Maya

 ~Delaney Battle and Sikandar Kazi

Th e ancient Mayans is a very interesting civilization. There were several different locations were they lived, and they adapted to their surroundings. Culture consumed the lives of the Mayans, and they constantly expressed themselves through art and their religious beliefs. Their politial system controlled every aspect of Mayan life; rulers and government officials were honored and greatly respected. Many things are known of the Mayans and their way of life, but we still have much to learn about the fascinating civilization. The mysterious ancient Maya civilization continues to baffle the world, and they have heavily impacted our life today with their useful geography, astounding culture, flowing economy, and sense of justice in their political system .

Geography

The Mayas location affected Maya life. The tropical climate affected the clothing they wore, and the kinds of foods and plants available to them. Location also affected the kind of animals that they could hunt. Geography of the Maya helped them with their daily lives by supplying them with the things they needed to survive.

Location

The Maya had different areas in which they were located. Some of these tropical places were Western El Salvador and the southern part of Mexico as well as many more locations. These tropics could have rainforest that go as high as 150 feet up. (Odijk 9) The Maya civilization occupied a third of Mesoamerica. It was primarily in the Yucatan Peninsula. The civilization was divided into two parts the high lands and the lowlands. The high lands were usually located towards the south and had dry forests along with mountains. The low lands on the other hand were in the central or northern regions. The low lands were composed of rainforests with interrupting savannas or swaps. (Mayan Civilization)

Landforms

The Maya had a variety of landforms by the area where they lived, making the area look serene. One type of land form in the Maya civilization was a volcano. Between these volcanoes there usually lied a valley or a plateau. These areas had very rich and fertile soil. The Maya civilization was very intelligent and used their different landforms for resources. The many volcanoes located by the Mayas were put to good use. One material found in volcanoes that the Maya civilization used was obsidian. Obsidian is an extrusive igneous rock that forms when magma from a volcano cools rapidly without crystal growth. This was very good for making knives and spears cause of its glassy texture. Other materials from volcanoes that the Maya used were volcanic tuff witch were used for buildings, iron pyrite for mirrors, and specular hematite fo r red paint. Another landform was swaps. (Odijk 13) Like volcanoes the Maya civilization used swaps for its resources. They used the swaps as fertile beds for plants; they did this by piling up the mud on one side of the swamp. They used a series of canals to drain the swamps. They also used these canals to provide irrigation to their plants and crops. (10)

Crops

Some of the crops the Maya grew were considered very sacred. The Maya civilizations main crop was maize. This crop was also considered sacred and was very important. Most farmers planted their crops according to their religion. Every stage of farming was accompanied by a religious celebration. The Maya farmers often offered prayers, candles, flowers, and food to the gods that would control their harvest like the red rain god or the sun god. All of the Mayas cultivation was done by hand; their were no beasts of labor. The Maya boys usually worked hard during the day on the field. Some of the main crops included squash, chilies, maguey, manioc, and cacao. Because of the growth of weeds the soil lost its fertility; this caused the farmers to seek new places to farm. (Odjik 13)

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #0070c0; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Interaction with Environment

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">The main way the Maya interacted with their environment was hunting. Hunting was the main way the Maya people got food. They used a variety of weapons to catch their game such as spears, bows, and traps. After catching their food they would perform prayers and rituals. They caught different animals depending on the location of where they were. (13) Many of the Maya gods were related to the nature around them. They believed every thing was created from nature and one tree specifically. They thought that this tree was connected with the underworld and the heavens. Nature was very important. (All About the Mayans)

<span style="color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 15pt; text-align: center;">Culture
<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">One of the most important parts of Maya life was culture. Culture helped the Maya people express themselves and their beliefs. It was also one thing that was unique to the Mayans; most of the other aspects of their life were adopted from other civilizations. Culture of the Mayans mostly came from nature and was a huge part of the peoples’ lives. Religion, art, science, and clothing all contribute to the interesting culture of the Maya. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;"> Religion

