INTRO.

Did you know that the ancient Maya developed one of the most advanced civilizations in the
Americas？ They developed writing with hieroglyphs and was an expert at astronomy and
mathematics. The Maya developed a complicated and accurate system for calendars that we
also use in the modern days.
In this book you will learn about the timeline about the ups and downs of the ancient Mayan,
the great mystery of their disappearance was not able to be solved yet! They had advanced
astronomy and developed type of writing.
You will also learn about the Mayan sacrifices, Mayans really believed in the gods so they gave
human tributes.
Finally, you would explore the mysterious and advanced Mayan calendar, the prophecy of the
last date and the mystery of the nineth layer.
Be prepared for the journey as you zoom back two thousand years and learn about the secrets
of ancient Mayan.

CHAPTER 1.
Maya civilizations were one of the most mysterious and powerful cultures during the ancient
times, according to the website “Duckster” the Mayan civilization began in 2500 C.E. The
Mayans began to develop a system of writing in the 700C.E. Further on during the 600 C.E., the
Maya begin to farm. This enables their society to support larger populations and cities
that begin to grow. Next, from the 400 C.E. the first Mayan calendars are carved into
stone, because that the calendars were made of stone, the first calendars were as hard
as iron. Not long after that in the 260 C.E., a volcano erupted in the Maya highlands
interrupting trade and subtracting population the sound was loud as an explosion from bombs.
In 484 C.E. the ruler of Caracol built a highway to make travel easier. Years later, the first
pyramids were built in 100 C.E. Moreover, the city of Teotihuacan in 400 A.D becomes the
center city and rules over the Maya highlands. Maya civilizations were one of the most
mysterious and powerful cultures during the ancient times, according to the website “Duckster”
the Mayan civilization began in 2500 C.E. The Mayans began to develop a system of writing in
the 700C.E. Further on during the 600 C.E., the Maya begin to farm. This enables their
society to support larger populations and cities that begin to grow. Next, from the 400 C.E.
the first Mayan calendars are carved into stone, because that the calendars were made
of stone, the first calendars were as hard as iron. Not long after that in the 260 C.E., a
volcano erupted in the Maya highlands interrupting trade and subtracting population the sound
was loud as an explosion from bombs. In 484 C.E. the ruler of Caracol built a highway to make
travel easier. Years later, the first pyramids were built in 100 C.E. Moreover, the city of
Teotihuacan in 400 A.D becomes the center city and rules over the Maya highlands.
Therefore, glory did not last long, the city of Teotihuacan was canceled in 600 A.D. and
is no longer a cultural center. In addition to this, the city Tikal is formed. This will be one
of the major cities in the Maya civilization. It will reach its peak in power during the
Classic period. Good times did not last long either, at the 900 A.D. the southern lowland
cities collapse and Teotihuacan is abandoned. The reason for the collapse of the Maya
Classic period is still a mystery to archeologists. This signals the end of the Classic
period.

CHAPTER 2.
Till now, the most possible way the Mayans civilization collapsed was war with the
Spanish conquistadors. However, there was a giant difference between the gear they
used. The Mayan and Spanish both used melee weapons, which meant close fight
weapons. Mayans had clubs, spears, axes and knives, the Spanish had
knights/horsemen for melee battles and had swords and shields. The clubs that Mayans
had were capable of cutting off horse heads and were about 42-inches long. Axes were
usually made by obsidian, rocks, flint or bronze. Different from Mayan the horsemen
had lances with a wooden body of spear and a pointy head of metal and iron. Another
big difference was the armor, they used fabrics opposite of each other. The Mayans had
cotton armor, soft and probably useless. In the other hand, the Spanish conquistadors
had big and thick armor mostly made by Toledo, the finest in the world. They also had
similarities, they both had methods that throw spears and use swords/knives to attack.
The loss against the Spanish was a big failure, the Spanish burnt their books and
destroyed their culture. The Mayans were not prepared so they had a big amount of
loss, that was a lesson to tell us that we always need to be prepared.

