Date In The Mayan Calendar example essay topic

The Mayans of Mesoamerica The ancient Mayans were a very well developed society with a very accurate calendar, skilled architects, artisans, extensive traders and hunters. They are known to have developed medicine and astronomy as well. All of this was developed while the Europeans were still in the Dark Ages. Their empire covered an area of roughly 400,000 to 500,000 square kilometers. This area included the present day countries of Belize, Guatemala, western Honduras and El Salvador, and also southern portions of Mexico. These lands have a very diverse terrain, from the mountainous highlands to the tropical lowlands.

The wide range of geographical features meant that the Mayans food sources varied depending on their location. The Mayan hunters pursued large game like jaguars, wild boars, and snow leopards as well as small game like hares, rabbits, and squirrels. The three animals that seem to be the most prevalent in Mayan writings are the deer, iguana, and the quetzal bird. This has led archeologists to believe that these animals must have been more than just a food source.

It is believed that the quetzal bird was not killed but only captured. While it was captured, they would pluck the feathers from it because they were considered very valuable. The Maya viewed hunting as more than just a food source, similar to the other native peoples we have studied. They had certain rituals that were performed before and after each hunting trip to honor the spirits of the animals they took for their food. The Maya civilization can be divided into three main periods: Pre-Classic, Classic, and Post-Classic. Their greatest accomplishments most likely took place in the Classic period.

This period occurred between 250 and 910 AD. An extensive trade network was in place during this period that allowed the civilization to grow as large as sixty separate kingdoms. Other technological advances also took place during this time. They developed their writing system, mathematics, astronomy, and calendars. Their study of astronomy allowed them to predict when there would be a solar or lunar eclipse. They also developed their calendar that is called the Long Count Calendar.

The Long Count Calendar was not completely a Mayan creation because they inherited the basic form from the Toltec. The mathematics developed by the Maya was a base 20 numbering system. This is similar to the base 10 system we use today. The Maya were able to do this using only three symbols, the dot, the bar, and a symbol for zero. The numbering system was written vertically instead of horizontally like the one we use today.

The base level can be represented by 20^0, and each additional level increases the exponent by one. This is shown in the graphic below. The Mayan calendar has a starting date of 3113 BC that is given the year 0. It used their base 20 numbering system to represent periods of time. There were five sections (Kin, Uinals, Tuns, Katuns, and Bak tuns) to each date in the Mayan calendar. One Kin, being the smallest increment, was equivalent to one day.

15 using the Mayan date system. This system of keeping track of the date was only used in the Classic period so the last recorded date that has been found is from the year 908 AD. I think the most intriguing part about their calendar is the fact that the last date that is indicated by their calendar is 2012. The Mayan people also incorporated their religion into their calendar.

Every 52 years was considered a religious cycle. This meant that an existing temple was either added onto. They often did this by simply building over the existing structure. This means that many of the temples that stand today probably contain extremely large amounts of information about earlier Mayan traditions that cannot be excavated without destroying the outer layers of the temples. The Maya were one of the most technologically advanced societies in Mesoamerica. The civilization existed for nearly two thousand years.

They inhabited a huge area with very diverse landforms and were still able to maintain a strong political structure. The Maya were much more advanced than the people of Europe were at the time.

Bibliography

Cities of the Ancient Maya. 23 March 2001 web.