when and where did the mayas settle ?

Answer 1

The ancient Maya civilization occupied the eastern third of Mesoamerica, primarily the Yucatan Peninsula. The topography of the area greatly varied from volcanic mountains, which comprised the highlands in the South, to a porous limestone shelf, known as the Lowlands, in the central and northern regions. The southern portion of the Lowlands were covered by a rain forest with an average height of about 150 feet. Scattered savannas and swamps, or bajos, appeared sporadically, interrupting the dense forests. The northern Lowlands were also comprised of forests but they were drier than their southern counterparts, mainly growing small thorny trees.
http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm

Archaeologists have long known that the Maya, who flourished between about A.D. 250 and 900, perfected the most complex writing system in the hemisphere, mastered mathematics and astrological calendars of astonishing accuracy, and built massive pyramids all over Central America, from Yucatan to modern Honduras.
http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm






What would become the Maya region had been inhabited since at least the 10th millennium BC. Settled villages along the Pacific coast appear from 1800 BC, which is taken as the beginning of the Maya Early Preclassic era. Significant innovations of the Early Preclassic period include the introduction of pottery and fired clay figures.

Some archaeological evidence shows the Maya had started to build ceremonial architecture by approximately 1000 BC and by the period known as the mid-Preclassic (or mid-Formative), around 600 BC, some of the earliest Maya complexes had been constructed, mainly in the Mirador Basin. The earliest monuments consist of simple burial mounds, the precursors to stepped pyramids erected in the Late Preclassic, as seen for example in the Mirador Basin and Peten in sites such as Nakbe, El Mirador, Cival and San Bartolo.

There is some disagreement about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and their 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. 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. Eventually, the Olmec influence faded after spreading into the Yucatán peninsula, and the pacific lowlands in Guatemala.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayas#History

Answer 2

What would become the Maya region had been inhabited since at least the 10th millennium BC. Settled villages along the Pacific coast appear from 1800 BC, which is taken as the beginning of the Maya Early Preclassic era.[1] Significant innovations of the Early Preclassic period include the introduction of pottery and fired clay figures.[2]

Some archaeological evidence shows the Maya had started to build ceremonial architecture by approximately 1000 BC and by the period known as the mid-Preclassic (or mid-Formative), around 600 BC, some of the earliest Maya complexes had been constructed, mainly in the Mirador Basin. The earliest monuments consist of simple burial mounds, the precursors to stepped pyramids erected in the Late Preclassic, as seen for example in the Mirador Basin and Peten in sites such as Nakbe, El Mirador, Cival and San Bartolo.

There is some disagreement about the boundaries which differentiate the physical and cultural extent of the early Maya and their 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. 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.[3] Eventually, the Olmec influence faded after spreading into the Yucatán peninsula, and the pacific lowlands in Guatemala.