Mayan Civilization

Mayan Civilization

  • Submitted By: jw1985
  • Date Submitted: 12/10/2008 7:37 PM
  • Category: History Other
  • Words: 453
  • Page: 2
  • Views: 433

Mayan Civilization lasted roughly around 2000 B.C. – 1500 A.D with such a rich and amazing culture. Mayans lived through three time periods which where the pre-classic (2000 B.C. – 250 A.D), the classic (250 A.D -900 A.D), and the post-classic period (900 A.D – 1500 A.D). The Mayan lived in Mesoamerica mostly on the Yucatan peninsula. The Mayan had reached great achievements, being far advanced for their time. The Mayan people seemed to have it all, Excelling in Art, Architecture, math and writing.
Mayan art too many people is just absolutely amazing. Being very elegant and sophisticated the Mayans had many ways of showing their culture through many different forms of art. They had paintings upon paper and plaster, clay and stucco models, Carvings out of wood and metal and their wonderful terra cotta figurines. Mayans were known to attach their names to their work as the artists. Most of the Mayan art were commissioned by Mayan kings, ensuring their place in history and memorialize themselves. The Mayans Had a counting system that only consisted of dots, bars and a symbol for zero. The Maya are one of the only ancient cultures to incorporate the zero. The Mayan counting system is a lot like the counting system we use today except the have a base twenty and they arrange their number vertically.Along with the math comes the Mayan calendar. Their calendar is quite accurate, being very close to the Gregorian calendar. The Mayans kept great record of time, the positions of the stars and anything that happened in the heavens. Their Calendar Started at 3114 B.C (Before the time of the Maya) and went vast into the future and their predictions.
Mayans had a writings system some would say hieroglyphics yet complete different from the Egyptian hieroglyphics people thinks of. Mayan writing consisted of people, animals, supernatural objects and amazing designs. Their writing is the most visually striking writing in the world to say the least. The...

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