CIVILIZATIONS IN ANCIENT AMERICA

PARTICIPANTS

Name ID

Israt Zahan 122200045

Rifat Bin Younus 122200027

Zerin Ahmed 103200068

Afroza Sultana Soma 122200016

Rafia Sultana 122200050

CONTENTS

Mayan Civilization 

The Inca civilization 

Mayan People 

Political History 

Political Organization of Maya 

Economic Condition 

Mayan food & Clothing Inca’s ART 

Mayan Architecture  

Inca’s Religion 

Mayan sculpture & painting 

Inca’s art 

Mayan Religion. 

Inca’s Literature 

Mayan literature  

Inca’s Learning.

Mayan Learning 

 

MAYAN CIVILIZATION• The Mayan civilization occupied the eastern third of

Mesoamerica, primarily the Yucatan Peninsula known as the ancient MAYA.

• The Geographic features were unlimited including mountains, volcanoes, jungles, coastal plains, and swampy lands.

• The southern portion of the Lowlands were covered by a rain forest with an average height of about 150 feet.

Maya civilization

MAYAN CIVILIZATION

• The northern Lowlands were also comprised of forests but they were drier than their southern counterparts, mainly growing small thorny trees.

• February to May was the dry season characterized by air that was intensely hot and uncomfortable.

• The skies filled with a smoky grit, making the air even more unbearable until the rains came in late May to clear the murky atmosphere.

MAYAN PEOPLE • Maya civilization spans more than 3000 years in the rain

forests and mountains of what is now Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize.

• During the Classic period (A.D. 250-900), Mayan people created a complex society that includes literature, art, mathematics, astronomy, and calendric.

• Today, they live in remote mountain and lowland communities where they grow their own crops, build their own houses, furniture and musical instruments, and the women still weave and embroider clothing for themselves and their families.

Mayan People

MAYAN PEOPLE • Neighboring communities often speak different Mayan

languages, and they retain their own ritual and ceremonial practices, along with a distinctive style of traditional dress.

• In the early 21st century some 70 Mayan languages were spoken by more than five million people, most of whom were bilingual in Spanish.

• They practiced agriculture, built great stone buildings and pyramid temples, worked gold and copper, and used a form of hieroglyphic writing that has now largely been deciphered.

Mayan People

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

• Primogeniture was the form under which new kings were chosen as the king passed down his position to his son.

• After the birth of a heir, the kings performed a blood sacrifice by drawing blood from his own body as an offering to his ancestors.

• To be a king, one must have taken a captive in a war and that person is then used as the victim in his accession ceremony. The religious explanation that upheld the institution of kingship asserted that Maya rulers were necessary for continuance of the Universe.

MAYAN ART

• The art of the Maya, as with every civilization, is a reflection of their lifestyle and culture.

• The art was composed of painting upon paper and plaster, carvings in wood and stone, clay and stucco models and molds.

• Folding tree Books made were from fig tree bark and placed in royal tomb.

• Spanish, who regarded the symbolic writing as the work of the devil.

Mayan Art

MAYAN FOOD & CLOTHING

• Traditional clothing of Mayan men is a cotton breechcloth with occasionally a sleeveless shirt. Sometime the shirt was white or dyed in different colors.

• Mayan women use to wear traje, a mixture of a woven, colorful blouse known as huipil or a corte, a woven curly skirt.

• From the Mayan ancestors, the basic staple diet is corn.

Mayan Cloth

MAYAN ARCHITECTURE

• They were skilled architects, building great cities of stone that remain even a thousand years after their civilization fell into decline.

• Maya built pyramids, temples, palaces, walls, residences and more.

• The Chichen Itza and the temple of Plumed Serpent is one of the most important symbol of their expert in the architecture.

Chichen Itza

Temple ofPlumed Serpent

MAYAN SCULPTURE & PAINTING

• They built many monumental structures including tall pyramids and palaces. They also made a lot of sculptures out of stone.