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The Mayans had a very unique religion because they believed in more than one god, and performed many intricate rituals. They worshipped many gods and goddesses, and each god influenced a different part of Maya life. Every day had some religious importance. They held festivals in honor of the gods throughout the year, and made many sacrifices to the gods. Deer, dogs, turkeys, and blood were mainly sacrificed. Sometimes human sacrifices were made. (Hageman) The sacred ritual of cutting a person or animal to give blood to the gods is called bloodletting. (Netzley 50) Kings sometimes even cut themselves for rituals. (51) It was believed that spilling blood allowed them to contacts the gods and their ancestors. Stingray spines, obsidian blades, and carved bone awls, small pointed tools, were used to draw the blood. (Rubalcaba 107) They Mayans believed in two dimensions. One was the Otherworld, only for the gods, and the human world. These two dimensions had three realms. The three realms were the Upper World, the home of the celestial gods, the Middle World, where humans lived, and the Underworld, or Xibalba, home of the Under World gods and dead humans. (Netzley 44) The Mayans believed that the other worlds were destroyed by floods before they time they lived in. The believed that the first world was inhabited by dwarfs that built the great pyramids and temples. The dwarfs worked in the darkness because the sun was not created yet. The first sun rays turned the dwarfs to stone. Maya myths differ from different regions, but all of the same idea that the creator gods tried to make a perfect world, and wiped out the world with a flood when they were unsuccessful. (Rubalcaba 93) They believed that the middle world had four quadrants, North, South, East, and West. The North quadrant is ancestors and death, and its color is white. The South quadrant is the right hand of the sun, and its color is yellow. The East quadrant is the rising sun and is the most important quadrant. Its color is red. The West quadrant is the setting sun, and its color is black. In the center of all the worlds is the great ceiba tree and its color is green. It is the tree of life, and the souls of the dead travel through the tree to get to the different levels. (98) The trees roots reached into the Underworld, the trunk is in the Middle World, and the branches stretch into the Upper World. (Netzley 49)

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Art <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">The art of the Maya express their feeling about nature, the gods, and life through their creative carvings and images of Maya life depicted on pottery, temple walls, and rocks. Some of the carvings were made in large slabs of stone, sometimes weighing 65 tons! The stone slabs could tower as high as 35 feet, but most were 5-12 feet tall. Once the carvings were completed, they were usually placed in front of important buildings, with dates, inscriptions, and images scratched into them. (Netzley 66)They also painted murals that depicted people engaged in activities with a solid background. The Maya people made a lot of pottery with images of Maya life on them. The colors they used were orange, red, black, brown, grey, and cream. The color blue was associated with their religion and was only used for religious ceremonies. The Mayans did not have kilns however, so they used an open bed of charcoal and rock to cook their pottery. They made bowls, plates, pots, vases, and figurines. (67)

Science

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">Science and astronomy were expanded by the Maya people and they developed things like the 365 day calendar that we still use today; their science was interesting because it intertwined with their religion. They developed an accurate yearly calendar, using a mathematical system based on the number 20 instead of 10. They were among the fist people to use symbols for zero, and developed two kinds of calendars. One was a sacred almanac of 260 days. Each day was given one of twenty day names and a number 1-13. Each of the twenty day names had a god/goddess associated with it. Priests used the combinations of gods and numbers to predict the luck of a day. The other kind of calendar was the 365 day calendar. It was based on the orbit of the earth around the sun. The calendar contained eighteen months of twenty days, with five extra days at the end of the year. The last five days of the year were considered very unlucky, and people only worked when necessary and made many sacrifices during these days. (Hageman) The Mayans had a very complex day system :

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">20 kins(days)=1uinal(month)=20 days 18 uinals(months)=1tun(year)=360 days 20 tuns=1 katun= 7,200 days 20 katuns= 1 baktun= 144,000 days (Netzley 75) 20 baktuns= 1 pictun= 2,880,000 days 20 pictuns= 1 calabtun= 57,600,000 days 20 calabtuns= 1 kinchiltun= 1,152,000,000 days 20 kinchiltuns= 1 alautun= 23,040,000,000 days (76)

