Event 3: Mayan Exhibit at San Diego Museum of Man

Mayan Exhibit

For my third event, I went with my classmate and close friend Dominique Cetale to the Museum of Man in San Diego, CA at Balboa Park. One of the main exhibits in the museum was the Mayan exhibit. While it is a small portion of the museum, there are many large Mayan monuments up for display. 

My receipt for my ticket

Dominique and I in front of the exhibit

A Mayan "Stela" side E

Description of the prior photo

The Mayans have always been known for their innovations. The ancient group of people excelled far beyond the average capabilities of civilizations at that time. The Mayans started out as a civilization that was very successful agriculturally. They are also very well known for their architecture, especially pyramids, throughout Central America. Mayan life was deeply rooted in their polytheistic religion, and they also had a 365 day calendar that was inscribed on the Stelae and on the sides of pyramids. Unlike other civilizations at the same time, they were advanced in mathematics and astronomy. For an unknown and heavily debated reason the Mayans disappeared suddenly around 900 A.D. However, they left their stone inscriptions and throughout the years scientists have discovered their meanings.

The Mayans revolved their life around the calendar and around their cities. The cities all had pyramids that were designed in order to work well with the environment as well as to be aesthetically pleasing. Hundreds (to thousands, potentially) of these pyramids are scattered within the rainforest, and they were also sites for religious events. 

Breakdown of the calendar meaning of the pyramids

Mayan Pyramids

As you can see below, the circular calendar is very aesthetically pleasing, but it also has a lot of function as a tool of keeping track of time:

The Mayans were one of the first societies to use technology well in order to help them succeed far beyond others of their time. Their technology has created a stereotypical view of the Mayans for us, and it is what we are left with in order to understand them as a culture.

This is a detailed description of how to read a Mayan Calendar

This is a video from National Geographic about a recent Mayan art find in Guatemala: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/maya-art-calendar-vin

The art found in this cave served two purposes: arts/aesthetic as well as a astronomical/calendar piece for the people to use. 

Another Mayan Stela

I would suggest coming to the Mayan exhibit at the Museum of Man. While it was very small, it was very interesting and educational.

Bibliography:

Calendar Predictions, Mayan. "Mayan Calendar Predictions." Mayan Calendar Predictions RSS. Mayan Calendar Predictions, 8 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Aug. 2014. <http://www.mayancalendarpredictions.net/tag/mayan-solar-calendar/>.

"Maya." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/maya>.

"Maya Civilization." Civilization.ca. Canadian Museum of History, n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2014. <http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/maya/mmc02eng.shtml>.

"Maya: Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth." Museum of Man. San Diego Museum of Man, n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2014. <http://www.museumofman.org/exhibit/maya-heart-sky-heart-earth>.

"Mayan Pyramid." Math2033 RSS. University of Arkansas, n.d. Web. 02 Aug. 2014. <http://math2033.uark.edu/wiki/index.php/Mayan_Pyramid>.

"Mysterious Maya Calendar & Mural Uncovered." Mysterious Maya Calendar & Mural Uncovered. National Geographic, 10 May 2012. Web. 02 Aug. 2014. <http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/maya-art-calendar-vin>.