The America's S'more
Ryan Emanuele
The differences
Maya
- architecture- Chichen Itza, Tikal, and Uxmal
- art-masters of pottery, making handsome pots, plates and vases without the use of a potter's wheel. They layered consecutive rings of clay, one on top of another and then smoothed the surfaces by hand. Some pottery artifacts were shaped using intricate molds, some of which survive today. Many Maya pottery pieces were painted with artistic designs in several colors and with Maya writing, depicting events in their daily lives.
- religion- polytheistic religion
- writing-The Maya developed their very own writing system; anthropologists regard their script as one of the most advanced in the American continent. The Maya writing system evolved past the stage of pictorical representation, into ideographical representation, and was not far from becoming a phonetic alphabet.
- medicine-complex blend of mind, body, religion, ritual and science.They practiced sorcery for the purpose of healing, foresight, and control over natural events. Since medicine was so closely related to religion, it was essential that Maya medicine men had vast medical knowledge and skill. It is known that the Maya sutured wounds with human hair, reduced fractures, and were even skilled dental surgeons, making prostheses from jade and turquoise and filling teeth with iron pyrite.
Aztec
- architecture-Tollán
- art-Sculpture, music, poetry
- religion-polytheistic religion writing-The Maya developed
- writing-wrote using symbols called glyphs or pictographs. They didn't have an alphabet, but used pictures to represent events, items, or sounds. Only the priests knew how to read and write.
- medicine- believed that illness could come from natural causes as well as supernatural causes (the gods). They used a wide variety of herbs to cure sickness. One of the main cures doctors suggested was steam baths. They thought that by sweating, the poisons making the person sick would leave their body.
Inca
- architecture-
Stone masonry, Manchu picchu
- art-less skilled in most arts
- religion-polytheistic religion
- writing-
The Quechua Language,about twenty different languages.
- medicine-When people got sick in the Inca empire, priests usually performed healing ceremonies over them. The Incas also had a fairly sophisticated understanding of the medicinal properties of herbs and plants.
The Aztecs: Engineering an Empire