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The history of Maya civilization is divided into three principal periods: the Preclassic, Classic and Postclassic periods;〔Estrada-Belli 2011, pp. 1, 3.〕 these were preceded by the Archaic Period, which saw the first settled villages and early developments in agriculture.〔Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 98. Estrada-Belli 2011, p. 38.〕 Modern scholars regard these periods as arbitrary divisions of chronology of the Maya civilization, rather than indicative of cultural evolution or decadence.〔Estrada-Belli 2011, p. 1.〕 Definitions of the start and end dates of period spans can vary by as much as a century, depending on the author.〔Demarest 2004, p. 17.〕 The Preclassic lasted from approximately 2000 BC to approximately 250 AD; this was followed by the Classic, from 250 AD to roughly 950 AD, then by the Postclassic, from 950 AD to the middle of the 16th century.〔Estrada-Belli 2011, p. 3.〕 Each period is further subdivided: ==Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC – 250 AD)== (詳細はCuello, Belize have been carbon dated to around 2600 BC.〔Hammond et al 1976, pp. 579–581.〕 Settlements were established around 1800 BC in the Soconusco region of the Pacific coast, and they were already cultivating the staple crops of the Maya diet, including maize, beans, squash, and chili pepper.〔 This period, known as the Early Preclassic,〔Drew 1999, p.6.〕 was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines.〔Coe 1999, p. 47.〕 During the Middle Preclassic Period, small villages began to grow to form cities.〔Olmedo Vera 1997, p.26.〕 By 500 BC these cities possessed large temple structures decorated with stucco masks representing gods.〔Martin and Grube 2000, p.8.〕 Nakbe in the Petén Department of Guatemala is the earliest well-documented city in the Maya lowlands,〔Sharer and Traxler 2006, p.214.〕 where large structures have been dated to around 750 BC.〔 Nakbe already featured the monumental masonry architecture, sculpted monuments and causeways that characterised later cities in the Maya lowlands.〔 The northern lowlands of Yucatán were widely settled by the Middle Preclassic.〔Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 276.〕 By approximately 400 BC, near the end of the Middle Preclassic period, early Maya rulers were raising stelae that celebrated their achievements and validated their right to rule.〔Sharer and Traxler 2006, pp. 182, 197.〕 Murals excavated in 2005 have pushed back the origin of Maya writing by several centuries, with a developed script already being used at San Bartolo in Petén by the 3rd century BC, and it is now evident that the Maya participated in the wider development of Mesoamerican writing in the Preclassic.〔Saturno, Stuart and Beltrán 2006, pp. 1281–1283.〕 In the Late Preclassic Period, the enormous city of El Mirador grew to cover approximately .〔Olmedo Vera 1997, p.28.〕 It possessed paved avenues, massive triadic pyramid complexes dated to around 150 BC, and stelae and altars that were erected in its plazas.〔 El Mirador is considered to be one of the first capital cities of the Maya civilization.〔 The swamps of the Mirador Basin appear to have been the primary attraction for the first inhabitants of the area as evidenced by the unusual cluster of large cities around them.〔Hansen et al 2006, p.740.〕 The city of Tikal, later to be one of the most important of the Classic Period Maya cities, was already a significant city by around 350 BC, although it did not match El Mirador.〔Martin and Grube 2000, pp. 25–26.〕 The Late Preclassic cultural florescence collapsed in the 1st century AD and many of the great Maya cities of the epoch were abandoned; the cause of this collapse is as yet unknown.〔 In the highlands, Kaminaljuyu emerged as a principal centre in the Late Preclassic, linking the Pacific coastal trade routes with the Motagua River route, as well as demonstrating increased contact with other sites along the Pacific coast.〔Love 2007, pp. 293, 297. Popenoe de Hatch and Schieber de Lavarreda 2001, p. 991.〕 Kaminaljuyu was situated at a crossroads and controlled the trade routes westwards to the Gulf coast, north into the highlands, and along the Pacific coastal plain to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and El Salvador. This gave it control over the distribution networks for important goods such as jade, obsidian and cinnabar.〔Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 232.〕 Within this extended trade route, Takalik Abaj and Kaminaljuyu appear to have been the two principal foci.〔Popenoe de Hatch and Schieber de Lavarreda 2001, p. 991.〕 The early Maya style of sculpture spread throughout this network.〔Orrego Corzo and Schieber de Lavarreda 2001, p. 788.〕 Takalik Abaj and Chocolá were two of the most important cities on the Pacific coastal plain during the Late Preclassic,〔Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 236.〕 and Komchen grew to become an important site in northern Yucatán during the Preclassic.〔Sharer and Traxler 2006, p. 275.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Maya civilization」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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