The Mayans

Physical appearance

Acquiring these physical features for Mayan people would have occurred at
different times in their life. The process of elongating the forehead would have
occurred during a person's infancy because the cranium of an infant is still soft, so
the skull can be bounded to allow it to harden and grow a certain way. Since the
Mayans desired a conical shape for the skull, the mothers or midwives of infant
Mayans would have bounded their babies' skulls to create that elongated, conical
shape. Dental modifications, on the other hand, would have occurred later in a
Mayan person's life, once their adult teeth developed.

Location and Settlement

The Maya are an indigenous people of Mexico and Central America who have
continuously inhabited the lands comprising modern-day Yucatan, Quintana Roo,
Campeche, Tabasco, and Chiapas in Mexico and southward through Guatemala,
Belize, El Salvador and Honduras. The rise of the Maya began about 250 CE, and
what is known to archaeologists as the Classic Period of Mayan culture lasted until
about 900 CE. At its height, Mayan civilization consisted of more than 40 cities,
each with a population between 5,000 and 50,000. Among the principal cities were
Tikal, Uaxactún, Copán, Bonampak, Dos Pilas, Calakmul, Palenque, and Río Bec.
The peak Mayan population may have reached two million people, most of whom
were settled in the lowlands of what is now Guatemala. After 900 CE, however, the
Classic Maya civilization declined precipitously, leaving the great cities and
ceremonial centres vacant and overgrown with jungle vegetation. Some scholars
have suggested that armed conflicts and the exhaustion of agricultural land were
responsible for the sudden decline. Discoveries in the 21st century led scholars to
posit several additional reasons for the destruction of Mayan civilization. One
cause was probably the war-related disruption of river and land trade routes. Other
contributors may have been deforestation and drought. During the Post-Classic
Period (900–1519), cities such as Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, and Mayapán in the
Yucatán Peninsula continued to flourish for several centuries after the great
lowland cities had become depopulated. By the time the Spaniards conquered the
area in the early 16th century, most of the Maya had become village-dwelling
agriculturists who practiced the religious rites of their forebears.

Economic practices
What were the MAIN activities that they did to produce their basic
 needs?

1. Trade

They traded within the mainland. They traded by land and sea. There was a day set
aside for market day and there established market centers. The highlands had
goods that the lowlands did not have. They used the rivers and the long coastline as
sea routes to get from one city state to another. This way too, they could carry a
large volume of goods in the large canoes that they built instead of a limited
amount on their heads over long distances.

They also traded obsidian and flint. The flint was in great demand for fire purposes
but was only plenty in a certain area. Other precious metals and stones were traded
to be used for ornamental or religious purposes. For that same reason they traded
feathers.

We already know that they traded with the people of the Greater Antilles.

The merchants and traders were known as ppolms. They were often used as and
suspected of being spies who carried information from one city to another.

Mayan Jade was believed to bestow greenness and fertility to the land around

it. The Mayan used cocoa beans as currency/money.

2. Farming

They practiced slash and burn, terracing and raised field farming techniques. They
grew a wider variety of crops to include starch and vegetables. Maize (corn) was
also their favorite starch. Among the list of foods, we find squash, pumpkin and
of course cacao. They too had cotton, cassava, papaya and sweet potatoes.

3. Hunting

The Tainos and Kalinagos only knew two animals. The wild forests of the Central
American mainland were the natural habitat of many animals such as a number of
birds, deer, and the jaguar. They too hunted the agouti.

4. Animal Husbandry

They reared a wide variety of animals in order to provide meat for their families
and for sale in the market. Examples of these are rabbits and the tapir.

5. Mining

This was very important to Mayan society and politics. There were large deposits
of limestone to be found along the Central American mainland. Using their slave
Labor, they extracted huge blocks of limestone for the construction of their
cities, temples and pyramids.

