Apocalypto?

Question

I watched Apocalypto today and it was pretty good. however, I do not think that it is very accurate about the Mayans. I thought that it more closely resembled the Aztecs and their culture. what do you think?

Answer 1

There was a period of time in Meso-American archaeology where the Maya were though of as astronomer-mathematicians because they could predict eclipses and their calendar was more acurate than the European one at the time of the conquest. but the murals at Bonampak showed the Maya preparing for raids, taking prisoners and blood letting.  Probably the Maya didn't sacrifice victims on the scale that the Aztecs did, but they did it to some degree.  So on a particular day that Mel  showed there might have been a large amount of sacrifices.

Answer 2

It seemed more related to Aztec culture but it could be considered Mayan.

Answer 3

There is a great write up on Wikipedia about the controversies, accuracies and inaccuracies of the movie.

Answer 4

Apocalypto occurs at the end or decline of the Mayan Empire when disease, poverty and hunger may have been prevalent and they were sacrificing like crazy hoping to appease the gods so they'd make things like the good old days for the Mayans.  There is some speculation involved in the film of course but from what I've heard Mel Gibson took great pains to be as accurate as possible.  It's just that we truly don't know a great deal about Mayan's day to day activities.