The Maya Civilization

The Maya civilization was developed by the Mayan people and was a Mesoamerican civilization. Maya Civilization resided in a large territory that included covering southeastern Mexico, northern Central America and all of the Yucatan Peninsula. Most of the area is covered in vast plains with few mountains and a low coastline. The Mayans were agriculture and worked on city construction, stone monuments, and building pyramids. They cultivated chili peppers, beans, sunflower sees, squashes, cacao, vanilla, maize and cotton. The Mayans developed the only known fully developed writing system of the pre-Columbian Americans, hieroglyph writing. The symbols of writing were engraved on books, buildings, artifacts and stele. Maya made a huge imprint on
They did not develop an exact currency, but instead they traded various objects instead of using actual money. The Maya society was complex, but was divided between the elite and the commoners. The complexity continued to grow when the populations grew enormously. Wealthy citizens were political hierarchies. Middle class citizens were low ranking priests, merchants, artisans, officials and soldiers. Commoners were made up of slaves, servants, famers, and laborer's. Since the Maya rule was centered in royal culture, the ruler is a King. The king held a transcendent status and was a supreme ruler. The king was identified as the young maize god. He was also believed to be the mediator of the gods and the human world. Throughout the period of 250 to 900 AD, Maya Civilization flourished and advanced. It is when they artistically, politically and intellectually developed. This classic period was a time of development that established the Maya as one of the most advanced civilizations in the world. It was a revolution for math, astronomy, arts, medicine and science. During this time remarkable city states were established such as Altun Ha, Copán, Caracol, Tikal and
They also believed in powerful deities, sacred forces supernatural existence. There were thirteen gods of the thirteen heavens and nine gods from the nine underworlds. Parts of nature such as planets, crops, periods of time had their own gods. They practice rituals and ceremonial offerings. They also believed in the religious practice of worshipping deceased ancestors. Maya beliefs influenced their art, writing and architecture. An important ritual Maya believed in was sacrifice. The sacrifice of something living was a powerful and meaningful offer because blood was looked at as a strong source of nourishment. It was used for the most important Maya rituals and was their way of offering blood to the gods.
Maya art includes stone carvings, pyramids, murals, and clay figures. They crafted eccentric flints which took a lot of skill to make, usually out of flint, obsidian or chert. They generally portray geometric shapes, humans or animals. They may be shaped in crosses or crescents also. Ceramics were the most surviving out of all the Maya art. Since the Maya wasn’t advanced enough to use a pottery wheel, the ceramics were made out of built up coiled rolled strips of clay and then were molded. Human and animal bone was also used as an art medium to