Political structure
• The Maya lived in individual political states that were linked together
through trade, political alliances, and tribute obligations. Some of these
states were independent, while others were part of larger political
hierarchies.
• The Maya states were initially governed by simple chiefdoms. By the
Classic Period, Maya governance had taken on the form of powerful
centralized leaders who earned their authority through their political
connections and their divine lineages (leadership was passed from Father to
son).
• Individuals who disobeyed their rulers faced severe punishment (mainly
human sacrifice) because the Maya people believed that obedience to their
leader was critical to maintaining the harmony of the Maya universe. Human
sacrifice had begun prior to the Classic Period and was used as a tool of
social and religious control to demonstrate the power of the ruler and the
gods.
• At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Yucatan was divided into 18
separate Maya states, with many smaller towns and villages under the
jurisdiction of a capital city. Nine of these states were ruled by a single ruler
 called a halach uinic (or ahaw) or The True Man, while the others were led
by councils of nobles of elite lineage or were allied with larger states. The
halach uinic’s power was limited by his council (holpop) and special
military and foreign advisors, but he was still considered to be the highest
authority in his state and was required to be from an elite lineage. Rulers
were succeeded by their sons, brothers, or a suitable candidate who was
selected by the priests and council if no relatives existed.
• The halach uinic appointed the batabs, who were the overseers and
administrators of dependent cities and villages within the state.
• Batabs usually held administrative, judicial, and military authority over their
towns, ensured that tribute was paid to the halach uinic, and supplied troops
in times of war. Batabs were not paid tribute but were supported by the
people who lived in their town.
• Each batab presided over a local council composed of town officials known
as the ah cuch cabob. These councilors were the heads of the different
subdivisions (nalil) within the towns.
• The Batabs also had assistants (al kuleloob) who assisted them with carrying
out their government duties. Each town had constables (tupiles) who were
supervised by the batab and were charged with keeping the peace.
• Each of the Maya states had a supreme military commander called a nacom.
The nacom served a three-year term and was responsible for formulating
military strategy and calling troops to battle.
• The individual states also had a high priest who led a hierarchy of priests,
determined the dates for festivals and ceremonies, and foretold auspicious
events for the ruler.

Mayan Social Structure and Practices

• Maya society was rigidly divided between nobles, commoners, serfs, and slaves.

