Links on the Maya

The Maya Project

‘A blend of art and academic research portraying the biosocial realities of the Maya in Mesoamerica’, based at Loughborough University, UK.

Maya Flora and Fauna

Here is an excellent set of introductory features on a wide range of wildlife from the Maya region - from edible flowers to deer, from crocodiles to turtles, and from the ceiba tree to sacred toads... All by Nicholas Hellmuth, director of FLAAR Reports (Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research).

The Maya Gods of Time

Created by Jennifer and Alexander John, this website encourages a fresh look at classic Maya art by means of 3D and 2D animations of original ceramic vessel scenes and more.

Guatemala Maya Indian Centre

For anything to do with the Maya, consult our ‘sister’ educational partner, the Guatemala Maya Indian Centre (also in London)

Mesoweb

For a wealth of resource material particularly on the Maya - this is a site for serious research.

Cacao Mama

An excellent and attractive introductory feature on the ‘history and spirit’ of cacao in Mesoamerica, by Serap Kara, founder of Cacao Mama.

The Maya ‘Pompeii’

When the Maya town of Ceren in El Salvador was discovered in 1978 it was hailed as the ‘New World Pompeii’: it was preserved perfectly under ash following a volcanic eruption 1400 years ago. A photo-essay on the Daily Mail website.

Maya Blue

In Spanish A beautifully illustrated article on the Terrae Antiqvae website/blog on the ‘recently’ (2008) uncovered secret of the intense pigment used by the Classic Maya. Scroll down around 1/3 of the page!
The second link introduces a research project at SDCELAR/British Museum on Maya Blue from new perspectives.

Universos sonoros mayas

Funded and supported by Mexico’s UNAM, this is an online catalogue of ancient Maya wind and percussion instruments, with a good range of sound clips, but lacking in detail In Spanish.

Pro Arte Maya Project/K’inal Winik Cultural Center (USA)

Artist-author-educator Marilyn Anderson works with Maya educators in the USA and Guatemala producing colouring books and other free resource materials on contemporary Maya culture, for use by children and teachers in Guatemala. Marilyn works collaboratively with the K’inal Winik Cultural Center and Yax Te’ Books in Cleveland, Ohio, whose mission is to produce and distribute books and other materials that support the use of Maya culture in classrooms around the world. They’re also involved in a wide range of exchange and educational visits programmes.

Maya Archaeology of Mesoamerica Resource

An encyclopaedic, authoritative and huge reference site, technical but also accessible, with sections on a massive range of subjects - from bats to the ballgame, cacao to caves, flora to fauna, art to architecture, foods to frogs... In development (2020) entire sections on educational books, cartoon characters and more, to introduce children to the natural world of the Maya. Excellent.

Illustrated Popol Vuh

A beautiful photographic essay by Justin Kerr, this page (PDF format) explores the main themes in the classic Maya creation book Popol Vuh, transcribed in the sixteenth century by an anonymous Quiché Maya writer.
Second link goes to Justin Kerr’s superb mayavase database, a huge collection of rollout photographs of Maya ceramic vases.

El Pilar: Historical Monument, Classroom and Living Culture

These linked sites give an impressive picture of an archaeological reserve just 50 kms from Tikal in Guatemala, where the research emphasis is on ‘ancient Maya people rather than the governing elites’. El Pilar is the only Maya site that presents the domestic component for visitors to appreciate...

Maya Mathematics

A straight-forward, non-jargonistic page introducing non-specialists to the basics (and highlights) of Maya maths; part of a series on ‘Mathematics in various cultures’ written by two faculty members of the School of Mathematics and Statistics of the University of St. Andrew’s, Scotland.

Maya dancer animation

Get a good feel for the moves of a dancer from ancient Mexico! No sound, but this is a neat little animation, from Mesoweb. Suitable for kids.

The Maya Maths Revolution

Superb full-length online feature published as an FT Special Report. Written and illlustrated by Jude Webber, it documents how today ‘Children in Mexico are learning maths using methods invented by their ancestors’... Highly recommended.

Barsanddots.com

An advanced website for Maya calendrics, developed by Maya expert Dr. Edwin Barnhart (on our Panel of Experts). For serious researchers!

