Mayan Civilization

Who are these people?

Origin

• The Maya lived in what is now southern Mexico into northern Central America. The Yucatan Peninsula.

• The Maya began to grow as a civilization from 2000 B.C. to 400 B.C. By A.D. 250, the Maya were a flourishing civilization.

Where they lived

Urban Centers

• The Classic Period: 250 to 900 A.D.

• The Maya built advanced cities such as Tikal, Copan, Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichen Itza.

• Independent city-states: ruled by a god-king. Center for religious ceremonies and trade.

Urban Centers cont’d

• These cities featured pyramids, temples, palaces, and elaborate stone carvings dedicated to gods. Tens of thousands of people lived in these cities.

• Each Maya city featured a ball court in which they played a game that had religious significance.

Chichen Itza

Agriculture & Trade

• Cities were linked through alliances and trade.

• Exchanged: salt, flint, feathers, shells, and honey, as well as craft goods like: cotton textiles and jade ornaments.

• Grew: maize, beans, and squash.• Used slash and burn techniques as well as

planting on raised beds over swamps and hillside terraces.

Kingdoms

• Successful farming led to accumulation of wealth and the development of social classes (like feudal Europe at the same time).– Kings: holy, heriditary.– Nobles: priests and leading warriors– Merchants and skilled artisans– Peasants (the majority)

Mayan Religion

• Polytheistic, believed that many gods influenced daily aspects of life.

• Believed that each day was a living god whose behavior could be predicted with the aid of a system of calendars…

Religious Practices

• Made offerings of food, flowers, and incense.

• Pierced and cut into bodies and offered their blood.

• Sometimes used human sacrifice, usually captured enemies.– Believed that this pleased the gods and kept

the world in balance.

Mayan Math

• Their religious beliefs led to the development of the calendar, math, and astronomy.– Time was a burden on the back of a god, who

would pass it off to another god the next day.– A day would be lucky or unlucky depending

on the nature of the god.

Calendar

• Developed a 260 day religious calendar, which consisted of thirteen 20-day months.

• Also developed a 365 (like ours!) day solar calendar which consisted of eighteen 20-day months.– The two calendars were linked together like

gears so that any day could be identified in both cycles.

– Helped identify best times to plant crops, attack enemies, and crown new rulers.

Calendar cont’d

Calendar cont’d

• The Mayan calendar was based on careful observation of the planets, sun, and moon (astronomy).

• Accuracy: were able to calculate the solar year at 365.2420 days, only .0002 of a day short of the calendar we use today.

Mayan Math

• They used a system that had the concept of zero.

• Base-20 system (we use a base-10)– Shell symbol for zero– Dots for numbers one through four– A bar for five– They used numbers for their calendar and

astronomical work.

Written Language

• The Maya also had the most developed writing system in the ancient Americas.

• System consisted of around 800 hieroglyphic symbols or glyphs.– Some stood for words, others syllables.– Used stone or bark-paper recordings called a

codex to keep records.– Creation story called the Popol Vuh.

Decline

• No one knows for certain why the Maya declined…

• Around 800 A.D. they began to abandon their city-states.

• Invaded by the Toltec from the north.– Warfare caused problems with the economy and

trade.– Over-population and over-farming were problems as

well.– By 1500, when the Spanish arrived, the Maya were a

collection of small, weak city-states.