• The noble class was complex and specialized. Noble status and the
occupation in which a noble served were passed on through elite family
lineages. Nobles served as rulers, government officials, tribute collectors,
military leaders, high priests, local administrators, cacao plantation
managers, and trade expedition leaders. Nobles were literate and wealthy,
and typically lived in the central areas of Maya cities.
• Commoners worked as farmers, laborers, and servants. It is believed that
some commoners became quite wealthy through their work as artisans and
merchants, and that upward mobility was allowed between classes through
service in the military. Regardless, commoners were forbidden from wearing
the clothes and symbols of nobility and could not purchase or use luxury and
exotic items. Commoners generally lived outside the central areas of towns
and cities and worked individual and communal plots of land.
• The Maya had a system of serfdom and slavery. Serfs typically worked lands
that belonged to the ruler or local town leader. There was an active slave
trade in the Maya region, and commoners and elites were both permitted to
own slaves. Individuals were enslaved as a form of punishment for certain
crimes and for failing to pay back their debts. Prisoners of war who were not
sacrificed would become slaves, and impoverished individuals sometimes
sold themselves or family members into slavery. Slavery status was not
 passed on to the children of slaves. However, unwanted orphan
children became slaves and were sometimes sacrificed during religious
rituals. Slaves were usually sacrificed when their owners died so that they
could continue in their service after death. If a man married a slave woman,
he became a slave of the woman's owner. This was also the case for women
who married male slaves.
Social practices
• The Maya people loved wearing jewelry that was mostly made of jade and
gold. It wasn’t just a girl thing as both men and women would wear
bracelets, necklaces and earrings and the more important someone was, the
more elaborate the jewelry became.
• In childhood the forehead was artificially flattened, and the ears and nose
were pierced for the insertion of earrings and nose-ornaments, of which the
people were very fond.
• Squint-eye or cross eye was considered a mark of beauty, and mothers strove
to disfigure their children in this way by suspending pellets of wax between
their eyes in order to make them squint, thus securing the desired effect.
• The faces of the younger boys were scalded by the application of hot cloths,
to prevent the growth of the beard, which was not popular.
• Both men and women wore their hair long. Men had a large spot burned on
the back of the head, where the hair always remained short. Apart from a
small queue, which hung down behind, the hair was gathered around the
head in a braid. The women wore a more beautiful coiffure divided into two
braids.
• The faces of both sexes were much disfigured as a result of their religious
beliefs, which led to the practice of scarification.
• Tattooing also was common to both sexes, and there were persons in almost
every community who were especially proficient in this art. Both men and
women painted themselves red, the former decorating their entire bodies,
and the latter all except their faces, which modesty decreed should be left
unpainted.
• The women also anointed themselves very freely with fragrant gums and
perfumes.
• They filed their teeth to sharp points, a practice which was thought to
enhance their beauty.
• The clothing of the men was simple. They wore a breech cloth wrapped
several times around the loins and tied in such a way that one end fell in
front between the legs and the other in the corresponding position behind.
These breech cloths were carefully embroidered by the women and
decorated with feather work. A large square cape hung from the shoulders,
and sandals of hemp or leather completed the costume. For persons of high
rank, the apparel was much more elaborate, the humble breech cloth and
cape of the laboring man giving place to panaches of gorgeously colored
feathers hanging from wooden helmets, rich mantles of tiger skins, and
finely wrought ornaments of gold and jade.
Religion
Maya religious beliefs are formed on the notion that virtually everything in the
world contains k'uh, or sacredness. K'uh and k'uhul, similar terms which are used
to explain the spirituality of all inanimate and animate things, describe the most
divine life force of existence. Maya belief establishes the creation and sanctity of
human beings, the earth, and all things sacred. This divine sanctity can be
translated into Maya creation myths as well.
Creation of the earth: For the Maya the creation of the earth is said to have been a
deed of Huracán, the wind and sky god. The sky and earth connected, which left no
space for any beings or vegetation to grow. In order to make space, a Ceiba tree
was planted. The tree grew roots in all the levels of the underworld and its
branches grew into the upper world. The tree trunk grew to leave space on earth for
animals, plants, and humans. According to Maya belief, animals and plants were
extant before humans. The gods were not satisfied with only the animals because
they could not speak to honor them. From there, humans were made in order to
honor the gods.

Built from Mud: The first creation saw the people who were made of mud. The
mud people were not the most productive as many were not able to think in the
capacity that modern-day humans do and, according to Maya sacred texts, these
men “spoke but had no mind.” They could not move because they were made of
mud, and they also were not technically mortal. The gods were not happy with
their first creation, so they destroyed the mud people with water.

Built from Wood: For the second creation, the deities made men from wood and
women from reeds. These people could function as humans do but had no souls
and did not honor the gods. They were also immortal. When they died, they only
remained dead for three days and would rise from the dead. The destruction of the
tree men and reed women was caused by an inundation of boiling hot water. The
few who may have survived this apocalypse are thought to have become the
monkeys that exist today.

Built from Maize: The third creation saw the birth of modern-day humans. These
humans are made of white and yellow maize dough and the blood of the gods. The
first humans were four men and four women. These men and women were deemed
too wise by the gods. The Maya deities believed these intelligent humans were a
threat to their authority and almost destroyed them as well. However, Heart of
Heaven (also known as Huracán, but in the creation story he is the Heart of
Heaven, Heart of Earth, or Heart of Sky) clouded their minds and eyes so that they
would become less wise.
Mayan gods

