The mysterious and majestic Mayan civilization. Why did the Mayan Indians die out? Economic development of the Mayan tribes

The Mayan civilization is unique. Their writing, calendar system, and knowledge of astronomy amaze even modern cosmology specialists. The Mayan Indians are one of the most ancient and mysterious civilizations that ever existed on Earth.

Birth of the Mayan civilization

Scientists have determined where the Indians lived. According to the theory, after the end of the last ice age, the tribes living in the north went south to explore new lands. Today it is the territory of Latin America.

Then, over the next 6 thousand years, the Indians created their own culture - they built cities and farmed.

By 1500 BC, the Mayans lived in the Yucatan Peninsula, present-day Guatemala, the southern states of Mexico, and the western parts of El Salvador and Honduras.

Mayan Indians: history of the development of civilization

The first major centers were the cities of El Mirador, Nakbe and Tikal. The construction of temples flourished, calendars were widely used, and hieroglyphic writing developed.

The photo below shows the ancient Mayan cultural center in the ancient city of Tikal.

The Indians created their own system, including architecture with unique buildings - pyramids, monuments, palaces, politics and social hierarchy. Society was divided into the masses and the elite, consisting of rulers.

The Mayans believed that their rulers were descended from the gods. The status was emphasized by robes with a mandatory attribute - a breast mirror. “Mirror of the people” - this is what the Mayans called their supreme ruler.

Maya ruling class

The ancient Mayan civilization numbered more than 20 million people.

A whole system of 200 cities was created, 20 of them were megacities with a population of more than 50 thousand people.

Economic development of the Mayans

Initially, the Mayans were engaged in slash-and-burn agriculture - they cut down the forest on the site that they planned to cultivate, then burned the trees and shrubs, and fertilized the soil with ash. Since the land in the tropics is infertile, its resources were quickly depleted, and the fields ceased to be cultivated. They words were overgrown with forest. Then the whole process began again.

But as the population increased, new methods were required, and the Indians began to use hillsides for terrace farming. Swamps were also developed - raised fields were built on them by building beds a meter high above the water level.

They installed irrigation systems, and water flowed into reservoirs through a network of canals.

They traveled on the water in canoes made of red wood. They could accommodate up to 50 people at the same time. They traded fish, shells, shark teeth and other seafood. Salt was like money.

Salt production

Obsidian imported from Mexico and Guatemala was used to make weapons.

Jade was a ritual stone, it was always in value.

Jade products

Those who lived on the plain traded food supplies, cotton, jaguar skins and quetzal feathers.

Art and architecture

During the "classical" early and late periods (250 - 600 AD and 600 - 900 AD), a huge number of temples were built, and wall paintings depicting rulers appeared. Art is flourishing.

Below is a photo of Barel'ev with the image of the ruler.

Copan and Palenque become new cultural centers.

Migration

Beginning in 900 AD, the southern plains gradually emptied, leaving settlements in the northern part of Yucatan. Until 1000 AD, the influence of Mexican culture grew, and the cities of Labna, Uxmal, Kabah and ChiChen Itza flourished.

Below is a photo of the pyramid in the city of ChiChen Itza

After the mysterious collapse of Chichen Itza, Mayapan becomes the main Mayan city.

Why did the Mayan civilization disappear?

No one knows for sure the reason for the disappearance of the Indian people. There are only hypotheses on this score. According to the main one, in 1441 there was an uprising of the leaders who lived in the cities neighboring Mayapan. This caused the degeneration of civilization and its transformation into scattered tribes. Drought and famine also had an impact. Then the conquistadors appeared.

Below in the photo is the last center of civilization.

In 1517, Spanish ships landed on an unknown shore. In the battle with the Indians, the conquistadors saw gold. This began the extermination of the Mayan people, since the Spaniards believed that gold should belong to their rulers. In 1547, the Mayans were conquered, but some of the tribes managed to escape and hide in the center of the Yucatan Peninsula, where they lived for 150 years.

The diseases that the Spaniards brought with them caused outbreaks of epidemics. The Indians had no immunity to influenza, measles and smallpox, and they died by the millions.

The culture and religion of the Indians was exterminated in every possible way: temples were destroyed, shrines were destroyed, idolatry was punished by torture.

In the 100 years since the Europeans arrived in Latin America, the Mayan civilization was completely eradicated.

Watch the BBC documentary about the mysterious Mayan civilization below

In H. G. Wells's story "The Star," an elderly professor tells his students, "It appears that mankind has lived in vain." Studying the Mayan calendar and their predictions in the form of myths and legends must have evoked precisely such emotions in scientists. There have been so many dates for the end of the world - 666, 1666 and beyond, until 2000 - they appeared with enviable regularity. But humanity continues to live. But unlike these obscure dates, the Mayan calendar is too categorical and plausible...

Wheelless civilization

The first reliable sources claim that this people appeared in Central America approximately 2000-1500 BC. However, in those distant times these were scattered, semi-wandering tribes of gatherers and hunters, united except by one language group. The rapid flowering of Mayan culture began in 1000 BC, that is, 3000 years ago. Cities began to emerge, agriculture developed, isolated tribes became a society, and technology and science developed rapidly.

Although several interesting points can already be noted here. For example, despite seriously developed agriculture, construction, and warfare, the Mayans did not know the wheel. There is also one of the greatest mysteries of this civilization - the Mayans claimed that the gods forbade them to use wheels! Another strange thing is that despite all the social development, the Mayans never united into one state and calling them an “empire” would be incorrect. Their state structure was more reminiscent of ancient Greek: each city and its surrounding territories were a separate state.

These city-states constantly fought with each other, changed hands, the population was enslaved, valuables were mercilessly plundered, the conquerors placed puppets on the empty throne, but the captured territory was never annexed to their own! Sometimes it also happened that a captured city gained strength after some time and, in turn, captured its enslaver...

No less interesting, or rather frightening, is that in such a highly developed civilization, slavery and the cult of human sacrifice were acceptable. Magnificent celebrations, literally drenched in the blood of the unfortunate victims, can shake the imagination of modern man. Most often, prisoners captured in battles acted as gifts to the gods. But there were also frequent cases of sacrificing quite high-ranking personalities from their state. The methods of pleasing the gods also varied - from burying alive to tearing out a still living heart from a ripped open body.

However, all these oddities and atrocities pale in comparison to how the Mayans treated their time. They were truly obsessed with him - it's hard to find another word. Every date, every event, even the smallest, was recorded - accurately, timely and for centuries. Archaeologists continue to find structures in Mayan cities and settlements where the exact chronology of events is recorded, right up to the day the structure was created. It seems that time was something sacred for these people.

A modern person accustomed to the “flat” modern calendar, in which there is only forward movement and where only “past”, “future” and “present” can be postponed, would certainly have found it difficult to live in the Mayan era. And first of all because of their calendar, or rather, calendars. It's no joke - the Mayans used three calendars! “Tzolkin” consisted of 260 days, “Tun” – of 360 and “Haab” – of 365. Their use is also interesting. For example, “Tzolkin” was used for religious rituals, “Tun” was used in chronology, and “Haab” was used in ordinary, everyday life. The years were divided into months of 20 days each. The number system was also interesting - 20-digit. For what reason the Mayans used it is no longer possible to understand. Most likely, the basis of such a reference system was the fact that a person has 20 fingers on his hands and feet.

All these calendars were very accurate, errors that accumulated over time were calculated, and the necessary corrections were made. The calendars depended on each other. In addition to ordinary days, months and years, the Mayans had 4-year and 52-year cycles of the combination of the Haab and Tzolkin years. In addition to these calendars, the Mayans also used the calendar of the planet Venus. And here another mystery arises. The above-mentioned planet was of very great importance for the ancient peoples of Central America. Mayan astronomers were amazingly accurate in their research. For example, they calculated its synodic period (the time it takes for the planet to return to a given point for an observer on Earth) as 584 days.

Modern research (using telescopes, satellites and supercomputers!) gave a result of 583.92 days. So, in order to coordinate it with the Tzolkin year, it is necessary to make an amendment to the calendar by 4 days after 61 Venusian years. Another adjustment of 8 days is required during every fifth cycle at the end of the 57th revolution. And these amendments ensure harmony not only between the Tzolkin and the Venusian cycle, but also the solar year.

Mayan astronomers observed the sky in their observatories. The only thing they had was their own eyes, with which they looked at the stars through narrow and long slits in the walls of the temples. And at the same time, with amazing accuracy, they calculated the duration of the synodic month of the Moon - 29.53053 days (modern value - 29.530588), the duration of the solar year - 365.2420 days (modern value - 365.2421). By the way, according to this indicator, the Mayan calendar is superior in accuracy to the Gregorian calendar! And all this was calculated literally on the knee. Without any computers, telescopes, chronometers.

But, as they say, “the further into the forest, the scarier it is.” In addition to “short” counting, the Mayans also used “long” counting, in which they operated with quantities that seem surprising even in our age with its speed and centuries-old history. Consider, for example, “Kinchilbtun”, which, translated into our chronology, is 3156164.140 years. Or “Alautun” – in our opinion, 63123287.245 years old! We should not forget that even if we take 2000 BC as the date of birth of the Mayans as a people, they have existed for a little more than 4 thousand years. And this people, who were given only 1.5 millennia (before the conquest by the Spaniards) to live freely and, therefore, to develop, for some reason operated in their calculations and observations with figures that are difficult to find application even in our days - the days of space exploration era.

Olmec Legacy

It is difficult for us, children of “Mondays”, “Tuesdays” and “Saturdays”, with our perception of the world and time, to understand the philosophy of the Mayans and their calendar for the simple reason that our calendar does not have a clear connection to any event (well, perhaps with the exception of the Nativity of Christ or the migration of the Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him!) from Mecca to Medina). In this regard, the ancient Mayan calendar is structured completely differently and much more complex. Its main difference is that it does not contain “past”, “present” and “future” in the modern sense.

A civilization that did not know the wheel, nevertheless, invented the wheel of time - cyclicity. In a simplified way, this can be expressed as follows: everything has happened before and will definitely happen again. The Sun will definitely return to the place where it was a certain time ago, during this time the Moon will return to its point a strictly certain number of times, if you add a few days - again, Venus will have time to “turn around” a certain number of times. It’s the same with the seasons on earth - the Mayans also calculated them with great accuracy. The only problem is that to calculate all this (given the then level of development of observational technology) required millennia. The Mayans didn't have them.

However, they did not hide the fact that they were not the ones who compiled these calendars, but received them from the Olmecs, the people who lived before them. This does them credit, but does not explain the main thing - where did such extensive and deep knowledge in astronomy, mathematics, and the laws of space come from? After all, they managed to calculate their distance from the Earth by the speed of movement of celestial bodies! How much observation, reflection, and calculation was needed to bring so many calendars into line? Moreover, with such accuracy that they differ little from the most modern values? “Alautun”, in our opinion, more than 63 million years is hardly needed just to know when the dry season begins and when to start sowing maize.

Mayan astronomers probably themselves understood that such a huge figure was simply unrealistic. After all, human life is just a moment in comparison. But they still used it. It is unlikely that they believed that in two “alutuns” someone would continue their research or complete the observation they had begun. Then why did they need all this? Or maybe they knew something that we don’t know? Or did they receive all this knowledge from someone else whose history goes back hundreds of millions of years? From whom? There is one more point - their own calendar clearly showed that humanity would not live even a tenth of this period of time...

The biggest secret of the Mayan calendar is that it is divided into periods, each of which has an exact start date and an equally precise end date. It is also interesting that the end of each period was marked by global cataclysms, as a result of which a significant part of the Earth's population died, and an insignificant group of survivors passed on their knowledge to the next generation. The Mayans called these periods the "Times of the Sun."

The First Sun lasted 4008 years and ended with violent earthquakes. The second Sun was a little older - 4010 years old and was destroyed by wind and cyclones. The Third Sun lasted 4081 years and was destroyed by huge volcanic eruptions. The Fourth Sun lasted for 5026 years and ended with a flood. Here you need to pay attention to the date. The quarter sun period ended on August 11, 3114 BC. And the Mayans, judging by the discovered sources, appeared at least a thousand years later. How did they know this date, and with such accuracy? And where did she even come from? There is no answer to these questions.

There is one more oddity. In 1928-1929, Dr. Simon Woolley carried out excavations in the vicinity of the Chaldean city of Ur. Suddenly the workers came across a layer of pure clay. They had to dig one and a half meters until it ran out. What’s interesting is that above the layer there were traces of the Sumerian civilization. Beneath it are traces of a completely different, mixed one. Research has shown that such a thick layer of pure clay could only be applied by water. And again, judging by the thickness of the formation, it was not just water, but a real flood! Around the same time, Stephen Langdon discovered similar sediment deposits at Kish, in the region of Ancient Babylon.