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Clothing

The clothing worn by the Mayans were simple, long, flowing, and fit for their lifestyle of long days outdoors. Their clothing was loose fitting and free flowing. They did not tailor their clothes, for their clothes were draped. Women usually wore skirts. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">The cloth that the skirts were made out of was made of hemp fiber. Mayan men wore loincloths. The elite decorated themselves with feather, mirrors, and jewels. Mayas also wore sandals made of deerskin <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">and hemp, a plant fiber. The elite attached pieces of jaguar skin, shells, pompoms, wooden figures, beads, bones, and teeth to their sandals. Men and women both wore jewelry, but men wore a lot more jewelry. Mayans wore nose plugs, ornaments that pierce their ears, as a status symbol. Some designs of the upper classes were made from jade, shells, and stones. In the Late Post classic ear, gold and copper were easily accessed and were used often. Most Mayans wore multiple lip and nose plugs. Sometimes their ear plugs were so heavy that their earlobes sagged from the weight, and their earlobes became permanently stretched. Beaded collars were also very popular. During religious rituals nobles, royals, and priests wore ceremonial belts, bracelets, and anklets made of jade, turquoise, serpentine, or shells. (Rubalcaba 118)

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Medicine

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The medicine that the Mayas used was influenced by their cultural beliefs. Their medicine was also based off of science. The Maya people had a variety of techniques they used to heal their injuries and illnesses. One thing the Maya did was to help heal open wounds and cuts they covered them with hair. Another thing they did to fix an injury was using casts for broken bones. Dentists also helped the Maya with their teeth. They often used iron pyrite to fill teeth. Surgeon used obsidian blades to perform surgery. The Maya people made prosthesis when someone lost a body part to replace it; they used jade to make this prosthesis. (Maya Medicine) The Maya people often looked for omens or signs as their answers to their sicknesses. They believed that sicknesses and dieses were sent by dark spirits as punishments for their wrong doing. They often made potions, chanted prayers, and used herbal medicines. They often used tobacco in rituals before using it for medical purposes. Many times the Maya people investigated on new types of medicine from commonly found plants in their area. (Odjik 17)

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Architecture <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The Maya were very <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 115%;">accomplished builders. There are over 3,000 known structures built by the Mayans. When a pyramid or building became old and worn, they just built a new building on top of it. (Netzley 58) Sometimes cities were mapped out, and the construction was planned. The inside of the buildings were more elaborate than the outside. The inside usually reflected their king and the gods they worshipped. Cities that were frequently attacked had walls, moats, and other things to protect the city. None of the Maya doorways had true arches on them because no architect knew how to make them. (60) The Mayans also built tall limestone pyramids. Rulers and nobles lived in large buildings. (Hageman <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 115%;">)

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Education

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">The Mayans were very educated in science and mathematics. The Maya people were very serious wheen it came down to their education. They had even developed their own full writing system. They wrote their writing characters on almost anything they could find. These characters were often called hieroglyphs or glyphs for short. Each glyph would made up of many parts. First, there would be one main symbol with smallers symbols around it to change the meanings of the glyph. They used these symbols to express their thoughts, feelings, and record history. With all this writing the Mayans educated themselves using books. They even organized their books using a codex. Unfortunatly, almost all the Maya books were destroyed by the spanish (Odjik 25). Another aspect of the Maya education was math. The Maya people are the ones who originally came up with the idea of the number zero. They would never use decimals or fractions. The Maya people used their skills in math to help predict eclipses, the phases of the moon, and the position of planets, like Venus (26).

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Ball Game

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The Maya people played a very special and sacred ball game for recreation. This game was very unique in many ways and served for many purposes. The ball game was commonly called pitz, and the goal of the game was to hit the marker on opposite side with the ball. On a regulation game the amount of players could vary between two to five. Each player had protection on their head, hips, knees, and elbows; these were the only areas the Maya players could hit the ball with. If someone were to hit the rubber ball with their foot the other team would get the point and gain control over the ball. Everything the Maya did eventually lead to their culture, so did this ball game. They believed that players on each team represented either a lord of the underworld or a god in the sky; they also believed the ball represented the bright sun in the air. (Maya Ball Game)

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14.5pt; text-align: center;">** Economics ** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Another aspect of Maya life was their economy. They established good relationships with the people in the surrounding areas. They relied on these relationships to provide them with many exotic treasures that they so desperatly wanted. The Mayan occupations, trade, transportation, and agriculture were all crucial parts of the economy, and helped make the civilization greater.

