Ancient civilizations-2

Definition of the Classic

In the study of the Classic stage, there has been a strong bias in favour of the Maya; this is not surprising in view of the fact that the Maya have been studied far longer than any other people in Mesoamerica. But the concept of a “Classic” period is a case of the Maya tail wagging the Mesoamerican dog, since the usual span given to that stage—250–900 ce—is the period during which the Maya were erecting dated stone monuments. This brackets the Maya apogee, but for most areas of non-Maya Mesoamerica only the first half of the period may be accurately called a “golden age.” While the famous and yet mysterious Maya collapse took place at about 900 ce, in many other regions this downfall occurred almost three centuries earlier.

Qualitatively, there is little to differentiate the Classic from the Late Formative that preceded it. Various tendencies that were crystallizing in the last centuries before the Common Era reached fulfillment in the Classic. Two cultures stand out beyond all others. One is that of Teotihuacán, which during the Early Classic played a role in Mesoamerica similar to that which Olmec had performed in the Early Formative. The second is the lowland Maya civilization, which during its six centuries of almost unbroken evolution in the humid forests reached cultural heights never achieved before or since by New World natives. The contrast between the two—one urban and expansionist, the other less urban and non-expansionist—exemplifies well the cultural results of the ecological possibilities offered by highland and lowland Mesoamerica.