Maya: Lords of the Jungle (1995) and The Blood of Kings (1995)

When teaching about genocide, where do we begin? How far back do we have to go to understand an atrocity? Is there such a thing as a modern atrocity, or it a 20th century genocide evidence of a never-ending history?

This documentary is one of several that I viewed to prepare for my trip to Guatemala with Tulane University's  Summer Institute on the Maya, Guatemala 20102. The theme of the institute is "Signs of Change: A Glimpse of Past and Present Cultural Landscapes of Guatemala," and because of my interest in the genocide of 1982 where approximately 200,000 Maya were massacred at the hands of the Guatemala military government, I thought this institute would support my efforts in understanding how best to teach about atrocities to children. My work is founded on the power of stories, but specifically what rendering a history in a novel can do, but in order to understand what a novel is doing, I need to see what the documentary is trying to do, what nonfiction texts are trying to do, what an institute can do, for that matter.   The institute is a guide through an exploration of Guatemala and its geography, people, and culture. I hope to engage in the complex issues of identity, globalization, language, and cultural inheritance while on this trip. As you will see in my work with Tree Girl, a novel by Ben Mikaelsen about the Guatemala genocide all the above issues are at work in the plot.

In this post, and possibly others, I will simply input notes from the documentaries I see thinking about what is "necessary" in creating a context for a story, for "literature of atrocities."

Maya: Lords of the Jungle (1995, PBS)

This documentary explores the ruins of the Maya empire looking for clues as to why the empire disappeared and the ruins were "swallowed by the jungle centuries ago." The Maya were successful  in creating an empire that spanned five countries, thriving for thousands of years, yet while the empire disappeared, the people did not.

