5000BCE - 900CE
Ancient Mayan Civilisation
Contents Page
Part 1:
1)Fast Facts about Ancient Mayas
2)Maps
3)Timeline
4)Landmarks
5)Government
6)Social structure
7)Language
8)Writing
9)Calendar
10)Glossary
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1
Oct 2001 BC
VOL.87# ONE ISSUE #90
Fast Facts:
Deep within the jungles of Mexico
and Guatemala and as far as the
Yucatan peninsula lie the mysterious
temples and Mayan pyramids.
While Europe was still in the middle of
the Dark Ages, these amazing people
had mapped the heavens, evolved
the only true writing system native to
the Americas and were masters of
mathematics
The Maya are probably the bestknown Ancient civilisation of
Mesoamerica. Originating in the
Yucatan around 2600 B.C., they rose
to prominence around A.D. 250 in
present-day southern Mexico,
Guatemala, northern Belize and
western Honduras. Building on the
inherited inventions and ideas of
earlier civilizations such as the
Olmec, the Maya developed
astronomy, calendrical systems,
chocolate, ancient basketball and
hieroglyphic writing.
Little is known by traditional researchers about the
pyramids of Teotihuacan (pronounced tay-oh-teewah-con, and simply referred to as "Teo" by the
locals). (Photo displayed above)
The Mayan pyramids of Teotihuacan rise as high as
twenty-story buildings, above the central Mexican
highlands with a grandeur and mystery that stirs the
imagination and inspires the soul.
Mayas lived in low-lying rainforests. The land was
mostly marshy and swampy with threes growing very
high to reach the sunlight. The climate was hot and
humid and it was hard to travel fast or far because of
the thick jungle.
Your Task:
Create a KWL chart in your book:
1.
2.
3.
What do you know about the Mayas?
What do you want to know?
What have you learnt? (we’ll fill this one in
at the end of the unit)
What do
you
know?
What do
you want
to know?
What
have you
learnt?
2
Where in the world did the Mayas live?
Your Task:. Using Google Earth and any other sources necessary online, label on a world ma
where the Mayas lived and paste it into your Humanities book. Your map must include BOLTSS
(Border, Orientation, Legend, Title, Scale, and Source) and also the coordinates of where to find
the Mayas society.
Extension Task:
Compare Ancient ‘Mesoamerica’s’ map (pictured below) to a modern day map of ‘Central
America’.
Create a Venn diagram listing the similarities and differences between the two maps,
focusing on names of the regions and any other interesting facts you observe.
3
Maya Timeline
Using the following interactive online resource:
https://webspace.utexas.edu/jgk1102/maya_map_timeline.html, create your own timeline of what you
believe to be the most significant events throughout the Ancient Mayan History.
4
Ancient Maya Landmarks
Pyramid, Temples, Ball
Courts and Lost Cities
The Mayans, considered one of the most
advanced ancient civilizations, primarily lived
near the Yucatan areas of Mexico and
Mesoamerica (Central America). Their extensive
cities were developed with palaces, temples and
ball courts. You can visit ancient Mayan
landmarks at ruin sites in Mexico, Belize,
Honduras and Guatemala. The Mayan version of
the pyramid was constructed so that a temple
could be built on the top.
The ancient Mayans built two types of pyramids,
those that were meant to be climbed and those
that were not. The first type was used for
holding sacrificial rituals. The other type was
not meant to be touched and was sacred.
Mexica:
•Uxmal (Home to ceremonial sites)
•Cichen Itza (Warriors’ Temple)
•Palenqye (Mayan Sanctuary)
Honduras:
•Copan (Tunnels, ball courts, Acropolis)
Guatemala:
•Kaminal Juyu (Sculptures, Architecture, Tikal)
• Tikal (Great Pyramid with two headed snake)
•Cancuen (The lost city)
Belize:
•Caracol ( Tallest man made structure in Belize)
•Altun Ha (Trading centre)
•Lubaantun (Cerimonial Centre)
Your Task:
Answer the questions below in full
sentences in your book:
1. Name 3 types of building the
Ancient Mayans included in their
towns.
2. What was on top of the Mayan
pyramids?
3. What were the different types of
pyramids the Mayans built?
4. How many of each type of pyramid
are listed in the text?
Extension Task
1.
2.
3.
Why do you think both the Maya and Egyptian civilisations built pyramids?
Why did they take such time and care in constructing them?
Write 3-4 sentences in your book explaining your opinion.
5
Government
One noble family controlled each city. When
the ruling noble died, his job passed to his
son. No one else got a shot at it. The noble
families’ right to rule originated with the Hero
Twins. It was believed that each noble family
was ‘supposedly’ related to one of the Hero
Twins. That gave them a good enough reason
to keep their job. They were directly related to
the gods.
