Maya Aztec and Inca Civilizations Essential Question What

Maya, Aztec and Inca Civilizations

Essential Question What are the cultural achievements of the Ancient Maya?

Timeline Incas 1200 -1500 CE 1600 CE 0 Maya 300 -900 CE Aztecs 1100 -1521 CE

The Mayas • What geographical features did the Mayan lands include? • Southern Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula), Belize, § Gulf of Mexico to Caribbean Sea Guatemala, El § Rugged highlands/swamps Salvador and Honduras

The Mayas • What did the Mayans look like? • Short with straight, black hair, painted bodies, tattoos, crossed eyes, flattened foreheads

• Why did Mayas tie objects from their infants’ foreheads? • To encourage their eyes to cross • Why did some Mayas tie boards to their children’s heads? • To flatten their foreheads – this was a sign of beauty in their culture The Mayas

The Mayas • What did early Mayas eat? • They fished and they grew maize (corn), beans, squash, peppers, avocados, and papayas

• Pre-Classic: 2, 500 BC to AD 250 – fishing villages/learned to plant crops • Classic Era: AD 250 – AD 900 – built cities, pyramid temples, developed advanced math and astronomy and writing • Post-Classic Era: AD 900 – 1500 – Mayas left their great cities and scattered through out countryside – not sure why – we will discuss possible reasons The Mayan Eras

• Largest city - Tikal (in present day Guatemala) – 100, 000+ people The Maya - Tikal

• 2 nd Largest city – Copán (in present day Honduras) • The Great Staircase: 30 ft wide, 63 steps, picture writing covers each step The Maya – Copan

• Chichen Itza – Large observatory tower used by ancient astronomers and Well of Sacrifice

Mayan Writing • Borrowed a writing from Olmecs • Developed a system of writing using pictures (glyphs) and symbols

Mayan Books • Made paper by pounding fibers from bark of ficus tree into pulp and glued it together with tree sap • When the paper dried they coated it with white lime • A Mayan book is called a codex • Fiber paper/deer hide for covers • Why did the Spanish destroy Mayan books? • Why do you think they thought they were evil?

Mayan Math + = 7 + 3 = 10 = 18 - 7 = 11 + + = 3 + 12 + 0 - 5 = 10 = + 7 + 2 - 9 = 0

Mayan Calendar • The Mayan priest used their knowledge of astronomy and math to develop two accurate calendars • One was sacred (religious), the other was for planning • The Mayan Calendar – solar year of 365 days. – divided into 18 months of 20 days each, followed by a five-day period that was highly unlucky. – Did the Mayan’s predicted that the world would end on December 21, 2012?

The Great Mystery of the Maya • Around AD 850/900 the Mayas suddenly left their cities and were scattered throughout the countryside – Why? ? • Some theories for why they did this include: • Natural Disasters – earthquake, hurricane, drought • Disease • Crop failures/famine (no plow, did not develop new agriculture methods) • Peasant rebellion against the priests and nobles who ruled the cities • Invaders - Toltecs