Maya Civilization and Agriculture

Mesoamerica is that part of modern-day Central America that includes southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. This region has been the Maya home for 3,000 years.

Where is Mesoamerica?

• South America

• Central America

• Australia

• North America

Until 500 years ago, the Maya lived in isolation from the rest of the world, practicing slash-and-burn agriculture and raising crops such as corn, beans, and squash. They also hunted animals in the surrounding rainforest.

What is slash and burn agriculture?

• Burning down all parts of the trees to build cities.

• Digging holes and filling them with water.

• Cutting down trees and burning the stumps for farmland

Until 500 years ago, the Maya lived in isolation from the rest of the world, practicing slash-and-burn agriculture and raising crops such as corn, beans, and squash. They also hunted animals in the surrounding rainforest.

What did the Maya grow and eat?

• Beans, apples, and bananas

• Corn, tomatoes, and peppers

• Bananas, mangoes, and apples

• Corn, beans, squash

As their culture developed, especially during the Classic Period of 250 to 900 CE, the Maya built magnificent cities with stone plazas, royal palaces, ball courts, and temple-topped pyramids. However, the Maya were never unified under a single government the way many other ancient societies were. Maya city-states often warred against each other, and alliances constantly shifted.

Did the Maya get along with each other?

• They loved each other.

• They often warred with each other.

Despite this conflict, the various Maya groups shared cultural similarities. They used a common writing system and organized their lives around a complex calendar that tracked religious ceremonies honoring the many Maya gods. In one of their most important rituals, religious and political leaders – including the king – would pierce themselves with stone knives and offer their blood to feed the gods. Like the Aztecs, who flourished centuries later, the Maya practiced human sacrifice and torture as a way to keep the gods satisfied.

What cultural similarities did the Mayan share?

• Calendar

• Human Sacrifice

• Writing system

• Religious Ceremonies

Sometime around the year 900 CE, the Maya abandoned many of their cities and moved to the highlands of modern-day Central America. Scholars still don’t know why this happened; it may have been because of overpopulation, overuse of the land, disease, or warfare. Whatever the reason, vegetation soon covered the thousands of Maya buildings and farms left behind. A great society appeared to go silent. When the Spanish arrived 600 years later, they made some effort to preserve the surviving Mayan languages in dictionaries, but they did little else to save the ancient culture.

Where did the Mayans go?

• Australia

• Europe

• North America

• No one really knows.

Which of the following is not an achievement of the Mayans?

• Cuneiform

• Chocolate

• Calendar

• Slash and Burn

What represents the number zero?

• Jade

• Salt

• Ball

• Shell

Which of the following is not used in Mayan numbers?

• Lines

• squares

• Dots

• Shells

 The Maya had two main calendars. One was the sacred or ritual calendar, called tzolkin. It was a cycle of 260 days, and it marked the ceremonial life of the people. They also had a civil calendar, based on the solar year. This calendar had eighteen months of twenty days each, adding up to 360 days in all. To this were added five unlucky days, called Uayeb, to make a total of 365 days as in our calendar. This solar calendar was called haab....

How many calendars did the Maya have?

• 1

• 3

• 4

• 2