The ruling noble did not do his job alone. Part
of his job was to select a council of elders and
warriors to help him rule. Other people were
also selected to help run the government.
Some people were chosen to enforce laws.
Others were chosen to act as judges. So the
Mayas ruled themselves via a system of citystates.
Maya priests were also the rulers of
cities. Every day they would perform services
after climbing the hundreds of temple
steps. Maya priests might have caused the
collapse of the Maya when the lesser Mayas
(farmers) got tired of having to obey the
commands of the priests and abandoned the
cities.
Fast Fact: One of the most
famous Maya rulers was Lord
Pacal. He became a king at the
age of 6 and legally took the
throne at 12. Pacal was a priest,
ruler and king for about 50 years
before he died. When his tomb
was discovered he was wearing a
jade death mask.
Your Task:
Read the information to the
right about Mayan governments
and then answer the questions
below in full sentences in your
book:
1. Who ruled the Mayan
people?
2. Was there only one ruler?
If not, how many?
3. How was the leader of the
Mayan civilization chosen?
4. Who else helped the noble
rule each city?
Extension Task:
Using a table in your book, compare
the Ancient Mayas government to
our government in Australia. What
do we have in common? What are
the main differences? Which is
better in your opinion?
Who are the Hero Twins?
Like all people everywhere, the Mayas
loved stories. One of their favorite stories
was The Legend of the Hero Twins.
Find out soon!!!
6
Mayan Social Structure
Not surprisingly the Mayan social structure was shaped like a pyramid. Much like other
civilisations of the ancient world, the Mayans depended on their social classes to keep order
and structure within their society. The people at the bottom of the Mayan social ladder were
the farmers and slaves. These two groups made up the base of the power pyramid of the
Mayas. Most people in Mayan civilisation were farmers, but their rights in society were not
much better than those of slaves. Slaves were usually captured enemies or criminals.
The farmers and slaves performed most of the hard labour and
Of course, the farmers provided the entire society with its most
important resource - food. They likely made up a bulk of the
Mayan military as well.
The middle class within Mayan society was made up of
professionals, bureaucrats (government workers), artisans,
and merchants. They had a lot more wealth than the lower
classes, and they were to be respected by the farmers and slaves
as well. The middle class also served an important function in Mayan society; they provided a
source of goods and services (other than food and labour) that could be exchanged in trade.
They were also expected to supply some amount of free labour to the upper class, and they
tended to make up the middle ranks in the Mayan military.
The smallest (and most wealthy and powerful) layer of Mayan social structure was the ruling
noble class. The head of this class and of all the citisens in each Mayan city was the king. He
was flanked by his priests and nobles.
This structure worked because the lower and middle classes believed that the upper class had
been granted the right to rule by the gods. In fact, they probably believed that the nobles were
somehow descendant from the gods.
Women probably were members of all three social classes depending on their family position
and/or by marriage.
Your Task:
Draw a Mayan power pyramid in your book, listing
which people belonged to each level. Then answer
the questions below in full sentence:
1.
2.
3.
What level of the ‘power pyramid’ were the
professionals on?
Who made up the biggest part of the military?
Where did women fit on the ‘power pyramid’?
Extension Task:
Schools have a similar system to the Mayas
in terms of power. At what levels would you
place assistant principal, students, teachers,
principal and teaching aids?
1.
Draw a pyramid in your books of your
school’s power structure and label
where each of the people involved
belong.
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How did the Mayans’
Communicate?
The two Mayan languages of the Classic period were Yucatecan and Cholan which
have been divided into about thirty separate local languages. For some of these
languages, there has not been enough written versions found to be able to
translate or understand what they were like.
The most widely spoken were Mam, Quiché, Kekchí, and Cakchiquel. A lot of
people are angry at the fact that the Indigenous languages have been lost over
time. Native Americans also get very upset at the fact that the main language
spoken in Mexico’s government, education, the media and church these days is
Spanish.
Your Task:
Write your answers in full sentences in your book.
1. How many separate languages were there in Mayan times? Why so many?
2. Why don’t we know a lot about all of these language?
3. Why is Spanish the most common language spoken in Mexico today?
4. Why would some people be angry at this?
Extension Task:
Can you think of other countries that have lost their native languages when
another nations invaded them?
1. List as many countries as you can think of that were invaded by another
nation, who invaded them, and what language they speak today. Create an
excel spread-sheet.
Country
Invaded by
Language today
8
Writing
The earliest known writing by the Mayan
Dates from about 250 BCE, but the writing is
thought to have developed at an earlier date. The
Mayans used a combination of phonetic
symbols (pictures that sound like the word),
numbers and ideograms or glyphs (pictures).
