QUESTIONS

1. WHO WERE THE MAYAS? They were a Mesoamerican culture

2. WHAT DID THEY INVENT? Writing, the Mayan calendar, astronomy,

architecture and mathematics

3. WHEN DID THEY APPEAR? In the year 400 a.c.

4. WHERE DID THEY LIVE? / ESTABLISH? They lived in Guatemala,

Honduras and Yucatán

5. WHAT WERE THEIR CUSTOMS? They sacrificed to their gods, they

worshiped the jaguar

6. HOW DID THE CULTURE FORM? The culture was formed in Belize,
Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico

7. WHAT LANGUAGE DID THEY SPEAK? They spoked the mayan language

8. WERE THEY POLITEISTS? Yes, they were polytheists

9. WHO WERE THEIR GODS? Itzamná, Chaac, Ix Chel, Kinich Ahau, Hun
Nal Ye, Ah Puch and Kukulkán

10. WHO CONQUER THEM ? Conquered them Hernán Cotes

11. HOW WERE THEY ORGANIZED POLITICALLY / SOCIALLY? Priests,

rulers, military leaders, merchants and artisans, peasants and slaves

12. WHAT WAS THEIR DIET? Their main diet was corn

13. WHAT ACTIVITIES DID THEY USUALLY DO? The game of “La pelota”

14. WHAT WAS THEIR MAIN CHARACTERISTIC? They worshiped the jaguar,
had various traditions, were good mathematicians, studied celestial
bodies and made a calendar of the Sun and the Moon

15. HOW DID THEY LIVE? They lived in adobe or log huts in rows forming
the walls

16. WHAT WERE THEIR MOST IMPORTANT CITIES ? Palenque, Yaxchilán,

Toniná and Edzna

17. WHAT DID THEY BUILD ? They built pyramids

18. WHAT ARCHITECTONIC STYLE DID THEY USE? They used the Chenes
style, the Eastern Coast style, the Northwestern style, the Central Petén
style, the Northeastern Plains style and the plains style

19. HOW DID THEY MEASURE THE TIME? With the mayan calendars

20. DID THEY HAVE ANY CALENDARS ? HOW MANY? Yes, they calendars,
they had 2 calendars

21. WHAT DID THEY TRADE? They traded corn, fruits, obsidian, green
stone, and gold ornaments.

22. WHAT RITUALS DID THEY DO / PRACTICE? The sacrificial rituals, the
blood rites, the animal sacrifices, the purification rites, the ball game
rites.

23. DID THEY DO SACRIFICES? Yes, they made sacrifices

24. WHO DID THEY SACRIFICE? They sacrificed humans and animals

25. WHAT RELIGION DID THEY PRACTICE? They practiced polytheistic

religion

26. DID THEY HAVE A SACRED BOOK ? Yes, they had a holy book called
“Popol Vuh”

27. DID THEY HAVE A WRITING SYSTEM? WHICH? Yes, it was a

hieroglyphic system of mixed type

28. DID THEY USE /HAVE ANY GRAVES? Yes, they had tombs, their rulers
were buried in the pyramids

29. WHAT ANIMALS DID THEY HAVE? Dogs, wild turkeys, peccaries and
jaguars

30. DID THEY HUNT? Yes, they hunted for food

31. DID THEY HAVE AGRICULTURE? Yes, they had agriculture

32. WHAT DID THEY GROW? They grew corn, beans and squash

33. WHAT ANIMAL DID THEY WORSHIP? They worshiped the jaguar

34. DID THEY HAVE POTTERY ? Yes, they made pots with the ceramic

35. DID THEY PAINT ? Yes, they painted