Post on 03-Jul-2020
©2019 erin cobb imlovinlit.com
No one knows where they came from, but
around 2000 BC, small farming villages began to
develop in Central America’s rainforests. By 1000
BC, Mayans were creating larger communities.
Around 600 BC, larger buildings and farmland
were developed, allowing the communities to
grow.
The word civilization comes from the Latin
word civis which means someone who lives in a
town. But a civilization is more than a town. It’s a
group of people that live in an organized manner.
They have a shared language and culture, laws,
religious beliefs, and resources for food. They also
share some form of writing so they can pass on
their way of life to future generations.
During the Classic Period of Mayan
civilization, AD 250 to AD 900, the Mayans
developed many city-states. Today, those areas
make up the countries of Belize, Guatemala,
Honduras, and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
Each city-state had its own ruler and remained
separate from the others. All of the cities were
built the same. There was a large palace for the
ruler, a plaza for the marketplace, a ball court, and
giant pyramids, or temples. The skilled Mayan
architects used tools made of stone, wood, and
shell.
While the ruler lived in the stone palace, most
of the townspeople lived in one-room mud huts
near their farms. Each city, about 40 of them, was
connected with well-built roadways through the
rainforests and jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Their populations ranged from around 5,000 to
50,000 people each. The cities were often at war
with each other.
The Mayan people used bows and arrows to
hunt for food on land and in water. They also
fished using nets and harpoons. Their vast farms
produced mostly corn, or maize. The Mayans also
Mayan Cities
Life as a Mayan
Mayan palace and watchtower in present-day Palenque, Mexico
No one knows where they came from, but
around 2000 BC, small farming villages began to
de lo in C tral A ri ’s ainf ts By 1000
Each city-state had its own ru
separate from the others. All
built th Th la
the Mayans?
Who Wereby Adrienne Zembower
©2019 erin cobb imlovinlit.com
grew potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, squash, and
beans. They enjoyed corn cakes and ate
everything with a side of corn pancakes, called
tortillas. The Mayans also grew cocoa beans and
used them to make a luxurious chocolate drink.
This rich drink was a delicacy for the most elite
Mayans. These beans were so valuable they were
used as a form of money.
The Mayans had many rituals that centered
around beliefs. Ulama was a ball game they
played. Mayans believed that the more they
played the game, the better their harvest would
be. Located in the center of the city, the ball court
was shaped like a capital I. Losers of the game
were sometimes put to death.
The Mayans were gifted mathematicians and
astronomers. With these talents, they created a
complex calendar. It was made of two parts, a
religious calendar, the Tzolk’in, and a solar
calendar, the Haab’. The calendar cycles
happened at the same time and would meet at
the same point every 52 years. The Long Count
calendar was used to measure time over 52 years.
The Mayans also developed one of the most
sophisticated forms of writing amongst ancient
civilizations. The system contained more than
700 glyphs, or symbols. Each glyph represented a
word or sound. The Mayans recorded events on
stone slabs called stelae and made books, or
codices, using soft tree bark folded up like a fan.
They used these to record rituals, calendars, and
astronomy.
Many of the codices revealed spiritual beliefs
and rituals. Mayans believed in many gods and
that their rulers could communicate with the
gods as well as dead ancestors. Bloodletting, or
ch’ahb’, was a ritual used to invoke spirits. Blood
was released by cutting oneself with a stone knife
or piercing tongues, lips, or ears with the spines
of stingrays. Then, a thorny rope was pulled
through the piercing. The blood was collected on
bark paper and then burned. The smoke carried
the blood to the gods. Ch’ahb’, fasting, and
tobacco smoking were all done to ask ancestors
and gods for rain, plentiful harvests, and
victories in war. The Mayans also sacrificed high-
ranking prisoners of war to satisfy the gods.
These rituals were typically performed at the
beginning or end of a calendar cycle or at
important events of the kings and queens. When
kings died, Mayans believed they also became
gods.
The Mayan Mind
This stelae artifact is displayed in the Anthropological Museum in Mexico City, Mexico. It shows some of the glyphs used by the Mayans.
Lady Xoc at Yaxchilan pulling a barbed rope through her tongue. Bloodletting was an important ritual.
©2019 erin cobb imlovinlit.com
Nonfiction Article of the Week6-21: The Mayans
Informational Text
Activity 2
Skill: Literal Comprehension
Comprehension QuizAnswer each question or complete each statement according to the article.
1. The Mayans lived in the present-day countries of ___________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the Mayan period of AD 250 to AD 900 AD called? __________________________________
3. Where did the townspeople typically live? _________________________________________________
4. What did the Mayans use to hunt for food? ________________________________________________
5. The Mayans had two calendars: one religious and one ____________________.
6. What are glyphs? _______________________________________________________________________
7. Who was believed to be able to communicate with the dead and the gods? _____________________
8. What did Mayans believe happened when a king died?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
©2019 erin cobb imlovinlit.com
Nonfiction Article of the Week6-21: The Mayans
Informational Text
For items 1-4, you’ll be citing textual evidence to support what the text says explicitly.
1. Find the sentence that tells where the word civilization comes from. Highlight it in blue.
2. Find two sentences that tell what farmers grew on their farmland.
Highlight them in green.
3. Find the sentence that tells which subjects Mayans were especially knowledgeable about.
Highlight it in purple.
4. Find the sentence that tells when the ch’ahb’ rituals were usually held.
Highlight it in gray.
Finding Text EvidenceFind each piece of text evidence in the article and highlight OR underline it with the color specified.
Skill: Text Evidence
For items 5-8, you’ll be citing one piece or multiple pieces of textual evidence to support
inferences drawn from the text.
5. Find one piece of evidence that tells you that descendants of Mayan people my still live
in Mexico today. Highlight it in orange.
6. Find one piece of evidence that tells you that each city probably kept mostly to
themselves and did not help other cities. Highlight it in yellow.
7. Find two pieces of evidence that support the idea that the Mayans were inventors.
Highlight them in pink.
8. Find three pieces of text evidence from the article that support this statement:
Ch’ahb’ consisted of different types of rituals to invoke the gods.
Highlight them in red.
Activity 3