Ancient

Mayans

El Castillo

Introduction

•The Maya developed an advanced civilization around 2600 B.C.in the Yucatan area in Mexico and Central America

•Accomplished mathematicians, astronomers, and invented an advanced form of writing.

Mayan Cities

• Center for rituals and religion• Pyramids such as “El Castillo” served as

ceremonial sites for priests.

CitiesMayan Cities

More about Mayan Cities

Mayan Government• The Maya Empire was not one unified nation. They were a

collection of city-states. There was no central government. One noble family controlled each city.

• Each city had a noble family in charge of it. Control of the city passed from father to son.

• The head of the noble family in each city had government officials to help him rule his city.. Some of these officials acted as judges, others were in law enforcement.

• Each city-state ruled only itself. But officials did visit other cities on government business.

• They had large marketplaces where people bartered goods• The government disappeared without specific reason

Mayan Religious Beliefs

Polytheism = Belief in many Gods

Believed that Gods controlled everything

Priests had great influence because Mayans thought priests could talk to the Gods

Gods symbolized as animals: Rain God = snake, Sun God = Jaguar, Death God= bat

Food and animal sacrifices common; humans (such as defeated tribes) sometimes

Main god was god of maize (corn)

Astronomy

• Masters of the Night Sky- known for their observatories

• Accurately charted the planets by using a forked stick like implement

• Created an accurate yearly calendar• Predicted eclipses of the sun

Religion: Importance of Agriculture

• Mayan religion reflected the fundamental role of agriculture in their society

• Popol Vuh, was the Mayan creation myth that taught that the gods had created human beings out of maize and water

• Gods kept the world in order and maintained the agricultural cycle in exchange for honors and sacrifices

This is Chaac, the God of Rain

Job SpecificationThe jobs ranged anywhere from teachers to cloth makers. The highest paid jobs were of course, kings or the ruling family. At the bottom of the "Social Pyramid" were slaves. Most of the jobs the Maya had, we still have today. One of the jobs that the Mayan had and we don't are warriors. They used warriors back then to protect their country and civilization. One of the many reasons  having many jobs in the civilization was because it helped them out a lot. It helped them because they would have more resources to sell which made the civilization wealthy. Also having more jobs made the town smarter because they knew a lot of different information. Having many jobs helped the Maya become more advanced and smarter.

Mayan Daily Life

Maya

Mayas were skilled farmers, weavers, potters, and created elaborate buildings without the use of metals.

Mayan calendars

The Maya developed a sophisticated calendar. The ritual calendar that developed in Mesoamerica used a count of 260 days. This calendar gave each day a name, much like our days of the week. There were 20 day names, each represented by a unique symbol. The days were numbered from 1 to 13. Since there are 20 day names, after the count of thirteen was reached, the next day was numbered 1 again. The 260-day or sacred count calendar was in use throughout Mesoamerica for centuries, probably before the beginning of writing.

Mayan numbers

The Mayans had a number system consisting of shells, dots, and lines.  You could write up to nineteen with just these symbols. The Maya were one of the only ancient civilizations that understood the concept of zero. This allowed them to write very large numbers

Investigate

Corn Beans Squash Avocado

Tomatoes Chili peppers Quetzal Honeybees

Pottery Writing Architecture Astronomy

Social Classes:

•Priests•Wealthy Nobles•Craftsman/Merchants•Commoners and low level government officials•Slaves and servants

Arts and Architecture• Early construction materials were wood and

adobe and later stone.  • Majority of stone structures found in the

remains of Mayan cities were temples• Masters of pottery, making handsome pots, plates and

vases• Despite not having metal tools, the Maya were masters

of stone sculpture• Art was intimately connected to religion, with most of

their artwork serving a religious purpose

More Arts and Architecture

Public Works

• The most notable works of the Maya include palaces and pyramids & temples.

Writing

• Mayans created the most advanced pre-colonial writing in the Western Hemisphere

• Over 800 different images were used to record their history

king sky house child

References• The Ancient Maya• http://www.digitalmeesh.com/maya/history.htm

• Civilization.ca-Mystery of the Maya http://www.civilization.ca/civil/maya/mmc01eng.html

• Ancient Mayan Civilization http://www.kidskonnect.com/AncientMayan/AncientMayanHome.html

• Traditions of the Sun http://www.traditionsofthesun.org/ViewerYucatan/

• Pyramid of El Castillo http://www.internet-atwork.com/hos_mcgrane/chichen/chichen_castle.html#