• Tikal, Guatemala -- English archaeologist traveled from the ruins and used a camera to record the results of the excavations (across 5 countries, too)
• Palenque Palaces
• forgotten Maya rulers brought to life and secret rituals revealed
• Merida, capital of Yucatan in Mexico -- Spanish founded the cathedral 450 years ago, but the people who founded the pyramids are still here
• Maya village life continues much as it has for 3000 years; unlike Aztecs and Incas, Maya had not gold, so the Spanish lost interest in their Maya subjects, but one conquerer, Diego Delanda -- 3rd bishop of Merida studied the Maya and celebrated its design rather than lack of gold
• Maya glory spread in the 1840s because of John Lloyd Stevens, American explorer, published an account of their discovery of the ruined sites; an artist accompanied him and his work astonished readers in America and Europe (picture is a story)
• monuments discovered supported a theory that the Maya were interested in time and not worldly events of history; records 9 periods -- 4 dots and one bar of 400 years each; the monument recorded so much energy carving time on the sides of its monuments
• devoted priests worshipping time
• two social classes -- peasants living in the jungle supporting the priests living in the center; until the 1950s when a project at Tikal concentrated more on the support population rather than the elite and started mapping it (12 square kilometers), discovering the concept of the Maya city was wrong. It was about 100, 000 people at AD 800, twice the size of Rome at that time. They uncovered a busy and rich ancient city with a variety of house sizes suggesting a range of social classes -- not just peasant and elite. ;
• Maya tomb, 1962 discovered in Palenque after 4 years of excavating a stairwell, the burial of a ruler -- Pacal. Interpreting  "glifs,' they discovered less time worship and more emphasis on history in "the temple of inscriptions." Ten portraits of the rulers who preceded this ruler in office are carved on the side of the sarcophagus. 603 AD. Gifs also on the sarcophagus reveal that the Maya counted in groups of 20, so the glifs reveal it was 80 years between the birth and deal of this ruler or "lord." What is "incredible" is that  because of this find is not the beauty or labor of their monuments but that we are now talking about the Maya in terms of the personal history of  individuals who we can name: children, parents, ancestors.
• AD 900 most of the cities were abandoned. The people did not keep up the buildings (lacked maintenance). Tikal thrived for 600 years -- the classic period in Maya history. Theories about this might be 1) agriculture failed to keep up with the demands of the population. The Maya today are slash and burn farmers (see Living Maya, 1982), meaning the forest is cut down and the cuttings are burned. The ash fertilizes the soil in which corn had been planted, and the field provides 2-3 crops before the farmer has to move on to another field. The planted field will then need to rest for 8 years; thus, on family will need at least 20 acres to survive. Mayanists conclude this has been the method of ancient Maya, and so that is one theory for the abandonment of Tikal and other cities -- the land became exhausted.
•  A lake near Tikal: Today a research team is studying the effects of Maya agriculture.Survey parties clear the forest on a per-arranged grid pattern.  Biologists take sample to trace the history of the lake sediments for evidence. Maya house mounds are revealed and mapped to check population counts. They determined that the land was overused and that the population did fall dramatically, but it is impossible to make conclusions without knowing the trading relationships between people here and elsewhere considering how the Maya supplemented their food supply and other materials. Thus, this theory is too simple.
• Merida, 300 miles north of Tikal: Discoveries of trade patterns reveal some information to shed light on the issue of trade among the Maya. A map of ancient settlements show the Yucatan with low rain fall and poor soil, so there is no jungle obscuring the ruins. The number of sites is high (1 every 80 square miles), but how could the northern Maya survive with such poor soil?  Komchen, a site near Merida, reveals a settlement of 900 house mounds and excavated about 50 to see how the community had developed. Looking at a residential platform, base for perishable dwellings or houses made of wood and thatch; they show at least 5 periods of platform construction. A long period of continuous growth.  The ceramics tell us that all of the growth in the platforms took place 500 BC to 200 AD (pre-classic), so this northern site reached its growth before the classic period of Tikal and Palenque without agriculture. Trade goods were found -- knives, jade beads, glass; seashells suggested their livelihood was a coastal and inland trade taking advantage of a natural resource of the coast: salt. They believe that they were traders -- not dependent on slash and burn agriculture -- so it makes not sense to attribute the collapse at  the end of the classic period to the failure of agriculture. 