And this is what the famous French orientalist Dorm wrote: “It is now absolutely clear that the cataclysm, as Langdon suggests, occurred in 3300 BC, as evidenced by the traces discovered in Ur and Kish.” Remember the date of the end of the Fourth Sun, how it ended and compare with the conclusions of scientists...

We live in the period of the Fifth Sun, which began on August 12, 3114 BC. The Mayans called it the “Sun of Movement” because, according to their ideas, during this era the Earth would move (remember this definition given by ancient astronomers!), which would cause the death of almost all living things. And the end of this period is already near. Having lasted 5126 years, according to the Mayan calendar, it should end on December 23, 2012...

Believe it or not?

There are as many answers to this question as there are people in the world. The Maya Indians might not know for sure how the periods before them ended - with global cataclysms, local upheavals, or changes in people's consciousness. It is quite possible that the imagery and originality of their thinking led to the fact that “rains of fire”, “floods” and “earthquakes” are just metaphors. Or, may scientists and archaeologists forgive us, just errors in deciphering ancient hieroglyphs.

One thing is indisputable - the care with which the ancient people treated their calendar, its accuracy in observations and calculations leaves no doubt about the accuracy of the date of the end of the Fifth Sun. If it weren’t for the obscurantists, who at one time came to the Mayan land after the conquistadors and destroyed almost all the written evidence of the ancient people, we would probably know more today about what awaits us. Unfortunately, a person does not change. For the sake of faith, the monks burned Mayan manuscripts, and already in our time bonfires of books were burning in Hitler’s Germany, but here you could get a prison term for a book by Yesenin or Solzhenitsyn...

Unfortunately, mere crumbs from the treasury of Mayan knowledge fell into the hands of such renowned scientists as Yuri Knorozov, Jean Genoud, and Eric Thompson. Suffice it to say that two-thirds of the hieroglyphs have not yet been deciphered, and, most likely, they will never reveal their secret.

December 23, 2012. This is not only the day of the winter solstice, but also the Mayan new year - this is what Jean Genoud believed. According to him, on December 23, a new month began - “Yash,kin”, which translated means “New Sun”. But this is not the main feature. On December 21, 2012, the “New Sun” will be born, and the so-called Parade of the Planets will take place. From the point of view of astronomy, such “parades” are an ordinary and safe phenomenon. But the difference between this particular parade is that not only Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will line up in a line, but also planets of other star systems that form a line to the center of the Galaxy.

Thus, the Earth will be on an axis that will connect us, our Sun, the Earth with the very heart of our Galaxy. Many astronomers do not see anything terrible or catastrophic in this. Only the Mayans are too definite in their prophecy - the Earth will move...

Jesus Christ did not reveal to his disciples the date of the end of the world, limiting himself to admitting that it would happen unexpectedly and quickly. But his teaching was philanthropy. The ancient Mayans had a different attitude towards both human life and death, therefore they were not scrupulous in their predictions. Well, there is not much left until the specified date, maybe the Mayans made a mistake and everything will still end well?

There is a huge difference between the early agricultural cultures we have just looked at and the awe-inspiring achievements of the Classic Maya. But nevertheless, no matter what gulf separates them, it is not absolutely insurmountable. The main questions associated with the formation of the Maya civilization are: what happened in that period of time that lies between the Late Archaic and Pre-Classical periods, and how did the development of those cultural features that are characteristic of the Maya civilization of the classical period actually occur?

A number of contradictory hypotheses have already been put forward regarding the emergence of the Mayan civilization. One of the most odious believes that the previously unremarkable Mayan Indians came under the influence of travelers who came to them from the shores of China. It is worth making a digression here and making it clear for the non-specialist that it can be absolutely categorically stated that none of the things found in Mayan cultural centers have been identified as objects from the Old World, and since the time of Stephenson and Catherwood, theories about transatlantic or transpacific contacts have been carefully studied consideration always crumbled.

Followers of another scientific school, based on the supposedly low agricultural potential of Petén and Yucatan, argue that advanced civilization was brought to the lowland Maya region from regions with more favorable climatic conditions. Another hypothesis suggests that the agricultural potential of these areas is greatly underestimated and the Mayan culture, as we know it from the classical period, is completely sui generis. (lat.)), which does not carry any traces of external influence. It must be said that both of these points of view are exaggerations and at least partially erroneous. The fact is that the Maya, both highland and lowland, were never isolated from the rest of Mesoamerica, and, as we will see in this and subsequent chapters, throughout their history, from the most ancient times, the Maya culture was influenced by cultures existing on the territory of modern Mexico.

What exactly do we mean by the word “civilization”? How exactly is civilization different from savagery? Archaeologists usually try to evade such a question and, instead of a clearly formulated answer, offer a whole list of features that, in their opinion, are inherent in civilization. One of the essential criteria is the presence of cities, but, as we will soon see, neither the Mayans of the classical period, nor a number of other ancient civilizations had anything similar to what we are accustomed to defining as a “city.” The late V.J. Child believed that another important criterion for a civilization is whether it has a written language. But the Incas of Peru, who created a developed civilization, were completely illiterate.

A civilization differs from what preceded it in quantitative rather than qualitative terms, although no civilization can arise without the establishment of state institutions, temples, significant public works, and widespread, uniform artistic styles. . With few exceptions, a complex government apparatus has a need for some form of record keeping, and in response to this need writing usually arises, and usually for the same reason more or less accurate methods of keeping time are created.

We should not forget that, despite the existence of common features, each of the civilizations is unique in its own way. The Classic Mayans, who lived in a mountainous region, had an elaborate calendar, writing, pyramidal temples and palaces made of limestone blocks, inside which there were rooms with vaulted ceilings. They also had a tradition of architectural planning, when some buildings located around the market square were distinguished by several rows of stone steles installed in front of them. In addition, they had polychrome ceramics and a sophisticated artistic style, which was evident in both bas-reliefs and wall paintings. All these characteristic features of the classical period are completely absent from the materials found to date relating to the Late Archaic (300 BC - 150 AD) and Pre-Classical (150-300 AD) periods .

The existence of one form or another of a time recording system is typical for all sufficiently developed cultures - it is necessary to record important events in the life of the rulers of the state, track the cycle of agricultural work and ceremonies of the year, and mark the movement of the heavenly bodies. A calendar cycle lasting 52 years existed among all the peoples of Mesoamerica, including the Mayans. This time system, which probably dates back to very ancient times, consists of two permutation cycles.

One of these cycles was 260 days long, and the system was a complex interplay of 13-day periods of time superimposed on a cyclical sequence of twenty days, each with its own name. Sometimes the term “tzolkin” is also used to refer to this counting system. The days of the twenty-day cycle are named: Imish, Ik, Ak "bal, K"an, Chichkan, Kimi, Manik", Lamat, Muluk, Ok, Chuen, Eb, Ben, Ish, Men, Kib, Boar, Esanab, Kavak, Ahau.

Among the Mayans, the countdown of the 260-day cycle began with the day of Imish, which had the number 1, followed by the day Ik as the second number, the third Ak "bal, the fourth day K"an, and so on until the calendar reached the day Ben , which was number 13.

The next day in the calendar was the day of Ish, which began a new thirteen-day cycle and, accordingly, received serial number 1, the next day Men received serial number 2, and so on. With this scheme, the last day of the 260-day cycle was the day of Ahau with serial number 13, and the entire cycle was repeated again, starting with the day of Imish, again numbered 1.

How this timing scheme came about remains a mystery, but how it was used is quite clear. Each of the days of the cycle was associated with certain specific concepts, and the entire course of twenty-day cycles showed with mechanical clarity what exactly should happen in the future, and strictly regulated the life of both the Mayans themselves and all other peoples of Mesoamerica. This system of counting time still exists unchanged among some isolated peoples in southern Mexico and in the Mayan mountain region. The calculations to ensure the correct operation of this system are carried out by special priests.

Related to the 260-day calendar cycle is the 365-day “fuzzy year,” so named because the actual length of the solar year is about a quarter of a day longer. It is this circumstance that forces us to declare every fourth year a leap year and add one more day to it so that there is no mismatch between the calendar and the solar year. The Mayan calendar completely ignored this circumstance. Within this year, there were 18 months of 20 days each, to which at the end of the year a fear-inducing period was added, consisting of five unlucky days.

The Mayan New Year began on the first of the month Pop, followed by the second, third of that month, and so on. However, the last day of the month did not bear the ordinal number 20, but a special sign indicating the “transition of control” to the next month in order, which is associated with Mayan philosophy, which believed that the influence of any particular time interval was felt before that period of time actually occurred , and continues for a certain amount of time after its completion.

From all that has been said, it follows that each of the days had a corresponding date both according to the 260-day calendar cycle and according to the “fuzzy year” calendar system. For example, the first day of K'an of the 260-day cycle could simultaneously be the first day of the month Pop. Such a coincidence of dates, when the 1st K'an was the first day of the month Pop, occurred once in 18,980 days, that is, over a period of time , equaling 52 "fuzzy years".

This period of time is called the "calendar circle" and is the only system of keeping track of years that the peoples of mountain Mexico have, a system which has obvious shortcomings when the recording of events requires reference to periods of time exceeding fifty-two years in duration.

Although the Long Count calendar is usually called the Mayan calendar, in the Classic period and even in earlier times this calendar was very widespread in the lowland areas of Mesoamerica. But this system was brought to the highest degree of accuracy by the Mayans, who lived in the central region. This calendar is a completely different counting system, also based on permutation cycles, but these cycles are so long that, unlike the “calendar circle”, any of the events that occurred throughout historical time could be recorded without any fear that there will be ambiguity in understanding the dates.

Instead of using a “fuzzy year” as the basis for the “long count” calendar, the Mayans and other peoples used Tun, a period of 360 days. The calendar year cycle looked like this:

20 Kinov - 1 Uinal, or 20 days;
18 Uinals - 1 Tun, or 360 days;
20 Tuns - 1 K'atun, or 7200 days;
20 K'atuns - 1 Baktun, or 144,000 days.

The "long count" calendar dates recorded by the Maya on their monuments consist of the mentioned cycles, following the order from longest to shortest, in descending order of magnitude. Each of these cycles has its own numerical coefficient, and all these periods must be added in order to obtain the number of days that have passed since the end of the last large cycle, a period equal in duration to 13 Baktuns, the end date of which fell on the day that in the calendar circle corresponded to the 1st day of Ahau and the 8th day of the month of Kumhu when counting according to the 365-day cycle of the “fuzzy year”. Thus, the date traditionally recorded by the Maya as 9.10.19.5.11, the 10th day of Chuen on the 4th of the month of Kumhu, can be calculated as follows:

9 Baktuns - 1,296,000 days
10 K "atuns - 72,000 days
19 Tunov - 6840 days
5 Uinals - 100 days
11 Kinov - 11 days
Total 1,374,951 days.

This is exactly how many days have passed since the end of the last calendar cycle until the day has arrived that, according to the calendar circle, corresponds to the date: the 1st day of Chuen, the 4th of the month of Kumhu.

Here it is necessary to explain the numerical coefficients of the calendar themselves. The Mayans and some other lowland peoples, particularly the Mixtecs of the Oaxaca Valley, have an extremely simple number system, using only three symbols: a dot for one, a horizontal line for 5, and a stylized shell for zero. Numerals up to four inclusive are indicated by dots; to indicate the number 6, a dash was drawn, above which one dot was placed, and 10 was indicated using two horizontal stripes. The largest coefficient used in the calendar, the number 19, was depicted using four dots located above three horizontal lines. The designation of numbers over 19, for the recording of which the presence of the concept of “zero” was extremely important, will be discussed in detail in Chapter 8.

Almost all researchers agree that the “long count” calendar began to be used much later than the “calendar circle”, but it is impossible to say with certainty how many centuries or millennia. Be that as it may, the earliest date recorded by the Maya using the Long Count system is from the period limited by Baktun with a factor of 7, and was found on a monument located outside the Maya area.

Currently, the oldest is considered to be Stela 2 from Chiapa de Corzo, an ancient ritual center that existed in the arid Grijalva Valley in Central Chiapas since Late Archaic times. On this stela was carved a vertical column of calendar coefficients (7.16.) 3.2.13, followed by the date of the “calendar circle” - the 6th day of Ben. There is no indication of the month of the “fuzzy year” on this stela, which is generally typical for early records of calendar dates. This date corresponds according to modern chronology to December 9, 36 AD. e.

