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The Maya: Building a Great Civilization One Human Sacrifice at a Time

The continents of America were inhabited by humans between 16,500 years and 23,000 years ago. These Paleo-Americans originated from Central Asia, in small hunter-gatherer groups which followed herds of megafauna across what was then the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and Alaska.

At that time, the Asian and North American continents were joined due to a drop in global sea levels caused by glaciation. From Beringia, these hunter-gatherer groups gradually migrated south into North America and South America.

By around 10,000 years ago, there were a number of Paleo-American settlements in Mexico. One of the most ancient human skeletons found in the Americas was discovered in the Quintana Roo region of Mexico in 2016. It was located in a submerged cavern and belonged to a woman who had died 9,900 years before. The poor woman clearly hadn’t had a long or pleasant life. Analysis of her skeleton showed she was around 30 years of age. It also showed signs of syphilis. Given the way her skull had been stoved in, it doesn’t take CSI: Ancient Mexico to ascertain that she had been murdered. Possibly as a sacrifice.

If true, she probably wasn’t the first person sacrificed in Mesoamerica. And she certainly wouldn’t be the last.

The Olmec

The Olmec were the earliest major Mesoamerican civilization. They appeared around 1600 BC, and their heyday was between 1200 BC and 400 BC. They are often considered to be the mother culture that provided the template for future civilizations such as the Mayans and, much later, the Aztec. There are several reasons for this belief.

It was the Olmec who began the craze for pyramid building that so obsessed subsequent Pre-Columbian cultures. TheOlmec also used hieroglyphs which were possibly writing or anembryonic form of writing. This text has not been deciphered, but if true, then they join an exclusive group of cultures who created verified written text. This was almost certainly an influence on the Mayans.

It is highly likely that the Olmec created the Mesoamerican ballgame (more on that soon), which was hugely influential for over 1,000 years. They inhabited a region known for the production of latex, and rubber balls of the type used for the ballgame were found at an Olmec site. Other implements potentially associated with the ballgame have been found at other sites. Given the significance of the ballgame in Mesoamerican life, this is a major influence. However, there were other Olmec ideas that didn’t seem to catch on.