The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period (c. 2000 BC to 250 AD), according to the Mesoamerican chronology, many Maya cities reached their highest state development during the Classic period (c. 250 AD to 900 AD), and continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish.
There were large but low buildings. These were homes to nobles and other important people. On the top of these structures were roof combs. Roof combs went from the high point of the roof. Roof combs made the building seem taller. Decorating these architectural wonders were murals in the inside of the structures, and carvings outside. Some of the carvings were called friezes. They also carved stone statues called stela. The stelae are records for historical events, including dates in heiroglyphics, and monuments honoring important people. They carved these scuptures without metal tools. They used stone tools instead.
Some individual followers of Maya religion count the protection of spirit guides, which provide luck and tutelage. For this reason, the observation of a fish, bird, or quadruped in an unusual circumstance can be an augury, signaling that the spirit guide has "touched base" and that change or blessing is imminent. As in many North Ameican tradtions, the coyote is the most desirable spirit guide, for the wisdom and luck he purports
The Mayan script is logosyllabic combining about 550 logograms (which represent whole words) and 150 syllabograms (which represent syllables).
The Mayans used three separate calendars. The Long Count was pricipally used for historical purposes, since it can define any date for millenia in the past and future. The Haab was a civil calendar based on a year of 360 days consisting of 18 periods of 20 days. Five days were added at the end of the Haab year to approximately synchronize it with the solar year. The Tzolkin calendar was used for ceremonial purposes, which had 20 periods of 13 days. The Tzolkin calendar went through a complete cycle every 260 days. The signficance of this cycle is unknown; it may be connected with the orbit of Venus, which has a period of 263 days. The Haab and Tzolkin dates did not have a year component; however, a combined Haab and Tzolkin date specify a unique day within a 52 year cycle
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