Five years later, the famous Stela “C” was discovered at the Olmec settlement of Tres Zapotes in the Mexican state of Veracruz, carved with the calendar date (7.) 6/16/16/18, 6th day of Esanab. On each of these monuments, none of which has reached us in its original form, the initial coefficient is missing, but its restoration does not pose any particular problem.

The time period designated in the Mayan calendar as K'atun 16 Baktun 7 falls in the Late Archaic period. Since there is no reason to believe that the starting point in these calendar records could not coincide with the date designated as 13.0.0.0.0, 4th day of Ahau on the 8th of the month of Kumhu, which is used to record the end of the last great cycle, then it is safe to say that the Mayan calendar was brought to its final form before the beginning of the 1st century by peoples who were heavily influenced by the Olmecs and perhaps even were not Maya.From them, writing and the calendar spread to the territories lying along the Pacific coast of Guatemala and in the Maya mountain region, and gradually reached the developing states located in the Petén forests.

The most important source of information necessary to find the key to solving the riddle of how the highly developed Mayan civilization arose are the material remains of the Izapan civilization. The high interest in everything connected with this culture is explained by the fact that it, both in time and space, occupies an intermediate position between the Olmec culture of the Middle Archaic period and the Early Classic Mayan culture. Monuments bearing the imprint of the distinctive artistic style of this culture are scattered over a vast territory stretching from Tres Zapotes, which lies on the Atlantic coast of the state of Veracruz, to the lowland regions of Chiapas and Guatemala located on the Pacific coast and beyond, all the way to Guatemala City.

During its heyday, Izapa was a major religious and cultural center, in which more than 80 temple foundations have been preserved to this day - pyramidal-shaped mounds lined with river stones. This settlement is located among the low hills lying east of the city of Tapachula, Chiapas, in an area with a very humid climate, 20 miles from the Pacific coast.

The question of whether this settlement is considered one of the cultural and religious centers of the Maya or attributed to one of the cultures of pre-Hispanic Mexico has not yet been resolved, but the language spoken here in ancient times was not one of the Mayan languages, but the language of Tapachulteco, an extinct language belonging to the Zoquean group, the languages ​​of which were once much more widespread than they are now. Although Izapa was founded as a religious center in times dating back to the Early Archaic period and existed until the Early Classical period, most of its architectural structures and, apparently, all of its monumental sculpture date from the Late Archaic to Pre-Classical periods.

Most characteristic of Izapa's artistic style are the large, ambitiously designed but somewhat ornate scenes that appear in most of the culture's carvings. Many of the images have secular themes, such as a man in a magnificent suit beheading a defeated enemy, but there are also religious themes. Among the latter, the most common is the image of a deity called the “long-lipped god.” It was depicted with an excessively elongated upper lip and fire escaping from its nostrils. This character undoubtedly represents a further development of the image of the Olmec werewolf jaguar - the god of rain and lightning.

Certain repeated icons appear to represent elements of traditional iconography. These include a sign resembling the Latin letter U between two slashes, which was usually placed above the main scene and may have been an early version of the sky strip sign so common in classical Maya art. The "U" itself is most likely a prototype of another hieroglyph for the moon, and it may appear several times on one bas-relief.

The finds belonging to the Izapan culture have many features characteristic of the heyday of the Mayan lowland civilization, such as stele-altar complexes and the “long-lipped god,” the image of which is already beginning to transform into the rain god Chac. These also include the artistic style of carved images on bas-reliefs, which tends to depict historical and mythological scenes, in which special attention was paid to the headdress decorated with feathers and other details of the costume. There is no written language or calendar, but on the slopes of the mountain ranges that run east along the Pacific Ocean into Guatemala, there are monuments with inscriptions and calendar dates dating back to the Baktun 7 period.

One such place in Guatemala is Abah-Takalik, located south of Colombo in the lush, wet foothills that were famous for cocoa beans during the Conquest. Now the main crop grown in this region is coffee. In appearance, Abakh-Takalik resembles Izapa - bulk hills scattered in disorder throughout the settlement. Less than a mile from the central group of mounded foundations is a huge boulder on which is carved an image of a bearded were-jaguar, purely Olmec in style. From this we can conclude that the Olmecs once visited this territory.

Stela 1 from Abah-Takalik is purely Izapanese in style, but there is no date on it. On the other hand, on the somewhat damaged Stela 2 there is a bas-relief depiction of two Izapan characters in magnificent costumes and tall feathered headdresses, facing each other. Between them is a vertical row of hieroglyphic signs, and below, from carved curls resembling a cloud, the face of the god of heaven peeks out. The first, uppermost character in the column of hieroglyphs undoubtedly represents the earliest form of the "introductory hieroglyph" which in later classical Maya texts appears at the beginning of the recording of calendar dates in the "Long Count". Directly below it is the numerical coefficient of Baktun, which undoubtedly means the number 7.

A more advanced hieroglyphic inscription from the Baktun 7 era is found on Stela 1, or the Guererra stele, from El Baul, which is located southeast of Abah Takalik, among coffee plantations, in the area of ​​​​well-explored centers of the Cotzumalhuapa culture dating back to the Early Classic period. Since its discovery in 1932, heated controversy has erupted around this object. It is believed that the origin of this object dates back to a time later than the classical era. On the right side of this stele there is a figure of a man turned in profile in a tense pose with a spear in his hand. Above the figure's head is a cloud-like cluster of scrollwork, the lower part of the face is hidden by a bandage, and the headdress has ribbons that tie under the chin, a detail well known in lowland Mayan art from ancient times. In front of the figure are two columns of carved signs. The right one consists of flat oval-shaped tablets, which obviously had to be painted with paints.

The icons located in the left vertical row deserve more attention. They represent the first calendar date on a monument found within the Mayan region itself. At the top of this column is the symbol for the numerical factor 12, directly below which is an element shaped like a skeleton's jaw - a sign adopted in Mexican cultures to mark the day of Eb. Then there are four indecipherable characters, followed by a series of icons indicating the numerical coefficients of the "long count" system, which, taking into account the reference to the day Eb of the "calendar circle", can be read as 7.19.15.7.12. According to our chronology, this corresponds to the year 36 AD. BC, that is, this calendar record refers to a date that is 256 years earlier than any other date recorded in the calendar records of the Maya plain zone, but is significantly later than the dates recorded by ancient calendar inscriptions in Chiapas and on the coast of Veracruz.

Before concluding our consideration of the regions of the Pacific coast, it is worth mentioning one more stylistic direction of monumental sculpture, which is widespread both in these territories and in Kaminalguya. An expression of this style are large, rather primitive statues depicting people with cauldron-like bellies, puffy faces and a lower jaw so protruding that they have been compared to late portraits of Mussolini. Near the settlement of Monte Alto, located not far from El Baul, there is a whole group of similar monsters arranged in a row. There is also a colossal stone head made in the same style. It is believed that this sculptural complex is associated with the Olmec culture, which preceded the Izapan culture. However, since the entire territory of Monte Alto is strewn with clay shards dating back to the Late Archaic period, such a hypothesis seems controversial. Rather, we can assume that these statues are associated with one of the minor religious cults that existed simultaneously with the cult of the Izapan god of rain, just as at one time in ancient Alexandria the religions and artistic styles of the Greco-Roman and Egyptian civilizations coexisted and flourished.

But to which god exactly was this cult dedicated? This deity could only be the “fat god,” whose cult was widespread among the peoples who inhabited Mexico and the northern Maya region in the classical era, although we know nothing about the functions that he performed.

The Late Archaic period saw the flourishing of the Miraflores culture. At this time, Izapa's rival in the splendor of monumental sculpture, in the size and number of bulk temple foundations was Kaminalguyu, a large cultural and religious center, the remains of which are still preserved on the western outskirts of Guatemala City. Most of the 200 temple foundations discovered were apparently built by people who lived in the last centuries AD. e., during the “Miraflores” stage. It is likely that the Kaminalguyu rulers at that time had enormous economic and political power, which extended over much of the Maya mountain zone. Excavations of two burials belonging to the “Miraflores” stage brought many finds testifying to the luxury with which they were accustomed to surround themselves. The mound number E-III-3, located near Kaminalguyu, consists of several temple platforms, each of which was built on top of the previous one and was a step pyramid with a flat top, along the front of which there was a wide staircase. The final height of the embankment is more than 60 feet. Since the ancient builders did not have easily processed stone at hand, ordinary clay, baskets of earth and household waste served as building materials for the construction of the pyramid.

The temples were structures with thatched roofs supported by vertical wooden supports. Apparently, each time they were buried they were rebuilt. The tomb, the construction of which began at the top of the mound, was a series of successively smaller rectangular depressions, going deeper and deeper into the pyramid, into the layers of previous temple platforms. After all the ceremonies were completed, the burial was walled up under a new clay floor. Pyramids served for burials until the classical era. The body of the deceased was dressed in a magnificent outfit and covered from head to toe with red paint, then placed on a wooden stretcher and lowered into the grave. The bodies of sacrificed adults and children were also placed there, along with rich offerings, the abundance of which was surprising. Over 300 magnificent items were in one of the graves, some of them were placed next to the body of the buried person, others on its wooden ceiling. Ancient grave robbers, who entered through a gap created by the destruction of one of the burials lying deep inside the pyramid, stole jade jewelry from the burial.

Among the funerary clothing discovered in the grave were the remains of a mask or headdress composed of jade plates, which were probably once attached to a wooden base, earrings made of jade, and a bowl carved from crystalline slate, on the surface of which the “miraflores” typical of the stage are engraved. patterns in the form of curls, small carved bottles, the materials for which were fuchsite and soapstone.

Although the ceramic vessels from the Miraflores stage, found both in burial E-SH-3 and in some other places, are made in the traditional manner that was widespread in the Late Archaic period throughout southeastern Mesoamerica from Izapa to El Salvador and beyond, up to the central and northern Maya regions, they differ greatly from other pottery in their delicacy.

The shape of the vessels becomes more complex, their contours acquire curved outlines, the surface is decorated with decorative elements, and vessels with legs appear. Sometimes they were made in the form of funny figurines, some of them depict a smiling old man. In order for pink and green colors to appear on the surface of ceramic products after firing, painted gypsum was used. Most bowls and jugs are decorated with carved scrollwork. When making Usulutan ceramics, an unusual method of decorative decoration of the product was used, which is a distinctive feature of the Late Archaic period. It is believed that such ceramics first appeared in El Salvador, where it gained enormous popularity. These products, which were in great demand among the Mayans, were coated with a layer of a protective substance, such as wax or a thin layer of clay, with a flat brush. After this, the products were darkened over low heat, exposing them to smoke. Then the protective material was removed, and on the surface of the product there remained a pattern of parallel wavy lines of a yellowish color on a dark orange or brown background.

At one time there was an opinion that the people of the Miraflores stage made only so-called “mushroom-shaped stones” from stone sculptures. The purpose of these peculiar objects, one of which was found in burial E-Sh-3, is unclear. Some believe that they are primitive phallic symbols. Others, such as Dr. Borhegui, connect them with the cult of hallucinogenic mushrooms, which is still widespread in the mountainous regions of Mexico. Proponents of this idea insist that the mortars and pestles often found with these stone objects were used for rituals related to the preparation of narcotic substances.

Since the Kaminalguyu hills were subjected to barbaric destruction during the construction of new city quarters, a large amount of material appeared on the surface that allows us to take a fresh look at what happened during this era. It turned out that during the Miraflores culture there were artists here who were able to create large sculptural works from stone in the Izapan art style, which is the predecessor of the style of the classical Mayan era. Moreover, representatives of the elite groups of the Kaminalguyu population knew how to write at a time when the rest of the Mayan peoples were just beginning to realize what writing was.

Two such monuments were found during the construction of a drainage trench. The first of them is a granite stele depicting a walking man wearing several masks of the Izapan “long-lipped god.” In one hand this character carries a rather ornate object made of flint. On either side of it are burning clay incense burners, similar to those that were discovered during the excavation of layers with Miraflores ceramics.

Another stele is even more unusual. Before it was deliberately broken into pieces, it may have been gigantic in size and, judging by the surviving fragments, it was decorated with images of several Izapan gods. One of them, a bearded one, ties up a character who has tridents turned point down instead of eyes. He is probably the forerunner of some of the gods who later appeared at Tikal. The hieroglyphs carved near these figures may be their calendar names, since in ancient Mesoamerica both gods and people were identified with the days of the calendar on which they were born. The longer text, consisting of several columns of hieroglyphs, is written in a script that has not yet been read. According to a number of authoritative researchers, including the famous American Maya specialist Tatyana Proskuryakova, it can be considered the predecessor of classical Mayan writing, since it is very similar to it in form, although it has a number of differences.

