Maya Study Guide Test

Warriors and Traders

300

An American Greeting

What is HI

400

1. At the top of the pyramid were aristocrats and nobles. The aristocrats and nobles were civil administrators, military officials, chief overseers of trade and of food distribution, high ranking scribes, and high ranking priests. 2. Lower ranking priests and scribes, architects, administrative officials, engineers, master craftspeople, merchants, professional landowners, and large land holders came next on the social pyramid. These people made up the subsidiary class. Theycame next on the social pyramid. 3. Next on the social pyramid came the common people, which included owners of small farms, serfs who would work on large estates, laborers, craft workers, and domestic servants. 4. The people on the lowest tier of the social pyramid was the slaves, commoners who had fallen into poverty, criminals, and prisoners from war who weren’t sacrificed.

Construct a pyramid ranking, from top to bottom, the Maya social structure.

Daily Life

100

The Mayans came to live in Mesoamerica around 20,000 years ago, or in other words during the Ice Age. These people were nomads from Asia and crossed the land bridge that would later be known as the Bering Strait. They migrated south and east. The Mayans thrived in the era that followed the Ice Age.

How did people come to live in Mesoamerica?

200

Slash and burn was a type of agriculture in which they cleared the area of vines and bushes, then set fire to the remaining plants. The Mayans created this technique because the land they were on was a rainforest. With many plants, they couldn’t make a field easily without getting rid of the plants. However, this is harmful to the environment because if you don’t have the plants and trees, you don’t get oxygen, you don’t have life.

What is “slash and burn” agriculture? Why did the Maya develop this kind of agriculture? Although this kind of agriculture is still practiced in parts of the world, it is considered harmful to the environment. Explain why.

300

The Mayans grew a variety of foods that included corn, cacao, maguey, bananas, and squash. The Mayans also grew cotton and that was their main material for clothing. The Mayans would use the slash and burn method to make space for crops. They would first cut down all of the brush and then they would burn the remnants. Since the Mayans lived near the jungle, there were slopes. They would terrace these slopes. To terrace something you have to cut out almost step like things into the hill. The Mayans also scavenged for food in the jungle. They kept bees for honey. The Mayans would also eat meat, although it was rarely consumed because it was expensive and hard to find. But when they did eat meat they would eat dogs or turkeys.

What crops did the Mayans grow?

400

Cotton was the main material for clothing. The typical outfit for a peasant was a loincloth which is a long strip of cotton that they would wrap around their waist and legs. A peasant would be barefoot. A women would wear a cotton skirt, or a square cut shift that hung from the shoulder known as a huipil. Both male and female would wear a capelike square of cotton to cover their shoulders. They both would wear an animal skin that could double as a blanket.

Describe the clothing worn by the Maya people.

500

The Maya thought that a long and sloping forehead was beautiful, so they would bind the heads of newborns with boards. They thought that crossed eyes were also beautiful so they would hang a bead in between a newborn's eyes so they would focus in. They would pierce themselves in the nose, lip, or ear. They would do this by puncturing themselves with stingray rods.

It is often said “beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” but we might question this when examining the Maya’s idea of beauty. Describe the Maya idea of beauty and the things they did to achieve it.

Maya Timeline

100

200 AD

When did the Classical Period start?

200

900 AD

When did the classical period end?

300

100 to 1000 AD

How long did the Maya culture start? When did it end?

400

Some evidence is that they had a very complex underworld. The earth was called the middle world and was thought to be square and flat. Their world is colored with north, south, east, and west. The east is red. This is the place of the sun rising. The south is yellow. The south is the right hand of the sun. The north is white. This has to do with the dead ancestors of the Maya. This was most likely the heaven. The west is black and is the underworld. It is also associated with death. A huge tree stands at the center of the middle world and it’s roots reach down into the feared underworld. But, the tall branches reach up to the upperworld. This is where everyone strives to be.

What evidence do we have that suggests that the Maya were very interesting in the heavens?

500

3113 BC

When was the creation of the world?

