appear to have cooperated, particularly in warfare. The
main connection between the region’s city-states, fifty of
which we can recognize by their own glyphs, is that their
people spoke around thirty-one different but closely related
Mayan languages. The Mayas developed a writing system,
and there are at least fifteen thousand remaining
inscriptions describing many aspects of elite life, culture,
and religion. They also had a sophisticated calendar for
recording dates known as the Long Count. It was very much
like our own calendar in that it counted the unfolding of
years from a fixed date and was used by all Maya cities.
The Long Count began in 3114 BC , though we do not know
what significance the Mayas attached to this date, which
long precedes the emergence of anything resembling Maya
society.
The Mayas were skilled builders who independently
invented cement. Their buildings and their inscriptions
provide vital information on the trajectories of the Maya
cities, as they often recorded events dated according to the
Long Count. Looking across all the Maya cities,
archaeologists can thus count how many buildings were
finished in particular years. Around AD 500 there are few
dated monuments. For example, the Long Count date
corresponding to AD 514 recorded just ten. There was then
a steady increase, reaching twenty by AD 672 and forty by
the middle of the eighth century. After this the number of
dated monuments collapses. By the ninth century, it is down
to ten per year, and by the tenth century, to zero. These
dated inscriptions give us a clear picture of the expansion
of Maya cities and their subsequent contraction from the
late eighth century.
This analysis of dates can be complemented by
examining the lists of kings the Mayas recorded. At the
Maya city of Copán, now in western Honduras, there is a
famous monument known as Altar Q. Altar Q records the
names of all the kings, starting from the founder of the
dynasty K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo’, or “King Green-Sun First
Quetzal Macaw,” named after not just the sun but also two
of the exotic birds of the Central American forest whose
feathers were greatly valued by the Mayas. K’inich Yax
K’uk’ Mo’ came to power in Copán in AD 426, which we
know from the Long Count date on Altar Q. He founded a