Their main crop staples included Corn (maize) but they also cultivated beans and squash, which were often grown together with corn to provide mutual support for each crop.- may not be near ice (which is buggy for me, being pretty far away from ice is still considered "near" when I try to place it. Mayan agriculture was highly advanced for the timeĪlthough somewhat limited by their geographical location and local plant species, Mayan farmers were expert agriculturists. The Mayans also had extensive knowledge of their local plant ecosystem and used over 1500 different plants to treat a variety of ailments. Lee Green, professor and chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. "It makes for the best cosmetic outcome." "The biggest advantage with obsidian is that it is the sharpest edge there is, it causes very little trauma to tissue, it heals faster, and more importantly, it heals with less scarring," said Dr. It is still in use today by some surgeons performing specialist operations. Obsidian is noted for its near-monomolecular edge whose use, when compared to other materials, has the ability to accelerate healing and reduce scarring. Nevertheless, all the artworks of this exuberant culture are distinctly Mayan.". Some Mayan cities reveal the influence of other Mesoamerican cultures such as the Toltec or Teotihuacan. Regional styles in ceramics or textiles were traded throughout the Mayan region. "From the great public stone works to the tiny molded figurines depicting humans, animals or mythic creatures, the Mayan Classical era produced a huge variety of artworks. They also created thousands of stone stelae, great slabs of limestone carved into images of kings and nobility and covered with writings describing their lineages and acts of courage. Mayan artisans also tended to decorate building elements in exquisite detail notably lintels found in monumental constructions at Palenque and Yaxchilan. There are some very famous highly intricate stone carvings that are particularly impressive from Copan and Quirigua. Stone sculptures are also very popular amongst Mayan sites. Artisans appear to have been restricted to forging these metals into uniquely Mayan designed jewellery. There is a distinct lack of use of silver and gold as these precious and rare metals were never in abundance in Mayan regions. It was pretty sophisticated and, like any decent calendar, records repetitive cycles of time based on the movements of the Sun, Moon, and Planets. The Fabled Mayan Calendar: Their most famous inventionĪmongst their most famous inventions is the fabled Mayan Calender (the one that was supposed to predict the end of the world in 2012). Source: Bibliothèque Nacionale de France/Wikimedia Commons 5. The last two pages of the 'Paris Codex' one of the few surviving Mayan books. Their books were written on bark and folded into fan-like structures. Many of these were sadly destroyed by the Conquistadors but thankfully some have survived to this day. The Mayans, like any other sensible civilization, were keen to record their history and achievements and went as far as to record notable events on pillars, walls and large stone slabs much like the Ancient Egyptians and Romans. The Mayans also developed a form of an early book that recorded the exploits of their gods, daily life, news and many more subjects. Historians believe that the Mayans used around 700 glyphs to do this and, incredibly, 80% of their language can still be understood by their descendants today. Their glyphs were used much like those of Ancient Egypt, to represent words, sounds, and syllables through the use of pictures and other symbols. The utility of this is obvious to us today but at the time in ancient Americas this put them lightyears ahead of other peoples of the American continents. Like many other great lost civilizations the world over, the Mayans formalized their language into a codified writing system. The Mayans developed an advanced language and writing system as well as books All Mayans could enjoy cocoa, regardless of their social status. It is not uncommon to find images of cocoa pods painted on walls of stone temples and other Mayan artefacts often showing their gods imbibing it.Ĭocoa was often consumed during religious ceremonies and marriage celebrations. Unsurprisingly to us today, the Mayan's thought so highly of Chocolate that they believed it was a form of "food of the Gods".