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Mayan Civilization Research Paper

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Mayan Civilization
Who and what is the Mayan civilization? The Mayan civilization began the creation of all techniques known to man starting around 500 BCE. The Maya transcended at agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making and mathematics, and left an amazing amount of impressive architecture and symbolic artwork. Their influences over time spread through Central America including what is now known as Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. The Mayan civilization advanced techniques has an impactful influence on the world that continues to advance over time.
The Mayans were the founders of mathematics and calendar system from the Olmecs. Between about 250 and 900 CE, the Mayan began to develop a complex calendar based around …show more content…

They are known for their beautiful temples usually built in a stepped pyramid shape, decorating them with elaborate reliefs and inscriptions. They often created these reliefs and inscriptions with intricate stone carvings, stucco statues, and paint. Their buildings remaining to still stand today is a testimony to their expertise as architectures. Maya was a city- state rather than an empire; leaving the Mayan people to live very differently. Royalty usually lived in temples or palaces. While the common Mayan lived outside of the city center. The city center is where the temples, palaces, and the bal court were all located bunched together in one area. The Palaces were large, multi-storied buildings which were home to the king and royal family. They tended to be made of stone with wooden structures on top. Roofs were made of thatch. Some Maya palaces are spacious, including courtyards, homes, patios, or towers. "We started off working with what we thought was a small palace, part of a small Mayan settlement," said Arthur Demerest, a Vanderbilt University archaeologist and head of the Cancuen project. "What we found was a palace 20 times as large as we were expecting and an important Mayan marketplace that had been forgotten for almost 100 years." This is an example of the way the Mayan civilization lived. Like the city center, the Mayan homes tended to be bunched together in clusters. Most researchers believe that extended families lived together in one area. Their virtuous homes are thought to be much like the homes of their descendants in the region today. Simple structures constructed mostly of wooden poles and thatch. The Maya tended to build up a mound or base and then build upon it. As the wood and thatch wore away or rotted they would tear it down and build again on the same foundation. Due to the Mayan usually building the common Mayan housing on lower ground many of these mounds have been lost to flooding

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