The skilled artisans of the Miraflores culture made not only large-sized steles. Among the finds there are also carved figures of frogs and toads of various sizes, called silhouette sculptures, which probably should have been installed in a vertical position inside temples or in squares using tenon fastenings.

Frequently encountered images of a character already familiar to us with a large, bowler-like belly also date back to this period. On this occasion, the question again arises: are these figures not sacred objects of cult, widespread among ordinary people, whose beliefs differed somewhat from the aristocratic religion of their rulers? But perhaps those researchers who consider these objects to belong to other cultural layers are right.

The amazing richness of the material culture of the Miraflores stage, the perfection of its architectural and artistic creations, the obvious connection with classical Mayan art, manifested in the artistic style, visual subjects and writing system - all this allows us to conclude that the Izapan culture of the mountain region greatly influenced the formation of a highly developed civilization in the central and northern Maya regions.

But, despite all the successes that the Kaminalguyu civilization achieved during the Late Archaic period, by the 2nd century. n. e. its star began to set, and after a century or two nothing remained of it but ruins. It was only in the Early Classic period, when there was a major invasion of tribes from Mexico, that this area regained its former splendor.

While the Mayan mountain region and the Pacific coast experienced an unprecedented flowering of Late Archaic culture, the central and northern regions also experienced rapid growth. Temples of major religious and cultural centers rose above the cleared areas in the jungle. But the culture of the Maya, who lived in the lowland region, from the very beginning developed in a different direction than the related peoples of the southern territories, and soon began to take on those unique features that distinguished it in the classical period.

At this time, in the northern and central Maya regions, the leading role belonged to the Chicanel culture, which, despite the differences in its elements in different regions, was surprisingly homogeneous. As in the southern region, characteristic features of this period are Usulutan ceramics and wide-necked vessels decorated with carefully sculpted rims. Monochrome products predominate - red or black, with a waxy surface to the touch; there are practically no vessels on the legs. It seems rather strange that no figurines were found in the most famous cultural and religious centers of the Chicanel culture. This indicates that some changes have occurred in religious cults.

However, the most important distinguishing feature of the Chicanel stage is the high level of architectural development, especially at the end of the late Formative stage (100 BC - 150 AD). It should be recalled that, from a geological point of view, the united territory of Petén-Yucatán has enormous reserves of easily worked limestone, and here flint is found in abundance, from which tools can be made. Moreover, the Mayans of the lowland zone, back during the Mamon stage, discovered that if they burn pieces of limestone and mix the resulting powder with water, they get a white lime mortar that holds the stones together very firmly. And finally, they quickly realized that in construction they could use a filler made from limestone chips and clay - a kind of ancient concrete.

Therefore, even in ancient times, Mayan architects could build their temples, creating real architectural masterpieces. Excavations in the largest Mayan cultural and religious centers in this territory - Vashaktun and Tikal - showed that already at the end of the Chicanel stage, their main pyramids, temple platforms and ritual sites began to take their final form. It is generally accepted, for example, that the temple platform E-VII-sub at Washaktun was built at the end of the Chikanel stage. Perfectly preserved under later strata, this platform - a pyramid with a truncated top - is covered with a layer of white plaster on top and consists of several tiers, each of which has a bulk threshold - a very characteristic feature of the architecture of the Maya plains. In the center of each side of the pyramid there is a staircase recessed into its surface, decorated on the sides with masks of huge monsters, in which some researchers see a transformed image of the Olmec god of rain, although, probably, some of them are images of the heavenly serpent. Recesses made in the floor for poles indicate that on the upper platform of the pyramid there was a building built from poles or reeds.

Just a few hours' walk south of Washactun lies another major center of Mayan culture: Tikal. Its temples are in no way inferior in their architectural perfection, and perhaps even superior to the temples of Vashaktun. At the top of the structures dating back to the late period of the Chikanel stage, there were religious buildings, of which only walls made of stone have survived, and it is quite possible to assume that their rooms were covered with a stepped, or, as it is also called, “false” vault . The outer walls of one of these temples are decorated with a rather unusual painting depicting human figures standing against a background of cloud-like swirls. It was undoubtedly made by the hand of an experienced artist, who used black, yellow, red and pink paints for this work. Another fragment of wall painting, this time painted in black on a red background, was found at Tikal inside a burial, also dating to the late Chicanel period. It depicts six characters in lavish costumes, likely including both humans and gods. These works, which presumably date back to the second half of the 1st century. BC e., made in a undoubtedly Izapan style, very similar to the one that was common in Kaminalguya.

Some of the burials of Tikal, dating back to the Late Archaic period, prove that the ruling elite of the Chicanel stage was in no way inferior in position in society and wealth to the representatives of the upper strata of society of the Miraflores stage. An example is burial 85, located, like all other burials of this period, at the base of the temple platform. Only one skeleton was found in the burial chamber, covered with a primitive stepped vault. It is surprising that this skeleton is missing a skull and femurs, but given the richness and variety of objects found in this burial, it can be assumed that this man died during the battle and his body, mutilated by his enemies, was later discovered by his subjects. The remains were carefully wrapped in cloth and were in an upright position. A small mask of green stone, with eyes and teeth made of mother-of-pearl, attached to the top of this bundle, was apparently supposed to replace the missing head. In addition to its grisly contents, the package also included the spine and dorsal shield of a sea urchin, a creature considered a symbol of self-sacrifice among the Mayans. Near the burial chamber, in special hiding places, no less than 26 vessels dating back to the end of the Chicanel stage were found, in one of them charred pieces of pine wood were found, which, according to radiocarbon dating, date back to the period from the 16th to 131 AD e.

Remnants of the former splendor of the material culture of the late Archaic period are found in the Maya plain zone wherever the archaeologist's shovel plunges into the deep layers of the soil. Even in the northern zone, which is much less rich in archaeological finds, there are monuments of monumental architecture of this period, such as the huge mound of Uaksun - a temple platform, the base of which is a rectangle measuring 60 by 130 meters.

By the beginning of the protoclassical period, which lasted from the middle of the 2nd century. to the end of the 3rd century. n. e., the Mayan civilization came close to the beginning of its most brilliant era - the classical one. By this time, many characteristic features of the culture of this civilization had already been fully formed - the location of temples near the squares and the use of limestone and white knock in their construction, embankment thresholds and stairs stretching along the front side of the pyramids, the construction of burial chambers, frescoes with naturalistic scenes.

During the short Protoclassical period, new forms of ceramics appeared - vessels with hollow hemispherical legs, stands for pots, shaped like an hourglass. In all likelihood, such products first appeared on the territory of British Honduras (modern Belize). During this period, polychrome ceramics became widespread. Its distinctive feature is the use of a large number of colors, which were applied over a layer of translucent orange enamel. It is impossible to say exactly where such pottery first appeared, although most researchers believe that it occurred outside of Petén. By the middle of the 3rd century. n. e. The stepped vault has already become popular in architecture, the principle of which was used in the construction of tombs. It's pretty simple. From the edge of the wall to the top of the vault, stones were laid out row after row, so that each row protruded a little further than the previous one. At the top of this structure was a large flat stone. Despite its simplicity, this design has its weaknesses: in order to compensate for the weight of the huge ceiling, Mayan architects were forced to build massive walls and reinforce them with building filler - the prototype of modern concrete. However, once invented, this method developed over time into a very characteristic feature of lowland Mayan architecture, which sharply distinguished it from Mexican architecture, which favored flat roofs using wood or reed stalks.

These impressive achievements suggest that it was here, in the lowland zone, that the Mayan civilization arose several centuries before the start of the Classic period. But missing from them are two very important details of later civilization - the calendar dates of the Long Count and writing. As we already know, they were found among materials related to the Izapan civilization that existed at the same time in the highlands and on the Pacific coast, although, most likely, both the calendar and writing were borrowed by the Izapan culture from the even more ancient Olmec civilization that once existed on the shores of the Bay of Campeche. The Izapan style had by this time become quite widespread in the central and northern regions, as evidenced, for example, by fragments of carvings found in the acropolis of Tikal in archaeological layers dating back to the Protoclassical period, early frescoes of Tikal and images of human figures on the walls of Loltun Cave, but until the beginning of the classical period, neither the calendar nor writing received significant distribution in these territories.

Who they were, what they wanted and where they went. Apparently, the Mayans were very interesting people: they built giant pyramids, knew mathematics, astronomy and writing. But modern people do not know much about them. For example:

1. The Mayans considered human sacrifice a great honor.

2. The Mayans preferred to invent their own technologies

3. The Mayans were probably seafarers

4. The Mayans did not have spaceships, but they did have working observatories.

5. Were the Mayans familiar with aliens?

6. “Apocalypse” by Mel Gibson is a fiction from beginning to end and has nothing to do with the real Mayans

7. The Mayans could have come from Atlantis

8. The Mayans were the first to know that time has neither beginning nor end.

9. The Mayans invented sports

10. The Mayans still exist

In the Mayan narrative "Popol Vuh" (the name translates as "Book of the Council" or "Book of the People"), which has a very ancient history, but was written down only in the period of the Conquest in Latin letters, it is said that the forefather gods Tepeu and Gukumatz first They raised the earth from the watery abyss and populated it with animals and plants.

Then, thirsting for veneration and admiration, they sculpted from the earth (clay) creatures similar to people, but they turned out to be short-lived and after some time they turned to dirt again. The gods created the next race, from wood, but it was so bad that they quickly destroyed it themselves. After thinking, they decided to create people from meat, but this race could not meet the expectations of the gods, the people of this race were mired in evil, and they destroyed it, sending a terrible rain to the earth. And only the following people, created from corn dough, became the ancestors of modern civilization, or rather, the ancestors of the Mayans.

It is interesting that many epics of different peoples tell about several civilizations that existed on earth before ours. The ancient Greeks, for example, believed that humanity began with the Golden Age and the human race was created by Cronus happy. People knew neither worries, nor sadness, nor the need to work by the sweat of their brow. People had neither illnesses nor old age. And even death itself did not contain anything terrible, but was just like a deep sleep. Gardens and fields provided them with food in abundance, and huge herds grazed in the meadows. Even the gods came to people for advice. But the Golden Age, like all good things, ended, and all the people of the first generation died, turning into spirits, patrons of people of new generations. This reward was given to them by Zeus: shrouded in fog, they fly throughout the earth, defending the truth and punishing evil.

The second human race, who lived in the Silver Age, was no longer so happy: these people could not compare with the previous generation either in strength or intelligence. For a hundred years they grew up foolish in the houses of their mothers and only when they matured did they leave them, managing to live very little into adulthood. Since they were unreasonable most of their lives, they saw a lot of grief and misfortune. They did not listen to the gods and refused to make sacrifices to them, and Zeus destroyed their family, settling them in the underworld, where there is neither joy nor sorrow.

After this, Zeus created the third generation and the third age - Copper. The people of this age were created from the shaft of a spear and were terrible and powerful. In addition to their enormous height, they had indestructible strength and a fearless heart. Most of all they loved war and battles. They did not sow anything, did not eat the fruits that the gardens bore in abundance, but only fought. Both their weapons and their houses were forged from copper, and they also worked with copper tools. (How can one not recall official science and its Copper Age.) Greek storytellers also note that iron was learned only by subsequent generations. Soon the people of the Copper Age destroyed each other, and Zeus created the fourth age and a new human race. These people were noble, fair and practically equal to the gods. But they all died in various wars and battles: some at the seven gates of Thebes, some at Troy, where they came for Helen, etc. After death, Zeus settled these people at the ends of the earth, on islands in the ocean, far from the living, so that they could enjoy a happy and carefree life. The land there bears fruit three times a year, and its fruit is as sweet as honey.

After this, the Thunderer created the last, fifth century and the human race - the Iron, which lives to this day.

Similar legends about several early civilizations on our planet existed in Ancient Babylon. And even the Bible, which seems to deny this theory, accidentally lets it slip. From the apocrypha we know that Adam had a first wife: Lilith. For example, the Torah states that first God created “man and woman,” and only then speaks of the creation of Chava (Eve in Russian). Lilith did not want to obey her husband, considering herself to be the same perfect creation of God as he was. And, uttering the secret name of God, she rose into the air and flew away from Adam. Adam complained to God, and he sent after her three angels, known as Snui, Sansanui and Sanglaf. Angels caught Lilith at the Red Sea, but she refused to return to her husband, and then her body was taken away from her, leaving only her spirit.

