Mayan+Civilization

__**The Mayans**__

__**Agriculture: (coni)**__

The Mayas originally settled fishing villages near the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Seas. Once their population started growing to greater numbers and they discovered a way to domesticate plants (which required one to settle down), they moved inland, which is when they started to settle down and develop other skills, cultures, and their own civilization. Depending on where the Mayas settled they used different techniques of gathering food. The earliest Mayans that settled near the ocean fished, hunted birds, turkey, monkeys, rabbits, deer, and other wild animals, that were found more inland. They gathered wild fruits, nuts, and vegetables. This worked for a while, but eventually they could not collect enough food using this method to supply their growing population. They had to search for long hours just to obtain that little amount of food. This is when they began to plant gardens. They hand picked the crops that they found would be most productive and began to cultivate them. The Mayans, really, didn’t domesticate animals in their civilization, but one animal that they did raise was the sting-less bee. These bees, which were native to their land (the Americas), were kept for their honey and wax. That honey was also sometimes fermented using a particular method and made into an alcohol beverage. Dogs, which were also kept pets along with many other animals sometimes aided the Mayans in hunting. The crop that the Mayas depended on was corn or maize, as it was their staple, like rice or bread. It provided them with and good source of protein and could be stored in case they needed it for later use. But, they also grew all sorts of beans, avocados, and pumpkins, squash, and other crops. The beans from the cacao plant were valuable because they could be made into chocolate. Mayan farmers grew hemp and cotton to make rope and cloth. Growing enough crops took a lot of land. It probably took at least seventy acres of crops for every five people. Among the already few native animals the Mayans had on their land, none were actually suitable to help the people with the work load. The Mayas weeded their crops by hand. They also plowed the land for farming by themselves. This took a lot of time and work. One of their biggest concerns was water for the crops. They would build dams and water reservoirs. In swampy areas they would dig soil up into mounds. The ditches they dug made canals around the mounds for irrigation. They used the method of slash and burn farming. The men would cut down forests with stone axes. After the trees dried, they would burn them. This fertilized the soil, making it good for planting. But this had an unfortunate after effect: over usage of the land the had. This slash and burn method left the Mayans with little of their rain forests, which led to a food (animals whose habitat was the rain forest) and water shortage. Eventually lack of nutrition, droughts, and warfare brought their civilization crashing down.

Amber Caroline. “Ancient Mayan Agriculture.” Ancient Mayan Agriculture. May 3 2002. E.B. Stanley Middle School. January 5 2008. 

Patrick L. Barry. “The Rise and Fall of Mayan Empire.” The rise and fall of Mayan empire. November 15 2004. The Science and Technology Directorate at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Jan 5 2008. 

Abel Minni Pugliese. “Corn and the Maya.” Mundo Maya online. June 6 2005. Organización Tips. Jan 6 2008. 

No author found. “The Mayan History.” Mayan History. Date of last update not found. No sponsor found - Google. Jan 7 2008. < http://www.mayanindians.com/maya-history.html>

Many authors. “Stingless bee.” Stingless bee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jan 14 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Jan 7 2008. 

__**Religion: (gene)**__

One of the rituals they believed in and consistently took part in was bloodletting. They cut their tongues, earlobes, and sometimes even their genitals (for males), tied a rope of thorns around it, let the blood drip onto a paper, and then burned the paper. They did this because they believed it was a way to communicate to the gods and to wish for good lives and because it pleased the gods. When their civilization grew bigger, they made more and more sacrifices to satisfy their gods even more. Another ritual was that they had men hold the arms and legs of a still living person, while a priest cut his chest open and gave the heart to the gods as an offering. Like many of the earlier civilizations, the Mayans had a few gods they worshipped. One, which was considered the most important, was the corn god. This was so, as earlier mentioned, corn was their main source of food. They prayed to their corn god,hoping that he bless their land and make it good for farming their crop(s). Crystal skulls were also shaped in the form of a skull. This skull was then used to pray for happiness in their lives.


