The Ancient Maya Essay

​Many of the cultures that we have today have evolved from past events. Such as language it was something that became known throughout the years. Some of the languages that came from that were English, Spanish, German, and Latin to name a few. These languages were derived more past civilizations. One important civilization that is known for having great success is the Mayan civilization. The Mayan civilization is known for many things like they fully developed written language, art, architecture, math and some other factors. Historians have said that they don’t know an exact date of when this civilization rose up but they do mention that it flourished for about 2000 years. Although staring in 250 AD it is said that it was the start of their high point and it continued until the arrival of the Spanish in 1524. The Maya area covers southern Mexico and northwestern Central America. According to Sharer the area is divided into three regions: the Pacific coastal plain to the south, the highlands in the center, and the lowlands to the north. Even though these three regions were under the same civilization they all practiced different religious rituals. Religion plays a big role in every civilization. Some civilizations tend to praise more than one god and they always mention that what they have is thanks to their god. When they see things going wrong they often say that their god is punishing them because they did something that the god/s did not like. This tends to be the same

“In the Western Hemisphere, no early culture was more remarkable than the Mayans” (Background Essay). The Mayans were an adept civilization and accomplished many exceptional things during their time. Their deeds include things such as a number system, immense cities, and a vast trade network but there is no Mayan achievement more remarkable than their calendars. The Mayans created three calendars: a sacred calendar called tzolkin, a solar calendar called haab, and a long cycle calendar.

The Maya were believed to existence in 1800 BC and gone by 1500 AD. They had a lot of big cities but no capital. Many of the people lived in hay huts, some in limestone buildings built on tall pyramids which could actually be used as landmarks. They have a constant reminder the gods are present with the pyramids and first one was built right before Christ birth. Their agriculture was based on the economy, there main crop was corn but also grew cotton, beans, squash and cocao. They hunted deer, duck, turkey, monkeys, iguana, and other things with bow and arrows, blowguns, darts to eat, they did a little fishing. The Mayan art was about politics, the

The culture of the Mayans gradually uplifted, and the peak of their civilization appeared during the Classic Age of 250 to 900 CE. During this time, The Mayans created an abundance of art and amazing architecture that still inspire the architects of today. This civilization was on the road to greatness, but this greatness came to an end quickly. The Mayan city-states were in a constant feud and violence was constantly raging. Because of this, The Maya never became a single government unlike other major societies. Despite this, The Mayans achieved many remarkable accomplishments such as their calendar, architecture, marvelous trade system, and genius numerals that continue to be a template for the people of today.

The Maya were a people from Middle America, which includes modern Guatemala, Southern Mexico, and Northern Belize (Editors). The Maya civilization was considered to be “one of the most dominant indigenous societies of Mesoamerica,” (Maya). “The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, and mathematics, and left behind an astonishing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork,” (Maya). They also gave mankind the modern calendar (Jarus, Maya). The Mayans were a very advanced people, but one of the most important things in the Mayan culture was their religion/god worshipping rituals.

The Aztec and Maya were both American Indian people. The Aztec were ruled by a mighty empire in Mexico during the 1400's and early 1500's. The Maya however, developed a magnificent civilization in Central America and Southern Mexico. Both civilizations contributed a great deal to the modern world and invented items that are still used today.

The ancient Maya believed in recurring cycles of creation and destruction because, The largest cycles were thought to be recurrent cycle of creation and destruction, and the Maya believed that each of the named says within their cycles contained a destiny which was relieved in each of the many eras of a cyclic universe. The Maya believed in many gods. They believed their gods could help or hurt them. They worshiped their gods every day. Religion was at the heart of everything they did. Human sacrifice was performed on prisoners, slaves, and particularly children, with orphans. Before the Toltec era, however, animal sacrifice may have been far more common than human - turkeys, dogs, and squirrels being among the species considered suitable offerings to Mayan gods.