His second wife, Eve, gave birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. But Cain was jealous of Abel and killed him, after which he was expelled. “And Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch.” Where other people came from there is not entirely clear. Perhaps the Bible describes a civilization parallel to ours that lived on earth. And a little later, in the same book of Genesis, giant people are mentioned: “At that time there were giants on the earth, especially from the time when the sons of God began to come in to the daughters of men and they began to give birth to them: these are strong, glorious people from ancient times.” And this can hardly be considered a mistake of the scribe or translator, since much later, both in text and in time, already in the book of Numbers, the scouts, returning from Palestine, report to Moses: “... there we saw giants, the sons of Anak, from of a gigantic kind; and we were like locusts in our sight before them, and so were we in their sight.”

This happens after the Flood, which means that the civilization of the giants managed to survive during it. No wonder they mocked Noah building the ark and said that they would be saved thanks to their height!

The Flood is also mentioned by the ancient Greeks. The people of the Copper Age not only disobeyed the Olympian gods, but also became famous for their wickedness. Once Zeus decided to visit the king of the city of Lycosura in Arcadia in human form. Entering the palace, Zeus gave a sign, and everyone realized who it was and fell on their faces. But King Lycaon did not want to honor Zeus and began to mock those who greeted him. And he even decided to test whether Zeus was a god. He killed the hostage, boiled part of his body, fried part of it and offered it to the Thunderer. He, terribly angry, destroyed Lycaon's palace with a lightning strike, and turned him into a wolf. But even after this, people did not become more pious, and Zeus decided to destroy the entire human race. He decided to arrange a Great Flood and for this he sent a heavy downpour to the earth, and forbade all winds to blow, and only the humid southern wind Noth drove dark rain clouds across the sky. At first, the rivers simply overflowed their banks, but soon they covered the houses, then the fortress walls, and only the double-headed peak of Parnassus remained above the water. Of the entire human race, only two were saved: Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha. Deucalion, on the advice of his father, built a huge box, put food supplies in it, and for nine days and nights the box was carried across the waters until it washed up on Parnassus. The rain stopped, Deucalion and Pyrrha came out of the box and made a thanksgiving sacrifice to Zeus. The water began to recede, and the land was exposed, completely devastated. The water washed away not only all the buildings, but also the gardens and fields. Zeus sent Hermes to Deucalion and promised to fulfill his every desire. He also asked that the land be populated again by people. Zeus ordered Deucalion and Pyrrha to pick up stones and throw them over their heads without turning around. Those of the stones that Deucalion threw turned into men, and those that were thrown

Pyrrha - into women. A new race of people emerged from stone.

“Popol Vuh” translated by R.V. Kinzhalov describes the causes of the Flood as follows: “They no longer remembered the Heart of Heaven, and therefore they died. It was no more than a test, more than an attempt (to create) a person. True, they spoke, but their faces had no expression; their legs and arms had no strength; they had neither blood nor ichor, they had neither sweat nor fat. Their cheeks were dry, their feet and hands were dry, and their flesh was rotten. Therefore, they no longer thought about their Creator, nor about their Creator, about those who created them and cared for them. These were the first people who existed in large numbers on the surface of the earth.

Immediately the wooden figures were destroyed, destroyed, broken and killed.

The Flood was created by the Heart of Heaven, a Great Flood was created, which fell on the heads of the wooden creatures."

“...the face of the earth darkened, and black rain began to fall; rain during the day and rain at night.

Then small animals and large animals came together, and trees and rocks began to hit (the wooden people) in the faces. And everything began to speak: their clay jugs, their frying pans, their plates, their pots, their dogs, their stones on which they ground corn grains - everything, as many as there were, rose up and began to hit them in the faces.

“You did a lot of bad things to us, you ate us, and now we will kill you,” said their dogs and poultry.

And the grain grinders said:

– You tormented us every day; every day, at night and at dawn, all the time our faces rubbed (against each other and said) hall-holy, hooky-hooky because of you. This is the tribute we paid you. But now you people will finally feel our power. We will grind you and tear your flesh into pieces,” their grain grinders told them.

And then their dogs spoke and said:

- Why didn’t you want to give us anything to eat? You barely noticed us, but you chased us and threw us out. You always had a stick ready to hit us as you sat and ate. This is how you treated us because we couldn't speak. Wouldn't we die if everything went your way? Why didn't you look ahead, why didn't you think about yourself? Now we will destroy you, now you will feel how many teeth are in our mouth, we will devour you,” the dogs said, and then they tore their faces.

And at the same time their frying pans and pots also said to them:

– You caused us suffering and pain. Our mouths are blackened with soot, our faces are blackened with soot; you constantly put us on fire and burned us, as if we had not experienced any torment. Now you will feel it, we will burn you,” said the pots, and they hit them in the faces.

The stones of the hearth, clustered in one heap, rushed out of the fire straight into their heads, causing them to suffer.

The desperate (wooden people) ran as fast as they could; they wanted to climb onto the roofs of the houses, but the houses fell and threw them to the ground; they wanted to climb to the tops of the trees, but the trees shook them away from them; they wanted to hide in the caves, but the caves covered their faces.

Thus took place the second destruction of created people, created people, beings who were destined to be destroyed and destroyed; and the lips and faces of all of them were mutilated. It is said that their descendants are those monkeys who now live in the forests; this is all that remains of them, because their flesh was created by the Creator and Creator only from wood.

This is why the monkey looks like a human being; (she) is an example of that generation of people who were created and created, but were only wooden figures.”

It’s worth thinking about where, in civilizations initially separated by vast spaces and time, as, in any case, science claims, absolutely identical legends appeared. In total, there are about five hundred legends about the Great Flood among different peoples in the world. For example, in the Sumerian legend of Gilgamesh, the story of the immortal king Utnapishtim, who survived the Great Flood, is given: “With the first rays of dawn, a black cloud came from behind the horizon, thunder came from within. Everything was filled with despair when the god of storms turned the daylight into darkness, when he smashed the earth like a cup. For six days and nights the wind blew, rain and flood ruled the world. On the seventh day the flood stopped. I looked at the face of the world - silence everywhere. Humanity has turned to clay."

The legends of many peoples speak of a visible change in the sky during the Flood. The Chinese, for example, say that “the planets have changed their path. The sky has moved to the north. The sun, moon and stars began to move in a new way. The earth fell apart, water gushed from its depths and flooded the earth.” One of the scientific versions of the Flood, by the way, is the passage of another planet of the solar system too close to our Earth, which, having a very large orbit, appears only once every few thousand years. The inhabitants of Oceania, the Pehuenche tribe from Tierra del Fuego and the Cato Indians from California claim that the Sun and Moon “fell from the sky”; the Incas talked about the war of Heaven and Earth. One can also recall the ancient Greeks with the myth of Phaeton: “fiery horses: now backing away, now rushing to the side, they left their usual path. The sun suddenly tumbled and flew headlong down.” The Slavs talked about the long winter that fell to the earth after the Flood. This is quite similar to a “nuclear winter”, which could be the consequence of an asteroid impact that caused changes in the Earth’s magnetic field and forced the seas to leave their limits. The Scandinavian sagas say that one of Fenrir's wolf cubs chased the sun and managed to catch up with it. “The bright rays of the sun went out, and after this a terrible winter came to the world. People killed each other. The world stood on the brink of destruction, but then the wolf Fenrir broke the shackles, and the world trembled. The axis of the world - the ash tree Yggdrasil - turned its roots upside down. Mountains began to collapse, people abandoned by the gods died. The stars began to float from the sky, getting lost in the void. The giant Surt set the earth on fire, flames burst out between the rocks, destroying all living things. All that remained was bare earth, covered with cracks. And then all the rivers overflowed their banks, swelling and boiling, hiding the sinking earth beneath them. Only those who hid in the trunk of the World Tree managed to escape. And the world began anew."

Most likely, as some modern researchers claim, there was once a highly developed civilization on earth, which perished for one reason or another. Its remnants were able to pass on their knowledge and legends to some of the wild tribes that inhabited the earth at that time.

It is known, for example, that in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Babylon electric lamps powered by batteries were used. How could such a convenient and useful invention be forgotten for more than two thousand years? There is only one logical explanation for this: electricity was a kind of external gift, and those who used it did not understand its essence, and when batteries and lamps became unusable, modern people were no longer able to create them anew. By the way, this theory fits very well with the absence of wheeled vehicles among the Indians, but the presence of wheels in their children's toys. The wheel was also brought from outside, and the Indians simply were not able, due to established traditions, to appreciate the convenience of its use.

A number of sites dating back to ancient times have been discovered on the American continent, in the United States, Canada and Alaska. This early culture was called "Clovis", and it existed approximately 10-12 thousand years ago. These people hunted mammoths with darts

kovs, for throwing which there were special devices. An obsidian tip of a similar spear or dart was found near San Rafael. So we can assume that at the end of the Ice Age, primitive hunters of the Clovis culture roamed the high mountain zone of the future Mayan habitats.

Around the end of the 8th millennium BC. e. The glacier began to retreat, and over the next five and a half thousand years, in all areas of our planet, the climate became even warmer than today. In America, a combination of hot and dry weather turned areas previously covered with grass into deserts, and the large herbivores that used to be found here in primeval abundance practically disappeared. This was a big blow to the civilization of hunters, and they were forced to retrain as berry and root pickers, only occasionally supplementing with game, but smaller and rarer than before.

The tribes that inhabited what is now Mexico during the Archaic Period were part of a "desert" culture that at that time spread from southern Oregon through the Great Basin highlands to southeastern Mexico. (Individual of its representatives, by the way, managed to exist in the United States until the 19th century.)

It was at this time that maize (corn), beans, pumpkin, chili peppers and other plants were cultivated, forming the Mayan food culture. Excavations in the caves of the Tehuacan Valley and on the Pueblo plateaus in Mexico showed that the herbaceous plant, the predecessor of modern maize, was eaten by humans even before the beginning of the 5th millennium BC, however, corn cobs were then very small, 10 times smaller than modern ones , no more than 3–4 cm in length. It can be assumed that the Mayans also began to grow cultivated plants in the prehistoric period. This most likely happened in what is now Guatemala, where there are more varieties of maize in a very small area than, for example, in the entire United States.

The ancestors of the Maya appeared in the mountainous areas of Chiapas and Guatemala, most likely no later than the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. This occurred before the earliest pottery-using cultures known today were formed. Traces of these proto-Mayans are believed to have been found in a cave in the Mexican state of Chiapas, although geographically this cave is located to the west of the borders of the Maya region. Due to the high humidity, very little evidence has been preserved from the ancient inhabitants of this shelter, but the stones found for cracking nuts and grinding grain indicate that grain and other plant products were already part of their diet. Also found in the cave were primitive weapons and tools: stone tips for throwing weapons, stone axes and scrapers, very similar to similar objects from the caves of Tehuacan and Tamaulpas.

Another site dating from this period, but located within the Maya territory, at El Chayal, is a real obsidian workshop. Many roughly processed stone objects resembling knives with an uneven surface were found here. Perhaps these are blanks for spear and dart tips, as well as for knives.

But still, information about the life and everyday life of the Mayans in the prehistoric era remains very vague. We can only assume something, although we have no doubt that it was during this period that the foundations of the culture of a new civilization were laid.

During the Archaic era, which lasted from the middle of the second millennium BC until about the middle of the second century AD, many large settlements appeared in Mayan territory. Excavations revealed that they consisted of huts covered with reeds, very similar in their architecture to those in which the ancestors of the Mayan Indians, engaged in peasant labor, live to this day.

It can be assumed that already at that time the Mayans had truly efficient agriculture. Some researchers believe that the impetus for this could have been an increase in the yield of maize as a result of its hybridization with a very viable variety of teosinte, a cereal crop. It is clear that this did not happen everywhere, and first of all, the Mayans settled where there was not only an abundance of plants, but also soils favorable for their cultivation, as well as an abundance of game.

One such place is on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, near the border with the Mexican state of Chiapas. The oldest settlements here belong to the Okos culture, the beginning of which dates back to approximately the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The next culture, “quadros,” arose somewhere at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia BC. e. and existed for about a century and a half. These cultures, although they have a number of differences, are nevertheless very similar. The settlements were tiny villages inhabited by from three to twenty families. They were located right on the shores of lagoons, river mouths and sea branches overgrown with mangrove trees. The mangroves provided abundant food: mangrove oysters and other edible shellfish, crabs and turtles.

