Ancient Maya

Maya The ancient Maya were a group of American Indian peoples who lived in Southern Mexico. Their descendants, the modern Maya,live in the same regions today. Agriculture was the basis of the economy of the Mayan and corn was the principal food.(Voorhies 324) Other crops included avocados, tomatoes, and chili peppers. They cultivated an enormous variety of plants.(Foley 20) In hieroglyphic writing, astronomy, and mathematics, the Mayan Indians were far ahead of any other …

…housing.(Miller)For most of the 20th Century, only the extensive calendrical data of the Maya could be read, and as a result, Maya scholars hypothesized that then inscriptions were pure calendrical records. Because little evidence of warfare had been recognized archaeologically, the Classic Maya were thought of as peaceful timekeepers and sky watchers. Their cities, it was thought, were ceremonial centers for ascetic priests, and their artwork anonymous, without concern for specific individuals(Miller)