What happened to the Mayan civilization before it mysteriously collapsed is still a mystery, but heart-stopping achievements were made. Throughout 3000 years the Native tribe of the Maya inhabited México, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras until the Spanish arrived. They were so secluded from anyone else, that they could not learn information from other tribes and they came up with all ideas themselves.(BGE) Trade routes, the creation of beautiful cities, establishing the number system and developing three calendars we all breathtaking achievements accomplished by the Mayan culture. Using scale, effort, genius, and significance four achievements will be argued about which was the most remarkable. Obviously the development

The Aztecs also had their calendars; they had two: one for religious events and one to track time. Every 52 years the calendars would start on the exact same day. The Aztecs were afraid the world would end on those days. The Mayans also had writing in hieroglyphics. They also had written numbers. The Mayan is perhaps their most famous technological advance; which many believed predicted the end of the world to happen on December 21, 2012. The Incas had no written langue, and didn't have many technologies like the other two but they still were very efficient farmers with water storage techniques to grow crops all sorts of terrains, build intricate stone buildings without iron tools, and they had their own calendars as well. The Pueblo people’s technology was based in their “pueblos”. Their pueblos were often carved into the sides of cliffs and were optimized to keep the people safe from attacking tribes. Sometimes the pueblos didn’t touch the ground and had retractable ladders that came out of the top with no other doors or windows. They also built many roads connecting roadways, the longest and most famous called “The

What Mayan writing seems to represent is a sacred language used only by the elite, initiated, and known only by them. The language of the Mayan was identical with that of the Yucatan Indians, given the fact that writing was identical. The Maya kept records on large stone monuments called stelae. They used the Steele to record important dates and to take note of great events in the lives of their rulers.(Price 91)They also used the stelae to recount the positions of the “heavenly bodies”_ particularly the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter.(Miller)

Massive temples hidden in the jungles of the Yucatan, mysterious stone stelas, and cryptic calendars eluding to advanced knowledge of the stars and mathematics are just some of the artifacts originating from the “Classic Maya” period (200 CE-900 CE). However, these popular items should not be the only defining characteristics of a society that dominated the Mesoamerican region for nearly a millennia. Dynastic lines, similar to those found in European houses, were important elements during this period in places like Palenque, Tikal, and Calakmul. Additionally, the Maya experienced violent and consistent warfare between localized powers and the backbone of their society, agriculture, suffered through several multi-year droughts. These factors

Almost every aspect of Maya life was centered on religion. These ancient Mesoamerican peoples worshipped many gods and goddesses; this was part of their daily lives, despite class differences in their sophisticated society. Religion served as a basis for the government and social life. Priests and shamans played an important role in their government, conducted religious ceremonies, and made sacrifices to the gods. The Maya believed in the supernatural, and used this belief to explain life and their universe. Every object, whether it is part of nature or man made, was considered sacred and worshipped.

     They developed their writing system, mathematics, astronomy, and calendars. Their study of astronomy allowed them to predict when there would be a solar or lunar eclipse. They also developed their calendar that is called the Long Count Calendar. The Long Count Calendar was not completely a Mayan creation because they inherited the basic form from the Toltec.

They have a well establish governments, headed by a king, ruled territories with clearly defined boundaries. They were organized into independent city creating a confederation. This mean that they have pact of coexistences between them and the general of assembly, with their corresponding representatives from each city. The most importance city were Tikal, Uxmal, Copa, Tula, Palenque, Itza and Chichen etc. The largest Maya cities were Tikal with 60, 000 people and 6 square-mile area, giving a population density greater than city and Europe and what Childe’s giving as a city population. Each city were ruled by an “Alach Uinic” which means “The True Man”, and a huge plaza. The plaza was ringed with temples, pyramids, a ball court and a palace for the city ruler. Among the ruler, they decide the internal and external politics(law), the collection of taxes and the religious rituals. Keep in mind, Mayan society was mainly organized on lineages, it was very important for them to know their lineage, because is greatly influenced the proportion of land each get, the social and governmental position. The Maya made grandiose architectures structure in the middle of the jungle, pyramids and developed mathematics in such a way that they performed calculation not know by other civilization, like the invention of Zero (0). They developed a system of writing using glyptic symbols inscribed on building, ceramics, and book. Books that, Diego de Landa destroyed, according to, the film Cracking the Maya Code. the Hieroglyphics were the most original writing ever invented, by Maya. De Landa, saw the writing and thought they were tools of the devil, and felt he needed it to take a political stance. His main mission was to convert the Maya to Catholicism; when find out the Maya was still making their rituals and offering to their gods he arrested and torture

I came home from school thinking about all the facts about the Maya I learned in history class. When night came I got into my bed and closed my eyes. I awoke to loud noise surrounding me. Once I cleared my foggy eyes I couldn’t believe what I saw. There were beautifully carved red colored limestone pyramids and temples towering over thousands of people. Everywhere I looked, I could see large red limestone structures surrounded by a lush green forest. Many people around me were carving, painting, and making a large temple that could have been ordered from the king. There were men chipping away at the soft limestone with an incredible tool I recognized from history class where there is a long stick attached to a large sharp arrowhead made out of a strong stone.