• One popular type of Maya sculpture was the Stela.

• The Maya painted murals on the walls of their buildings including their houses, temples, and public buildings. Unfortunately, due to the high humidity of the region, few of the murals have survived.

Stela

Mayan Painting

MAYAN RELIGION• Mayan religion was characterized by the worship

of nature gods associated with the directions the east, west, north, south.

• There were gods of forests, rain, plains, fertility, and animals.

• Mayan religion was closely associated with the months of the year and elaborate ceremonies were performed in celebration of each.

Mayan God

MAYAN LITERATURE

• The Codices of late Aztec period are hardly representative.

• The Mayas apparently intended to preserved their history, mythology and literature in their sculpture and architecture.

• The whole system of written expression is most perplexing.

Mayan Literature

MAYAN LEARNING

• The calendar is the greatest scientific achievement for the Mayas.

• They measured time in katuns or 20 years cycles. The year consisting in365 days, was divided into 18 months.

• One of the main uses of the calendar was to be a guide for the farmers. Mayan Calendar

THE INCA CIVILIZATION

• The Incan Empire was located on the western side of South America. Although the Empire was huge, it can be easily divided into three geographical regions - mountains, jungle, and desert.

• Andes Mountains: North to south were the Andes Mountains - home of the Inca civilization. The mountains dominated Incan society. The mountain peaks were worshiped as gods.

The Inca Empire

THE INCA CIVILIZATION• The Andes created a natural barrier between the

coastal desert on one side and the jungle on the other. The snow-capped mountains were full of deep gorges.

• The Incas must have entered the jungle occasionally, as they did know about the many valuable things that could be found in the Amazon.

• But they never established settlements there. They had no desire to live in the jungle. The Incas expanded north and south instead.

The Geographical Map

POLITICAL HISTORY

• There are few dependable accounts of the history of the Incas. . A great dynasty was ruling here when Francesco Pizzaro arrived.

• Sinchi Roca (1105-1140) was one of the most outstanding rulers.

• The government was despotic and paternalistic. The old rich families supported by the priests formed the privileged class and the lower classes lived in complete subjection. Everything was planned for the individuals.

The Government of Inca

ECONOMIC CONDITION

• The Incas had great farmers, they were the first people to ever grow potatoes.

• Incas also used Llamas and Alpacas to transport and travel. Incan nobles developed hand crafts, building, and architectural skills.

• Buildings and walls built by the Incas still remain today. These nobles also accumulated masses of gold and silver

INCA’S RELIGION

• The Inca believed in reincarnation.

• Death was a passage to the next world that was full of difficulties.

• Most Incas imagined the after world to be very similar to the Euro-American notion of heaven, with flower covered fields and snow capped mountains.

• The Inca also practiced cranial deformation.The Inca Religion

INCA’S ART

• The Incas , like the Mayas , build massive pyramids , constructing both round and square buildings ,with cobblestone domical roof.

• The most common shape in Inca architecture was the rectangular building without any internal walls and roofed with wooden beams and thatch .

• American archaeologist John H. Rowe classified Inca fine masonry in two types: coursed & polygonal.

Inca wall in Cuzco

Cyclopean polygonal masonry

INCA’S LITERATURE

• There is a little evidence of written records , at least in the early period of Inca history .

• Records were kept by means of knotted strings called quips , most of which have been destroyed , while those that remain defy translation .

• The hymns and prayers for religious ceremonies are similar in some respects to those found in the old testament .

The Inca Number

INCA’S LEARNING

• The Inca made many discoveries in medicine.

• Surgical operation were performed on the skull, broken bones were set, and fillings were put in teeth. However, survival rates rose to 80–90% during the Inca era.

• The sophistication of Inca administration, calendric, and engineering necessitated a certain facility with numbers. These numbers were stored in base-10 digits and used in administrative and military units.

Inca Medicine

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