The Maya
By:Sydnee Miller
Where the Maya lived
The Maya lived in Mesoamerica in Mexico. In Mexico, they lived in Yucatan Peninsula in Palenque (city). They had Temples or Palaces. Some of their houses were made of sticks, poles, and mud.
Travel for Kids | Caracol Maya Ruins Belize
Pok A Tok
Pok A Tok is a game that the Maya played. It involved a rubber ball. The winners would get riches and the losers were sacrificed to the gods. For Pok aA Tok, you couldn't use your hands or feet you had to us like your sides or some part of your body.
The Mayas Food.
The Maya ate corn/ maize, beans, squash, and avocados. The Mayas also hunted and ate monkeys, deer, and rabbits.
Avocados
One of the foods the Mayas ate was avocados.
Corn/Miaze
Maize is another word for corn. Maize was a huge food for the Mayas.
Cotton
Cotton was another crop that the Mayas grew.
What the Maya believed was Beautiful
The Maya believed that crossed eyes, flat foreheads, and sharp teeth were beautiful. They would make people look like this when they were babies because babies heads are soft and fragile when they are born. So, they would strap a board to the babies heads to make them have flat foreheads. Then, they would put something in front of the baby and go back and forth with it to make their eyes cross. Then, to make them have sharp teeth they might have just sharpened them.
Acheivements
Some of the Mayas achievements were that they had 2 calendars one that was 365 days for harvest/planting. Then, their other calendar was 260 days and was for religious events. Another achievement they had was observatory/astronomy that is used to study space. They also created the symbol/concept of zero. They were great mathematicians. The Mayas also created a writing system, pictographs/hieroglyphics and they wrote on bark. Some other achievements that the Mayas had were architecture/builders, they used obsidian to carve stone, and no metal tools existed in Mesoamerica. Finally, they did carvings, they painted and they were jewelry makers.
Maya Religion
The Maya was Polytheistic which means they believe in more than one god. The Maya religion was different than some of ours now. For example, they sacrificed people's hearts and blood for their gods. They thought that the gods needed blood to be able to prevent disaster or the end of the world. Some of the gods that they believed in were the sun god, moon god, and the rain god. The picture shown is an example of the sun god.
Decline of the Maya
Some possible reasons for the decline of the Maya are that the Mayas left cities for the country sides. They stopped building and they had less power. This happened around the 900s.
The Classic Age
The Classic Age was from 250-900 AD. The Maya had 40 governments. They had trade routes. The Maya also had terrace farms on mountain sides.
Social Structure
The upper class had priests, merchants, and warriors. The upper class had all the power. The lower class was farmers and servants and they were responsible for children, cooking, and made yarn and cloth. The lower class paid rulers part of their crops, salt, silk clothes, and they had to build structures.
Other Reasons for Decline of the Maya
Rebellion, farmers, and servants tired of working for Kings. Wars, people fled for safety, out of cities to mountains or highlands. Food shortages, over worked the land. Then, climate change, drought, and not enough food.