1. Itzam Ná & Ix Chebel Yax: Itzam Ná is the god attributed to creation. Not
much is known about him and the same can be said of his counterpart, Ix
Chebel Yax. Itzam Ná is often depicted as a squinty-eyed, long-nosed old
man or sometimes even an iguana.
2. Huracán: another significant Maya god, is often referred to as the Heart of
Heaven, Heart of Sky, or Heart of Earth. While there is not much direct
evidence about Huracán being the supreme creator god, the Popol Vuh does
imply in one of its prayers that Huracán is a “giver of life.”
3. K'inich Ajaw: (pronounced Ah-how) is typically portrayed as rising or being
born in the East and aging as the sun sets. This fierce sun deity would then
turn into a jaguar and become a war advisor in the underworld. The sun
 deities are both worshipped and feared because, while they offer the
lifegiving properties of the sun, they can sometimes provide too much sun
and cause a drought.
4. Yum Kaax: The maize god, is perhaps the most important of the celestial
beings as well. He is the creator of modern humans by the lowland Yucatec
Maya. This is because his maize and blood are what made humanity
possible. He is a symbol of life and fertility and is portrayed as a young,
long-haired man.
5. Chak: the seeming counterpart of K'inich Ajaw, is the rain god. Chak is both
part human and part reptile and he is usually shown with a lightning bolt, a
serpent, or an axe. This fearsome god sometimes is shown painted in blue
and with snake-like whiskers protruding from his face. The Maya believe
that Chak lived in caves where he would make lightning, thunder, and
clouds. Chak, too, was both feared and worshipped. He brought the needed
rains for the people, but also produced floods, threatening lightning, and
behaved much like a wild storm. He also demanded blood sacrifices in
payment for the rains that he provided.

Heaven, Hell, & The Cardinal Directions

Contrary to contemporary western ideas of heaven and hell, the Maya

believed in different levels of these realms. There are three main areas to
distinguish from one another, however. The Maya understands supernatural
levels not as heaven and hell, but as the upper world, middle world, and
underworld.
The upper world consists of thirteen levels, the middle world is one level,
and the underworld is nine levels. The Ceiba tree is believed to grow
through all the realms, from the highest level of the upper world to the
lowest level of the underworld. The Ceiba tree is vital to understanding the
importance of the cardinal directions in the Maya world.

Maya Urn with Jaguar Figure & Skulls

Maya deities are linked to the cardinal directions. While we are familiar with
the four cardinal directions, the Maya understood that there were five
elements to the cardinal directions, the four directions and the center.
Arguably, the most meaningful cardinal direction to the Maya is the east.
The east is where the sun rises, and it is associated with birth because of the
Maya belief that the sun is born daily from the east.
These principles were also part of Maya daily life. Homes were designed to
reflect the cardinal directions and the Ceiba tree. The Maya even built
hearths at the center of their homes in order to represent the Ceiba-tree
center of the cardinal directions.
Maya Rituals
The Maya participated in various religious rituals. Not all of these were
related to human sacrifice, although sacrifice was a common practice in
religious ceremonies. Contrary to popular belief, ritual sacrifice was not
restricted to the gruesome death of a poor captive. While this did happen in
the Maya world on a few occasions, it was a relatively rare occurrence. By
far the most common sacrifice ritual was bloodletting.

Bloodletting
Bloodletting is precisely as it sounds, the spilling of blood as a practice of
sacrifice. In the case of the Maya, bloodletting was constrained to the royal
line. The gods demanded blood because of the initial creation where the
gods spilled their blood in order to give life to humanity. Also, but not as
often, bloodletting was performed in order to communicate with ancestors.
The practice of bloodletting marked significant dates in the Maya world.
Royals participating in the practice would spend, sometimes, days
performing purification rituals in order to prepare for bloodletting. Both men
and women of royal lineages were expected to perform these rituals. Maya
kings and queens would participate in varying forms of bloodletting, even
making sacred tools to perform the ritual. Blood was usually taken from
different parts of the body with specialized tools designed to produce more
blood and perhaps more pain as well. The tools were typically made of
stingray spines and adorned with different glyphs to show their religious
significance.
The practice of bloodletting would often serve to commemorate and sanctify
important events such as births, ascents to the throne, and anniversaries. On
the other hand, human sacrifice was reserved for the greatest Maya events.
Human Sacrifice
The Maya would often combine aspects of warfare and religion. Typically,
this was in the form of taking prisoners for sacrifice.
Sacrifices were important in keeping the gods satisfied and were also vital in
ensuring a military victory. When a king or queen would ascend to the
throne and a political prisoner had been captured, they would commemorate
the life-altering event with a human sacrifice. Typically, these prisoners
would be royals or elites of an enemy state. The most high-up royals were
saved for the sole purpose of recreating events from the Popol Vuh. These
sacrifices were performed in many ways, but there were three methods that
were most common. The first method was through decapitation. The next
method was the popularized method of removing the heart from the living
person. The final, most popular, method was to throw a living person into a
cenote, or natural well, as an offering to the gods.