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Occupations

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 90%;">There weren’t many occupations available to the Maya people, but the occupations that were available to them were based on their family ties and their social status. Boys of lower classes, or non-elite, were mainly trained for agriculture, hunting, farming, fishing, and tool making. They may also be laborers or servants. Lower class girls did not have many occupations available to them; they usually were responsible for running households. Boys of upper classes were trained to have professions like priest, warrior, merchant, government official, artisans, or scribes. Many Mayans were slaves. People may become slaves if the head of their household sold them into slavery to avoid poverty, if they committed a crime and the state sentenced them to slavery, or if they were captured in war and forced to become a slave. (Netzley 35 )

Trade

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">The Maya traded many goods locally and long-distance with many different countries through complex trade routes on foot and over water on canoes. Trade was important to the Maya development because it helped them learn how to grow their crops, honor their gods, and influenced how they structured their society. (Netzley 26) They exported many goods like agricultural goods, obsidian and flint for weapons and tools, salt, bark paper, cotton, coral, cacao, jaguar pelts, bird feathers for headdresses, amber, jade, jaguar teeth, and pyrite for mirrors. (27) Important cities usually controlled trade routes, and shifts in control of trade routes explain the rise and fall of some important Maya cities. Long-distance trade items were meant to glorify their king. The items let the kings strengthen relationships with powerful members of society by presenting them with exotic gifts. (Foster 319)

Transportation

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Transportation of the Maya was very unique because they did not use animals of burden such as horse or oxen like many other civilizations. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">They also did not use wheels to help with their heavy loads. They usually carried their goods on their backs. Sometimes, however, they transported their goods down rivers on cleverly designed canoes. (Hageman) They did not use pack animals, such as horse or ox, mostly because of the rocky mountain terrain and swampy wetlands that they often had to cross. (Foster 323) The canoes that were used for water transport enabled Mayans to trade with areas that would have been treacherous to reach on foot. Because of this, early Maya settlements were located along rivers and coasts. They were located there because they were easily accessed by canoe, making trade much easier for the Mayans. (324)

Agriculture

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">Agriculture provided a steady income for many Maya farmers because they grew an assortment of things. Maya men tended many of the crops that they grew, like the cotton, cacao, maize, squash, and beans. Some of their crops, like cotton and cacao, were exported and used locally. Food that spoiled easily, like meat and <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 132%;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">dairy, could only be bought at local markets. (Rubalcaba 119) The Mayans were also very resourceful because they scraped agave leaves with obsidian rock to make strong rope called sisal, that is still traded and greatly valued today. Salt was one of the most commonly traded crops. Pans of seawater were left in the sun, and when the water evaporated, leaving just salt in the pan, the salt was collected. (121) A salt flat in Yucatan had some of the most valuable salt in Mesoamerica, and produced 3300-5500 tons of salt. (Foster 313) Maize was a very important crop that the Maya people grew and traded. The god of maize, Hun Hunahpu, was considered the father of world creation. (Rubalcaba 121) Honey was the only known sweetener to the Mayans. They produced it for local use and for long-distance trade. It was so important to them and their economy that myths and offerings were made to it. It was easy for them to collect the honey because Maya bees do not have stingers, so the bees could not sting them when they collected the honey. (Foster 313)

Currency <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Cocoa beans were the main currency the Maya people used. Most of their currency was a type of food, but not all of it. A tomato was worth one bean, a turkey three beans, a pumpkin four beans, a rabbit 100 beans, and a slave 1,000 beans. Their use of currency was more like trading different objects. Although beans were the main currency of the Mayas, it wasn’t not the first currency they used. Before the Maya civilization used cocoa beans they used shells. These shells were commonly used in necklaces or earrings and were in the shape of a square. The shells the Maya used could be found in the Pacific and the Caribbean. Another thing that was worth a lot was jade. Jade was traded for many resources. The Maya civilizations had many things they used as currency. (Maya Trade and Economy)

<span style="color: #ff0000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt; text-align: center;">Political System <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.5pt;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.5pt;"> A major part of Mayan society was their political system. It decided every aspect of the lives of the Maya people. There were many different parts of their political system, and all were very important to the safety and happiness of the people. The Maya political system had honorable rulers, an ever-changing government, a complex social class system, and strict laws.