By the way, it is interesting that some modern researchers suggest that man did not descend from a monkey, but from a creature that came out of the mangrove forests. This theory explains quite a lot of inconsistencies regarding the origins of people that exist in academic science, which believes that man came out of the savannah.

The proboscis monkey lives in the coastal mangrove swamps of Borneo. She lives in the trees, but when she comes down, it is usually not land that is underneath her, but water, shallow water. And this monkey is simply forced to learn to walk on two legs. And, by the way, she is the only one of the monkeys who can swim.

One of the physiological characteristics of a person is a drooping larynx. We are unable to drink water and breathe at the same time, since our throat does not have a partition between the passages to the lungs and stomach. In the savannah this is not necessary, and none of the land mammals have a drooping larynx. But it is present in abundance in mammals that live in the seas or oceans - whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions... This device gives them a very significant advantage: having the ability to breathe through the mouth, these animals are able to inhale or exhale a significant volume of air in a short time time when surfacing. These animals, by the way, can control their breathing, just like humans. Land animals do not control their breathing, just like, for example, their heartbeat. This type of breathing gave people a unique opportunity to speak.

Another characteristic feature of humans that greatly distinguishes them from monkeys is the way they sweat. When we sweat, not only do we waste essential water and beneficial salts, but this process of thermoregulation is too slow to start, leading to the risk of sunstroke, and very slow to respond when fluid and salt levels in the body are critically low. In just three hours, our body can use up all the water and salts, which will lead to very serious consequences, even death. It is not clear what to do with such an imperfect sweating system in the African savannah, from where man is said to have emerged. Remember the numerous stories and plots of American films about the death of people in the desert? The police advise: do not leave a broken down car under any circumstances, otherwise your life will count down to the clock. Savannah, we assure you, is not much better than the desert.

Another interesting feature of a person is the distribution of his body fat. Over thirty percent of a person's fat is located directly under the skin. Scientists admit that this is a very good thermal insulation. But only if you are in the water. But on land this does not provide any advantage, since on land wool is many times more effective. But all aquatic mammals have a similar fatty layer: whales, seals, dolphins...

The human style of face-to-face copulation is also not found on land, but it is common among aquatic inhabitants.

Do a little test. Close your eyes and try to relax and imagine a place where you would like to be to enjoy peace and quiet. If you honestly close your eyes and try to imagine a place where you can completely relax, forget about everything, feel safe, then most likely you will find yourself on an imaginary beach. Why? Is it because we feel the call of our ancestral home?

Perhaps the Indians also, having seen the lush mangroves, decided to settle in this particular place, without realizing that this was the call of genes. But, however, they obtained their food not only in the mangroves. They fished in lagoons and nearby rivers, and on land they caught iguanas, using both their meat and eggs as food. At higher elevations, Indians cleared areas of rainforest and planted maize.

In the territory of the former settlements of the Okos and Quadros cultures, bones of animals whose hunting requires tracking and joint efforts (for example, deer and peccaries) are practically not found. This means that these people were not inclined to travel far from their homes. This also confirms that crafts characteristic of a sedentary lifestyle, especially ceramics, flourished here. Many massive clay female figurines have been found in the remains of Ocos settlements in La Victoria. It is difficult to say about their purpose, but most likely it is something like an image of the Mother Goddess of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages of Europe.

The existence of a primitive religious cult is also proven by the fact that the remains of a temple were found in one of these settlements. The conclusion about the purpose of the building was made on the basis that the embankment platform protecting it from flooding reached a height of almost eight meters, while the dwellings were located at a much lower height. Ordinary dwellings of that time looked like rectangles standing on a small embankment platform. That era did not know any other architectural forms: the temples of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica, including the Mayan pyramids, were simply enlarged copies of a farmer’s dwelling - a rectangular building standing on a flat embankment platform.

At first, people were buried right in their huts, but over time the situation changed: representatives of the “ruling elite” began to be buried inside temple platforms. Most likely, such a practice existed even before the appearance of the “Okos” culture.

Gradually, during the middle period of the Archaic era, which lasted until the beginning of the 3rd century AD, the mountainous and lowland areas were very densely populated by a population using ceramic products. But still, these people are not yet very different from primitive farmers, even despite the presence of skilled artisans. Neither writing, nor architecture, nor art exists yet. This period differs from the previous one only in the rapidly growing population, which indicates very effective methods of management.

It was at this time that in the territories of the modern Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco the rise of the Olmec civilization took place, which we have already talked about and which, by the end of the middle period of the Archaic era, reached its zenith and then disappeared as unexpectedly as the Mayan civilization several centuries later. Scientists still cannot agree whether the Olmec culture should be considered the ancestor of all other cultures of Mesoamerica, but, most likely, the influence of the Olmec culture was very, very significant.

On the western outskirts of Guatemala City, the capital of the country of the same name, is Kaminalguyu, an ancient cultural center where hundreds of temple platforms stood in the days of Alfred Percival Mawdesley, the 19th-century English Mayan explorer. But, alas, the growth of the capital left no stone unturned from the ancient culture. Only a few ancient structures were saved. Their research showed that, most likely, this cultural center “operated” at the end of the middle period of the Archaic era, approximately in the 5th–4th centuries BC.

During the middle period of the Archaic era, small peasants from the shores of the Bay of Campeche adopted the cultural achievements of their more developed neighbors, like the northern barbarians of ancient Europe adopted the achievements of the civilizations of the Middle East.

Farmers who spoke Mayan languages ​​already lived everywhere at that time. But no signs of a culture that would soon become great can be found during this period.

The Mayan culture arose completely suddenly, and there is still debate among scientists about how this could have happened.

Some believe that the Mayans, who were simply primitive farmers, came under the influence of travelers who came from the shores of China. But in support of this version, not a single more or less worthwhile evidence was put forward from the “American,” so to speak, side, which would not crumble upon the first careful examination. On the Chinese side, the factual material is in order: most likely, the Chinese admiral Zheng He reached the shores of the New World about 70 years before Columbus appeared there (by the way, the main ship of Zheng’s flotilla was seven times larger than the Santa Maria on which Columbus traveled ). The conclusion about the priority of the Chinese can be drawn from ancient Chinese maps, both geographical and starry. In the first decades of the 15th century, Ancient China already had a complete map of the world, although for inexplicable reasons, from the middle of the 15th century, the Chinese stopped long-distance sea expeditions and ceased to be a leading maritime power.

Some researchers suspect that the world maps of the Chinese were stolen, secretly reproduced, and some of them, as evidence of secret knowledge, were kept in Portuguese monasteries, where they were found by Columbus, Magellan and Cook.

But if the version of the early discovery of the New World by the Chinese, with some reservations, can be considered almost proven, no influence on Mayan culture could be detected.

Other researchers argue, based on the supposedly low agricultural potential of Petén and Yucatan, that elements of an advanced civilization were brought to the Maya plains from regions with more favorable climatic conditions.

The next version is directly opposite to the previous one and is based on the high agricultural potential of the Mayans, arguing that representatives of other cultures who came to them for a “well-fed life” each brought a little of their own.

Another version says that the Mayans owe the sudden jump in their cultural level to people from the sunken Atlantis...

Plato left the most detailed description of Atlantis in two of his dialogues: “Timaeus” (briefly) and “Critius” (where a more detailed description is given). Our compatriot, the great writer Valery Bryusov, said: “If we assume that Plato’s description is a fiction, we will have to recognize Plato as a superhuman genius who was able to predict the development of science for thousands of years to come... Needless to say, with all our respect for the genius of the great Greek philosopher, such insight seems impossible to us, and we believe A simpler and more plausible explanation is that Plato had at his disposal (Egyptian) materials dating back to ancient times.”

Plato's friend Critias in the Timaeus recounts the story of the war between Athens and Atlantis, allegedly from the words of his grandfather Critias the Elder, who, in turn, retold him the story of Solon, heard from the priests in Egypt. The general meaning of the story is this: once upon a time, 9 thousand years ago, Athens was the most glorious, powerful and virtuous state. Their main rival was the aforementioned Atlantis, and all its forces were thrown into the enslavement of Athens. The Athenians stood up to defend their freedom and managed to repel the invasion, crushed the Atlanteans and freed the peoples they had enslaved. A huge natural disaster soon followed, as a result of which the entire army of the Athenians died in one day, and Atlantis sank to the bottom of the sea.

The dialogue “Critias”, with the same participants, serves as a direct continuation of “Timaeus” and is entirely devoted to the story of Critias about ancient Athens and Atlantis. According to the descriptions in this work, the center of Atlantis was a hill located 50 stadia (8–9 kilometers) from the sea. For protection, Poseidon surrounded it with three water and two land rings, and the Atlanteans threw bridges over these rings and dug canals, so that ships could sail along them to the city itself, or, more precisely, to the central island, which had 5 stages (somewhat less than a kilometer) in diameter. On the island there were temples, lined with silver and gold and surrounded by golden statues, a luxurious royal palace, and there were also shipyards filled with ships, etc., etc. “The island on which the palace stood (...) as well as earthen rings and a bridge The kings surrounded it with circular stone walls, a pletra (30 m) wide, and placed towers and gates everywhere on the bridges at the passages to the sea. They mined white, black and red stone in the depths of the middle island and in the depths of the outer and inner earthen rings, and in the quarries, where there were recesses on both sides, covered with the same stone, they arranged anchorages for ships. If they made some of their buildings simple, then in others, for fun, they skillfully combined stones of different colors, giving them a natural charm; They also covered the entire circumference of the walls around the outer earthen ring with copper, applying the metal in molten form, the wall of the inner shaft was covered with tin casting, and the wall of the acropolis itself with orichalcum, which gave off a fiery shine.”

Bulls were sacrificed to Poseidon in his temple. The temple was surrounded by a sacred grove in which wild bulls grazed freely, and, according to established tradition, every five or six years the king and his relatives, appanage rulers, gathered here to renew their treaty with Poseidon. And this is how it happened. First they had to catch the bull, and the use of iron weapons was prohibited, and they used wooden sticks and rope loops. Then the bull was led to a metal column that stood inside the temple and on which the most ancient legends and laws of the country were imprinted. Here a bull was sacrificed, its blood flowing down the inscriptions, and the rulers swore that they would remain faithful to their law, and in order to seal their agreement, everyone drank from the cup in which this blood was mixed with wine. At the end of the ceremony, the rulers held a council and made decisions.

As long as the divine nature remained in the Atlanteans, they disdained wealth, putting virtue above it; but when the divine nature degenerated, mixing with the human, they became mired in luxury, greed and pride. Zeus, outraged by this, decided to destroy the Atlanteans and convened a meeting of the gods... At this point the dialogue - at least the text that has reached us - ends.

Other ancient Greeks also talk about Atlantis: Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus and Pliny the Elder. In the 5th century, the Neoplatonist Proclus, in his comments to the Timaeus, talks about Plato's follower Crantor, who around 260 BC. e. specially visited Egypt in order to learn about Atlantis and allegedly saw columns with inscriptions telling her story in the temple of the goddess Neith in Sais. Moreover, he writes: “That an island of this character and size once existed is evident from the accounts of certain writers who have explored the environs of the Outer Sea. For, according to them, in that sea in their time there were seven islands sacred to Persephone, and also three other islands of enormous size, one of which was sacred to Pluto, another to Ammon, and then

Poseidon, whose dimensions were a thousand stadia (180 km); and their inhabitants - he adds - preserved the traditions coming from their ancestors about the immeasurably larger island of Atlantis, which actually existed there and which for many generations ruled all the islands and was likewise dedicated to Poseidon. Now Marcellus has described this in his Aethiopica.” Marcellus is not mentioned in other sources, and, apparently, his “Ethiopica” is simply a novel.

Actually, there are three problems with this whole story. Firstly, it is reported by Plato, who has a lot of different philosophical myths in his dialogues. He, unlike Aristotle and even more so historians, never set as his goal the communication of any real facts to the reader; he was only interested in ideas illustrated by philosophical myths.

Secondly, it turns out that around 9565 BC. e. there was a culture that used metal tools, ships, and processed stones in construction and agriculture. This is characteristic of the Bronze Age, dating back to approximately 3200 BC. e.

Thirdly, if a huge island was destroyed by the Atlantic Ocean within a day and a half, a global catastrophe should have occurred. But there is no mention of it anywhere else.