 * Political Structure:**

They had 800,000 people in their civilization and their Mayan government was very different from democracy, which is the system most of the countries today use. The leaders were kings or priests surrounded by the capital. Under the king, there were many different leaders for example the military leader. The warriors and the soldiers of Mayan Civilization were usually the low-class people such as the normal or the poorer citizens. The work was divided by the gender of citizens and the classes (high class or lower class), and they also had slaves. The priests at the time held the most power, other than the king himself. He can tell the citizens to give them money so they can beg the gods to make the citizens’ lives better, and the citizens usually would give them because the citizens were afraid of their gods, and what would happen should they disobey. They continued to use this kind of governing system.

Many authors. “Maya maize god.” Maya Maize God - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. December 6 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Jan 6 2008. 

Elizabeth Cramer. “Mayan History Group 1 Government and Foundation.” Group 1: Mayan government and society by Elizabeth Cramer. Last page update not found. Schreyer Honor College. Jan 6 2008. 

Many authors. “Blood letting rituals in Mayan culture.” Blood letting rituals in Mayan culture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. September 25 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Jan 6 2008. 

Bonnie Hamre. “Survivor 11: Guatemala - Mayan religion” Survivor 11: Guatemala - Mayan religion. Last page update not found. About.com: South America Travel. Jan 7 2008. 

__**Record Keeper: Writing system (jenai)**__

The first signs and concrete proof of when the writing system was first introduced into their civilization was around 250 A.D. and ended six and a half centuries later. That was a long time after the first started settling down, at about 5000 B.C. The Mayans did not have 26 alphabets like in our english language. Instead, they had glyphs inspired by Sumerian cuneiform, each representing a different symbol. And they did not just have 26, they had around 700- 800. Imagine what difficulty the Mayans who had to learn this system faced. More than 800 glyphs to memorize. This was probably the reason why only the elite, the higher members of their civilization were literate and could understand it. The lower class citizens weren't able to read or write with this language, since they most likely did not have the time or resources to learn it. This writing system, although considered one of the most elaborately designed form of writing in their time and in mesoamerica, it was not very widely used. There were no books, like we have now, so there was no means of spreading information from one person to another, other than by speaking. If compared to the english language and alphabet that the europeans developed and educated their people by, the Maya glyphs were a much less efficient system. So, since the lower class civilians did not have a way of recording things down, many great ideas were lost throughout the generations. The idea of "blueprint copying" was unassailable: when a person (illiterate) invented something, a tool, a machine that made a task easier to accomplish, he had no way of recording that down so the next generation of people didn't have to spend that time thinking up of a way to make that same task easier. This took away precious time and energy, and most likely contributed to the fact that the Maya did not advance significantly in technology, thus leading to their inevitable collapse. These glyphs were scribed in monuments, lintels, ceramic pottery or other art forms, the processed bark of trees, stelae, and in codices. Most Mayan writing only recorded the more important information at that time, for example, propaganda, kings' births, accession, and victories (or defeats) in war. Stelae, which were stone tablets or slabs, also generally documented the dynasties and wars of the leaders of that particular site. Ceramic pottery, those containing the ashes of the cremated, had inscribed on it their beliefs about the afterlife. Rules and constitutions were probably also recorded down in the same manner. Since only few are able to read and understand it, complications may have risen as to what it really said or meant. “The Maya polities, in which such writings were produced, were generally small and possibly weak in infrastructure. Such infra-structural weakness may have contributed to the sudden collapse of Classic Maya society that occurred in about A.D. 900”. They probably lacked strong foundation, background, or a basic understanding of their government and laws. The conflicts that arose as a result of this may have led to their collapse, although it most certainly was not the only factor that did.

David Stuart, Stephen D. Houston. “Maya writing.” untitled.html. August 1989. Scientific American. Jan 10 2008. 

Manon Guilbert (archives director). “Maya civilization.” Civilization.ca - Mystery of the Maya - Writing and hieroglyphics. November 21 2006. Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. Jan 4 2008. 

Douglas T. Peck. “The Origin of the Advanced Maya Civilization in the Yucatan.” MayaOrigin.pdf. Last page update not found. New World Explorers Inc. Jan 10 2008. 

