Maya

The Maya civilization flourished in the eastern part of Mexico (including the Yucatan Peninsula) and northern Guatemala and Belize. The civilization reached its pinnacle between 250 and 900, and slowly declined, and eventually were conquered by the Spanish in the 1500s and 1600s. The Mayans ruled through a series of small kingdoms, built urban settlements with stone palaces and observatories, and developed a writing system. Like the Aztecs who came later, the Mayans practiced human sacrifice.

Despite being geographically distant from Akator, the ancient Mayans were taught the secret of corbel arch construction by the Ugha residents and their gods of the advanced city.

The modern-day indigenous peoples of the region are descended from the Mayans, and speak languages derived from the Mayan language.

Adventures with Mayan archaeology

In March 1926, Indiana Jones and Deirdre Campbell discovered a Mayan funerary mask of Camazotz, the bat god, in Tikal, Guatemala. He drew a sketch of the mask in his journal.

In the 1930s, Jones did several expeditions near Lucasio, Mexico and recovered a few Mayan artifacts.

In 1939, Jones recovered a Mayan Statue from a site in Panama.

In August 1941, Jones discovered a set of four Mayan figurines in the ruins of an Incan Shrine in Peru, before getting hired to find the Akashic Hall of Records. He found that the Hall's current location was at the Mayan ruins of Uxmal, and he and Bert Brodowski flew to the site to find the Hall's entrance at the Pyramid of the Sorcerer. Opening the door required using the four figurines Jones had unearthed in Peru. After his Nazi opponent, Nichols had been defeated, Jones was able to save three of the four figurines before the Hall vanished.

In 1957, Indiana Jones spent several weeks in the central coast of the Yucatán Peninsula, and had been excavating a coastal Mayan ruin with George McHale, when he discovered a secret entrance to an underground temple. Inside the temple he discovered a Mayan calendar wheel with stories of the K'iche Maya tribe, normally found in Guatemala. Jones climbed into a stone snake depicting Kukulkan and fell into an underground river. After being shot out of the river when it reached the coastal cliffs, Jones returned to camp only to be kidnapped by a group of unmarked soldiers led by a giant of a man.

After escaping from Soviet forces in Nevada, Jones received a letter from Harold Oxley via Mutt Williams. Oxley had written the letter in Koihoma, but in order to translate it, Jones had to compare it to the glyph language of the Mayans.

Later, when Oxley reached the interior of the Temple of Akator, and Irina Spalko placed the Crystal Skull of Akator in its proper place, the skeletons of the Interdimensional beings used Oxley to speak to Jones and Spalko, and Oxley spoke to them in Mayan.

Mayan sites

• El Mirador
• Tikal
• Cozan
• Uxmal
• Coastal Mayan ruins

Mayan artifacts

• Camozotz mask
• Shield of Camozots
• Four Mayan Figurines
• Mayan Statue
• Funeral Mask
• Mayan Stele
• Mayan calendar stone

Behind the scenes

Despite both Mayan and Koihoma being pre-Columbian languages of the New World, Koihoma (formerly spoken in eastern Peru and western Brazil), is not related to the Mayan language family.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Pyramid of the Sorcerer
• Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx (Mentioned only)
• Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Language mentioned)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull comic (Language mentioned)

Sources

• Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide
• The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones

External links

• Maya Civilization on Wikipedia