Other Offerings & Rituals

 While the most prevalent ritual associated to the ancient Maya is the practice
of sacrifice, they also performed other kinds of rituals. Not all Maya
offerings were so bloody and gruesome. While they may not seem quite
logical to westerners, the alternative offerings do provide interesting ways to
communicate with and satisfy the deities.
• One rather startling and overlooked means of communication with the
gods involved lowering children into cenotes. Children were placed in
the wells for them to speak to the god or gods. After a few hours of
being in the well, the children would be retrieved so that the message
from the deities could be heard. Of course, the Maya also participated
in offering to the gods precious items such as jade, gold, masks,
shells, carved human bone, and ceremonial or sacred tools.
• Marriage was another religious ritual and a cause for celebration.
Maya marriages were typically arranged marriages within the same
social class. Age at the time of marriage varied, but experts speculate
that the marriage age was related to population growth and decline.
When the Maya population declined, youths would marry at a
younger age. Couples would be matched at a very young age,
sometimes even when they were infants.
Marriages were performed by priests at the bridal home. Priests would burn
incense to bring a fortuitous marriage and then a feast or other type of
celebration would ensue. If the marriage was not deemed successful by
either husband or wife, the couple could “divorce.” There is no known ritual
for divorce, but it is intriguing that divorce was an acceptable action.
• Dance is another overlooked ritual.
Dance rituals were performed to communicate with the gods. The dances
would feature lavish costumes which depicted the visages of divinities.
Often the Maya would wear or include ornaments such as staffs, spears,
rattles, scepters, and even live snakes as dance aids. The Maya believed that
by dressing and acting as a god, they would be overtaken by the god's spirit
and therefore would be able to communicate with him or her.

Cultural Artform

Mayan Sculpturing: Nearly all extant sculptures from the Mayan cities are done in
stone. Most of these sculptures were carved in order to decorate
different buildings. A specific type of stone sculpture was large slabs of stones
called stelas. Stelas were typically located at a monumental structure and carried
carvings of Mayan gods and warriors, and had inscriptions related to Mayan
religion or mythology. Another type of stone sculpture was the stone lintels and
carvings used in the homes of royalty and nobility.

Mayan Wood Carvings: Wood carving was another popular form of Mayan art.
Since wood was far less durable than stone, most Mayan wood carvings perished
either because of their age or at the hands of different conquerors during different
periods. However, some wood carvings from Mayan cities have survived to this
day and are surprisingly well preserved. Most of the extant piece of Mayan wood
carvings depict Mayan gods or kings in different scenarios. Some of them, for
instance, depict the Mayan jaguar god while another depicts the war serpent, the
serpent being a very common mythological motif for Mayan arts.
Mayan Ceramics: although ceramics were used for more practical purposes in the
Mayan society, as wares for cooking and eating, they also served a more important
function as being pieces of art. This latter position was because Mayans deployed
different techniques to paint their ceramics that depicted gods, animals and other
scenes on them. This was done by painting the ceramics while their clay was still
wet. Throughout the Mayan world, different styles were used to produce different
types of ceramics. These included the Ik style and the Chama style among others.
It was common in Mayan cities to bury vast quantities of ceramics along with a
deceased nobleman, as a way of helping him in his journey through the
underworld.