__**Labour report: Obsidian (jenai)**__

Obsidian was one of the advantageous implements the Mayans possessed. And since it was a volcanic glass, it was readily available to the Mayan civilization in the highlands, where the major sources where located. It has also been found that obsidian not only was used in the highlands, but somehow transported to the lowlands as well. The original obsidian blades that were derived from a core were flat and not as efficient as the later prismatic blade. The Maya modified the flat blades to a prismatic blade, having a triangular cross-section, which proved to be sharper and having increased strength. This was the blade that the Mayans put to use in their day-to-day situations. Of course, the Mayans weren't the only civilizations around that had access to this useful element. There were others around too. This would suggest why the Mayan civilization ended up falling in the end. For a period of time, all was well, and they prospered on the trade of items such as salt, jade, and obsidian. One surrounding neighbor was the Yucatan. The Yucatan's need for raw materials that the Maya had was high, and so the Maya prospered because of this trade. After a while, the Yucatan began to catch up. They started to have larger communities, more cities, their population increased. Merchants were the ones in control of the trade, the influx of much needed goods. When new routes were discovered, trade decreased in the Mayan lowlands (geographically located in the core area, a transitional zone between the north and south's land). Other easier routes were preferred, and therefore the flow of supplies, such as obsidian, to the core area decreased and eventually halted. The Mayan was now weaker compared to their neighboring civilizations, politically and economically. The Mayans, really, never actually engaged in any war with other civilizations other than the ones surrounding them, all of which had the same advantages that they had. Had the Mayans not traded with them, they would have withheld that obsidian advantage to themselves. Their neighbors would not have obsidian, like they did. And so, if the Maya had been in a battle with them, they would have won. Their obsidian blades would have been much, much sharper and stronger than any of form of weapon the other civilizations had. Had they only not traded with the the civilizations nearby... What could have happened? In fact, obsidian is still being used in our present-day life. It is put into surgical blades as it is many times sharper and more precise that the regular stainless steel scalpel. The edge of the blade can even reach molecular level when skillfully altered, making the blade as sharp as it can get. Sharper than most other materials, such as steel. Well, then, there you go. It was sharper than steel. Again, had they fought with the Spanish for example, and all other variables were excluded: guns, horses, germs, the Spaniards advantage of having previous records of similar expeditions. They would most likely have won. Obsidian was widely used in tasks such as, hunting and agriculture; it wasn't an item that was limited to elite members of the civilization or for a specific usage. But after that's said, it was more used in cutting tools. Knives, lancets, projectile points, blades used in carpentry, bone working, and other weapons used in warfare. It was used in butchery, from the obsidian blades found with animal remains. Obsidian blades were also used in religious rituals or as sacrificial weapons. Since they hadn’t steel like the Europeans did, they relied on obsidian. Although it wasn’t like the guns that the Europeans had, it was one of their basic foundations to their society. Although, you wouldn’t really consider it an advancement in technology that benefitted them and although it didn’t really prove to be a significant advantage to them, without it, they would never have prospered they way they did.

David Conrad. “THE ANCIENT MAYA A COMMERCIAL EMPIRE: An Exploration of Trade & Commerce During the Mayan Period.” THE ANCIENT MAYAA COMMERCIAL EMPIRE An Exploration of Trade & Commerce During the Mayan Period. Last page update not found. Mexico Connect. Jan 4 2008. < http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:DETiAtzmmM8J:www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/dconrad/dcmayatrade.html+the+ancient+maya+an+exploration+of+trade&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=safari>

“Maya Obsidian.” Authentic Maya. October 12 2007. No sponsor found - Authentic Maya. Jan 3 2008. < http://www.authenticmaya.com/authentic_maya.html>

__**Map (coni)**__ From the world map you can tell that the Mayan civilization was located near the equator.. that is why their land was composed with thick rain forests. So which so much vegetation, which they couldn't eat for food, they burnt most of it down for slash and burn agriculture. The plentiful water source and ashes in the rain forest helped the Mayans develop a good agriculture system, which led them into becoming such a big civilization. You can also tell from the map that the land is mostly made up of relatively flat plains, which definitely also contributed to their agriculture. The highlands, which is colored brown on the map, had volcanoes that provided the mayans with volcanic rocks and materials for their tools. One of which was obsidian.