NAME ____Hannah Hayes______________ DATE ____09/29/20______ CLASS ____7_____

Visual Literacy Activity netw rks

Pre-Columbian America

Science and Technology: The Maya Calendar

One of the common tragedies of history is that so much of the cultural, aesthetic, and
even scientific knowledge of past civilizations has been lost completely, or is at best
fragmented and incomplete. Because the Spanish conquerors who came to Mesoamerica
in the sixteenth century destroyed most Maya writings, much important information
about this ancient Mesoamerican culture—including high levels of scientific and technical
sophistication, much of it centered around a highly developed understanding of
astronomy and mathematical calculation—has been lost. As you learn to think like a
historian, you will see how remnants and clues from the past can be reassembled and
analyzed to give a clearer picture of almost-forgotten people, places, and ideas.

Directions: The images that follow, a photograph and an ancient codex (manuscript)
page, reveal some of the sophistication and scientific knowledge of the ancient Maya
culture. Look closely at the two images, analyze them, and answer the questions
that follow.

Background

Goodshoot/Fotosearch
The famous Maya pyramid
known as the Pyramid of
Kukulcán, or Quetzalcóatl (one
of the most important gods

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.
worshipped by the Maya), is
located in the ruins of an
ancient Maya city, Chichén
Itzá, in Yucatán, Mexico.
This pyramid outwardly
reveals the sophistication
of Maya architecture, but
its significance goes far
beyond its basic structural
characteristics. The four-sided
pyramid, with steps on each
side, soars to a height of Caption: Pyramid of Kukulcán, Chichén Itzá,
about 79 feet (24 meters) Mexico. Maya.
above the main plaza. The
pyramid has an obvious astronomical significance: Each of its four sides faces directly
north, south, east, or west, and each side has 91 stairs. The number is significant
because, when 91 × 4 (364) is added to the pyramid’s large top platform “step,” it
brings the total to 365 steps, or the number of days in a year. The pyramid has several
unique features that show Maya mastery of astronomy, mathematics, and architecture.
On both the autumn equinox (September 22 or 23) and the spring equinox (March 20
or 21), the setting sun hits the stairways in such a way that shadows form the illusion
of an enormous snake shimmering up and down the steps. A person standing on the
topmost step of the pyramid speaking at a normal volume can be heard by another
person at the foot of the pyramid. A person at the foot can shout upward and get a
responding loud, screeching echo.
NAME __Hannah Hayes___________________ DATE _______09/24/20________ CLASS ____7_____

Visual Literacy Activity Cont. netw rks

Pre-Columbian America

The Maya were superb mathematicians who created a

Mary Evans Picture Library/The Image Works

number system based on 20 and independently
developed the important concept of “zero.” They
mainly used mathematics for religious and
astronomical purposes. From their keen astronomical
observations the Maya developed two different
calendar systems. One, the Haab, is based on a
365-day solar year and is divided into 18 months of
20 days each, with five “unnamed” days—considered
fateful and unlucky—placed at the end. The other
calendar—sometimes called the Tzolkin, or “Count of
Days”—is a sacred calendar based on a 260-day ritual
sequence, with 13-day cycles and a series of 20
“named” days, some lucky and others unlucky. An
example of the Tzolkin is shown here, in the Codex
Troano, the first part of the Madrid Codex, one of
only four bound manuscript books, or codices, to
have survived the Spanish conquest. This ritual
calendar, used to make predictions, was probably
utilized only by trained Maya priests. The Tzolkin was
combined with the Haab to form a “Calendar Round,”
a longer cycle consisting of 52 years (each a year of

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.
365 days), or 18,980 days. The Maya also developed
a calendar called the “Long Count,” based on a
5,128-year cycle of creation and destruction that
was meant to show the span of history.

Practicing the Skill

1. Describing Based on what you see in the Caption: Codex Troano 1, Plate 20,
photograph of the Pyramid of Kukulcán, as well unknown Maya artist.
as what you have read, what would you say are
some of the main characteristics of Maya architecture?

__Based on what I have read I, (also of a mayan descent myself) believe that most
if not all of their architecture was based on a specific numerical system. I believe
that their work was also heavily influenced based on shapes and certain dates of
the year. I think that they also used geometry to build their pyramids. One last
thing that I believe they built on was astronomy and where the starts where and
the meaning behind the stars and how certain stars line up with things which also
happens to influence their calendar systems which they also had multiple of.
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NAME _______Hannah Hayes_______________ DATE ___09/29.20____________ CLASS __7_______

Visual Literacy Activity Cont. netw rks

Pre-Columbian America

2. Interpreting The calendar page in the Codex Troano depicts gods, creatures,
and Maya calendar glyphs, or elements of the Maya writing system—in this case,
pictographs, or picture-words. What would you need to know to be able to “read”
this calendar?

__In order to be able to read the calendar you would have to know what all of their
symbols and pictures mean and what they believed in and what they did not
because if they have an enemy in one of their stories we cant assume its their god.
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Step Further
3. __________________________________________________________________
Speculating Historians, anthropologists, linguists, and other scholars continue
to research Maya writings and artifacts in the hope of being able to learn more
about how the Maya lived, how they viewed the world, and what knowledge they
possessed. Do you think such research is helpful to the world at large? Explain
your answer.

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce for classroom use.
__I think that history is an amazing thing that we can learn from however not
many people invest their lives into it and specifically a topic about people like the
Maya that are considered lost in history. We may be able to learn from history but
we have to want to learn from history in order to not repeat our mistakes.
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