Mayas-ah

=Mayans= The Mayans were part of [|Mesoamerica], which is ancient Central America. The Classic Mayan civilizations were from 300 to 900 AD. The cities were based on the religious aspects of the culture. The Mayans inspired and influenced many mesoamerican cultures with their advances and culture.
 * Region
 * History
 * Economy
 * Religion

____Region [[image:maya3.jpg width="382" height="260" align="right"]]
The Ancient Mayans largest and most important urban devolptments were in southern Guatemala. The main city in this area was Tikal, while the largest was Palenque. All these areas were tropical rain forest, which is very hard to devolop in. The tempature was extremely high, whole the ground was terrible for growing needed food. Even so, they managed to build built very sophisticated urban centers, pre-modern world astronomical science and mathematics, and the most developed and complex writing system in America. They learn how to use their environment to get along extremely well, as most cultures must do to be successful.

History
One thing that we can tell about the periods of this Mayan civilization, is the different periods and the arcitecture that reflect on that. The Early Classic Period was more focused on stelae (stone, flat columns) and corbelled vaults and the Late Classic Period over the expansstion of the cities and the culture, such as their accute writing skils. In 900 AD the cites were abandoned, possibley because of a potential invasion that there is evidence of, or just because the economy was failing due to the climate. It started with the priests leaving the cities. Eventually the working class stopped working and the cities declined.

Economy
The Mayans used a Slash and Burn tecnique in thier agriculture. Slash and Burn is when they cut down all the tree in a certain plot ofland, and then burn the trees and other plants to make fertilizer. They use this method because the tropical lands aren't very fertile. This way of growing only lasts for two to four years. The main crop for the ancient Mayans was maize, or corn. In the Mayan society, there was a large separation between priest and peasants. There were four social status's; rulers, priests, commoners, and slaves. Like most postitions, these had sub-catagories, breaking them down into even more select groups. The Mayan prized beauty, but ia very different kind of beauty then what we're used to. Their beauty involved long, backward sloping foreheads and permanantly crossed eyes. These were created at babies, having their heads strapped at boards, and something dangling between their eyes.

Religion
The Acient Mayans worshipped three main gods, Huitzilopochtli ("hummingbird wizard," the native and chief god of the Tenochca, Huitzilopochtli was the war and sun god), Tezcatlipoca ("Smoking Mirror," chief god of the Aztecs in general), and Quetzalcoatl ("Sovereign Plumed Serpent,". Human sacrificed had been a long used tradition, to feed to gods. A lot of the time, the priests would pierce themselves for a bloodletting, instead of a full human sacrifice. Bloodletting would be done by piercing something on ones self. The tongue piercing was a common place in many ancient cultures, as well as the ears, lips, or penis.

__Work Cited__ [|http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/MAYAS.HTM] http://www.kidskonnect.com/AncientMayan/AncientMayanHome.html