Mayan Religion Essay

Religion was very important to the Mayans. They believed that each day, month and year was a burden to a specific god. The holy calendar kept track of what god was in charge each day. The Mayans were very bloody when it came to sacrifices. It could range of drawing blood from earlobes or tongue. This process made them feel closer to their gods.

Mathematics helped them with their design for buildings and to figure out currency for trading. They believed that number 13 and 20 had a sacred meaning. They kept track of the observations of the stars and created the 365-day calendar. The Mayans managed to make one of the most accurate calendars in history with a use of a telescope. The holy calendar had 260 days of a year. The solar calendar was 365 days a year. Its purpose was to inform people the different seasons and when to plant the crops (Houston 2009).

The Mayans built palaces, ball courts, and observatories. The pyramids were based on the style of ziggurats. Pyramids were dedicated to a certain god and they would have a staircase leading up to the top.

The Mayans were on their way to becoming a powerful empire and suddenly the civilization collapsed and cities were abandoned. After all these achievements, the big question is how can a thriven nation, who developed a complex system disappear with no answers? This question has baffled many researchers and scientists. There are a few theories of the collapse of ancient Maya civilization.

One article called The Rise and Fall of the Mayan empire by NASA science points out that scientists are using space satellites to unravel one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world. "Archeologists used to argue about whether the downfall of the Maya was due to drought or warfare or dis...

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... Dos Pilas, Tikal, Copán and Quirigua went to war with one another quite often: Dos Pilas was invaded and destroyed in 760 A.D. Did they war with one another enough to cause the collapse of their civilization?” (Minster). The famine theory was that as cities grew the population became larger and put a big strain on the food production. Climate change could’ve put down ancient Maya. They were extremely vulnerable to droughts, floods, or any change in the conditions that affected their food supply. This article strengths and weaknesses of the hypotheses are straightforward and basic common sense but don’t show enough science evidence. Experts in the field simply do not have enough solid information to state with clear-cut certainty how the Maya civilization ended. The downfall of the ancient Maya was likely caused by some combination of the factors above (Minster).