1. Theme Tuesday Bellwork
What is an example of Interaction Between Humans and the Environment in Mali Empire?
Answers Vary
What is an example of State-Building, Expansion and Conflict in Kingdom of Ghana?

2. Objective
WWBAT: Discuss the major characteristics of Mayan civilization

3. Interactive Notebook Set Up
12/13/2017
Ancient Mayan Society
This will be on one page

4. Background
Economy and Culture

5. Background Settled the Yucatan Peninsula of present-day Mexico
Mayan ruins have been found throughout the area
The height of Mayan civilization dates from approximately CE

7. Background Decentralized patchwork of 50 city-states & kingdoms
Connected by trading, marriage, and warfare
All city-states shared common language, culture, and so on
Most important city was called Tikal

11. Economy and Society Most Maya were farmers
They supplied resources for an elaborate trading network
These farmers were relatively poor, but owned their land

12. Economy and Society Economy was based on agriculture and trade
Farmers grew: maize, beans, squash, pumpkins, chili peppers, tomatoes
Farmers traded surplus crops to open markets  traded for cotton, jade, pottery, fish, deer meat, and salt

13. Economy and Society
Would trap rich river silt with terraces to replenish the fertility of the thin, poorly drained topsoil of southern Mexico
Found other ways to trap and store rainwater to cover droughts

15. Economy and Society
Merchants traded throughout Mexico & Central America
Canoes used to trade along rivers
Goods were carried by humans overland
no wheels yet; no large domesticated animals

16. Economy and Society
Mayan priests were excellent mathematicians and astronomers
Developed very complex math
The Mayan independently invented “Zero”

17. Economy and Society Mayans developed accurate calendars
Calendar of days (17 seconds off)
These were used to predict eclipses, schedule religious ceremonies, and determine times to plant and harvest

19. Economy and Society
One of the first Native American cultures to develop a writing system
Only within the past 25 years have we made any breakthroughs in translating Mayan writing
Maya recorded: genealogy of their kings & royal families, mythology, history, ritual practices, and trade

21. Economy and Society Religion was the center of Mayan life
Mayan kings was BOTH political leaders AND spiritual leaders
Performed rituals and ceremonies to satisfy the gods
Huge temples and pyramids built where thousands could gather for special religious ceremonies and festivals

22. Economy and Society Believed in 2 levels of existence:
(1) the daily physical life they lived
(2) the “Otherworld,” a spiritual world of gods, the souls of ancestors, and other supernatural creatures
Actions on 1 level could affect things on the other level

24. Mayan Religion
Images on Mayan temples, sacred objects, and pottery are our best sources on Mayan Religion
Human sacrifice and bloodletting rituals was HUGE part of religious ceremonies

28. Mayan Religion Some ceremonies also included a ritual ball game
This games is called pok-a-tok  Rubber balls batted back and forth across a walled court
Symbolized back & forth struggle between this world and the next

30. The Maya Ball Game High-ranking captives, prisoners of war contestants
Execution of losers immediately follows the match
Most Maya ceremonial centers, towns and cities had courts

31. Chichen-Itza - Ball Court

32. A Goal in the Ball Court at Chichén Itzá, Mexico

33. Collapse of the Maya Unclear as to why the Maya collapsed
Political disunity?
Agricultural breakdown  from warfare? From over-farming?
Long-term drought?
Malnutrition, sickness, famine, high death rates
Probably a combination of all of these factors

34. Collapse of the Maya
Though the Maya dominance began to falter in around 900 CE it is debatable whether the Maya “collapsed”
There are still millions of people descended from the Mayans living in the Yucatan Peninsula