If we talk about the highest material culture of the Atlanteans, then, in fact, there is nothing unusual in such a level of culture on the island. Only a little later, a complex trading culture existed at Çatalhöyük in Anatolia. Stone city walls and towers were in Jericho possibly as early as 7000 BC. e. And metal processing began perhaps only 2 thousand years later. So there is nothing particularly fantastic about the existence of such a culture in the ninth millennium BC. Many researchers believe that Atlantis, as described by Plato, is a late Bronze Age civilization.

And here is how Edgar Cayce, the famous psychic, a phenomenon of the twentieth century, who predicted many events down to the day, described the end of Atlantis: “And then Atlantis (he also calls this continent Poseidia) was abandoned, and Iltar and his comrades from the house of Atlantis, admirers of the One, only about 10 people went west and ended up in what is now Yucatan, and there, together with the local residents, they gradually created a culture much like the one that had previously existed in the land of the Atlanteans...”

Cayce foresaw that the Atlanteans were familiar with electricity, used aircraft and spacecraft, and also had the ability to telepathy and telekinesis. In his visions of Atlantis, he described a huge crystal cut from transparent quartz, in the edges of which there was an unstoppable force: “Was it worth it for mere mortals to know the application of spiritual laws to material principles, for this contained enormous destructive power. When the Atlanteans made special facets to activate the forces of solar radiation to create energy for ships and generate electricity, these forces, directed towards the elements of the Earth, caused the first catastrophe.” In his visions, Cayce saw sources of energy unknown to us: “The Atlanteans used crystals for worldly and spiritual purposes.

They were powerful energy storage devices from solar radiation and starlight. Their energy helped the Atlanteans build palaces and temples and develop psychic abilities. But this was not the case with the main crystal – Tuaoi – “Fire Stone”. It accumulated the energy of the Earth, and its rays burned through the most powerful walls.” This crystal, according to the prophet, can be recreated: “The record of how to create a crystal is in three places on Earth at the present time: in the sunken Atlantis, or Poseidonia, where part of the temple will still be revealed under the sediment near the place now known as Bimini, off the coast of Florida. Secondly, in the Temple of Chronicles in Egypt, where the subject was engaged with others in sealing the records brought from their country of origin. Thirdly, the records were delivered to present-day Yucatan, where several years ago archaeologists discovered stones of an ancient building..."

The presence of Atlantean survivors in Yucatan would easily explain where information about the Great Flood and the civilizations that inhabited our planet before the human race came from in Mayan legends.

There are also several other mysteries that cannot yet be explained from a materialistic point of view. One of them is the mysterious crystal skulls, found not only during excavations of Mayan cities, but also in Africa. But we will talk about them a little later, for now we will continue to study the origins of the Mayan culture.

But, however, even here we will have to face mysteries at every step, the first of which is the Mayan calendar.

The appearance of calendars is typical for any civilization: sooner or later there is a need to record important events in the life of the state or the destinies of rulers, to track the cycle of agricultural work, ritual holidays and annual ceremonies.

Today it has been established that the Mayans, at different periods, had two calendars. One, the earlier one, consisted of 240 days, the other of 290 days. Researchers believe that both of them are associated with catastrophes, which, although they did not change the radius of rotation of our planet in orbit, but accelerated its daily rotation. The reason for this acceleration, as scientists suggest, could be the redistribution of water from the continents to the poles that occurred during the Ice Age. And it, according to some researchers, was precisely the consequence of a global, possibly nuclear, catastrophe that destroyed one of the ancient civilizations of our planet.

There is an interesting physiological experiment, carried out several times and by scientists from different countries, in order to find out at what speed the human internal biological clock runs. A person is placed in a closed space where nothing can tell him for any period of time. At first, the experimental subjects live on a 24-hour cycle, then their sleep and wakefulness begin to shift and fall into complete chaos, and then many people's sleep and alertness stabilize in a 36-hour day. The most extensive research on this topic was carried out at the Bern Public Institute. The joint 10-year work of a group of anthropologists, psychologists and geneticists revealed that only half of humanity remains in a 24-hour rhythm. 42% start living on a 36-hour schedule, and about 8% start living on a 22-hour schedule. Researchers consider the results of this experiment to be evidence that once upon a time there really were 36 hours in a day, and humans were programmed to do just that. It is interesting that residents of the centers of ancient civilizations are more inclined to long days: Southeast Asia, India, Southern Europe. But representatives of Central and Southern Africa, Polynesia, and South America are programmed to “accelerate”. Unfortunately, scientists cannot yet explain this last fact.

But let's return to calendars. The Mayan calendar used three parallel dating systems: the Long Count, Tzolk'in (divine calendar), and Ha'ab (civil calendar). And only Haab was associated with the length of the year.

A typical Mayan calendar date, according to calendar researcher Klaus Tondering, looks like this: 12.18.16.2.6, 3 Kimi 4 Social.

12.18.16.2.6 is the “long count” date.

3. Kimi is the date of Tzolkin.

4. Sots is the date of Haab.

We have already mentioned earlier what a “long count” is - a mixed 20-, 18-, and 13-digit representation of a number showing the number of days since the beginning of the Mayan era. That is, approximately the same way we count time from our era, or the Nativity of Christ.

The basic unit is the kin (day), and this is the last component of the “long count.” Moving from right to left, the main components of a Long Count date are:

uinal (1 uinal = 20 kin = 20 days)

tun (1 tun = 18 uinals = 360 days = approximately 1 year)

katun (1 katun = 20 tuns = 7200 days = approximately 20 years)

baktun (1 baktun = 20 katuns = 144,000 days = approximately 394 years)

The “long count” in terms looks like this: baktun, katun, tun, uinal, kin.

The concepts kin, tun and katun could take values ​​from 0 to 19.

Uinal took values ​​from 0 to 17.

Baktun could only take values ​​from 1 to 13.

The Mayans also had names for much larger periods of time, although they were not directly part of the Long Count. Researchers give the following names to denote significant time periods:

1 pictun= 20 baktuns = 2,880,000 days = approximately 7885 years

1 kalabtun= 20 pictuns = 57,600,000 days = approximately 158,000 years

1 quinchiltun= 20 kalabtuns = 1,152,000,000 days = approximately 3 million years

1 alautun= 20 kinchiltuns = 23,040,000,000 days = approximately 63 million years

Probably, Alautun is the longest named period of time in all existing and existing calendars.

It would be logical to think that the first date of the "long count" should be written as 0.0.0.0.0, but since the baktun (the first component) goes from 1 to 13, and not from 0 to 12, the first date is actually written as 13.0 .0.0.0.

There are different opinions about what date in our calendar 13.0.0.0.0 corresponds to. There are three possible versions here:

If one of the first two calculations is correct, then the "long count" will again be equal to 13.0.0.0.0 (that is, "reset to zero") December 21 or 23, 2012. One of these days the Mayan calendar will end.

The Tzolkien date is a combination of two "week" lengths.

While our calendar has a single week of seven days, the Mayan calendar uses two week lengths:

A week of 13 days, in which days are numbered from 1 to 13;

A week of 20 days, in which each day has a name:

There are 20 days in a named week, and the last sign of the “long count” changes from 0 to 20, that is, they change synchronously. For example, if today the last sign of the “long count” is 0, then today is Ahau; if the sign is 6, then today is Kimi and so on.

Since the named and numbered weeks were both “weeks,” both the numbers and names changed every day. Thus, the day after 3 Kimi is not 4 Kimi, but 4 Manik, and the next day is 5 Lamat. When Kimi comes again in 20 days, it will be 10 Kimi, not 3 Kimi. The next day 3 of Kimi will occur in 260 (13 x 20) days.

Each day of this 260-day calendar had ideas of good or bad luck associated with it, and is therefore known as the “divine year.”

But “years” were not counted in the Tzolkien calendar.

Haab was the Mayan civil calendar. It consisted of 18 "months" of 20 days, followed by 5 additional days known as Vayeb. Thus, the length of the year was 365 days.

Here are the names of the Mayan “months”:

The names of the months in Haab changed every 20 days, and not every day, as in Tzolkien; so the day after 4 Sec will be 5 Sec, followed by 6 Sec... until 19 Sec, followed by 0 Sec.

The numbers of days in a month ranged from 0 to 19. The use of the 0th day of the month in the civil calendar is a unique feature of the Mayan system. The Mayans are believed to have discovered the number 0 and its uses centuries before it was discovered in Europe and Asia.

Vayeb (extra) days had a very bad reputation and were considered unlucky. These were known as "days without names" or "days without a soul" and were days of prayer and mourning. On such days, fires had to be extinguished, and people were advised to abstain from hot food. To be born on such a day was worse than on Monday: the Mayans firmly believed that this person was doomed to an unhappy life.

Years were not counted in the Haab calendar.

The length of the Tzolkin year was 260 days, and the Haab year was 365 days. The smallest number that can be divided by 260 and 365 without leaving a remainder is 18,980, or 365 x 52; it was known as calendar circle. If today, for example, is day 4 Ahau 8 Kumhu, then the next such day will occur in 18,980 days, which is approximately equal to 52 years.

Among the Aztecs, who also used this calendar, the end of the calendar circle was a time of general panic, as it was believed that the end of the world could come on this day. When the Pleiades crossed the horizon on 4 Ahau 8 Kumhu, they believed that the world was given another 52 years of existence.

Although the Haab year only had 365 days, the Mayans knew that the year was slightly longer than 365 days, and in fact many of the month names are related to the seasons. For example, Yashkin means “new or strong Sun,” and at the beginning of the “long count” 1 Yashkin was the day after the winter solstice, when the Sun began to shine longer and rise higher in the sky. When the "long count" was introduced, it began with the date 7.13.0.0.0, and 0 Yashkin corresponded to a midwinter day, as with the date 13.0.0.0.0 in 3114 BC. e. Existing evidence shows that the Mayans estimated that a 365-day year passed through all seasons twice in 7.13.0.0.0, or 1,101,600 days.

The Mayan civil, or solar, year was 365.2421 days long, which corresponds more closely to the Earth's orbit around the Sun than the Gregorian (modern) calendar's 365.2424 days.

How the Maya managed to achieve such amazing mathematical accuracy still remains a mystery. It is also unclear how such a complex “three-stage” timekeeping scheme arose. By the way, it still exists: this calendar is used unchanged by some isolated peoples in the south of Mexico and in the Mayan mountain region. The calculations that ensure the correct operation of this entire system are carried out by special priests among these peoples.

Although the Long Count calendar is usually called the Mayan calendar, in the Classic period and even in earlier times this calendar was very widespread throughout the lowland areas of Mesoamerica. But, interestingly, only among the Mayans was it distinguished by the highest accuracy, while among the rest it was often in a hurry or lagged behind. Whether this means that the Mayans were able to bring the calendar to perfection or that it was they, as its inventors, who knew how to handle it better than anyone else - it’s difficult to say for sure.

Speaking of the calendar, it is necessary to clarify that the Mayans had an extremely simple number system, using only three symbols: a dot representing one, a horizontal line representing the number 5, and a stylized image of a shell representing zero. Numerals up to four inclusive are indicated by dots; to indicate the number 6, a dash was drawn, above which one dot was placed, and 10 was indicated using two horizontal stripes. The largest coefficient used in the calendar, the number 19, was depicted using four dots located above three horizontal lines. There was a separate, more complex system for designating numbers over 19.

Almost all researchers agree that the “long count” calendar began to be used much later than the “calendar circle,” but it is impossible to say with certainty how many centuries or millennia later. Currently, the oldest date is considered to be the date carved in the traditions of the “long count” on the stele of the ancient ritual center of Chiapa de Corzo, which corresponds, according to modern chronology, to December 9, 36 AD. e.

Many researchers believe that the Mayans were able to achieve such high accuracy of the calendar by observing the stars.

Archaeologists, liberating Mayan cities from the jungle, noticed that the location of temples and other buildings was strictly oriented to the cardinal points. The “ridges” of roofs and portals, quite important parts of Mayan temples, were created in such a way that their position indicated the rising, culmination and sunset of certain stars. The Mayan civilization was especially interested in the Pleiades constellation, as well as the trajectories of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter. In addition, Mayan astronomers very carefully observed the movements of the Sun and Moon and therefore could predict eclipses with high clarity.

The German librarian Ernst Ferstemann, who in 1867 began working in the Dresden Library, where the most significant collection of documents relating to the Maya was kept - the so-called Dresden Codex, after 13 years of routine work, suddenly became interested in ancient culture and began to carefully study the codex. Moreover, he took the trouble to create very accurate facsimile copies and made about 60 duplicates of the codex. Time has confirmed the wisdom of this decision: the original was severely damaged by water when storing relics in an unsuitable wine cellar (during the Second World War).

