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THE MAYAN CIVILIZATION

The history
The Maya civilization was a very old culture in Mesoamerica. It is famous because people there knew about writing, art, advanced mathematics, and advanced astronomical (star) systems. Other pre-Columbian American civilizations did not have these.

In the 8th and 9th century, the cities in the southern lowlands had problems, and declined. At the same time, the Maya stopped making big monuments and inscriptions. Shortly afterwards, these cities were abandoned. Currently, archaeologists are not sure why this happened. There are different theories. Some think ecological factors played a role in this.

Social Structure
The Maya civilization was certainly never an "empire", inasmuch as one person never ruled the entire region. Kings were hereditary positions, and, at least after they were dead, the kings were sometimes considered gods.

Gender differences
Ancient Maya women had an important role in society: beyond just propagating culture through the bearing and raising of children, Maya women involved themselves in economic, governmental and farming activities.

Although the Maya preferred that rulership pass to sons and not daughters, the eighth ruler of Palenque was a woman. Men and women performed separate but equal tasks: males produced food by agricultural labor, but females processed the products of the field to make them edible.

Science

Mayan Astrology was a form of Mesoamerican form of astrology that was one of the most advanced forms of astrology of its time.

Numerical System

Astronomy
Astronomy was a very important factor of Mayan culture. They had two calendars the ritual one called Tzolkin that was used for calculating religious ceremonies and festivals and predicting the destiny of people. The second calendar was the solar calendar called Haab containing 18 months of 20 days each plus 5 unlucky days called Uayeb . The two calendars were used on conjunction and the Maya calculations were so accurate that they were able to make exact reckonigs predict eclipses and plot the orbit of the planet Venus.

b a a

No. Seq. 1 2

Name of month Pop Wo'

Glyph example

meaning mat black conjunction red conjunction bat ? dog new sun water black storm

No. Seq. 10 11

Name of month Yax Sak'

Glyph example

meaning green storm white storm

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Sip Sotz' Sek Xul Yaxk'in' Mol Ch'en

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Keh Mak K'ank'in Muwan' Pax K'ayab Kumk'u

red storm enclosed yellow sun owl planting time turtle granary five unlucky days

19

Wayeb'

Tzolkin
Seq. No. 1 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Day Name 2 Imix' Ik' Ak'b'al K'an Chikchan Kimi Manik' Lamat Muluk Ok Glyph 16th C. 3 Yucatec 4 example Imix Ik Akbal Kan Chicchan Cimi Manik Lamat Muluc Oc reconstruct ed Seq. Classic No. 1 Maya 5 Imix (?) / Ha' (?) Ik' 11 12 Day Name 2 Chuwen Eb' B'en Ix Men K'ib' Kab'an Etz'nab' Kawak Ajaw Glyph 16th C. 3 Yucatec 4 example Chuen Eb Ben Ix Men Cib Caban Etznab Cauac Ahau reconstruct ed Classic Maya 5 (unknown) (unknown) (unknown) Hix (?) (unknown) (unknown) Chab' (?) (unknown) (unknown) Ajaw

Ak'b'al (?) 13 K'an (?) (unknown) Cham (?) 14 15 16

Manich' (?) 17 Ek' (?) (unknown) (unknown) 18 19 20

Religion
The Mayans were very religious people. Their religion regulated almost everything in their life. Priests were the most important people in the tribes. The Mayans believed their gods had destroyed and recreated their earth several times that is why they always tried to please their gods with sacrifices. They believed that if they sacrifice their slaves than their lives will improve by having more rain and sun for their corn and other harvest. They thought that their king is God and at the moment that their lost faith in him everything will go wrong with their lives. Maybe this is the reason was most of the biggest towns were abandoned by the Mayan population.

Ruins
There were a lot Mayan cities, but unfortunately the were all extinct . However all the people were not extinct ! Now they are only old temples left. The Chichen Itza

Mayan Ruins, Tulum, Mexico pictures

The Mayan city

Survivors

There are a lot of Mayans, some of them are pure Mayans, and some of them are mixed with Spaniards and some other cultures. So they arent extinct. The Maya have a long history of traditions and beliefs using natural sources for food, medicine, clothing and ceremonies; today, the Maya continue to follow tradition. The Mayan language exists, and is spoken in some places.