The Mayan Civilization: An Ancient Native America

The mayan civilization was an Ancient Native American civilization that grew to be one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas. The people known as the Maya lived in the region that is now known as eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras. The Maya built massive stone pyramids, temples, and sculptures, as well as, accomplished complex achievements in mathematics and astronomy that were recorded in hieroglyphs. After 900 the Maya mysteriously disappeared from the southerns lowlands of Guatemala. They later appeared in the north and dominated the area of Yucatán Peninsula until the Spanish Conquest. While descendants of the Maya still form a very large part of the population, many have acquired

The people went through huge developments in society and built up strength. Early Mayans were farmers and helped the community in keeping up the fields. They first used sticks to punch holes in the ground, but later, assumed more advanced farming techniques. Their main crops included maize (corn), beans, squash, avocados, chili peppers, pineapples, papayas, and cacao, which was made into a chocolate drink with water and hot chilies. Hunting and fishing were also a source of food for the early Mayans. They often hunted rabbits, deer, and turkeys, which were made into stews. When they were not hunting, fishing, or working in the fields, Mayan men and women took part in crafting useful items, such as stone tools, clay figurines, jade carvings, ropes, baskets, and mats. Women specialized in making clothing, such as ponchos, loincloths, and

During the Classic period, warfare was conducted on a fairly limited, primarily ceremonial scale. Maya rulers, who were often depicted on carved stone monuments, carrying weapons, attempted to capture and sacrifice one another for ritual and political purposes. The rulers often destroyed parts of some cities, but the destruction was directed mostly at temples in the ceremonial precincts; it had little or no impact on the economy or population of a city as a whole. Some city-states did occasionally conquer others, but this was not a common occurrence until very late in the Classic period when lowland civilization had begun to disintegrate. Until that time, the most common pattern of Maya warfare seems to have consisted of raids employing rapid attacks and retreats by relatively small numbers of warriors, most of who were probably