• Pulltrouser Swamp: The fertile land of the south show the Maya perfected a more sophisticated method of cultivation. 1974, regular patterns in the jungle vegetation were noticed (Belize). Bill Turner excavated on undulation seeing water, man made field raised from swampy ground. They looked for evidence of artificial fields -- limestone brought in and evidence of tools that were used in the construction of the field (bi-faced pick lost during the construction). One third of the area is swamp, so by raising the field, the Maya were able to use the rich soil for agriculture. The system is studied in a Mexican agricultural college now -- water plans periodically brought up from the canals and spread on the raised field. As they decompose, they created fertilizer for crops. This also shows that the fields produce much more crop (corn, yucca, chili peppers) than needed for the area, so a surplus was available for export. This new discovery of large-scale trade, we see Maya highly organized and complex at an early date (500 BC) -- so we see less speculation on the collapse of the empire.
• Cuello: Earliest Maya have just been discovered, perhaps the earliest building in the new world. How did they develop into traders, farmers and architects? 
• late pre-classice period: Cerros brings all the elements of Maya civilization together. It was a coastal settlement and provides evidence of fishing (net weights), but they were more than fisherman. There were raised fields with canals of artificial rock linings. This provides a point of comparison between these fields and those of Pulltrouser.  The Pulltrouser swamps system is not as intricately connected to the community the way Cerros is. The field system at Cerros is connected to the building of the pyramids; the authorities used their power to have such systems build meaning the politicians had ownership of land, water, and the surplus produce of the field system. We can view the Maya has having a political economy. What did they need civilization for if they were slash and burn agriculturalists? What do you need priest for -- not to tell you when to plant? What were the practical consequences of a social hierarchy of the Maya. This, intensive agriculture,  explains why the Maya were civilized in the first place. It was also need to operate a large scale trade system -- taking salt from Komchen to the city of Tikal.
• What was the value of Tikal? The economic purpose of a Maya city like Cerros was not likely to be a purpose in Tikal because of its location, but you can see Tikal is center between the rivers of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. They were not isolated priests but rich merchants. 
• The new river in Belize was an artery of the ancient Maya trading route -- salt for chili peppers. Lamanai reveals the canoe traders beginning their portage to Tikal. David Pendergast shows how the ancient Maya bring in supplies by boat up the New River. He runs a camp of 35 Maya workers. For 6 months, he lives at the site supervising work in about 6 areas -- uncovering offerings in front of a building such a pot, which is reassemble and dated at 100 BC.  He sees 5-6 phases of construction, so excavation is a process of removing the layers of Maya's constant rebuilding. In 1980, the discovery of masks, reached by tunneling through later buildings, reveals glifs. In the pre-classic, the masks on the pyramids represent the gods, but the masks at Lamanai are a face of a real human being who is becoming a divine king -- ruler of a world not just farmers and traders.
• Maya ritual painting in Guatemala is analyzed. They show that actual Maya engaged in a dance with human sacrifice -- death images and actors dressed in character (bat). Real people enactment in the plaza -- a death ritual for an unknown reason. These scenes re-occur in their paintings showing the real people -- farmers and traders -- and unreal with thinking and wondering about their position in life after death. It seems more time thinking about after life than the moment. We see hallucination -- smoking, drinking, injecting -- using their bodies to engage their minds in communication with their gods.
• Symbols in Palenque reveal, 792 AD, a scene of decapitation at the death of Pacal or the rituals conducted in his memory. The scene is on the surface of water. The water lily marks a transition of the underworld, below the water, and the world in which we live, above the water. We see a portrait of Pacal's son carved in the monument. We see a little fish nibbling water lily. The fish and water lily are part of the royal costume and the underworld. We also see a tablet and pictures of why Conchul had the right to the throne. There is also a Maya book. The glif shows a king ripping a water lily out of the water, but the word for water lily is the same as standing water (lake, canal).  The water plants are non-native and crucial to the way raised fields work. Many of the fish are herbivores, so they fertilize the soil and feed the fish and are thus a natural origin for the expression of power and authority by the rulers. The ecology of the raised fields and the symbolism explains why the Maya would configure their world through the manipulation of the water lily and the environmental things associated with it.
• Today, ancient Maya rituals still persist. The crosses are not Christian but symbolize the tree of life. On the alter, there are offerings of maize and cigars. There is much ceremonial drinking to bring you closer to the gods as did the ancestors. The rulers are gone, but the village culture remains. 

