preview

Key Features Of The Mayan Civilization

Decent Essays

Mayan civilization held the gateway to a society of varying cultures, religious beliefs and systems of writing. Its society holds the key features used in ancient civilizations and are still used in modern-day living, and had contributed greatly towards the history of the ancient world. Mayans weren’t the only civilization known for their success in trade and contacts, religious beliefs and development of writing and science. Both Egyptian and Mayan civilizations had similarities with their trade routes and contacts, religion and beliefs and their development of science and writing. The success of both Mayan and Egyptian civilization was affected by their religious beliefs, progression in science and writing and trade and trade contacts. With …show more content…

Since not much was found about the Mayans, archeologists received almost all the info from the text/images that were recorded on the pottery. With Egyptian religion, the hieroglyphics they use have their differences between both civilizations. With Egyptian hieroglyphics, they are split into two main groups: one being phonograms, which are glyphs that represent the sounds of words, and there are ideograms, which represent an object and/or idea. The Egyptians had developed words using these two forms of hieroglyphics. Progression of science and writing was key in the success of the Mayan civilization due to its use in the recordings of events that took place, what civilization was like during this age and with the understanding of these hieroglyphs, we have a greater understanding of the Ancient Mayan culture. Other civilizations such as Egypt had proven success within the world of trade and their routes but, none proven greater than that of the Mayans. An important note about the Mayans is that they did not coinage in any sense, as it did not exist during this age. Instead, the two trading networks would offer their natural resources such as grain, barley, or any other resource …show more content…

Some of the Mayans natural resources such as shellfish and dried fish would be exported to coastal communities and be exported up and across rivers to be delivered to inland centres around Mesoamerica. An important part of the trading networks and contacts that the Mayans had was the imported resources that they would receive. During this age in Mesoamerica, especially in Honduras, the rarity of resources such as pottery clay, hardwood and obsidian glass was a must-have. The Mayans had received these valuable resources from the Olmec’s through long-distance trade. Obsidian had such a great value for its multiple purposes such as its use for tombs, art, vases and masks. With Egyptian economy, it gained its source of wealth through farming and fishing, manufacturing and mining. Farming and fishing provided fresh fish and vegetables that can be cooked and eaten, or used as trade offerings. Manufacturing was a large part of Egypt’s wealth as it produces raw materials used in trade. With mining, miners would use tools made from bronze and copper to dig for valuable gems and minerals such as iron, which had high valuable just about

Get Access