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Isa Activity Ancient Civilization Mayan Civilization

The Mayan civilization originated around 10,000 BC when ancestors crossed a land bridge from Asia into North and South America. They settled in what is now Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua. The Mayans had a complex society with advanced architecture, mathematics, art and astronomy. They built pyramid temples and planned cities according to astronomical phenomena. The Mayan civilization collapsed in the 9th century AD due to unknown attackers, though they left behind many ruins including Caracol, Tikal and Palenque.

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107 views

Isa Activity Ancient Civilization Mayan Civilization

The Mayan civilization originated around 10,000 BC when ancestors crossed a land bridge from Asia into North and South America. They settled in what is now Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua. The Mayans had a complex society with advanced architecture, mathematics, art and astronomy. They built pyramid temples and planned cities according to astronomical phenomena. The Mayan civilization collapsed in the 9th century AD due to unknown attackers, though they left behind many ruins including Caracol, Tikal and Palenque.

Uploaded by

Debotrinya Sur
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ISA ACTIVITY

ANCIENT
CIVILIZATION
MAYAN
CIVILIZATION

ORIGIN OF THE MAYANS

According to archaeological
beliefs the first Mayan
ancestors crossed the frozen
land bridge from Asia to the
America during the last ice
age.

From their the Mayan


ancestors could have migrated
south until reaching what is
now Belize and followed a
nomadic way of life until
permanently settling there.

The Mayan area was initially


inhabited around the 10th
century BC.

LOCATION

The Mayan
civilization is located
in the peninsula
between North and
South America.

It was located in the


area that now
includes parts of
Mexico, Guatemala,
Belize, Honduras and
Nigaragua.

were the god of corn,


sun, rain and
Itza the
RELIGION
creator god.
The Mayans believed
in two different worlds
the everyday in which
they lived and the
other world, home for
the ancestors spirits.
Mayan religion had a
lot to do with being
sacred of nature and
sacred of end worlds.
Mayans believed in
cyclical nature of
time, both celestial
and terrestrial cycles.

ARCHITECTURE

The MAYANS built their


cities and temples using
mainly Astronomy.
Their cities were planned
out and their major
temples were made to
form a perfect isosceles
triangle.
Classic stepped
pyramids from Terminal
pre-classic period yet
often the most dramatic
and easily recognizable
were made faced
towards each other

FOOD
The main parts of the mayan diet consisted of
squash, corn and beans . Avocados, papayas,
guava, breadnut and many other fruits and
vegetables and fruits were also eaten.
Chilies were used to add spice to bland tasting
beans. Deer, wild boar, rabbit, armadillo,
turkeys, fish and many other animals were
hunted for their meat.

used metals only


for ornaments.
MAYAN
ART
Many artist
appeared to be of
a noble stature.
Mayan kings had
their palaces filled
with art.
They painted cups
and vases with
scenes of court life.

COSTUME

Mayans way of
dressingSoldiers-mayan
soldiers wore armor
made of heavy quilted
cotton and carried with
them bows and
arrows, dart and
throwing sticks.
Slaves wore their hair
cut short to show that
they were in the lower
class.
Upper Class- Men
from upper class wore
a square cotton cloth

RITUALS AND SACRIFICES

In one of the Mayan sacrifices, two warriors go to the


sacrifice stone, one of the warriors is the victim. He is
chained to the sacrifice stone, and they fight to death, the
one chained to the stone dies. Thereafter he is painted
blue and the heart is taken out.
Another ritual is bloodletting, it is a ritual to the maize
gods and to the process of birth.

MAYAN NUMBER SYSTEM


Mayan numerals were a
vigesimal (base twenty)
numeral system used by
the pre columbian Maya
civilization.
Their number system began
with zero; the symbol for
zero was a shell, for 1 was a
dot and for 5 was a bar.
The decimal system is the
number of all the fingers.
Starting from zero they
reached the number 9.there
were 10 counts.

LANGUAGE- HIEROGLYPHICS

The Maya writing system (often called hieroglyphs


from a superficial resemblance to the ancient
egyptian writing was a common phonetic symbols
and logograms.
Most often classified as a logographic or a logo
syllabic writing system.

WRITINGS
The early Mayan
writings found date to
the 3rd century B.C.
Mayan writings used
symbols called
logograms which are
like letters.
They also used a set of
syllabic glyphs which
are similar in function
to modern Japanese
writing

CALENDAR
Mayans had two
calendars-one sacred
and the vague
calendar.
The solar used
calendar measured
365 days making a
year, the last 5 days
being unlucky. There
were 18 months and
all 20 days long.
The sacred calendar
was used for all
religious purposes

THE FALL
Some time in the 800s unknown attackers
attacked Cancuen and streamed in. Unfinished
projects still being there pots and bowls all over
the place and half carved statues still in open.
They killed the king the queen and rest of the
city.
The attackers were not interested in treasure,
jade and gold.
Attackers chipped the faces
of all stone
monuments and tipped them face first on the
ground. The city was ritually killed.
Cancuen was one of the last cities to be
destroyed. The civilization that had been
the strongest for over 500 years finally
came to an end.

RUINS

The mayans had a


number of ruins Caracol- this
important city in
belize was hidden
in the jungle until
1938.it has many
pyramids , tombs,
and pieces of art.
Tikal- this Mayan
cities best known
for its temple of
two headed snake.
Palenque-

FUN FACTS ABOUT THE MAYAN

Ancient Mayans used painkillers


made fro hallucinogens and
alcohol.
Mayan physicians were excellent
doctors and performed
complicated surgeries, such as
healing scars, and repairing
tooth cavities with turquoise and
pyrite fillings.
Crossed eyes were considered
beautiful and parents would
dangle objects in front of their
infants to permanently cross
their eyes.

THANK
YOU Group
members Debotrinya
Sur
Hitesh Sethi
Jahnvi
Ambasta

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