Inventions Of The Mayan Civilization

The Mayan civilization was a bountiful society that some say flourished for up to 3000 years. During the height of their civilization, the Maya built a prominent society and created many inventions, many of which are used today. They are well known for creating the concept of zero, calendars, complex mathematics, ball-courts, the length of the solar year measured at about 365.242 days, and the first writing system called cuneiform. Having first migrated to the lowlands of Mesoamerica where soil was weak, the Maya used many intense agricultural methods such as slash-and burn, irrigation, and terracing to their advantage. They were able to produce plentiful amounts of crops and thrive in a lush grassy area. They regularly traded luxury goods

The areas in which the Maya lived were not originally abundant in rich soil and this required them to build terraces and use other methods for intensive agriculture. Water was a critical part of their society, not only used for agriculture but also for religious ceremonies. In fact, ruler ship and political centers focused around distribution and control of water. In the article “The Collapse of the Classic Maya: A Case for the Role of Water Control”, author Lisa Lucero states that “As long as the water supply was adequate, rulership lasted. Tikal, for example, has one of the longest political histories in the entire southern Maya lowlands (C.E.292-869).Clearly, rulers were successful in expanding and maintaining their political base through water control and integrative events. Their source of power, however, was susceptible to fluctuations, especially in the water supply, a fact that accounts for the Maya abandoning royal centers by the ninth or tenth century.” Areas with little water or poor soil would have been very destructive for the Maya and their environment. Siltation in the soil would have led to failure of crops and the rest of the water supply, leading to starvation across the land. The article “The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization” states that “effects of a crop failure where the system of monoculture is the rule could be

In the article “The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization”, authors state that “high population density was coupled with a heavy load of epidemic disease, such as yellow fever, syphilis, and Chagas’ disease. A rise in malnutrition can cause endemic disease to go epidemic, so that the biological time-bomb carried within the Maya populace could be triggered off by such an event as a crop failure.” In addition, with tensions rising from overpopulation and crop failure, war would have resulted as well, the article describing how “such conditions … would encourage organized violence and internecine warfare.” During internal (pressures) the Maya could have been open for invaders from nearby land, as (implied) by the last few civilizations being conquered by the Spanish during the Post-Classic Period past the immediate