Gods an Priests

100

The name the Maya creation myth was Popol Vuh.

What name did Maya give to their creation Myth?

200

1. Name: Itzamnaaj Duties: Top god, creator of humans, came up with writing Looks: He looked like a toothless old man with a big nose. 2. Name: K’inich Ajaw Duties: become the jaguar god at night in the underworld Looks:sun-faced lord 3. Name: Ah Puch Duties: human and death god Looks: skeletal nose, body was covered in other weird spots, jaw, and spine,

1. Who was the Creator of humans? Describe what he/she looked like and their duties. 2.Who is the jaguar god? 3. Who is the human death god?

300

1. Name: Huun Ixim Duties: maize god Looks: young man who has a ear of corn on his head 2. Name:Ix Chel Duties:goddess of childbirth, healing, weaving, and the moon, is Itzamnaaj’s wife Looks:She looked like a human with a headdress with snakes tangled in her hair. She also has claws for toes and fingers. 3.The basically controlled everything. Weather it was a good harvest, good weather, or birth, gods controlled it. They completely depended on the gods. (To give you my point, THEY DID EVERYTHING.)

1. Who is the maize god? what did (s)he look like and what was their duties? 2. Who is the goddess if childbirth? what are their duties and what do they look like? 3. What role did the gods play in the Mayan's life?

400

Some evidence is that they had a very complex underworld. The earth was called the middle world and was thought to be square and flat. Their world is colored with north, south, east, and west. The east is red. This is the place of the sun rising. The south is yellow. The south is the right hand of the sun. The north is white. This has to do with the dead ancestors of the Maya. This was most likely the heaven. The west is black and is the underworld. It is also associated with death. A huge tree stands at the center of the middle world and it’s roots reach down into the feared underworld. But, the tall branches reach up to the upperworld. This is where everyone strives to be.

What evidence do we have that suggests that the Maya were very interesting in the heavens?

Scribes and artists

100

A Mayan scribe at the palace is a member of the wealthiest class of the society. Sometimes they can be the brother/ son of a royal. In the palace the scribe is a close advisor. They would kept the calendar, make astronomical calculations, announced most of the auspicious times for accessions to the throne, royal marriages. A Mayan school scribes would teach principles of mathematics and writing that was mandatory for their job. They could also paint and created intricate works of art.

Describe the job of a Mayan scribe.

200

The three main types of glyphs are logographs, which are word signs that represent a complete word or group of words. Another type is phonetic signs when they represent the sound of a syllable. They are made up of a consonant and a vowel. The third type of glyph is the semantic signs, which are signs that specify the meaning of the main glyph in a block of glyphic symbols.

Describe the three basic types of Mayan glyphs.

300

To build temples, large groups of workers were needed. The groups were used to quarry blocks of limestone, clear and level the jungle, and to convey the blocks of limestone to the work site. The Mayans didn't have any sharp tools, they only had stone axes. The Mayans did have the concept of the wheel, but they didn’t use it because the jungle terrain would be too steep and slippery to ride inside a wagon or cart. Instead, log rollers were used to transport blocks of limestone, and ropes of heavy fibers such as henequen served to both lash and raise the blocks.

Despite the lack of tools and technology, the Maya were able to build large, temples and palaces. Describe how they did this.

400

1. The person who decided when a battle would begin was a high ranking priest or scribe who served as an advisor to the king. 2. A battle was timed to coincide with the position of Venus, the ending or the onset of a calendar period, or another astronomical factor. 3. This tells us that these people were both astronomical and warlike. This also tells us that they are superstitious because they felt like they had to begin a battle on these dates.

Who decided when a battle would begin? What might they base this decision on? What does this tell us about these people/civilization?

500

1. pottery basketry textiles dyes and pigments agricultural products 2. jade jaguar pelts quetzal feathers marine shells stingray spines cinnabar from iron ore cacao beans (currency among the Maya)

What type of goods did the Maya trade? What did they hope to get in return?