CHAPTER 3.
The Mayan sacrifices were one of the most well-known events from their civilization.
The Mayans believed that the sun god will burn everything dead and kill all crops if they
didn’t give the god any tributes. Mayans often paint the tributes into blue and give them
special close to wear, the tributes will line up down the temple and wait for death. A
soothsayer would use a 10-centermeter long knife to cut off the tributes head, and then
take off its heart. This “ceremony” will last until the sun god is happy, when the clouds
block the sun or when it starts raining the sacrifice will stop. The tributes will be covered
in blue paint, and they will wear special clothes. The soothsayer will first cut off the
tribute's head and take out its heart. The Mayan sacrifices were one of the most well-
known events from their civilization. The Mayans believed that the sun god will burn
everything dead and kill all crops if they didn’t give the god any tributes. Mayans often
paint the tributes into blue and give them special close to wear, the tributes will line up
down the temple and wait for death. A soothsayer would use a 10-centermeter long
knife to cut off the tributes head, and then take off its heart. This “ceremony” will last
until the sun god is happy, when the clouds block the sun or when it starts raining the
sacrifice will stop. The tributes will be covered in blue paint, and they will wear special
clothes. The soothsayer will first cut off the tribute's head and take out its heart. If there
is “left over” tributes, there will be another sacrifice tournament after the first. The left-
over tributes will be taken to in front of a corn field, they will try to run to the corn field
before getting killed by arrows spears or knives. If they can get to the corn field without
getting killed, they won't need to sacrifice and will live happily ever after. Another way of
sacrifice is to honor your ancestor, blood sacrifices / bloodletting rite and cutting down
body parts. A famous blood sacrifice was from Lady Wak Tuun during a bloodletting rite
to honor her ancestor. Blood sacrificing was very common during the ancient times, but
now we are more sensible to see what is the right thing to do.

CHAPTER 4.
Have you ever heard of the Mayan Jagwars? Mayan people honored the sun god, they
believed that the sun would slip in the underworld at night and turn into a jaguar. Mayan
people saw jaguars as strong and powerful animals, they were king of the jungle. As an
effect of this, the members of the royals had similar words as Jaguars in their royal title.
Also, people rip off jaguar skins and make clothes for the kings, queens or skilled
warriors and hunters to represent power. They also make the jaguar skin to coats
thrones and tombs for important people. Another way they showed how they included
jaguars everywhere was they sacrificed jaguars for honor, such as killing a savage
jaguar before war to give the army luck or sacrificing the jaguar in special ceremonies
for honor. Jaguars were also sacrificed to important gods, the jaguars were sacrificed
on the days the gods were represented. The jaguars were the sacred animal that
represented the Mayan, do you know other animals that represent other civilizations?
CV

CHAPTER 5.
Have you ever heard about the prophecy that the world is going to end at 2012 12 21?
This was a rumor based on the Mayan calendar. The Mayan calendar is a calendar
calculated by the solar system. The Mayan also had 2 calendars, one was counted by
the solar system, the other was counted by the holy days. The one that was calculated
by the solar system had 365 days (about 12 months), and the other had only 260 days
(about 8 and a half months). Each day in the calendar was labeled a god, each day
represented a god. The god of the day would control and balance the day till its end and
pass it to another god the next day. This way, the Mayan children were usually named
by the day they were born on, to be born on the right day was very important. The
Mayan calendars were very old, so instead of numbers they had pictures of gods. The
Mayan calendars also had a twenty-day cycle for each week, their math system of
numeration was twenty too! The Mayan calendar had nine layers, each layer had
thousands of years recorded. The first layer goes back 16 billion years when the galaxy
was formed, the second layer starts at 820 million years ago. The third layer includes
the evolution of the monkeys. The third layer starts at the time from about the mammals
appearing and lasts for 40 million years. At the fourth layer, humans appear within two
million years. The fifth layer includes 100 thousand years when the first humans star to
socialize and create. At the sixth layer the civilization starts around 3100BC, about 5
thousand years ago. The seventh layer goes back to 1755 when people improve by
revolution. The next layer, number eight, starts in 1999. When the nineth layer started
was still a mystery, according to the prophecy, people believed that the world would end
because the last date of the last layer of the calendar was 2012 12 21. This was the
great mystery that the Mayans still kept for us, in the future will the past still whisper the
deep mysteries that the Mayans saved?

This temple was built during the Mayan civilization and was in the center city- Tical. Temples were
commonly used for sacrifices, worshiping and connecting to the god. The temples were aliened to the
stars and each temple represented by a god. This Temple was also in the peten jungle.
Soures : Britannica image quest

This is an arrow used by the Mayans during war. A very old stone artifact that was made at about
800~900 A.D. when the Mayans had war with Spanish conquistadors

Soures: Britannica image quest failure

The Mayan civilization honored the Jagwars, their statues were commonly seen in important temples or
places. They believed that Jagwars were the other trance form of the sun.

Soures : Britannica image quest

This temple was probley destroyed by the Spanish during war at 900 A.D. As the size of this temple, it
could be made for sacrificing or directing tournaments.

Soures : Britannica image quest

This is a stone carve of Lady Wak Tuun during a bloodletting rite, part of a door lintel from Structure 21,
Yachilan, Mexico, Late Classic Period.755 AD - Soures : Britannica image quest

v
Sculpture of a maize god from the palace of Yax-Pac, last king of Copan. The rulers' blood sacrifices
connected the maize vital to Mayan life. The god is a personified maize cob in the form of a beautiful
young man, his hair the corn silk. AD 775. Copan, Temple 22

Soures : Britannica image quest.

Serpent Head, Temple of Warriors, Mayan Ruins,

Soures : Britannica image quest.