Google/British Museum Maya Heritage project

Launched late 2017, this state-of-the-art online learning resource makes accessible for the first time online the ancient Maya collection of Alfred Maudslay, consisting of hundreds of invaluable photos, casts and other scientific documents gathered in the late 1800s. The second link takes you to the newer ‘Untangling Maya Glyphs’ online resource, based entirely on BM collection artefacts. And the third goes to ‘Female Gaze’ - Anne Maudslay and other women travellers in Mexico.

Maya Research Program

Volunteer opportunities in a small Maya village just 20 miles from Chichen Itza through the ‘Yaxhunah Community Participation Experience’.

Living Maya Time

A superb and beautifully illustrated website, SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN, produced by the eminent Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (USA). Great sections on the Maya, the Sun, Corn, Calendars, and more - including simple maths games! Also has a Spanish version of the site. Highly recommended...

Mike Ruggeri’s Ancient Maya News Magazine

Attractively presented ‘flipboard’ style website, giving up-to-date news from the world of the Ancient Maya - from Mexico to Belize.

Mayas for Ancient Mayan

‘All across the Maya world, in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize, we are finding Maya colleagues thirsting to learn the writing of their ancestors. We support them with workshops and teaching materials...’

Maya Maths in Maya schools

Inspiring short video in Spanish of how the basics of the ancient Maya counting system is now being introduced into schools in the Yucatan, Mexico

Night Fire Films

Producers of acclaimed documentaries on Classic Maya culture, such as Breaking the Maya Code and Dance of the Maize God. Trailers are worth watching alone!

Nova (PBS)

Contains the Cracking the Maya code documentary, showing how scientists began to unravel the meaning of Maya glyphs. Includes a classroom activity for students where they can determine their own birth date using the Maya Long Count calendar system. The second link is for Lost King of the Maya including a tour around the Maya site of Copan.

‘On the historical and mythical origins of cacao in Mesoamerica’

From earthstoriez this is a commendably clear and comprehensive look at Mexica/Aztec and Maya mythology surrounding the origins of cacao.

The Jaguar Stones

A superb US site on the Maya, with something for everyone - including a Club! The couple that run the site do their own wacky Living History sessions in schools on the Maya. Highly recommended...

Mayacodices.org

This well-funded research site features a searchable database of four Maya codices (Madrid, Dresden, Paris, Grolier). ‘The codices contain information about Maya beliefs and rituals, as well as everyday activities, all framed within an astronomical and calendrical context.’ Established by project leader Dr. Gabrielle Vail

Mayan Numerals

Another useful site for exploring the basics of the Maya ‘vigesimal’ counting system (ours is decimal), aimed at teachers, written by Jamie Hubbard. Includes a few exercises and teaching ideas.

Pioneers in Maya Archaeology: Alfred P. Maudslay

An excellent, downloadable, short biography of Maudslay can be found on the Institute of Maya Studies website

Mayavision.com

Steve Radzi has faithfully and beautifully sketched the illustrations in this electronic gallery on location at archaeological sites throughout the Maya region. Highly recommended.

Casa Frederick Catherwood

The website of this excellent resource centre (in Mérida, Yucatán) has a page dedicated to Catherwood’s famous lithographs of ancient Maya ruins, all viewable online, as thumbnails and also enlarged images.

‘The Fall of the Mayan Civilisation’

Accessible, if slightly dated, BBC History webpage by Jessica Cecil on one person’s interpretation of the collapse of the Classic Maya - based on catastrophic drought.

Wayeb

Website of the European Association of Mayanists - an academically oriented non-profit association that promotes Maya Studies in Europe. Excellent resources section; particularly valuable is the downloadable Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs Workshop Handbook.

‘The Exciting Adventures of the Hero Twins’

A fun, appealing version of the famous story from the Popol Vuh of how the mythical Hero Twins tricked the gods of the underworld, written by Lin Donn, illustrated by Phillip Martin (first link).

Latinamericanstudies.org

A kind of visual encyclopedia, with galleries of photos, weblinks, news reports, background info (eg biographies of famous archaeologists), videos, artefacts, and more...

Animated Popol Vuh

This is a delightful animated version of the creation myth of the Maya, based on the Popol Vuh; produced by Patricia Amlin, it was animated - 10 years in the making - in 1988 from paintings on original Maya pottery. Approx 10 mins (split into 7 separate videos).

What weaving means to the Maya

Part of the Mayan Hands website (US based Fairtrade project supporting craft-making communities in Guatemala); provides good background information on the symbolic importance of weaving in the Maya world.

