The Mayans

1. The Mayans Music, special skills, and decline. By Jack Shover and Hunter Destival

2. Special Skills/ Inventions • A Hornet bomb was used in the Mayans army it was thrown at the enemy • The Mayan Calendar was used to tell time and predict certain events, for example they had one error over a 6,000 year period

3. The Stelae Inventions That’s the ball • Temples and buildings were made of concrete. • They were used expertly and for sacrifices • Invented rubber for there sacrificial balls • Stelae is monument used to keep history • Maya blue is a bright colored used in art

4. How they declined • By 900 A.D. the Mayan culture began to decline. Many historians believe, that members from royal families started a civil war. Farming became difficult and disease broke out

5. Music • It is believed that musicians were used in many ceremonies in the ancient Mayan culture. In various funeral ceremonies it is believed that drum and flute players would follow the casket of important women and play a gloomy and plain tune. After the casket is buried the musicians would then break them in the tomb before it is sealed

6. OBEYING THE LAWS • They didn’t all have the same ruler, but the different cities followed their rulers. • Aristocrats are the highest ranking members of noble families who possessed special knowledge. • Priests were the rulers of the cities. • Punishments for breaking laws were heavy fines, possessions sold, sold to slavery, and being thrown into jail.

7. HOW THEY RECORDED EVENTS • They used rocks, (they wrote on rocks and wrote with rocks). • They also wrote in the sand and mud.

8. ARTS • Painted on paper and plaster. • Carved wood and stone. • Made clay models. • Terra cotta figurines from molds. • One of the most common Mayan art themes is the Royal Audience.

9. WHERE THEY EXPLORED • Guatemala • Chiapas • Yucatán

10. COMUNICATION • Had their own hieroglyphic writing. • Carved in a wet paved circle, and people would go to their own circle in the morning and see if they had any mail.

11. Crops • Crops that were grown were corn, beans, and squash, they were most important. Other crops that were grown were cotton, cacao trees which was important for trading, papayas, sapodillas, avocados, potatoes and chili peppers.

12. Food • Corn was one of the main meals. They used corn to make a kind of porridge spiced with chili and, they made tamales, and tortillas. They made a type of a drink called "Balche" which was sweetened with honey and spiced with tree bark. The Mayans caught wild birds such as turkeys and ducks for food. They kept and trained dogs for hunting buddies, although some breeds were eaten. They also collected bees and kept them in logs.

13. Hunting and Fishing • Mayan men used bow and arrows to hunt wild animals such as: deer, monkeys, rabbits, and the pig- like peccary. • Hunters used blowguns to shoot birds. At the coast fisherman used nets to catch lots of fish.

14. How they lived • Women were in charge of making supper and doing the kitchen work . The men ate first and second came the women and children. Leftover food was then eaten in the morning for the next day.

15. Medicine • Human hair • Casts • Iron pyrite • Spiritual healing

16. The Mayans BY: Azaria and Ian

17. Clothing • Cotton were used to make clothing worn by most of the people • Men wear short tunics and short, cloaks of Jaguar skin. • Royal people wear buried wearing elaborate jewelry made of Jade

18. Religions and Rituals • For the Maya believed that all life was in the hands of divine powers. • Peasants were buried in very simple graves under the floors of houses. • Wealthy people were buried in tombs a long with offerings, jewelry, pottery, and food.

19. Legends • To Mayas, the time periods and numbers were gods who carried the burden of time upon their backs. • The Mayas had a complicated creation myth that tells of man being created and destroyed by his maker. • One of the richest sources of knowledge about Maya culture and folklore, witch includes some poems and songs.