Agenda 5.6: The Maya 1) Attendance, Do Now, Guess Who (5 min) 2) Q& A: Current Event Project (5 min) 3) The Maya (25 min) 4) Reminds me of… (10 min) 5) Map Activity (10 min) 6) Exit Ticket (5 min)
Dec 17, 2015
Agenda 5.6: The Maya
1) Attendance, Do Now, Guess Who (5 min)
2) Q& A: Current Event Project (5 min)
3) The Maya (25 min)
4) Reminds me of… (10 min)
5) Map Activity (10 min)
6) Exit Ticket (5 min)
Objectives
• WWBAT describe the geography of the Mayan Civilization and how this affected their culture.
• WWBAT state the cultural and scientific contributions of the Maya Civilization
Do Now
• Why did hunter gatherers settle down and stop moving all the time?
• What grew when people started to settle down?
Geography of Maya
• Southeastern part of Mexico,Guatamala, Belize, and Honduras
• Yucatan Peninsula
• Thick Tropical
Forests
Way of Life • 4000 years ago *(~2000 BCE – what else was
going on around this time?)
• Grew crops- cleared forests to do so
• Small isolated Villages
• Used plants and trees to build houses
What happens when people live together, make friends,
and eat well?• Population increases! (about 100k)(size of Flagstaff)
• Urban Center of Tikal (Guatamala)
Religion
• Center of Culture and Government
• Temples dedicated to gods
Polytheism
• Kukulcan, God of fire
• Chac, God of rain >>
• Itzamna, Creator
Government
• Several City-states connected by• roads (what is the benefit?)
• Strong military
• Priests were leaders of city-states
• Captured people during battles with other civilizations and used them as slaves
Sports
• Ball game called pitz – you could only hit it with knees, elbows, or hips.
• Court was a giant rectangle 30 meters (~90 feet) long and 10 meters (30 feet) wide.
LANGUAGE AND MATH• System of writing:
Pictographs and Symbols• Phonetic (representing
sounds) or could represent objects/words
MATH: Number system based on 20
They were the first people to use zeros
• 365.242198 days a year using astronomy
• 260 day religious event calendar
• About 20 other different calendars for different uses
• How were they able to calculate a 365 day year? They were really good at math!
• They recorded history using their number system
• Grouped years in 400 year cycles, equaling 5,200 years. This calendar ended in 2012, supposed to be the demarcation of a new beginning.
• Based on your birthday, you have a day name and a number that determine your character and your energy.
Calendars
Art & Architecture
• Temples aligned with the cardinal directions
• Did not have wheels or metal
• Painting
• Stelae: large stones
with Mayan art
Discussion Questions
• Why do you think roads were so important?
• How do you think the calendar system helped with farming? (use knowledge of Egypt to inform your inference!)
• Do you think it is a good idea to have religious leaders in government? Why or why not?
What happened to the Maya?
What happened to the Mayan’s?
• Many Mayans disappeared at around year 900 CE because of…• Drought?• War?• Cruel Kings?• Ran out of food?