Mayan Jewelry: Jewelry was one of the major forms of Mayan arts and crafts.
Mayans initially made jewelry out of flint, shell and bone. Such jewelry was often
made in the form of pendants and necklaces. Later, Mayans discovered precious
metals such as gold and silver in their region. This led to the creation of beautiful
and highly intricate jewelry made from these metals. Artists trained at other cities
were brought to Mayan cities to produce such jewelry and over time, jewelry
became a major part of Mayan exports to other cities. Precious materials such as
jade were also commonly used in making jewelry by the Mayans.

Mural Paintings: Mayans frequently painted murals on the interior of monumental

buildings and homes of the nobility. Such murals have been found in well-shielded
locations across many Mayan cities. The common motif of the extant Mayan
murals is warfare, ritual sacrifices, scenes from the daily life of the nobility and
often decorative elements such as floral patterns. Many murals also depict Mayan
deities such as the maize god and Mayan rulers. Most of the Mayan murals were
painted in the homes of the rich elite as well as in the vaulted tombs of the nobility.
A notable feature of Mayan murals is that while the murals painted in the homes
are more colorful and makes use of a variety of shades, those in tombs are done in
black over a whitened surface, occasionally using the red color.

Festivals and celebrations:

In Maya civilization every 20th day was a festival, these festivities included many
things, like bloodletting, and occasionally they would play the Maya ball game.
Also called"Pok a Pok", by the sound produced by the ball being hit against the
walls of the courts or the arms and hips of the players. The Maya used to play ball,
and the existence of different old ball courts in the Yucatan peninsula proves this.
The Mayans considered this game as divine, where the main objective was to shoot
the ball into a stone ring arranged for it. It was believed that the game was a
constant struggle between light and darkness, hence the winning team represented
light and its strength over the darkness. Generally, the losing team was sacrificed
and offered to the gods. For the ball game they would use captives to play the
game versus the Maya team, and the Maya team would always win, and the losers
(normally the captives would be sacrificed) though sacrifice was not always a part
of these festivals.

• Hanal Pixan- this is also known as the day of the dead. This holiday
 celebrates the dead members of each family. This holiday is still
widely celebrated in Mexico today. During this holiday people sit out
food near their deceased’s grave and it is supposed to be an offering to
them, they normally lay out their favorite foods for them to eat.
• Maya people would bury their decease under their house, or if they
were a noble or king possibly under a pyramid.

Technology and Science:

The Mayan civilization was highly advanced for its time and the Mayans invented
several things which were quite futuristic for the age. These included a very
advanced numbering system, a complex calendar, underground reservoirs to store
water, limestone causeways between cities, a complex writing system and a lot
more. These inventions may explain how the civilization was able to dominate the
Mesoamerican region and sustain itself culturally for such a long time.

Mayan Inventions: Writing System

Mayan writing system is one of the most advanced and amazing writings systems
of early human civilizations. It made use of symbols were which meant to denote
different sounds, words and syllables. A picture or a symbol was defined for each
sound and word and in total, the language included 700 to 800 symbols or
“glyphs”. Such remarkably complex language at such an early stage in human
civilization enabled the Mayans to write down their historical and religious books
called codex. Mayans also wrote their languages on stone slabs and temple walls.
Most of the Mayan books were destroyed after the Spanish invasion in the 16th
century, though some have survived.

Mayan Number System

Zero has a crucial significance in the number system and Mayans were able to
invent the concept and understanding of zero on their own. This made their number
system far more advanced than can be expected of a civilization of that era. The
Mayan number system was based on 20 different signs and symbols which were
used to comprehensively denote larger number by making use of the basic unit of
20. Mayans had accurate representations for all basic numerical units. Zero, for
instance, was represented by the symbol of a shell, 1 was represented by a single
dot, 2 was represented by two dots and so on until at five the symbol changed
again. A group of five was represented by a straight line. Ten was likewise
represented by two straight lines. To express numbers larger than 19,
Mayans made use of a base-20 numbering system as opposed to the
base-10 system which was developed and used in most other parts of the
world. In total, the Mayan number system made use of only three symbols and the
dot, the bar and the shell used to denote the zero. With these three symbols, Mayan
laid the basis for a very advanced number system.

