Though Mayan culture has existed for more than 3,500 years, researchers and historians have only recently started unlocking some of the mysteries behind this Central American society. Thoroughly researched text guides readers through the gripping history of the Maya, including a detailed description of Maya culture. The main text is supplemented with engaging sidebars, full-color photographs, historical images, and expert, annotated analysis from leading scholars.

Though Mayan culture has existed for more than 3,500 years, researchers and historians have only recently started unlocking some of the mysteries behind this Central American society. Thoroughly researched text guides readers through the gripping history of the Maya, including a detailed description of Maya culture. The main text is supplemented with engaging sidebars, full-color photographs, historical images, and expert, annotated analysis from leading scholars.

When the Maya kings of Tikal dedicated their first carved monuments in the third century A.D., inaugurating the Classic period of Maya history that lasted for six centuries and saw the rise of such famous cities as Palenque, Copan and Yaxchilan, Maya civilization was already nearly a millennium old. Its first cities, such as Nakbe and El Mirador, had some of the largest temples ever raised in Prehispanic America, while others such as Cival showed even earlier evidence of complex rituals. The reality of this Preclassic Maya civilization has been documented by scholars over the past three decades: what had been seen as an age of simple village farming, belatedly responding to the stimulus of more advanced peoples in highland Mesoamerica, is now know to have been the period when the Maya made themselves into one of the New World's most innovative societies. This book discusses the most recent advances in our knowledge of the Preclassic Maya and the emergence of their rainforest civilization, with new data on settlement, political organization, architecture, iconography and epigraphy supporting a contemporary theoretical perspective that challenges prior assumptions.

For hundreds of years, archaeologists have unearthed clues about the amazing culture of the ancient Maya. This book brings the culture of this ancient civilization to life. Readers will learn about the ancient Maya economy, technology, rituals and traditions, family systems, politics, and daily life. Primary sources such as artifacts and ruins allow readers to connect with the past on a deep level. Amazing artwork and photographs allow readers to visualize the backdrop of ancient Maya culture as it exists today and as it’s imagined to have existed hundreds of years ago at its peak. Readers are in for a thrilling adventure with this firsthand look into the wonders of Maya culture!

At its peak, the Maya civilization consisted of two million people populating over forty cities. While Europe languished in darkness after the fall of Rome, the Maya were advancing irrigation and terracing techniques in agriculture, pioneering the use of the zero in mathematics, and creating accurate astronomical tables. Yet, much about this great culture is unknown, as scholars struggle to decipher Mayan texts. This compelling volume examines the Maya civilization in accessible chapters with supplemental maps, timelines, and charts to support student research. Relevant topics discussed in this edition include the rise of the Mayans, the lives of the nobility and commoners during the classical period, achievements in science, engineering, and writing, the spirit realm and cosmology, and elements of Mayan culture in modernity.

This book, filled with amazing facts and photographs, gives an in-depth account of what life was like for the ancient Maya of Mesoamerica. It explains how everyday life was influenced by religion and describes the evidence that has been gathered to support ideas. As well as religion and mythology it covers society, government, law, farming, industry, technology, science, mathematics, writing, cities and much more. The ‘All About' series is an educational collection of books by P S Quick, and is targeted to interest children of 9 to 12+ but will fascinate readers of all ages. At the end of each book there is a quiz section for the reader, featuring 150 questions and answers.

Over its 2,700-year history, the Maya became one of the most complex and dominant indigenous civilizations in pre-Columbian America. They became masters in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM, as evident through the archaeological remains that still excite and intrigue people today. The Maya built massive civilizations with temples, palaces, extensive highway networks, and some of the largest pyramids in the world. This splendid book explores all these innovations and more, explaining how, why, and when the Mayan empire's greatest minds came up with unique STEM solutions to everyday problems.

Through an innovative approach that combines years of ethnographic research with British imperial archival sources, this book reveals how cultural heritage has been negotiated by colonial, independent state, and community actors in Belize from the late nineteenth century to the present. Alicia McGill explores the heritage of two African-descendant Kriol communities as seen in the contexts of archaeology and formal education. McGill demonstrates that in both spheres, Belizean institutions have constructed and used heritage places and ideologies to manage difference, govern subjects and citizens, and reinforce development agendas. In the communities studied here, ancient Maya cities and legacies have been prized while Kriol histories have been marginalized, and racial and ethnic inequalities have endured. Yet McGill shows that at the same time, Belizean teachers and children resist, maintaining their Kriol identity through storytelling, subsistence practices, and other engagements with ecological resources. They also creatively identify connections between themselves and the ancient cultures that once lived in their regions. Exploring heritage as a social construct, McGill provides examples of the many ways people construct values, meanings, and customs related to it. Negotiating Heritage through Education and Archaeology is a richly informed study that emphasizes the importance of community-based engagement in public history and heritage studies. A volume in the series Cultural Heritage Studies, edited by Paul A. Shackel

This comprehensive and accessible reference explores the greatest and most mysterious of civilizations, hailed for its contributions to science, mathematics, and technology. Each chapter is supplemented by an extensive bibliography as well as photos, original line drawings, and maps.