 300-900 A .D.

 Y ucatan Peninsula & Central A merica

 S ettled in dense rain forests and cleared land for living

and farming

 Chichén Itzá- Center of Mayan trade

 We don’t know much about Chichén Itzá
 Archeological evidence suggests collapse was violent

 Largest Mayan city- Tikal (modern day Guatemala)

 A rranged into city-states

 Every city-state had a ruling chief

 Ruling chief usually a man though sometimes women served

 Nobles under the chief led the military, collected taxes,

and enforced laws
 Traders – No carts or transportation, carried goods on
back
 Traded honey, cocoa, and feathers

 Farming Method
 Cleared rainforests and created raised fields that caught rain
water
 Channels drained excess water
 Polytheistic – Over 160 Gods

God of
Death
God of Rain
 S acrifices took place on top of tall pyramids
 S acrifice needed to keep order in the universe

 Three planes: underworld, sky, and earth

 Underworld reached through caves and ball courts

 No clear concept of good or bad – decided by season

 S uicides, sacrifices, women who died in childbirth, and warriors

went straight to heaven
 Chief at the top
 Considered god-like
 Moved on to sons – when sons born, blood sacrifice
of chief’s blood
 To be king, have to take a captive and use captive as
part of ceremonial sacrifice

 Ruling nobles
 Priests – important because only they could perform
religious ceremonies needed for success in war and good
harvests

 Majority of Mayas were farmers – grew corn, beans and

squash
 Men cultivated while women made food
 Paid taxes in food and helped build temples
 B eauty standards – skull deformation, piercings, and
tattoos
 Hieroglyphs – just recently deciphered
 B ooks kept on bark

 B all games
 Rubber ball – forbidden to use open hands or feet
– usually used hips
 Captain of losing team or other members
sometimes sacrificed
 Math
 Priests decided
ceremony times
 Numbering system
included zero
 Calendar
 365 day solar calendar
 260 day calendar
based on the orbit of
Venus
Mayan 365
day calendar
with 260 day
calendar
added
 Around 900 A .D., Mayan cities abandoned – don’t
know why
 Frequent warfare causes Mayans to abandon homes
 Overpopulation = over farming = abandoning homes
 Peasant revolts from heavy taxing