Ancient Maya Essay Essay Example

Ancient Maya Essay Essay Example Ancient Maya Essay Essay Ancient Maya Essay Essay Ancient Maya Essay Matthew Pitcher Mrs Meligrana Ancient Civilizations June 8th, 2011 Pitcher1 The Ancient Mayan civilization stands out from other ancient civilizations and is great because of its outstanding achievements and developments. The Mayans are still known to this day for their exceptional architecture, medical discoveries, astronomy, and military tactics which were very successful. In this essay I will explain what the Mayans have achieved to make themselves considered great, why they are great, and why they overcome many of the other ancient civilizations. Mayan astronomy has been considered one of the most complex of mankind. Of all the worlds ancient calendar systems, the Maya and other Mesoamerica systems are the most complex, and accurate. Calculations of the 260-day and the 365-day Maya cycles is almost exactly equal to the actual solar year in the tropics, with only a 19-minute margin of error, which is almost scary to see how precise they were. Mayan Astronomers used shadow casting devices, and observations to trace the movements of the sun. the stars and planets in order to observe, calculate and record this information in their chronicles, as they call it . From these observations, the Maya developed calendars to keep track of celestial movements and time. Something never seen before by any other civilization in history, truly amazing, and we still use the 365 day calendar today. Another reason why Maya is great is because of their form of numbers and arithmetic’s, the first civilization to constitute math and numbers in everyday life. Maya mathematics constituted the most sophisticated mathematical system ever developed in the Americas. Pitcher2 The Maya counting system required only three symbols: a dot representing a alue of one, a bar representing five, and a shell representing zero. These three symbols were used in many different combinations, to keep track of calendar events both past and future, and so that even uneducated people could understand when needed for trade and commerce. That the Maya understood the value of zero is remarkable most of the worlds civilizations had no concept of zero at that time. By far one of t he most fascinating achievements of the Mayans was there methods and development of their beautiful architectural buildings and designs. Whether their temples, complexes, buildings, homes, sidewalks or causeways (which were built by hand cut lime-stone), and the first civilization to construct sidewalks for pedestrians. A Maya city from the Classic Period usually consisted of a series of platforms topped by masonry structures, ranging from great temple-pyramids and palaces to individual house mounds. These structures were in turn arranged around open plazas or courtyards. Maya architecture is characterized by a sophisticated sense of decoration and art, expressed in beautiful carvings and wall paintings, unlike any others. Throughout the Mayans 2000 year history, their unique warfare tactics turned out to be very successful for their civilization. Unlike most other civilizations, instead of a head to head close range battle, the Mayans built an army of spearmen and arrow shooters to kill the enemy. Long range war tactic was there specialty and it worked. They killed their enemy before their enemy could reach them, using the land and surroundings they built trenches and barricades to Pitcher3 fool and surprise the enemy, along with bells and whistles to distract the enemy to let fellow soldiers know the enemy is on its way. Also, the Mayan armies did not use horses or chariots in battle much like the other militaries did. Unfortunately for their enemies, the Mayans were keen on taking prisoners†¦ for the express purpose of sacrificing them on a temple altar, in front of the entire tribe. The belief was that by eating the heart of an enemy warrior, you could gain a some of that warrior’s strength. Medicine to the Mayan people was very important, a balance between religion and science, much like we see today. They healed wounds with human hair, fixed fractures, and used casts. Very skilled dental surgeons using different materials to fill teeth when one suffered from a cavity or chipped tooth. Also used â€Å"Obsidian† blades to perform surgeries, Obsidian blades are still used today in many North American hospitals. They cut cleaner so wounds heal faster and with less scar tissue. Finally, the Mayans created the first artificial pain killer for humans. The advancement the Mayan civilization had the medical field before any other civilizations is remarkable and should be noticed. The Mayan civilization deserves the title as a great Civilization because of these outstanding achievements and special ways. Scientifically and mathematically they were genius. Their architecture exceeds the look of any other civilization, and their tactics for building a military and a city is overly impressive. I am not so sure modern day life would be the same without the greatness the ancient Mayan civilization. Webster, David . The Fall of the Ancient Maya, Thames Hudson Ltd, London, 2002 Ayache, Michelle, The Ancient Maya, digitalmeesh. com/maya/history. htm, 2005 Robert, J, Sharer, The Ancient Maya, Stanford University Press, 2006 Shirley, Jordon, The Mayan Civilization, 2001