The

Mayans
We spent a day finding out all about the Mayans. We then
presented our findings to the rest of the class. Here are
some of our slides we used to share our research. Enjoy!
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 Mayans had to harvest and collect lots of food to keep
healthy and to fulfill lots of energy to burn on all the
activities that they do during the day.

The Mayans ate many different foods such as

avocado, cassava, chili peppers , cacao beans,
honey, jicama (a mexican turnip), maize (corn),
papaya, pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes,
tomatoes, corn meal, black beans, roasted meat,
rabbit stew, deer and turkey.

By Louis, Harvey,
Ella, Fraser and
Chloe.
 Pure, rich hot chocolate was one of the Mayans
favourite things to eat. However only the rich and
noble was able to enjoy this delectable treat.

This luxury is made by taking cacao beans from a cacao tree and
then turning them into a runny liquid known as chocolate. The
Mayans used chocolate in religious ceremonies and usually they
mixed them with different herbs and spices to make medicines.
 Maize
Maize was in fact very important to Mayans as it was 80% of their
diet! They had it so much that they even had a god for Maize! It
also was put into foods like porridge and tortillas.

The Mayans planted maize by using a sharp bladed, wooden

digging stick called a dibble. They used this tool to make
holes so that they could plant the maize. If the May rain did
not come, a whole Mayan year of cropping; ruined. Mayan
farmers would plant it wherever they could.

If Mayan people were

suffering from illness, Maize
would be the only thing they
would eat.
 What do you call a deer What are the
with no eyes?
I have no - eye -deer!!!!!!
foods?

Cassava Chili peppers Tomato

Jicama Pumpkin Deer

Mayan Writing
Codices.
The Mayans were a very intelligent bunch.
They got their intelligence from a book called
a codex. It was a book written by professional
scribes. The codices contained information
about Astronomy, Gods, war and History.
Rather than having separate pages, codices
unfold like a concertina. Unfortunately,
Spanish priests burned as many Maya codices
as they could find, as they considered them to
work of the devil. Three genuine codices
remain and were named after the places they
were kept in , such as: The Dresden Codex,
burning books
which is part of the Royal Library Collection in
Dresden, Germany, The Madrid Codex, which is
housed in the Madrid Archaeological museum,
Spain and the Paris Codex, which is housed in
the National Library of Paris, France. The
fourth codex was discovered in the 1960s but
historians cannot decide if is real or not. It is
called the Grolier codex.
The Mayan Origin

Mayan writing started

over 2000 years ago!
The Maya had about
800 symbols! Around the
time of the Vikings and
Anglo Saxons. To read
Maya glyphs, you have
to read downward, left
to right, in pairs.
What language did they
write in?

The ancient Mayans wrote in a

language called codex, it is very
similar to hieroglyphics. Most of
the mayans could read These are the Mayan letters, similar to hieroglyphics.
hieroglyphics but priests and
nobles were probably the only
people who knew the whole
language.

The Maya carved these symbols

into stone, and made books from
oak tree bark. They would take
one strip of bark and fold it over
and over to make pages. Theyre
books were wrapped in wood and
deer hide.
 Thank you for
listening &
watching!

By Samuel, Isabelle, Brooke, Aidan and Amy

 Mayan Explorers

American explorer and travel writer John Lloyd Stephens and British artist
Frederick Catherwood found interest in exploring the Maya discoveries.
They took extreme interest in the ancient Maya civilization from 1839
onwards.

Although the ruins and lost cities had already been explored and recorded
earlier on in history, detailed documents by Catherwood brought attention
back to the Mayan Civilisation.
 Copan
The Copan city was the first to be explored in 1839. In 1841, They published a book called
incidents of travel in central America, Chiapas and Yucatn which detailed their findings in
Copan and other places. The book contained maps, detailed drawings by Catherwood and
texts by Stephens.

Copan fact:

Copan is in West Honduras near the border with Guatemala

Some of most detailed architecture and art work of the ancient Maya was discovered in
Copan

One of the Copan kings was called 18 rabbit

Did you know ?

We played
football but it was
called pok-a-tok
and we had
different rules.
 The Idol at Copan
The Idol is a stone statue that is 3
meters tall. It was discovered in 720 AD,
thats 1297 years ago!!! This masterpiece
is thought to of been called, King
Waxaklahun Ubaah Kawiil. He was in the
guise of a maize god.

Did you know?

They worshiped
this statue.
More Maya Cities
Stephens and Catherwood went to
discover, explore, document and draw
scenes from some other different cities.
Some of the cities were Chichen Itza,
Palenque, Uxmal and Tulum. Explorers
still look for more discoveries of Mayan
history to this day.

In 2014, two more Maya cities were

re-discovered in Campeche and Mexico.

Since they have been re-discovered, the

ruins of a palace, Temple, Ball court and
Altar have been seen. They were seen
with a huge door way which was
described as monster mouth.
Quick Quiz!!! How old is the Idol at Copan?

What was their football called?

What were the explorer's full

names?

Catherwood
C= John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick
B= It was called pok-a-tok
A= 1297 years old
Answers
 The Number System

Mayans lived around the Viking and Saxons and lived in

It is very Mexico. If you were a Mayon, you wouldn't use 123, or x ll.
complicated.
Look out ! You would have number symbols. A dot, a horizontal line and
a shell. They wrote the number calculations on rocks or on
the floor with seeds, sticks, shells to make calculations. They
were one of the only two cultures in the world to develop
the concept of zero .
 How it Works

The Mayans had a very complex

number system which was a base 2o
System which means you put a dot for any amount of 20
above the amount up to 19.

Did you know that a dot

represents 1 and 20 !
 Learn how to do it

The Mayans used maths in everyday life .

Try to solve these with us . A dot is 1 a stick is 5
And a shell is 0 . Remember that, it is important !
 Quiz
Good Luck !

Here are a few number questions to see if you were listening.

12

6 15
 Mayan Religion
They believed in over 150 gods and
many were worshiped once a day .
priest means He of the day
Gods are the link between people and
Gods.

A Mayan pyramid

By Oliver R, Oliver S, Ella C, Arthur U and willow

 The Gods

Itzamna: All Mayans payed to loads

God of writing, learning and the sciences.
Often seen as the supreme creator god
well that's what the mayans believed.
of different gods, here are
some pictures of the most
famous gods...

k'inich ajaw:
The sun god and possibly a different aspect of
Itzamna

This (to the right) is a picture of the god

of maize and harvesting and is literally
called the Maize God. He was a very
important god because 80% of their
diet was maize!!!
Religion
In the Mayan society, the prayed lots of gods. They did not pray one not two but
hundreds of gods. To please the gods, they danced, sung and even sacrificed
blood to them. The reason they gave blood to the gods, is so that they felt
nourished and loved. Also priests were very important as they were told that
they could communicate to gods straight away.

Fun Fact!

Stone carvings represented

how blood was given?
Fun Facts

Did you know that the Mayans had really nice houses even though they were poor?

Did you know that the Mayans played a game for fun which was just like football but it is not
the kind of football we play?