Maya Mythos

If you really want to study Maya gods seriously, Carl Callaway has assembled an impressive collection of online articles and other resource materials by world renowned scholars...

‘An Inspiring Scene’

One of Denver Art Museum’s Creative Resources for Teachers, this is an unusual and lovely resource: a lesson plan based around a palace scene painted on a Maya ceramic vase from Guatemala. The unit encourages you to pick out intriguing details in the scene...

Linda Schele drawings

High resolution files of many key drawings by this hugely eminent Maya scholar are now available at a new website maintained by LACMA.

‘Maya Civilization’ cartoon

by BrainPop, a USA-based educational resource outfit producing very simple, introductory cartoons on a range of subjects. Not quite 100% accurate, but a great little snappy kid-friendly video to get things going...

Decode a Maya stela

This article and interactive, prepared by eminent Mayanist Mark van Stone, allows you to read (and listen to!) a sequence of glyphs on an ancient Maya stone monument. Superb.

Save Teachers’ Sundays on the Maya

Excellent set of downloadable teaching resources on the ancient Maya by Raymond Rodgers, all previewable. Recommended.

La Ruta Maya Foundation

A private organisation that manages and promotes the return of antiquities to Guatemala. Its collection numbers over 3,000 objects.

BBC ‘Lost Lands’: the Maya

Short and sweet, a 4-minute cartoon introduction to the ancient Maya, focusing on the ballgame, foods and housing. SUITABLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.

Amazing acoustics

Coincidence or not, the sound effect of clapping in front of the Kukulkan pyramid at Chichén Itzá is remarkably similar to the cry of the Resplendent Quetzal. Judge for yourself... In Spanish
The second link is a blog, in English, with reports from visitors from around the world on sound phenomena, not just from Mexico.

BBC Bitesize History

New series, perfect for young children, launched 2018 and developed in collaboration with Mexicolore, is this super little cartoon-style resource: short, one-minute clips introducing the ancient Maya, every-day life, farming, beliefs, archaeological remains, the ‘Collapse’, games, etc.

Maya revive ancient beekeeping

Uplifting story of how Yucatec Maya farmers are reviving traditional techniques. ‘The bees can’t live without the forest. The forest can’t live without the bees...’

Maya Calendar Arts

Website of Canadian art educator Dr. Marguerite Paquin, this intriguing site explores how ‘the Mayan calendar... not only encodes the cycling of energies tied in with heavenly bodies (the sun in particular) but also reveals how these energies connect with personal lives and world events, both ancient and current.’ Beautifully presented.

Maya Ethnobotany

An authoritative, encyclopaedic website on key themes of Maya ethnobotany, with sections on flowers, fruits, trees, vegetables, spices, basketry and colorants. Sister site to maya-archaeology.org, directed by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth (see above).

‘Chocolate Class’

‘Candied Ceramics: The Relationship Between Ancient Mayan Pottery and Cacao Storage’. One of a series of excellent and finely illustrated ‘Multimedia Essays on Chocolate, Culture and the Politics of Food’, part of a Harvard University course blog/resource. RECOMMENDED.

MayanToons.org

Born from the inspirational work of Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth, this site is dedicated to making fun educational resources available for children to learn about Guatemalan/Mesoamerican flora and fauna, in English and Spanish.

Mayaruins.com

Super bibliography of Maya resources divided into four sections:
I. General Archaeology, Architecture & Regional Styles
II. Archaeology by Site
III. Miscellaneous sections on Reading Maya Glyphs, The Longcount Calendar, Maya Cave Painting, The Spanish Conquest, Travel Guides, Modern Central American Writers
IV. Online Resources

The 260-day calendar

Excellent short video (under 3 minutes) on the origin of the sacred 260-day tzolk’in calendar. Produced by the Virtual Izapa Project team.

King Pakal’s jade mask

Watch a webinar for the Historical Association we recorded on the story of this most famous Maya jade mask, from its discovery to its disappearance for 4 years...!

Ancient Maya Nights

Wonderfully informative article on everything nocturnal in the ancient Maya world. ‘Archaeology of the night reveals feasting royals, laboring craftspeople, midnight botanists, visionary astronomers, and menacing supra-human beings.’ By Nancy Gonlin

‘Your guide to the ancient Maya...

‘from the writing system to the truth about “human sacrifice”’ - BBC History Magazine introduction by Professor Matthew Restall; a simple Q&A format.