Rulers

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Rulers were chosen through nepotism and were greatly respected and honored in Maya society. Power was passed down through families. Rulers were usually succeeded by a younger brother or son. When they died they were buried in their nicest clothes in pyramids, underneath temples. Servants were killed and buried with the kings in their tombs. They were also buried with jewelry and utensils that they would need in the afterlife. (Hageman) Rulers were usually men, and they lived in royal compounds that housed the members of the royal family. Sometimes the rulers were required to make offerings such as self-bloodletting and killing others as sacrifices. They were also required to dedicate new temples to certain gods. Kings captured prisoners in war. Kingship was established sometime before 100 B.C. At the end of the Classic Period government changed to a ruling council instead of one single ruler. One famous ruler of the Mayans was Pacal of Palenque, whose tomb was found under a temple. The inscription on the tomb helped identify the king. (Maya Rulers and Warfare) One thing that made people respect their rulers was that they could communicate with the gods and ancestors. Hieroglyphs and art depicted ruler’s war victories and ritual communication. Rulers also controlled water distribution, a critical function during dry season or drought. Some rulers, like in the Late Classic Period, justified their power with their ability to provide the people with exotic trade items. (Foster 134)

<span style="color: #0070c0; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Government

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 130%;">Government in Maya was very complicated and always changing because of the constant change of rule; each city had their own unique government. Each city’s government controlled the surrounding area. Some large cities controlled more than one small surrounding city. Power was passed down through families, and sometimes generations of a family ruled for hundreds of years. Government in the different cities was similar, but the cities never united to form a central government unit. In late Maya times, government of cities like Chichen Itza and Mayapan controlled a large part of the Maya population. (Hageman) In Mayan government, the king was advised by a council of lords and priests. Maya society used the clan system. This means that everything was passed down through the males of a family. Court cases could be tried different ways. Very important cases were tried by the royal council, whereas lesser cases were judged by a local judge. Criminals were punished with death, enslavement, fines, or sometimes even imprisonment. Their government was strict, but it was merciful. Crimes as bad as murder could sometimes result in only a fine. (Crystal)

Social Classes

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">The social class of a Maya person effected their job, home, and the amount of respect they recived. There were five main classes of the Maya people. Each social lass had certain jobs that they had to do. The higher the class of the Maya person the more respect they would recieve. The first social class of the Maya people includes rulers, while the second had aristrocrats. The ruler people controlled public life and are the most respectd out all the classes. They were also the peole in charge. The people included in the aristrocrats class possesed special knowlage and controlled trade or commrce. The third class was known as the class with lesser aristrocrats. They had many jobs that ranged from priests to military officals. The next class was the regular peole. This class included the most people, they were usually crafts people or laborers. The final class had the slaves. They were either people in debt, criminals, or prisoners of war. They mostly worked in fields, but somtimes they would be used in human sacrafices (Odijk 23).

Laws <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The Maya had very strict laws. They belived that most crimin als were controlled by evil spirits that were in their body. All criminals were to be punished immediately. Sometimes they would cut slashes in the criminals body so others could see it and what this man or women had done. Murderers would go to court and a judge would decide if the person was guilty or not. If he was guilty he would be put to death. A runner would often tell judges decissions made by the Maya gods. (Maya Laws).

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12.5pt;">In conclusion, the Mayans had a very unique way of life. They introduced things to the world that no one else had ever thought possible. They produced many fine goods that were wanted all over the region, and they also used trading as a way to get exotic goods from other places that helped give their culture even more life. Many of the ideas and advances that the Mayans had are still used today.The main thing that the Mayans contributed to our daily life it their advances in science and astronomy. They were extremely educated in mathematics and science, and used their knowledge to make unbelievale discoveries in science and astronomy. They were among the first people to have the idea of using a symbol to represent the number zero. Today, we still use a symbol for zero. They also were the first people to create a 365-day calendar. We still use their idea of the 365-day calendar today. Thanks to their ideas and lasting developments, the Maya civilization will never be forgotten.

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