Maya Indians and Mayan Culture Posters, Prints & Charts
for the social studies classroom, home schoolers, and themed decor for office and studio.

The Maya
(500 B.C. – 900 A.D.)
The Maya Indians built one of the world's most remarkable civilizations in the jungles of Central America. Like the ancient Greeks, who civilization was nearing its peak just as the Maya appeared, the Maya are known for their fabulous temples, and for their amazing knowledge of math and science. The Maya were the only Indians in America to develop a written language. Today, people come from all over the world to view the crumbling ruins of their once-great cities.

The Maya lived throughout Central America's Yucatan Peninsula in what are now the nations of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. They were a short, stocky people, with dark skin and black hair. They greatly admired sloping foreheads, and would frequently strap boards to babies' heads in order to flatten them. Maya life centered around the great cities, which were used for festivals, markets, and religious ceremonies. Strangely enough, almost no one lived in the cities. Only priests were allowed to live there for short periods of time. All other people lived in smaller communities around the cities, or on farms scattered throughout the countryside. The Maya grew crops such as corn, beans, squash, and tomatoes. They liked to dance, and they played a difficult game in which players had to hit a ball through a stone ring with their knees or hips.

Like the Greeks, the Maya worshipped many gods. They had rain gods, a sun god, a corn god, and gods of death and the underworld. The Maya were very interested in measuring and studying time. They invented a highly accurate calendar, which they used to help them track the movements of the sun, stars, and planets. Maya civilization began to decline around 800, as the Maya abandoned their cities one by one. Even today, no one really knows why this remarkable civilization suddenly ended.

Artwork depicts the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque, statue of the Maya leader Lord Pacal, and the Mayan calendar.

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