man was the first intelligent race on this planet and that no other one existed before him. This will allow us to look at some of the advanced races that we know about. One can't help but feel that the Romans were one of the most incredible races of builders that existed on this planet. While this is true, we shouldn't forget the Maya of Central and North America (Mexico). They too were incredible builders and a lot of their cities and buildings still exist to this day and even in a state of disrepair they are still wonders to behold.

The first known Maya settlements seem to date back to about 1800 B.C. and have been found in an area known as Soconusco on the Pacific Coast. This period of time was known as the pre-classic period. Even today there is disagreement among scientists about where the Maya civilization extended and where did the boundaries for the civilizations that were around at the time start, such as the Olmac. You see, the Maya civilization was not alone. It is remarkable to think that other advanced civilizations existed right on their doorstep. The period in which they built most of their structures was from 250 to 900 A.D. This doesn't mean that they didn't build anything before that period of time, it just means that this was when they were the busiest. They had many different city states in their empire and they ran a society that was dependent on agriculture. Some of their most famous cities were Oxkintok, Chunchucmil, and Uxmal. people admire Egypt for its construction of great temples and pyramids, but when one thinks of pyramids they also have to think about the pyramids of Central America and the Maya, who were also great pyramid builders. The pyramids were not constructed in the same manner as the famous Egyptian pyramids, but they are no less spectacular.

One of the greatest mysteries in history is why the Maya abandoned their cities. This society when into decline between the eighth and ninth century A.D. This didn't happen over the entire Maya empire however. The Northern part of the empire continued to exist until the 16th century. It makes one wonder why one area of the Empire would be abandoned, while another area wouldn't be? Could natural events account for this? Did lack of water prevent farming, did the soil just get so used up that it wouldn't grow crops anymore, or was there some religious motive for moving out of that particular area. Maybe enemies forced Maya into more secure positions? Maybe we will find out the answer to this puzzling question sometime in the future, but right now we really have no idea what happened. We just have to chalk this up to one of history's mysteries.

By moving to the northern centers, the maya were able to prolong their empire. But even they couldn't defend against the metal bearing Spaniards who came to conquer them. It took the Spaniards all of 170 years to completely control the region, but they did it. Thus the noble Maya race once rulers of the region, were transformed into peasants in their own land.

The design of their cities were quite incredible. They were cities in every modern sense of the word and they held thousands of people. Usually in the center of the city you would find their temples and a large city square, that the worshipers would come into. There are stories that stake the squares would sometimes be completely full with people watching their high priests on top of the Temple pyramids. The priests were extremely powerful in the Maya culture. When one looks at the buildings and temples, he has to understand that the Maya lacked many of the means for constructing large buildings. The Maya didn't even have metal tools. There were no pulleys and they didn't have any larger animals that could have helped move construction materials. What they had was manpower and in massive amounts. They actually had to use stone tools to quarry limestone, it really beats me how they were able to do this? would it be that the Maya knew something that we don't know today and used that technology in the construction of some of their buildings?

I don't think that anyone today really knows everything about the Maya. One thing that we have to remember, is that there are still plenty of Maya around. These friendly people have many oral traditions and stories that have been passed down for hundreds of years. Maybe if somebody makes a point to examine all of the stories, they will find a clue pertaining to why the Southern settlements were abandoned so early in Maya history. They might also find out the exact construction methods that were used by the Maya. This would be a daunting task however, since I am sure that there are hundreds or even thousands of Maya tales that have been passed down through the ages.

I am now going to show you some of the photos of these incredible Maya structures:

 

Left: Mayan Mask
Right: Ruins Of Palenque
GNU Free Documentation License

 

Now you have to admit these are some incredible structures.and artifacts, aren't they?