Mayans

By Sam, Alyshia, Scarlett and Karmella

Who were they?

The Mayan were one of the most dominant civilisations of their time. They lived in
the present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. They
were a very advanced civilisation, as they were responsible for a number of
remarkable scientific achievements in astronomy, engineering, agriculture, and
communications. Most of these achievements occurred during the Classic Period:
300-900 A.D The Mayan civilisation lasted for more than 2,000 years and
reached a maximum population of over 2 million people. This civilsation being the
first to reach a popuation this high.

Agriculture & Natural resources

Reliable food production was important.
Management of land and natural resources brought a more
dependable harvest and varied diet.
Location of cities in Maya
slash-and-burn techniques
Crops & Meat
Resources

Government and Hierarchy System

Their Governmental systems and how
it worked
Their Caste system
Law breaking and the consequences
Accidental law breaking
What a shaved head means in Mayan
culture

Warfare and Weapons

The Mayans had a lot of involvement in warfare as raiding nearby city states and civilisations
was a common occurrence.

Weaponry
War/Raids
Strategical Thinking
Military Forces

Religion
The Mayans had many gods. Here are some:

Ah Puch, the god of death and the Underworld

Chac, the god of rain
Ahaw Kin/Kinich Ahau or Ah Kinchil, the sun god
Yum Kaax, the god of farming, wild plants, and hunting
Ix Chel, goddess of the earth, moon, rainbows, medicine, and fertility

Most of the mayan gods were nature related, as the mayans heavily relied on
nature for their daily necessities.

Art
Mayan art is considered some of the most beautiful
of the ancient world
Mayan cities were often rich with colourful murals.

Fast Fact time

Infrastructure

Roads
Bridge (over 100m long)
Buildings
Sacbe (roads that were elevated to avoid flooding)
Temples and Sacred buildings
Arenas/ Other public buildings

Scientific Achievements/ Inventions/Technology

The Mayans were responsible for an incredible number of scientific achievements i

agriculture, engineering, astronomy and communications.
Some main examples are :

The Mayan Calendar

Their own tools (made of jade, jadeite, obsidian, flint etc.)
Herbal Medicine
Rubber
Astronomy (another slide)
Architecture (another slide)

Herbal Medicine and Healing

Herbal medicine was very important and advanced in the Mayan culture.
While the Mayans had herbal medicine to make the patient feel better they
also took into account the person's spirit and soul. The Mayans had many
forms of healing and indicating certain illnesses. Some of these forms of
healing being:
Spiritual healing
Herbal Healing
And The Status of the Blood aka your pulse rates, was also very
important as it indicated whether your illness was physical or mental.

Astronomy
The Mayans believed that the practice of astronomy was extremely important.
Some examples are:
They used the sky for timekeeping
Different celestial bodies represented different Gods
The movement of constellations and other objects across the sky was linked to
human affairs
Agriculture; the start of harvesting season was linked to the sky
Other events were matched with stars, constellations, planets etc.
They could predict cycles of celestial bodies in advance accurately
Architecture and buildings

Architecture
Mayan architecture in buildings is deeply linked to astronomy. Many building are aligned with
celestial bodies at certain times with exact precision. The Mayans combined their advanced
astronomical findings with their skilled architecture to create buildings that are almost magical.
Some examples are:

El Castillo
El Caracol

El Caracol

El Castillo

Communication
The Mayans Communicated With One Another In Two Main Ways:
Written Language/Writing
Spoken Language

What made this civilisation so successful?

Advanced Technology
Scientific Achievements
Architecture
Governmental Systems
Agriculture
War

What brought this civilisation to their knees ?

These angry cows.

Actually this is what made the mayans civilisation fall:

It is not fully understood how the Mayans big and advanced civilisation diminished, but
archaeologists think that there are a few reasons for their disappearance. These reasons
being:

The Slash and Burn method

Overpopulation
Raiding

Bibliography

http://gcmsmayancivilization.weebly.com/mayan-communications-and-daily-life.html
http://aztecandmayan.weebly.com/mayan-weapons.html
https://prezi.com/wabboicvtyri/mayan-forms-of-communication/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_medicine
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/arch499/nonwest/mayan/agriculture.htm
http://ancientmayacivilization.weebly.com/government-and-social-structure.html
http://www.ducksters.com/history/maya/writing_numbers_and_calendar.php
http://www.crystalinks.com/mayangods.html
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/arch499/nonwest/mayan/lifestyle.
htmhttp://mayas.mrdonn.org/inventions.html
https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/mayan.html
www.history.com/topics/mayan-scientific-achievements
www.theoldexplorer.com/index.php/maya-technology
nationalgeographic.org/media/technology-rainwater-survival-maya/
http://chichenitzafacts.com/el-castillo-of-chichen-itza/

Marcelle de la Wall

THE END
y

Murra

Louiselle de Apron

Andy Bread

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YpsJPY1eqRZ2pau5lPEZ7xAspodxc_1sjOd4CqV9UnA/edit

Santa was
here