The deciphering of the Maya writings has been a long process. Bits of it were first
deciphered in the late 19th and early 20th century (mostly the parts having to do
with numbers, the calendar, and astronomy), but major breakthroughs came
starting in the 1960s and 1970s so that now the majority of Maya texts can be
read nearly completely in their original languages.
With the decipherment of the Maya script it was discovered that the Maya were
one of the few civilizations where artists attached their name to their work. Their
writing was highly sophisticated. Most likely only members of the higher classes
were able to read their symbols.
Maya writing was composed of recorded inscriptions on stone and wood and used
within architecture. Rectangular lumps of plaster and paint chips are a frequent
discovery in Maya archaeology; they are the remains of what had been books after
all the organic material has decayed.
Folding tree books were made from fig tree bark and placed in royal tombs.
Unfortunately, many of these books did not survive the humidity of the tropics or
the invasion of the Spanish, who regarded the symbolic writing as the work of the
devil.
The Maya also carved these symbols into stone, but the most common place for
writing was probably the highly perishable books they made from bark paper,
coated with lime to make a fresh white surface. These 'books' were screen-folded
and bound with wood and deer hide. They are called codices. Unfortunately
zealous Spanish priests shortly after the conquest ordered the burning of all the
Maya books. While many stone inscriptions survive - mostly from cities already
abandoned when the Spanish arrived - only 3 books and a few pages of a fourth
survive from the ancient libraries. Only four codices remain today.
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Your Task:
Read the information about Mayan writing and
answer the questions below in full sentences in
your book:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What are the 3 different things Mayans
used in their writing?
Who was able to read the codices?
What were their books made of?
What happened to all the codices?
How many codices are left today?
Why did the Spanish priests destroy the
codices?
Your Task: Create-Your-Own Codex
MAYA FACT: The Maya recorded important
information — such as scientific discoveries
and historical records — using glyphs, or
pictures, instead of an alphabet. Glyphs were
painted on pottery, inscribed into fig-bark
books called codices, and carved into stone.
ACTIVITY: Use publisher to create your very
own codices to record an important event in
your life. For each codex, use half of a piece of
coloured paper, folded into three to create
three surfaces. Next, draw an original glyph on
each surface with coloured pencils. On the
back of your coloured paper you can describe
what your codex is saying.
Extension Task:
Create a codex of an important event in
Mayas history, such as the building of
Teotihuacan or a blood sacrifice on
top of a temple. Use a combination of
glyphs, numbers and symbols to tell
the story.
10
Will The
World End in
2012?
Mayan Calendar
Your Task: The Mayans developed three different calendars. Choose ONE calendar from
the list below and use books and the Internet to learn more about it. Present your
information in digital form and email it to your teacher. You should find out:
1. What it looked like and what information it contained (include a picture of your
calendar).
2. How your calendar was created.
3. What the Ancient Mayas used the calendar for.
4. Did they use this calendar to make any predictions?
5. What were these predictions? Have they come true?
Calendars to choose from:
 Tzolk’in calendar
 Haab calendar
 Long count calendar
Extension Task:
Compare the Mayan calendar you researched to the one we use today.
1. What are the similarities and differences?
2. Why do you think it has changed?
3. Show your answers in a chart like the one below:
Mayan Calender
Features
Our Modern Calendar
Features
Similarities
Differences
Glossary
ureaucrats: (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) an official in a bureaucracy
odices: code, from Latin codex, meaning "block of wood split into tablets, documen
written on wood tablets," was first a set of laws
ity-state: a sovereign state consisting of an independent city and its surroundin
erritory
lders: an older, influential member of a family, tribe, or community
volved: to gradually develop
randeur: the quality or condition of being grand; magnificence
uatemala: A country of northern Mesoamerica, or what is know known as Centra
merica
ndigenous: originating and living or occurring naturally in an area or environment
nherited: to receive (property or a title, for example) from an ancestor by lega
uccession or will
Mesoamerica: a region extending south and east from central Mexico to include part
f Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and Nicaragua
Mexico: a country of south-central North America
ative: originating, growing, or produced in a certain place or region
lmec: An early Mesoamerican Indian civilization centred in the Veracruz region o
outheast Mexico that flourished between 1300 and 400 B.C., whose cultural influenc
was widespread throughout southern Mexico and Central America
ociety: a group of humans broadly distinguished from other groups by mutua
nterests, participation in characteristic relationships, shared institutions, and
ommon culture
talemate: A situation in which further action is blocked or stopped
upposedly: presumed to be true or real without conclusive evidence
eotihuacan: an ancient city of central Mexico northeast of present-day Mexico Cit
s ruins include the Pyramid of the Sun and the Temple of Quetzalcoat
ucatan: a state of Mexico on the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula
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