Mayan History Essay
The Mayan calendar was created over 3,000 years ago and compared to the modern calendar was only seventeen seconds off. How can an ancient society create such a highly accurate calendar? The Mayans were a very advanced society that used very complex systems of writing, astronomy, and mathematics and with these they created things such as their calendar. The complexity of the Mayan’s culture is very fascinating and unbelievable for such an ancient society.
The Maya created the most sophisticated of all early American systems of writing. The Maya’s writing was an expansion of the Olmec tradition of written inscriptions. The Maya writing contained ideographic elements, like the Chinese used, and symbols for syllables. Writing was a very important to the Maya like the civilizations of the eastern hemisphere.
The Maya had a very great understanding of astronomy especially for their time. With no complex tools only the naked eye the Maya were still able to do incredible things with their study of astronomy. Using astronomy and their excellent building skills the Maya were able to build temples and other builds that were pointed towards the equinoxes and midsummer. Other Maya buildings had doorways and windows aligned with the most northerly or southerly rising of Venus. The Maya were so accurate in observing the orbit Venus that their prediction of the orbit was only two hours off in a one and a half year cycle. The most complex and impressive achievement of Maya astronomy was their calendar system. The Maya calendar could tell when eclipses would occur and seasons would change.
One of the other complex skills of the Maya was their understanding and use of mathematics. The Maya created the concept of a zero and used a symbol to represent it in their mathematics. A full number system such as the modern day roman numerals were used by the Maya. The Maya also used their complex math skills in the creation of their calendar; the Maya calendar was actually made of
The Maya created the most sophisticated of all early American systems of writing. The Maya’s writing was an expansion of the Olmec tradition of written inscriptions. The Maya writing contained ideographic elements, like the Chinese used, and symbols for syllables. Writing was a very important to the Maya like the civilizations of the eastern hemisphere.
The Maya had a very great understanding of astronomy especially for their time. With no complex tools only the naked eye the Maya were still able to do incredible things with their study of astronomy. Using astronomy and their excellent building skills the Maya were able to build temples and other builds that were pointed towards the equinoxes and midsummer. Other Maya buildings had doorways and windows aligned with the most northerly or southerly rising of Venus. The Maya were so accurate in observing the orbit Venus that their prediction of the orbit was only two hours off in a one and a half year cycle. The most complex and impressive achievement of Maya astronomy was their calendar system. The Maya calendar could tell when eclipses would occur and seasons would change.
One of the other complex skills of the Maya was their understanding and use of mathematics. The Maya created the concept of a zero and used a symbol to represent it in their mathematics. A full number system such as the modern day roman numerals were used by the Maya. The Maya also used their complex math skills in the creation of their calendar; the Maya calendar was actually made of