What did the Maya invent?

The Maya created and developed many useful tools, ideas and systems.

They studied the stars and created calendars.

They also developed a unique writing system.

The Maya built raised roads to make travelling easier and created special tools to carry their goods.

Many of these inventions still influence how we live today!

The Tzolkin calendar was also known as the Sacred calendar.

• It was 260 days long and it was used to keep track of religious ceremonies.
• Each day has its own unique name.
• It is still observed by some Maya people today.

The Haab calendar had 365 days. It could be used alongside the Tzolkin calendar to form a calendar wheel.

The Maya followed the movements of the sun, moon, stars and planets to create their calendars.

Calendars could include Wayeb days which were days of reflection where people liked to stay at home and prepare to receive good fortune.

When it rained it could be difficult to travel through the wet and muddy jungle floor. Raised roads, known in the Maya language as sacbeob, were built in the rainforest to make travelling easier. A single raised road was called a sacbe.

• Sacbeob were paved and built a few inches above the ground so the Maya could travel whatever the weather and conditions.
• These roadways could be used for religious pilgrimages, to transport goods and connect cities.
• The longest known sacbe is called theYaxuna-Cobá sacbe. It is around 100km long and runs between the Maya cities of Cobá and Yaxuna.

Maya people did not use vehicles with wheels to move things. Instead they carried loads on their backs.

They used a tumpline, which:

• was a carrying device used to carry heavy loads on someone’s back
• allowed people to carry loads of around 57kg
• had a strap which went round the forehead.

The Maya invented an advanced form of writing, known as glyphs. It is believed that the Maya used around 800 different glyphs. Each glyph represented a word, sound or syllable.

The Maya wrote about their many achievements, their gods, their leaders and much more. They wrote on walls, stone slabs and in special folded books. These were called codices.

Unfortunately, many of these codices were destroyed or lost but a few did survive. This has helped archaeologists understand more about Maya society. The Maya are thought to have created the most advanced writing system in Mesoamerica.

The Maya, along with the Olmec and Aztecs, who were other civilisations in Mesoamerica, created and used a type of rubber.

They mixed the sap from the rubber tree and morning glory vines to create a type of bouncy rubber. This is believed to have been used to make balls for their ball game, pitz.

This rubber material was discovered and used thousands of years before the modern-day rubber that we know today.

A metate is one of the oldest domestic stone tools that would have been used for grinding maize to make tortillas.

The maize would have been placed on the flat or concave surfaced metate. It was ground using a stone called a mano. Women would have been responsible for doing this.

This tool is still used by some Maya today, as can be seen in the photograph below.

Have a look at the thinking points below and think about your answer to each question. You could even write them down on a piece of paper or discuss them with somebody else if you want to.

• The Maya used two calendars. One was for religious ceremonies and one helped to track each day and farming. What does this tell you about what was important to the Maya?

• The Maya built roads called sacbeob. Why do you think these roads were important to the Maya people?

Let's find out what you know about Maya inventions in this quiz.

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