Mayan History

Mayan History

Mesoamerican Civilizations

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Explore

• Write down 5 things you know about the Mayan civilization.

• Write down 3 things you would like to know about the Mayan civilization.

Mayans

2500 BC to 950 AD 3

Where is Meso-America?

GEOGRAPHYLOCATION

• Western hemisphere• north of the Equator• Tropic of Cancer• Mountain range travels down

the western edge:– Sierras in North America– Andes in South America

• Central America– Southern Mexico, Guatemala,

Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

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GEOGRAPHY

Climate & Topography• Tropical climate

– Hot rainy summers– Warm dry winters

• Located in river valleys• Rain forest

– Marshy grounds– Abundance of fresh water

• Pacific Ocean to west• Caribbean Sea to east

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Mayan Civilization

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Adaptations

• Discuss with your neighbor: How would you go about adapting to living in a jungle?– Think about:• Climate• The environment• Transportation• Housing• Food supply• Safety

• Share out as a class.

Mayan Civilization

• Located on the Yucatan peninsula.

• Based heavily on the Olmec civilization.– Religion– Architecture– Science– Written Language– Games

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Agriculture

• The Mayan Civilization is located in the Tropic of Cancer.• During the rainy season it gets up to 100

inches of rain.

Adaptation

• Due to the location of their civilization the Maya had to overcome two logistical problems:– The rainforest– The excessive amounts of

rainwater

• They addressed these 2 problems with their:– Farming techniques– Building materials– Architectural

engineering– Calendar– Religion

Agriculture• Practiced slash and burn

farming

Farming was hard workLabor intensive1. Fields are hand watered

2. No work animals such as the ox

3. Used wood and stone hand tools

4. Small family size plots of land

5. Distribution of food difficult

Agriculture

• The Mayans farmers practiced genetic engineering.

• They took basic plants:– Maize (corn), squash,

beans and peppers and created hundreds of varieties.

• These varieties were traded throughout the American continents.

Agriculture

• While the Maya are responsible for most of the varieties of corn, tomatoes, and peppers we have today. Their success came with a price.

• Their farming practices were not environmentally friendly.

• Very difficult to support large populations.

Prewriting

• Create a T Chart to graph the pros and cons for slash and burn farming techniques when applied to the rainforest.

• The next slide will guide you in forming and filling out a T Chart.

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Able to grow crops

Clears the area for farming

Reason

example

Slash and Burn Farming Pros Cons

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Writing Activity

• Using 5-6 sentences describe the benefits and the problems with using slash and burn farming techniques in a rainforest in your notes.

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MAYAN ARCHITECTURE

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Mayan Civilization

• (About 2000 BC to 250 AD) – small villages

• Classic period (about 250 to 900 AD) – building large city-states, – huge monuments, – constructing causeways, – economic dominance

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Architecture

• The Mayans constructed huge monuments to honor their kings and their gods.

• The grueling physical labor was seen as a sacrifice offering to their gods.

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Architecture

• The Mayan building material of choice was stone.– Manual labor– Covered in stucco

• Built cisterns for storing water. – Sewer systems for draining water out of the city.

• Developed 1st arch in the Americas

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Corbelled arch at Copan, Honduras

During the Pre-Classic period, Maya architects devised a method for the construction of corbelled arches. Corbelled arches were also used in ancient Greece by the Mycenaean.

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Architecture

• Built:– Temples– Roads– Religious centers

out of stone

Had:- sewer systems -indoor plumbing -water cisterns.

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Architecture

• The Mayan’s favorite building material was stone.

• All monuments and palaces were built of stone.

• Even roads were cobbled with stone.

This road was built over 1500 years ago connecting Mayan cities.

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Pop Quiz!

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Which of the areas on the map was the center of Maya civilization?

A. 1B. 2C. 3D. 4

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4

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A long range problem with slash and burn practices for agriculture:

A. Drove away the wild animalsB. Caused erosionC. Made the soil more productiveD. Caused periods of drought

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Writing Opportunity

How did the Mayan overcome the problem of too much water?

Using 5 to 6 sentences write a paragraph that answers the above question.

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