The World of the Ancient Maya
Come join us for an adventure in Mexico and Guatemala. The jungles are filled with ancient ruins, or "ruinas antiguas" to the locals who speak Spanish. They were built by a culture long ago known as the Maya.
The world of the Maya included a large area of land that today, make up the countries of Mexico, Guatemala , El Salvador and Honduras. They built their great cities out of the jungle in one of the most inhospitible places on Earth. It was hot (caliente) and rainy (lluvioso) most of the year. There were also wild animals that were dangerous (peligroso) to people.
Some of the most well-known Maya cities included Tikal, Palenque, Chichen Itza and Calakmul.
Just look at the kinds of beasts people had to contend with! Jaguars, snakes, and crocodiles were but a few of the many wild creatures that lived alongside the Maya. Here you can see a crocodile on the hunt!
Ironically, often the most dangerous places in the world also contain things that are the most beautiful (bonita). This colorful parrot is native to the jungles of Guatemala and Southeastern Mexico. The rainforest (la selva) is home to some of the most unique and diverse creatures on the planet.
This is the ancient Maya city of Palenque located in Chiapas, Mexico. Did you know that Mexico has states just like the USA does? Chiapas is the name of one of those states. What you see in this picture is something called "The Palace". It was probably built by the great king of Palenque named Pacal (it might have been his son, too, scientists are not quite sure). Pacal in the language of the ancient Maya means "shield". You can tell with such a name, he was likely a strong and powerful king that shielded his people from the attacks from enemy city-states.
One of the names of Palenque is "Lakham Ha" which in Mayan means, "Place of great waters". Most cities in the ancient Maya world needed to get MORE water. Not the case with Palenque. Palenque had an abundance (abunduncia) of water. They had indoor plumbing complete with sweat baths and even water pressure! They developed the kind of technology that would not be seen again in the region until the Spanish invasion in the 15th century.
The Maya were also great mathemeticians. They developed a calendar more exact than the one we use today, they devised a way to calculate large numbers without the use of a calculator (calculadora), and even plotted and recorded the positions of the stars and planets that allowed them to make accurate predictions, months years and even millennia into the future. On this stelae you can see the Mayan number system. They used a dot for 1, and a bar for 5. That's it! It's as simple as that!
This is something called a Sacbe (pronounced "Sock-Bay). It is the Mayan road system, and actually, Sacbe literally means "White Road". The Mayan road systems rarely had twists and turns the way ours do, though. They were almost always completely straight and rarely varied even a couple of degrees - even if the road had to go up and down hills, the Maya would often cut the hills down to the levels of the road rather than build the road on top of the hills. Pretty neat, huh?
At the end of this road lies a Cenote (prononced "See-note-tay"). It is a well located in the Yucatan Peninsula. In fact, the Yucatan itself does not have any rivers or streams. As a result, the ancient Maya depended on these Cenotes for their water supply. They also believed Cenotes were the gateway to the underworld and would often offer various sacrifices and offerings into the Cenote. A Cenote is a kind of well, and this one is located in Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza can be translated as "people of the well".
This monument is known as "El Castillo", which means "The Castle". Of course, it wasn't called that back when it was built. "Castillo" is a Spanish word, which tells you that the Spanish renamed it after they conquered Mexico.
The structure itself is a monument to time. It's got 365 steps - one for each day of the year, 52 panels, (for the weeks), 9 levels (supposedly mimicking their sacred calendar and the time it takes for a baby to grow in a mother's womb, and 4 sides, presumably for the 4 seasons throughout the year.
The End!