Mayan Culture Research Paper

The Maya of Mexico and Central America are one of the ancient world's most fascinating, creative, and mysterious civilizations. They left their mark on the region's culture, architecture, cuisine, and language—and left a permanent impression on the imagination of the modern world. Although the great Mayan culture goes back thousands of years, it is only recently that some of the most important remains of that culture have been discovered, and with these discoveries, comes a better understanding of who these people really were. The Maya Indians were a group of early people who lived in regions from Central America to Mexico. They were a vast and large group and well civilized. The Mayan civilization stretched from the eastern tip of Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula all the way to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and …show more content…
Yet, the evidence of what remains testifies to the technological capabilities and advancements of these primitive people. The Maya are native Mesoamerican people who developed one of the most sophisticated cultures in the Western Hemisphere, even before the arrival of the Spanish. The Maya Indians early culture and forms of learning have fascinated and captured the interest of archaeologists, sociologists, and anthropologists for years ( National Geographic: The Maya). These fascinating people built their civilization by using ideas that they learned from the Olmec, an earlier tribe. As the Maya slowly took over the region from the Olmec, they not only followed in the footsteps of the earlier people, but also built on many clever ideas from these earlier people (Maya Empire: Inventions& Achievements ) . For example, the Maya established farming villages and were the first people to build roads through the jungle; roads which stretched hundreds of miles and were used by the Mayans as trade routes. Additionally, the Maya, using their knowledge of astronomy and building on the Olmec solar calendar, created the most accurate calendar in the ancient