In 1882, the American Cyrus Thomas, studying a photograph of one of the pages, came to the conclusion that the Mayan numbers should be read from left to right and from top to bottom. Ferstemann, thanks to this discovery, soon discovered that the Dresden Codex contained eclipse tables for 11,958 days, which corresponds almost exactly to the 46 years of the Tzolkien calendar (11,960 days). This fully corresponds to 405 lunar months (also 11,960 days). The code also contained important additions that corrected the basic data, which ensured unprecedented accuracy: with an error of up to one day over 4,500 years!

In addition, Ferstemann found that the Dresden Codex devoted about five pages only to calculations concerning the planet Venus. The Mayans were not so much interested in everyday information about Venus, but mainly in the duration of the average cycle of its rotation! A year on Venus ranges from 581 to 587 days, and the priests, for unknown purposes, calculated this figure through complex calculations. And, moreover, in the Dresden Codex there is a number 1,366,560 (days), which, according to the compilers of the tables, relates to the starting point of the era discussed in the code - the “birth of Venus”. This mysterious number - 1,366,560 - also relates to all the important Mayan time cycles:

1,366,560 = 260 x 5256 (the number of Tzolkins);

or 365 x 3744 (number of “odd years”);

or 584 x 2340 (the number of normal cycles of Venus);

or 780 x 1752 (the number of normal rotation cycles of Mars);

or 18,980 x 72 (the number of “Aztec centuries”).

Firsteman's work on the analysis of the Mayan chronology was read by the navigator Maurice Cottrell. In his youth, he served in the merchant navy and then, during long voyages, paying attention to the patterns in the behavior of his comrades, depending on the influence of the planets, he became seriously interested in astrology.

The fact is that this Mayan number was very close to a completely different number - 1,366,040 days, which Cottrell received by studying the cycles of sunspot activity of the Sun. How could these two numbers, differing only in two periods of 260 days, be related to each other? Cottrell began to study this problem and came to sensational conclusions.

While serving in the navy, he noticed that people born under the influence of the element of “fire,” which is traditionally considered more aggressive than others, show their aggression cyclically. He tried to trace this cycle, starting from the course of the planets, but at first he could not find anything. Returning home from the voyage, he went to the library, trying to understand the problem that interested him.

There he discovered a book by astrologer Jeff Mayo and the famous psychologist Professor H. Eysenck. The book talked about a scientific examination of 1795, and then another 2324 people who demonstrated a connection between the astrological sign under which they were born and the extroverted or introverted nature of their psyche. (An extrovert is a person whose mental makeup is aimed at the world around him and activities in it, an introvert is a person whose mental makeup is characterized by a focus on his inner world, he is turned towards himself.) The result of the study was the surprising discovery that the “positive” signs of the zodiac (Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius) predispose predominantly to extroversion, and “negative” ones (the other six) to introversion. The chance of chance in these studies was very small: only 10,000 to 1.

From the research results it follows that people born under the influence of the elements of “air” and “fire” are extroverts, and those born under the auspices of the elements of “water” and “earth” are introverts. Since the twelve signs of the zodiac are in the order of “fire”, “earth”, “air”, “water”, it is quite simple to calculate the “extroverted” and “introverted” months of the year.

But since the birth of astrology, a lot has changed, in particular, due to changes in the angle of rotation of the Earth, the celestial “equator” moves very slowly, the picture of the starry sky changes, and today the signs of the zodiac no longer correspond to the location of the constellations bearing the same names.

But, realizing that the characteristics of people according to their zodiac signs continue to work, Cottrell began to look for explanations not in the background of which constellation the Sun stands, but in the Sun itself. As a radio operator, he knew that radio waves are greatly influenced by the state of the upper atmosphere, which is influenced by solar storms. It is at the moment when sunspots appear on the Sun that radio signals are distorted and weakened. Sunspots are just areas of lower temperature than the rest of the solar surface, which is hotter and therefore brighter. They were discovered in 1610 by Galileo, and he also established that sunspots do not have constant outlines, and their number and location on the surface of the Sun are constantly changing. But, however, there was still a certain cyclicity in their appearance, and it was calculated in 1843 by the astronomer R. Wulf. He found that there is a certain cycle in the appearance and disappearance of spots, approximately equal to 11.1 years. At the beginning of the cycle, spots appear near the solar poles, then gradually descend towards the equator and at the end of the cycle they are again more concentrated at the poles. Although sometimes the appearance of sunspots simply stops. They, for example, were not recorded in the period from 1645 to 1715.

It is known that the Sun rotates around its axis, but, unlike the Earth, which has a solid crust, the rotation of the Sun, consisting of plasma, occurs unevenly. The solar “day” at the poles is 37 Earth days, and at the equator - only 26. It is because of this uneven rotation that the magnetic lines of the Sun form loops, which, in turn, periodically generate “explosions” on the solar surface, which is why they appear spots.

The sun not only provides light and heat, but also generates many radiations: electromagnetic radiation, radio rays, infrared rays, ultraviolet rays, x-rays. The Sun also sends so-called “solar winds” into outer space - streams of charged particles and ions that become most active during the appearance of sunspots. So the earth's magnetic field is under constant pressure from streams of electrically charged particles emanating from the Sun, and charged particles entering it are concentrated around the magnetic poles. Flying at high speed into rarefied layers of the atmosphere, they cause the effect of the polar (northern) lights.

Sometimes the influence of solar radiation on the Earth's magnetic field is almost imperceptible, and sometimes it is very strong. For example, on March 5, 1989, at 13.54 GMT, a powerful flash of X-rays occurred on the surface of the Sun, lasting 137 minutes, proton emission began already on March 8, and when this stream reached the Earth, the monitors of the Lerwick Laboratory on the Shetland Islands recorded an extensive magnetic deviation of 8 degrees over several hours (while the normal deviation is considered to be 0.2 degrees per hour). The northern lights were visible these days even in Italy and Jamaica. In many places, satellite, telephone and telegraph communications and the operation of power lines were disrupted.

Cottrell, based on his observations and conclusions, wrote the book “Astrogenetics”, in which he substantiated the influence of solar magnetic storms on the development of the embryo and their impact on its future character. Two years later, in 1988, Cottrell refined his theory and published a new book, “Astrogenetics. New theory". He also changed jobs and moved to the Cranfield Institute of Technology, where he gained access to a powerful computer. Taking electronic intelligence as an ally, he, trying to trace the pattern, formulated the problem by taking three variables: the solar polar field (37 days), the solar equatorial field (26 days) and the speed of the Earth’s revolution around the Sun (365.25 days). Trying to simplify the problem, he used images of solar activity for 87.4545 days (the fact is that every 87.4545 days the solar polar and equatorial fields complete their cycle, returning to “zero”). And soon the scientist received sensational results: the computer showed a clearly visible rhythmic cycle of 11.49 years. But other cycles over longer periods of time have also been observed.

For simplicity, he called each time period of 87.4545 days 1 particle. A period of 8 such particles is a microcycle, and six microcycles, that is, 48 ​​particles, constitute a cycle, or 11.49299 years. And this was already similar to the average cycle of solar activity. Cottrell also noticed that the graph curve reflects a full cycle of 781 particles, after which it repeats again. This is a period of 68,302 days, or 187 years. Cottrell called it the Sunspot Cycle.

Cottrell also calculated five periods that were related to changes in the polarity of the magnetic field:

1) 19 x 187 years = 1,297,738 days;

2) 20 x 187 years = 1,366,040 days;

3) 19 x 187 years = 1,297,738 days;

4) 19 x 187 years = 1,297,738 days;

5) 20 x 187 years = 1,366,040 days.

And when he saw the Mayan “supernumber” of 1,366,560 from the Dresden Codex, he realized that these numbers were too similar for it to be a mere coincidence. And, moreover, its periods seemed to correspond to the basic Mayan ideas about ancient eras. It turned out that each era coincided with the cycle of solar activity, and it was the Sun that “killed” life on Earth.

The number 1,366,040 obtained by Cottrell and the sacred Mayan number 1,366,560 were divided without a remainder by 260 - in the first case it was 5254, in the second - 5256. Meanwhile, Cottrell had long ago come to the conclusion that the periods of the closest interaction of the “poles” are separated from each other friend in time periods of 260 days.

It turned out that the Mayan number system was closely related to the magnetic cycles of the Sun.

But let's put the magic numbers aside for a moment and continue talking about the emergence of the Mayan culture in order to better understand the foundations of this civilization.

Today, in a vast area stretching from Tres Zapotes, which lies on the Atlantic coast of the state of Veracruz, to the lowland regions of Chiapas and Guatemala on the Pacific coast and further, right up to the city of Guatemala, remains of the so-called Izapan civilization are found in abundance. It occupies an intermediate position between the Olmec culture of the Middle Archaic period and the Early Classic Mayan culture. During its heyday, Izapa was a major religious and cultural center, and on the territory where this city once was, more than 80 temple foundations - pyramidal-shaped mounds lined with river stones - are still preserved.

There is scientific debate about this culture, as well as about the Olmec culture: whether they should be considered proto-Maya, or whether it is still a “parallel life”. It is known that representatives of this culture spoke the extinct Tapachulteco language, which is not related to the Maya.

Most of the architectural structures and all the monumental sculpture of the Izapans belong to the periods from the Late Archaic to the Pre-Classical. The subjects of the sculpture are secular in nature. Here, for example, you can see an image of a man in a magnificent suit beheading a defeated enemy, but there are also scenes with religious themes. A very common image is the so-called “long-lipped god”: a creature with an excessively elongated upper lip and fire escaping from its nostrils. Most likely, this is a development of the image of the Olmec werewolf jaguar - the god of rain and lightning. And very similar to the rain god Chac from the Mayan culture.

Above the main scenes of the bas-reliefs, an icon similar to the Latin “U” between two slashes is often placed. Many researchers believe that this is a sign of the sky strip, widespread in classical Mayan art. This culture is also related to the Mayan culture by stello-altar complexes. But, however, neither writing nor a calendar were discovered in this culture.

Izapa's rival in the splendor of monumental sculpture and the number of temple foundations was Kaminalguyu, the cultural and religious center of the Miraflores culture, located in what is today the western outskirts of Guatemala City. The Kaminalguyu rulers most likely wielded enormous economic and political power that extended over much of the Mayan mountainous territory. Excavations of their burials speak of the flashy luxury among which the leaders of this people lived. In one of the graves, for example, more than 300 items were found: jewelry, statues, household items, etc. In Kaminalguyu lived artists who were able to create large sculptural works in the Izapan style from stone; their aristocracy knew how to write and read back in the days when the rest of the Mayan peoples were just beginning to realize what writing was. The writing of this culture could not be deciphered, but the famous American specialist in Mayan history Tatyana Proskuryakova believes that it can be considered the predecessor of the classical Mayan writing.

But one should not think that when a developed culture existed in the Mayan mountain region and on the Pacific coast, the central and northern regions vegetated. But the culture of the Mayans, who lived in the lowland region, initially developed in a different direction than that of the peoples of the southern territories, and it was here that those unique features that glorified the classical period of this culture first appeared.

In the northern and central Maya regions, the Chicanel culture flourished, which, despite many differences in different regions, was still surprisingly homogeneous. Excavations in the largest cultural and religious centers of this civilization - Vashaktun and Tikal - showed that already at the end of the Chicanel stage, the main pyramids, temple platforms and ritual sites had already begun to take the form that characterizes the architecture of the classical Mayan period.

In a very short period by historical standards, approximately six centuries, from the 4th to the 10th century AD. BC, the Mayan peoples, especially those who lived in the central region, reached unprecedented intellectual and artistic heights. Moreover, at this time, such “leaps” of development were not observed in any of the civilizations of both the Old and New Worlds.

In 1864, a worker building a canal near the city of Puerto Barrios, located near the Caribbean coast of Guatemala, found a unique jade plate, which some time later ended up in the Dutch city of Leiden. On one side of the plate was carved the figure of a ruler in a rich suit, trampling under his feet a prisoner lying on the ground, and on the other - a calendar date corresponding to 320 AD. e. (Until recently, this plate was considered the earliest evidence of a calendar, but a date corresponding to 292 BC was discovered on a stele recently found in Tikal.)

Little is known about the development of Mayan culture in the northern region. On the lands of Yucatan and Campeche, as far as we can judge, there was a city of Oshkintok; among other archaeological finds in this area, a carved stone lintel made in the 5th century AD was discovered. e. There are several other finds from approximately the same period, but they are much weaker artistically.