While their skulls were still soft babies had wooden frames attached to them to flatten them. They believed that flattened foreheads were beautiful. Both sexes wore their hair long and tied back. The Mayans were short, stocky people with dark hair. It if turned cold both sexes wore a cloak called a manta. Women wore a long cotton dress called a huipil. Living in a hot climate both sexes wore simple cotton clothes.
Rich people, of course, lived in far more elaborate homes with many rooms. Mayans slept on beds, which were low platforms made of a wooden frame filled with woven bark.ĭead people were buried under the floors of their houses. Instead, doorways were hung with cloth screens. Ordinary Mayans lived in simple huts of wood or stone with thatched roofs. The Mayans drank an alcoholic drink called blache. They were eaten with ‘stew’ made with vegetables and (sometimes) meat. Mayans ate maize ‘pancakes’ called tortillas. The ‘dumplings’ were called tamales and they were wrapped in leaves from maize plants. During the day they ate ‘dumplings’ made of maize dough with vegetables or meat inside them. In the mornings Mayans ate a ‘porridge’ made of maize and chilies called saka. They ate animals like deer, turkeys, dogs, peccaries (wild pigs) and a kind of rodent called an agouti. They also ate fruit like papaya, watermelon, and avocados. Maize was the staple food of the Mayans but they also grew beans, chilis, sweet potatoes, and squashes. Farmers did not have plows but they did use digging sticks. Mayan farmers also drained swampy areas for farming. Meanwhile, the abandoned area would become overgrown again. The farmers would then ‘slash and burn’ another part of the forest. However, after a few years, the soil would lose its fertility. The Mayans sowed crops in May and harvested them in November. They cut down an area of forest and burned the trees. The Mayans practiced ‘slash and burn’ agriculture. The Mayans were also excellent astronomers and they could predict eclipses. The Mayans also wrote numbers and they had a symbol for zero, which was very unusual among ancient civilizations. Unfortunately, the Spaniards burned many Mayan books so little is known of their history. Writing was painted onto books made from fig tree bark. However, the Mayans invented a system of writing using pictures to represent sounds. All their weapons and tools were made from wood and stone. The Mayans did not have animals for carrying loads. Below them were slaves who did all the hardest work. Below them were freemen, craftsmen, and farmers. Some had populations of 45,000.īelow the rulers were the nobles and priests. Most of the Mayans lived in the countryside but many cities were large. Ordinary people lived in the surrounding houses. In the squares were stelae (upright stones) which were carved with the dates of important ceremonies and events. In the center of each Mayan city was an area of palaces, pyramid temples (some of them 70 meters high), and squares, where religious ceremonies were held. Warfare between Mayan kingdoms was common. However, although they had unlimited power Mayan rulers usually had a council of important men to advise them. Each city-state or kingdom was ruled by an autocrat (a man with absolute power). Instead, there was a people with a single culture and religion divided into many city-states. However, the descendants of the Mayans continue to live on today. Then in the 1520s Spanish conquistadors invaded and conquered the Mayans. Mayan civilization did not die completely. At any rate in the far north and south people continued to live in cities. Or perhaps warfare between the different Mayan kingdoms caused a disaster. Perhaps there were ecological changes and famines occurred.
In the central rainforest, cities were abandoned. The Mayan civilization was at its peak from 600 AD to 900 AD. The Mayans invented writing and they made great advances in astronomy and mathematics. Then from 250 AD to 600 AD, an advanced civilization emerged.
In the years from 300 BC to 250 AD organized Mayan kingdoms emerged. The ancestors of the Mayans were hunters but about 2,000 BC they adopted farming as a way of life. The Mayans created a great civilization in parts of what is now Mexico and Honduras and in Guatemala.
0 kommentar(er)
