ABOUT MAYANS
Added on: 17th Jan 2016
THEY HAVE THREE CALENDARS THAT WORK IN
CYCLES. ONE OF THEM, THE HAAB, HAS A 365
DAY CYCLE JUST LIKE THE MODERN GREGORIAN
CALENDAR. THE LONG COUNT CALENDAR CYCLES
ROUGHLY EVERY 2,880,000 DAYS AND WAS SAID
TO RESET IN 2012. THIS LED TO THE
DOOMSDAY PROPHECIES.
THE MAYANS HAD ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED
WRITING SYSTEMS OF ANY ANCIENT CIVILIZATION
AND WROTE ON ALMOST ANYTHING THEY COULD
FIND, INCLUDING THEIR BUILDINGS.
UNFORTUNATELY MANY OF THEIR WRITINGS WERE
LOST DURING THE SPANISH CONQUEST. THROUGH
LABORIOUS STUDY DURING THE 20TH AND 21 CENTURIES
MUCH OF THEIR REMAINING WRITINGS HAVE BEEN
RECOVERED AND TRANSLATED.
LIKE THE AZTECS, MAYANS NEVER USED IRON OR
STEEL. THEIR WEAPONS WERE MADE OF OBSIDIAN,
OR VOLCANIC ROCK.
BESIDES HAVING FLATTENED FOREHEADS AND
CROSSED EYES, MAYAN NOBLEMAN HAD NOSES THAT
WERE BUILT UP WITH PUTTY GIVING THEM A BEAKED
SHAPE. THEIR TEETH WERE ALSO INLAID WITH JADE.
SPEAKING OF TEETH, NOBLE WOMEN FILED
THEIR TEETH INTO POINTS
OUTSIDE OF THE BABYLONIAN SYSTEMS, THE MAYANS
WERE PERHAPS THE FIRST CIVILIZATION TO EXPLICITLY
USE THE NUMBER 0 AS A PLACE HOLDER. INDIAN
MATHEMATICIANS LATER BECAME THE FIRST
TO USE IT AS A MATHEMATICAL VALUE IN
COMPUTATIONS.
NOBODY KNOWS HOW THE MAYAN EMPIRE DECLINED.
LONG BEFORE THE SPANISH CAME MANY OF THE
GREAT CITIES HAD ALREADY BEEN LONG ABANDONED
AND LAY IN RUINS. SCHOLARS HAVE HYPOTHESIZED
REASONS RANGING FROM DROUGHT AND FAMINE TO
OVERPOPULATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE.
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