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Pre Course Reading - Doc 1

The Maya lived in Mexico for thousands of years before the Spanish arrival, developing advanced cities, agriculture, calendars, and a rich culture. They built temples and cities out of stone without modern machinery. While some Maya lived in these large cities, most lived in small villages and huts closer to nature. For unknown reasons, the Maya abandoned their cities around 900 AD, their secrets and mysteries still fascinating archaeologists today.

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208 views

Pre Course Reading - Doc 1

The Maya lived in Mexico for thousands of years before the Spanish arrival, developing advanced cities, agriculture, calendars, and a rich culture. They built temples and cities out of stone without modern machinery. While some Maya lived in these large cities, most lived in small villages and huts closer to nature. For unknown reasons, the Maya abandoned their cities around 900 AD, their secrets and mysteries still fascinating archaeologists today.

Uploaded by

elmer2323
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Mayan Indians lived in Mexico for thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s.

The
Maya were an intelligent, culturally rich people whose achieveents were any. They had fars,
beautiful palaces, and cities with any buildings. The Mayan people !new a lot about nature and the world
around the. This !nowledge helped the to live a better life than ost people of that tie, because they
could use it to a!e their lives ore cofortable and rewarding. "nowledge about tools and faring, for
instance, ade their wor! easier and ore productive.
In ancient Mexico there were any sall clearings in the forest. In each clearing was a village with fields
of corn, beans, and other crops around it. To clear the land for fars, the Maya cut down trees with stone
axes. They planted seeds by digging holes in the ground with pointed stic!s. # farer was able to grow
crops that produced food for several people. $ut not every Maya had to be a farer. Soe were cloth
a!ers, builders, or priests.
The Maya believed in any gods, including rain gods, sun gods, and corn gods. The people built large
teples to honor the Mayan gods. S!illful wor!ers built cities around these teples. It was difficult for
the to construct these cities, because they had no horses to carry the heavy stone they used to build with.
%or!ers had to carry all of the building aterials theselves. Today, any of these ancient Mayan cities
and teples are still standing.
#lthough the cities that the Maya built were beautiful, and the people wor!ed hard to build the, very few
of the people lived in the. &sually, only the priests lived in the cities.
The other people lived in sall villages in the forests. Their houses were uch sipler than the elaborate
structures in the cities. They lived in sall huts with no windows. The walls were ade of poles covered
with dried ud, and the roof was ade of grass or leaves. Most Maya lived a siple life close to nature.
Measuring tie was iportant to the Maya, so they developed a syste for easuring it accurately.
'arers needed to !now when to plant and harvest their crops. Mayan priests ade a syste to !eep trac!
of tie. They wrote nubers as dots (...) and bars (*). # dot was one and a bar was five.
The Mayan priests studied the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets. They ade a calendar fro what they
learned. The year was divided into 1+ onths of ,0 days each with five days left over. The Mayan
calendar was far ore accurate than the -uropean calendars of the tie.
#round the year +00, the Maya left their villages and beautiful cities, never to return. .o one !nows why
this happened. They ay have died fro an infectious disease. They ay have left because the soil could
no longer grow crops. #rchaeologists are still trying to find the lost secrets of the Maya. They are still one
of our greatest ysteries.
Now answer Numbers 9 through 16. Base your answers on the article "The Mystery of the
Maya."
1. Read this sentence from the story.

The Maya were an intelligent, culturally rich people whose achievements were many.

What is a synonym for the word achievements?


mistakes

successes

skills

roads

2. The Maya lived in Mexico


only after the Spanish arrived.

at the same time as the Spanish.

only for a few years.

thousands of years before the Spanish.
3. Many Mayan cities and temples are still standing today because


they were so well built.

they are not very old.

they have been rebuilt.

there is never any bad weather in Mexico.
4. How is the Mayan calendar the same as or different from our current calendar?

Use details from the article to support your answer.

5. What is the main idea of this article?


The Mayan calendar was more accurate than the European calendar.

The Maya were excellent farmers.

The Maya were a culturally rich, advanced society.

The Mayan cities were difficult to build.
6. MOST Maya lived


in beautiful cities.

in huts made of poles, mud, and leaves.

in caves.

in stone temples.

7. How do we know that the Mayan civilization was an intelligent and cultured one?

Use details from the article to support your answer.

8. Read this sentence from the story.

Their houses were much simpler than the elaborate structures in the city.

What does elaborate mean?


small

plain

fancy

old

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