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Mayan Civilization
Who are these people?
Bell Ringer
• What are 3 characteristics of advanced civilizations?
Origin
• The Mayan 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.