The Maya was thought of to be one among the best ancient Native American civilizations within the Americas, and probably the planet. Archaeologists discovered and dug up and studied several of the civilization sites trace the Mayas to thousands of years ago. Their ancestors migrated from Asia across the Bering Sea and Alaska to the Americas and also the Yucatan Peninsula throughout the last ice age. Early Mayan settlements originate to 2400 B.C.. They engineered huge stone pyramids and temples to honor their gods and preserve their faith. They additionally accomplished advanced achievements in arithmetic and astronomy, that were recorded in hieroglyphs. Their lives rotated around their king and sacrificial blood. Their cultural achievements …show more content…
Most Mayas lived on the Yucatan Peninsula in what 's currently known as Mexico (Knopf 12). Some lived in South Mexico, that is now the states of Tabasco, Campeche, and Quintana Roo. Different Mayans lived in Central America within the countries of Honduras, and Guatemala. The Mayas were divided into 3 classes in their caste system. The nobles who wore elaborate garments and jewelry. The way they lived was envied, respected, and drawn in several murals on temple walls. The middle Class which was made up of many potters and entertainers. The Lower Class that was made up of farmers and laborers (Whitlock 69,85). The occupation of a person in the caste system was believed to be passed down from generation to generation. It absolutely was super rare for someone to change social classes. Entire Mayan families lived together in harmony and everybody helped with the work. Men provided the food and women provided clothing for the family. Maize was the main crop the Mayans grew (Whitlock 4). The Mayan females prepared the corn in a lot of ways. They could create tortillas or alcohol. Alongside the maize, Mayan farmers raised beans, squash, avocados, sweet potatoes, …show more content…
The Mayans worshiped many gods and goddesses’. Each of the gods influenced the Mayans life in a lot of ways. Each city-state had a center for the pyramids and other structures for the performance of religious ceremonies and government activities (Prentice 448). Rulers directed the commoners to build major settlements. They had built pyramid shaped mounds of dirt topped with altars, or temples which were built in the center of the settlement that they had built. The center also had places were weapons, jewelry, pottery, and other craft objects were made, it also had shopping plazas and a court for ball games. Fields were people grew their food were located outside the city state area. (Benson 156). The discoveries and predictions that the Mayans made were very important, but the most Fascinating thing about the Mayans is not their pyramids or temples it’s their religion. Religion is what shaped the Mayans. They based their whole existence and buildings on pleasing their gods. A lot of men were sacrificed to please the gods and the kings gave their blood in belief of it helping the crops harvesting better. The Mayan gods were pictured after animals for religious and sacrificial purposes. The Mayans that studied astronomy helped the priest make to inform people on which god was ruling at the time. The priests were the ones that ordered the building of all the temples. The religion took control of all the