Sacrifice In Mayan Culture

The ceremony had begun. The girl watched as her brother was brought through the crowd by the chilam, a priest specializing in human sacrifices (Klobuchar 13). She knew when they started to climb the steps of the pyramid her brother’s fate was sealed. There was no way to save him; he would be sacrificed to satisfy the gods thirst for blood. Her brother was innocent; unfortunately they were slaves so this didn’t matter. She cried out in horror at the realization that her only family would be lost. They had reached the top of the pyramid, and the chilam forced him onto a stone alter. They restrained her brother. She didn’t want to watch as she knew what would happen to her brother, the chilam would cut his chest open and then remove his heart.

Klobuchar explains how the Mayans were driven by their beliefs and known to offer sacrifices to their gods (13). Most of these sacrifices were animals, but occasionally they would carry out human sacrifices (Klobuchar 13). The human sacrifices were looked upon as the ultimate sacrifice and often took place on top of pyramids. Human sacrifices varied from criminals to orphans (Sharer "Social Stratification in Maya Culture”). Sacrifices weren’t the only tribute to the Mayan gods as they constructed many architectural wonders. These consisted of stone pyramids, temples, and palaces (Ramirez, Stearns, and Wineburg

These include ball courts, palaces, tombs, temples, and pyramids (Klobuchar 5). These were frequently built of limestone (Foster 26). Although limestone was used periodically to build, the common houses weren’t built using this as they were far more simplistic than the pyramids they built. While they weren’t complex, the common houses were far from shabby as they had a pole framework with a thatched roof and daub walls made from an adobe coated sticks constructed similar to a lattice (“Maya Architecture”).
Mayan’s writing allowed them to record their history, and because of this we are able to know more about the Mayans and their culture. They wrote using hieroglyphics, picture writing, based off of the Olmec’s script writing system (Maloy 9). These glyphs are thought to be the most advanced writing system in the ancient world (“Maya Culture”). As a result they weren’t deciphered until the 16th century by Diego de Landa (“Maya