The base-20 numerical system was used by the Mayans to write down all larger
numbers exceeding 19. Until 19, Mayans used the simply numerical
representations as mentioned above. Larger numbers were written by representing
20 as a single dot and writing it above the other numbers. 21, for instance, would
be represented by a dot representing 20 on the top and a dot representing one on
the bottom. 44 would be represented by two dots representing 20 each on the top
and five dots on the bottom. In this way, Mayans used multiple rows of dots
representing 20’s to pen down even exceptionally large quantities.

Ball Courts
Ball courts are one of the most frequent features of Mesoamerican civilizations.
Mayans were among the earlier civilizations to feature ball courts in their cities.
The Mayan version of the ball game included two teams who moved a ball with
their hips, hands and arms, but without touching it with their hands. Often the
objective of the game was to put the hall through a hoop at the opposite end of the
field to score points. In this, the ball game of Mayans somewhat resembled modern
basketball. Some of these hoops were placed at 10 feet while others were placed at
a height of 20 feet.

Mayan Inventions: Mayan Stelas

Mayans wrote different stories and messages on vertical slabs of stone by carving
symbols and glyphs into them. These were called stelas and many of them have
survived over the course of history. The stelas read from top to bottom, and they
typically began with a date. Since penning down a stela took quite some time and
hard work, they were mostly used to tell important stories.

Mayan Water Storage Reservoirs

Mayans were highly intelligent in their management of cities. The region inhabited
by Mayans was marked by uncertain environmental conditions such as floods and
droughts. The Mayans needed to counter this effectively in order to be able to
establish larger cities with sure means of access to water throughout the year. To do
this, they built underground reservoirs with stone constructions. The crevices in
these reservoirs were closed with plaster while the water flowing into them was
filtered with the help of sand. Moreover, these reservoirs were built with varying
levels of elevation so that the function of gravity could be used to automatically
transmit water to the inhabitants of the city.

Mayan Calendar and Astronomy

Mayans created a calendar to keep track of the days and to be able to identify them.
Each day in the Mayan calendar had a special significance. The Mayan calendar
comprised of three different systems of dating, to be used in parallel. One of these
systems was called the divine calendar, the second was called the civic calendar
and the third was called the Long Count. The Long Count was created after the
first two systems and was a dating system based on base-20 and base-18
numbering system. It enabled Mayans to keep track of longer periods of time.

Because of their intimate and diligent practice of the number system, Mayan priests
drew up multiple cycles for the calendar. These included the solar cycle called
Haab, which was used for daily dates; the ritual cycle called Tzolkin which was
used for religious rituals; and the Long Count, which utilized most of the
mathematical knowledge of the Mayans and was used to record very large dates.
Astronomy was among the earliest sciences that emerged in the Mayan society.
Initially, astronomy in the Mayan society was directly linked with agriculture.
Priests with knowledge of celestial bodies would predict the movements of Sun,
Moon, Venus and other astral bodies. This helped them predict the expected
rainfall each year and other climactic conditions.

Astronomy was also an integral part of Maya mythology. In time, Mayans were
able to trace the heavenly movements with exceptional accuracy using rudimentary
tools. They even built elaborate observatories to monitor these movements. It was
thanks to this brilliance in astronomy that Mayans eventually created one of the
most accurate calendars in the entire human history.

Pyramids and homes

Mayans were excellent builders, and it was because of their scientific

understanding of the building process and its constituent materials which enabled
them to erect structures that stand to this day. Typically, Mayans used huge stones
for monumental buildings. Many craftsmen would carve the stones to make them
suitable before they were used. The stones were then joined with the help of a sort
of cement which Mayans created and developed on their own. This cement,
together with other mortar material that Mayans used, proved exceptionally strong.
And it was precisely because of this material that most Mayan monumental
architecture is extant to this day, having suffered little damage over the course of
millennia. It was using such architectural engineering that Mayans built lofty
pyramid-temples, elaborate royal palaces, astronomical observatories and other
structures.