Economy

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The Maya
Taryn Alford, Kelsey Messonnier, Erica Vente, and
Sara Zampell
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Map
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Religion

• Polytheistic
• Afterlife a dangerous voyage of the soul through
  the underworld, which is populated by sinister
  gods
• All Mayans, including rulers, went to the
  Underworld
• Heaven was reserved for those who had been
  sacrificed or died in childbirth

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Religion Continued

• Rulers were intermediaries between the gods and
  the people
• Buried in elaborate tombs
• Maya cosmos had 3 layers Heaven, Earth, and the
  Underworld
• Practices astronomy, divination, human
  sacrifice, bloodletting, and elaborate burials
  for royalty

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Structure of Government

• Never unified politically
• Hierarchical state
• Powerful cities controlled smaller cities and the
  agricultural zone around them
• King, provincial governors, town rulers, then
  lords
• Hereditary rulers
• Nepotism

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Economy

• Food and agriculture
• Corn- maize
• Cash crops
• Cocoa and cotton
• Spinning, dying, and weaving cotton
• Collected taxes
• Supervised by commerce and enforced laws

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Cultural, Technological, and Scientific
Achievements

• Calendars
• Solar365 days
• Religious260 days
• Long count an elaborate system of periods and
  cycles that calculates time from a zero date set
  at 3114 BC
• Writing system
• hieroglyphs

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Cultural Achievements Continued

• Mathematics
• Counting system had 3 symbols
• A dot, a bar, and a symbol for zero
• Astronomy
• Studied Milky Way, Venus, and the sun
• Diving Godrepresents the position of the sun at
  the summer solstice point
• Cultural achievements were closely related to
  religion

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Military

• Weapons
• Bow and arrow
• Dart with throwing stick
• Wooden sword
• Edged with flints
• Lance
• Sling
• Copper axe
• Shield of reeds
• Protective armor
• Heavy quilted cotton

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Military Continued

• Military tactics
• Signaling
• Drum and whistle
• Built barricades
• Dug trenches
• Captured people
• sacrificed
• slavery

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Conquests

• The Yucatan Peninsula
• Spread to the central and northern parts of the
  Yucatan
• Captured people rather than territories
• Elites were sacrificed
• Kings participated in wars
• Religious meaning found in warfare

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Geography

• Located primarily on the Yucatan Peninsula
• Divided into 2 main locations highlands and
  lowlands
• Advantages sea trade and isolation
• Disadvantages weather and dangerous animals

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Social Structure

• Ruling class
• Aristocrats/nobles
• Scribes, architects
• Middle classartisans and merchants
• Majorityfarmers
• Lived on chinampa plots or terraced hillsides
• Clan system

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Social Structure Continued

• Menhunting and fighting
• Womenhomemaking and preparation of corn meal
• Noblewomenimportant role in religious life
• 2 women rulers known
• Childrenunder parents rule until marriage

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Theories for the Disappearance of the Maya

• Epidemic disease
• The destruction of Teotihualcan disrupted trade
  and the rulers no longer had the goods that they
  normally used in rituals
• The environment was ruined by the expansion of
  the population so agricultural production went
  down and caused social conflict and warfare

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THE END