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Kyleigh Hammonds

Mrs. Wallace

Spanish 1 First Block

March 9, 2017

The Ancient Maya

The ancient Maya civilization began around 2,600 BC and mysteriously ended in about

1517 AD. Nobody really knows why this amazing civilization started to decline and ended like it

was never even there. But many of the artifacts and structures are still in the main geographical

areas. These locations are lower Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. There

were many different locations where the ancient Maya lived, this separation led to wars and

disagreement.

What also led to disagreements were their many different political systems. All of the

different locations had separate but similar systems. Though all of the locations shared one

belief, that the rulers were god-like or descended from gods. Every one of their leaders was part

of the royal family. No one else was allowed on the throne. One of the more well known or

famous rulers was Pakal the Great.

The Maya believe that that there were three creations. The first was the mud people. The

gods were not satisfied with their creations so they easily killed them off with a great flood. The

second was people made of wood. The gods weren't pleased with these people either but they

couldn't kill them off as easily. These people were immortal, they would die but come back to

life after three days. The last creation was modern day humans, the maya believe that we are

made of maize dough and the blood of the gods. Interesting right?
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Another thing that is interesting is how many different languages the Maya speak. There

are over 21 different known maya languages today. A few of those are; Itzj, Mopan, and

Lacandon. The languages are categorized by a large tree that splits off into several different

branches by where the languages are spoken.

Because of the Mayans dedication to their gods and goddesses their cities are built around

the temple or temples in the cities. This creates a large plaza formation, outside of the plaza the

buildings are put together in different clusters. Many of the houses were stone foundations with

wooden structures and thatched roofs. Over time they would rebuild the wooden part and the

foundation would be used multiple times.

One other interesting fact about this ancient tribe is the way their calendar is set up. It is

basically one big cycle that repeats until it oddly just ends, on December 21, 2012. Im sure

many remember that whole month of people preparing for doomsday because they thought the

world was going to end. Obviously the Maya got it wrong because here we are 5 years later, but

it is still a mystery why these ancient people decided on to end an almost exact calendar on such

a random day. Many of the things that we have discovered about the Mayans have been things

we cannot comprehend how they accomplished them. Maybe they used algorithms, philosophies

and ideas that have been lost in time, the world may never know.

Works Cited
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http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/maya/mmc09eng.shtml
http://www.ducksters.com/history/maya/maya_civilization_timeline.php
http://www.ancient.eu/Maya_Civilization/
http://www.ancient.eu/Maya_Government/
http://www.ancient.eu/Maya_Religion/
http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/Maya/p/Ancient-Maya-Economy-And-Trade.htm
https://maya.nmai.si.edu/calendar/calendar-system
http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/Maya/p/Ancient-Maya-Architecture.htm
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mayan-languages
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