Maya: The Blood of Kings (1995, Time LIFE)

This documentary is set in AD 650 during the powerful and sophisticated Maya civilization and explores the the social hierarchy that made possible a culture that could fashion innovations such as a complex writing system, mathematics, astrological calculations and sites across Central America. Again, this documentary seeks an understanding of the demise of the empire while discovering the inner-workings of the complex civilization.

• 750 AD -- a ball court, a game they played for their lives in front of crowds; 
• Tikal -- reached its peak in 750 AD and covered the size of Manhattan. Less than a century later, it was empty. We feel the fragility of civilization when we see the Maya ruins. We see how high a civilization can achieve and then how quickly it can disintegrate. It did not fall to armies, disease, or famine. It was deserted rather than destroyed. The people walked away. Descendants of the Maya still live in the land of their ancestors but their empires are no more. Why did they leave the cities? Why did the desert all they created? 
• Clues hidden in pyramids of stone written in a hieroglyphic code found in ritual and sustained by sacrifice. 250-900 AD the classic Maya flourished. Hundreds of cities were built as the empire of the Maya. They thrived for six centuries before the Maya "walked away." For almost 1000 years, their ruins were lost and forgotten until the 19th century. In 1839, Catherwood (illustrator) and explorer, Stevens provided clues writing that the exotic civilization was not brought across the Atlantic but that it originated in Central America. This work began more exploration and  an adventure into the Maya past seeking answers. They found treasure but an understanding of the Maya was elusive. Hundreds of pyramids without a clear understanding of the purpose until 1957. Palenque discovered by Alberto Rus and the Temple of Inscriptions.  In the center of the burial chamber was a stone tomb that revealed the "person" for whom the pyramid had been built -- there is film evidence of the skeleton and jade mask. What is the value of a human being, this human being, to warrant the design and structure of this monument? What is the relationship between the architects, laborers and the being inside the pyramid? 
• Code breaking of the glifs to reveal the secrets. They left an abundant written record, so it should not be secretive. An independent writing record -- one of 5 produced in the world. The texts were descriptions of their cosmos and chronicles of their dreams.  The importance of the text, 1562 Diego Delanda, convinced the translation of Spanish to Maya wanting to learn the language of the people he yearned to convert. Landa discovered that the people he thought were converted to Christianity still practiced rituals, and he burned hundreds of books containing records of their (Maya) lives -- literature, science, etc. The Spanish conquest burned thousands of texts -- only 4 books survived to present day. This evidence provided remarkable insights -- their mathematical system tied to astronomy with detailed observations of the night sky. In the 1950s, Eric Thompson concluded the Maya were dedicated to celestial events; he found evidence of complex calculations and concluded the Maya as tranquil and devoted to tracking the stars -- sacred beliefs and higher learning evidenced by the pyramids and the sundials, precise alignment and design; however, the Maya priests used the calendars to predict the cycles of the moon and stars (still accurate calculations off only by 33 seconds today), which portrayed calendar priests as having  a celestial power. 
• Maya text reveal their hidden mathematics and astronomy, but there are also other revelations. Justin Kerr, a photographer, captured an image of a vase unrolled creating a new understanding of the ancient Maya - a people obsessed with the gods of the underworld (e.g, the god of decapitation). Many customs and rituals of their daily lives were also revelatory -- skulls of children reveal a flattened brown line; Maya women had teeth drilled and then set with precious stones; the use of mind altering drugs was encouraged; taking an alcoholic drink as an enema. 
• Giles Healey, a American filmmaker, in 1946 discovered a savage truth altering a utopian image of the Maya. He found a detailed depiction of the Maya as fierce warriors, believers of deities and sacrifice. It was a powerful painting of warfare and bloodletting. He finished the film focusing on the Lacondon Indians who had been his guides and who were peaceful decedents of the Maya and did not expose the images of the murals.
• 1945, Berlin invaded by the Russians and the National Library was on fire. From the thousands of books burning in the ruins, a Soviet officer took a book from the flames (Yuri...) Reproductions of the Maya Codices. He learned that the glifs were much more than a system of numerical signs (Tatiana...) and saw patterns in the signs. The images contained the lives of the kings and queens revealing names and lives of the rulers, ancestors and conquests; the images were stories. 15 years after discovering the jade mask in Palenque (Alberto Rus) we could now know who he was -- Lord Pacal, king of the city state Palenque, the 10th in a line of rulers, ruling for 70 years.  These were monarchs who commanded cities, land, and people -- ruling with arrogance and disdain. But why did the subjects submit to such tyrannical rule? 
• What was the underlying source of the king's power? Belief. The power of belief achieved great things.Every portal of every Maya temple is a doorway to the underworld. Inside the temple it is the duty of the king and queen to re-enact the mythical moment of Maya creation. The blood of gods gave life to man; the king is as a god and blood is the price of power, the debt to the god that must be paid; blood must be paid, and royal blood drawn from the tongue and genitals forever bound the life of gods to the life of man. As his subjects watch, the bloody sacrament of the king spirals to the gods and in return, the gods will cause the sun to rise, the rains to fall, and the corn to grow. 
• Linda Shealy says that the bloodletting rituals provide the key to understanding the Maya. In the new world, the people believed the soul, the part that is indestructable resides in your blood. If you wish to give an offering, you give your blood. When the king gives his blood, he is giving a powerful substance -- one that because of his ancestors is most potent. The kings had to do rituals of genital bloodletting and self lacerations on a regular basis, but all Maya gave offerings of their blood, too. There is no surrogate sacrifice. Ball games also provided a deadly purpose -- not a game at all; its losers were sacrificed to the gods. This was recorded for posterity. The king was the foundation of life -- for the Maya. So when a military defeat occurs or if there is a drought, the authority of belief in the king is undermined with any failure. Failure cannot be adjusted for; it just undermines the belief. As the authority eroded, the increase in sacrifice and bloodletting was no solution. It could not prevent war, overpopulation of cities, failure of crops, and so the king was held responsibility; the kings blood had failed them. Therefore, when you begin to understand the way their civilization was constructed, the mystery really seems to be how the Maya maintained this impressive civilization on belief in their kings. All their powers were built upon the faith of the people, so when crops failed or enemies prevailed, the beliefs wavered, and the kings lost power.  When the power vanished, the Maya abandoned their great cities. The jungle reclaimed the stone that was removed to build the cities.
• Today, Maya shamans still practice blood sacrifice, but now it is the blood of chickens. The ancient faith is in tact as a pale reflection of the classic Maya. The context of belief has changed. Christianity may have been forced upon the Maya,but it has lasted (Jesus, the king who shed is blood for mankind).