Download Ancient Civilizations

Where were these civilizations located?
Where were these civilizations located?
Where did ancient civilizations build?
Many built theirs near rivers.
The Maya built in the jungles.
The Aztec built on a
swampy island
The Inca built high in the
Andes.
Maya
Maya
 The Mayan Empire existed between 1600 B.C to 900 A.D.
 Their communities were in parts of what is now southern
& Eastern Mexico (Yucatan Peninsula), western
Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador & Belize.
Maya
 The Maya were a highly religious people and much of
what they did was centered around their beliefs.
 Their agriculture, art, architecture, farming and science
was all influenced by their religious beliefs.
Maya
 The Maya used a base 20 system. (We use a base 10)
 They also wrote their numbers vertically. (We write
horizontally)
 They were the first civilization to use a symbol for zero.
Maya
 The Maya are well known for their calendars. They actually used 3
different calendars!
 The first calendar recorded all the events from the beginning of the
Maya and had 360 days in it (18 months of 20 days each). This is the
one that “ran out” in December 2012.
 The second calendar was a sacred one,. It was 260 days and it was
used for religious reasons.
 The third calendar was a civil one, and was also 360 days. A five day
month was added to the end of the year for a total of 365. This was
considered an unlucky month and no work or bathing was done
during it. It was used for most calculations.
Maya
 The Maya invented
the most advanced
form of writing in the
ancient Americas.
They used
hieroglyphics.
 The Mayas used
about 700 symbols or
glyphs. A glyph is a
picture or a symbol
used to represent a
sound, a word, or
perhaps a syllable.
Maya
 Hieroglyphics covered their steleas, the big stone slabs
they built to tell the story of special occasions and
events.
Maya
 The Maya wrote books about their gods, their leaders,
their daily life, and their special events.
 They were not like the books we have today. Maya books
were made of soft bark and were folded like a fan. The
reader had to unfold them to read them.
 Books included drawings as well as glyphs. A book was
called a codex.
Maya
 No one knows exactly what happened to the Maya
Civilization.
 What is known is that the major cities that were built
were abandoned and the population dispersed over Latin
America, and possible even further.
 There are still cultural ties to the Maya although there
are no Mayan towns or people groups remaining.
Aztec
Aztec
• The Aztec lived in Central Mexico for over 100
years until the Spanish arrived in the 1500’s.
• The capital, Tenochtitlan, was extremely
modern for its time. It had over 200,000
inhabitants.
• It was built on an island
in the middle of a swamp
which helped protect it
from enemy attacks.
Aztec
• The Aztec were fierce warriors who conquered
many of the tribes around them.
• The dominant tribe was the Mexica, which is
where the country gets its name from.
• They believed if one
died in battle it was a
tribute to their god
of war.
Aztec
• Because of the swampy land around the
capital, farming was difficult, so the Aztecs
built floating gardens called chinampahs.
Aztec
• They grew crops such as maize, beans &
squash.
• They also raised turkeys, ducks & dogs for
food.
Aztec
• The Aztecs had two calendars.
• The first was called the
xiuhpohualli, and had 365 days.
It described the days and rituals related to the
seasons.
• The other calendar had 260 days. It was called
the tonalpohualli or the day-count.
Aztec
• When the Aztecs started a new settlement,
there were two things they would do.
1. Build a shrine to the god Huitzilopochtli
2. Build a ball court next to it.
• In Tenochtitlan it was surrounded by the palace
and temple.
• The Aztec ball game,
known as ullamaliztli,
was a priority.
Aztec
• Another game the Aztecs
enjoyed playing was
patolli.
• This was a board game
that used beans to
advance around the
board.
• While both these games were played for fun,
they often took on political & religious
significance.
Aztec
• The Aztec were conquered by Hernan Cortes in
1519.
• The leader of the Aztec was Montezuma II.
• Many Aztecs died from smallpox.
Inca
• The Inca Empire had nearly 12 million people
by 1400 A.D.
• Their capital, Cuzco, was
known as the “City of
the Sun”
• The Empire stretched
along the Andes
Mountains
Inca
• The Inca used a system
of knotted strings
known as quipu to send
messages around their
empire.
• The number and shape
of the knots and the
colors of the strings
helped to remind
messengers of the
contents of the
messages
Inca
• The Inca built a system of stone roads
connecting their communities across the
mountains.
• They had no written
language nor vehicles
with wheels so they
relied on runners to
carry verbal messages.
Inca
• Incas were known for their building skills.
• They built stone terraces to create flat spaces
to farm.
• They built irrigation
canals to bring water
to the crops.
• They cut huge stones
to build their cities.
• Machu Picchu is 8000
feet above sea level.
Inca
• The average Inca owned no land and could not own
or run a business.
• Laws specified who could work, where they worked
and when they worked.
• The Inca farmed the land owned by the Emperor.
• They were allowed to keep about 1/3 of their
harvest, while the majority when to support others.
• Taxes were paid in labor, not money.
Inca
• The Inca had no cows or horses.
• The most important animal to the Inca was the
llama.
Inca
• Llamas were used to transport goods.
• Llamas were used as sacrifices (unlike
humans in the other ancient civilizations).
• Llama wool was used to make thread
for weaving.
Inca
• Llamas were used to transport goods.
• Llamas were used as sacrifices (unlike
humans in the other ancient civilizations).
• Llama wool was used to make thread
for weaving.
Inca
• The last emperor of the
Inca was Atahualpa.
• He attempted to make a
deal with Francisco Pizarro
to buy his freedom.
• Pizarro took the treasure,
but killed Atahualpa and
captured Cuzco.