mayanbzeworld

While the Maya area was initially inhabited around the 10th millennium BC, the first clearly "Maya" settlements were established in approximately 1800 BC in Soconusco region of the Pacific Coast. This point in time, known as the Early Preclassic, was characterized by sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay figurines.

Archaeological evidence suggests the construction of ceremonial architecture in Maya area by approximately 1000 BC. The earliest configurations of such architecture consist of simple burial mounds, which would be the precursors to the stepped pyramids subsequently erected in the Late Preclassic. Prominent Middle and Late Preclassic settlement zones are located in the southern Maya lowlands, specifically in the Mirador and Petén Basins. Important sites in the southern Maya lowlands include Nakbe, El Mirador, Cival, and San Bartolo. Mid-sized Maya communities also began to develop in the northern Maya lowlands during the Middle and Late Preclassic, though these lacked the size, scale, and influence of the large centers of the southern lowlands. Two important Preclassic northern sites include Komchen and Dzibilchaltun.

There is some disagreement about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and neighboring Preclassic Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec culture of the Tabasco lowlands and the Mixe-Zoque- and Zapotec-speaking peoples of Chiapas and southern Oaxaca, respectively. Many of the earliest significant inscriptions and buildings appeared in this overlapping zone, and evidence suggests that these cultures and the formative Maya influenced one another.

The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphs from a superficial resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian writing) was a combination of phonetic symbols and logograms. It is most often classified as a logographic or (more properly) a logosyllabic writing system, in which syllabic signs play a significant role. It is the only writing system of the Pre-Columbian New World which is known to completely represent the spoken language of its community. In total, the script has more than a thousand different glyphs, although a few are variations of the same sign or meaning, and many appear only rarely or are confined to particular localities. At any one time, no more than around 500 glyphs were in use, some 200 of which (including variations) had a phonetic or syllabic interpretation.

The earliest inscriptions in an identifiably-Maya script date back to 200-300 BC. However, this is preceded by several other writing systems which had developed in Mesoamerica, most notably that of the Zapotecs, and (following the 2006 publication of research on the recently-discovered Cascajal Block), the Olmecs. There is a pre-Maya writing known as "Epi-Olmec script" (post Olmec) which some researchers believe may represent a transitional script between Olmec and Maya writing, but the relationships between these remain unclear and the matter is unsettled. On January 5, 2006, National Geographic published the findings of Maya writings that could be as old as 400 BCE, suggesting that the Maya writing system is nearly as old as the oldest Mesoamerican writing known at that time, Zapotec. In the succeeding centuries the Maya developed their script into a form which was far more complete and complex than any other that has yet been found in the Americas.

Since its inception, the Maya script was in use up to the arrival of the Europeans, peaking during the Maya Classical Period (c. 200 to 900). Although many Maya centers went into decline (or were completely abandoned) during or after this period, the skill and knowledge of Maya writing persisted amongst segments of the population, and the early Spanish conquistadors knew of individuals who could still read and write the script. Unfortunately, the Spanish displayed little interest in it, and as a result of the dire impacts the conquest had on Maya societies, the knowledge was subsequently lost, probably within only a few generations.

The Xinca language is a Mesoamerican language spoken by the indigenous Xinca people from communities in the southern portion of Guatemala, near its border with El Salvador and in the mountainous region to the north. The language is generally classed as a language isolate with no demonstrated affiliations with other language families, although a relationship with Lenca has been proposed. The Xinka (also spelled Szinca or Xinca) are considered to be the oldest inhabitants of southeastern Guatemala. The Xinka themselves spell their name with a k rather than with a c.

The Pre-Columbian city now known as Copán is a locale in extreme western Honduras, in the Copán Department, near to the Guatemalan border. It is the site of a major Maya kingdom of the Classic era.

Xukpi was one of the more powerful Maya city states, a regional power, although it suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the kingdom located at Quirigua in 738. It eventually withered in the face of the depletion of natural resources which was a factor in bringing most of the Classic-Age Maya city-states to their end.

The area continued to be occupied after the last major ceremonial structures and royal monuments were erected, but the population declined in the 8th century - 9th century from perhaps over 20,000 in the city to less than 5,000.

The ceremonial center was long abandoned and the surrounding valley home to only a few farming hamlets at the time of the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.

List of known Xukpi rulers

1. K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' ("Great-Sun First Quetzal Macaw") before 435

2. "K'inich Popol Hol" ("Great-Sun ?"); c. 437

3. "Ruler 3", name unknown; c. 455

4. "Ku Ix" (possibly K'altuun Hix or Tuun K'ab' Hix); c. 465

5. "Ruler 5", name unknown; c. 476

6. "Ruler 6" (Muyal Jol ?); c. 485

7. B'alam Nehn, ("Jaguar Mirror"; "Waterlily-Jaguar") after 504-544

8. "Ruler 8" (Wi'-Ohl-?, "Head on Earth"); 532-551

9. "Ruler 9" (Sak-lu ?);551-553

10. "Moon Jaguar" (tzi-b'alam, "? Jaguar"); 553-578

11. Butz' Chan ("Smoke Serpent", "fire-eating serpent"); 578-628

12. Chan Imix K'awiil ("Smoke Jaguar"); 628-695

13. Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil ("18 Rabbit"); 695-738

14. K'ak' Joplaj Chan K'awiil ("Smoke Monkey"); 738-749

15. K'ak' Yipyaj Chan K'awiil ("Smoke Shell"; "Smoke Squirrel"); 749-763

16. Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat ("Yax Pac") 763-after 810

(probably period where throne was vacant)

17? Ukit Took'; 822

Royal ceremonial center of city abandoned by 984

The first sixteen names, from Yax K'uk' Mo' to Yax Pac (Yax Pasah), are depicted on Altar Q, an artifact that has provided researchers clues to the history and origins of Copán. Altar Q is the designation given to one of the most notable of the rectangular sculpted stone blocks (dubbed "altars") recovered at the Mesoamerican archaeological site of Copán, present-day Honduras.

Copán was a major Maya civilization center during the Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, and Altar Q records a dynastic lineage for the Copán-based polity in the Maya script. It was created during the rule of King Yax Pac in 776. Each of the sixteen leaders of Copan are shown with a full body portrait, four on each side of the monument. It starts with Yax Kuk Mo, who ruled starting in 416, and extends through 775. Therefore, the monument's depictions span three hundred and fifty years of time. Each ruler is seated on a glyph that represents his name. The most important part of the picture is Yax Kuk Mo handing down the insignia of reign to Yax Pac. This was a form of propaganda, intended to show that Yax Pac was just as worthy of rule as the first leader.

The name Altar Q was given by Alfred P. Maudslay who conducted the first archeological exploration of the site in 1886. At that time the altar was located at the bottom of the staircase in Structure 16, the central pyramid in Copán's acropolis. It has subsequently been moved to the Copán Sculpture Museum.

These are a true origin of The Maya-Civilization Headed by The Olmec Jaguar.

The 18th Maya Ruled was Rabbit.