Maya (1 jan 300 ano antes da era comum – 1 jan 1100 ano)

Descrição:

Earliest Olmec "heirs" (very very influenced by Olmec society; they built and expanded on Olmec culture and beliefs, took it all a step further)

Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador

Great agricultural conditions

Organized into city-kingdoms

The Jaguar was the Maya equivalent to the Egyptian cats, only better because the Jaguar was "the most dangerous predator in Mesoamerican forests" and that's a genuine reason for liking an animal.
(Jaguars > cats. No room for arguing)
(There was literally a king named Jaguar Penis I'm crying)

City-Kingdoms fought against each other constantly.
Warfare style was capture-not-kill because captured enemies would either be made into slaves or used for sacrificial rituals (or both).

PRIESTS
Took care of calendars and religious affairs (duh); taught astronomy and mathematics, etc.

HEREDITARY NOBILITY
Collaborated with kings and priests by organizing military and participating in religious rituals.

MERCHANTS
Parts of noble and ruling families; really really important, because trade (and also political ties with other places (they were like ambassadors)).


Specialized labor lead to a lot of different classes for common people as well.
Generally, artisans in the middle, peasants at the bottom, and slaves a little further down.


THEY WERE REALLY GOOD AT MATH-LIKE THINGS

They developed a calendar, the length of the solar year (and they were only seventeen seconds off); predicted eclipses; mapped planetary cycles; invented the zero.

They were pretty great. (I think 2012 was also their prediction but I'm not sure. They were wrong about that one but still pretty cool).

They actually had TWO calendars: the solar one (365 days) and the ritual one (260 days). What would happen in each day was determined by combining the solar and ritual day. It took 52 years for this collective cycle to end (as in, go through every possible combination of days) and start over.
The world-ending theory was that at some point the world would end at the precise end of one of these cycles. I guess that landed on 2012.

Writing system was both picture- and sound-based, and very complex.
There was a lot of writing, even books, but Spanish invaders (colonizers) burnt all of it in the sixteenth centuries to try to undermine native culture.

Maya religion placed extreme importance on agriculture


THE BALL GAME
(I was waiting for this one)
Inherited from the Olmecs.
Men (no women, apparently) had to bounce a really heavy really hard really big rubber ball through this metal ring without using their hands (or head, if they didn't want to get a concussion) at all which is pretty crazy but also sounds fun (though relatively dangerous).
This was like the soccer of Maya society. Everyone (but women) played it. It was crazy popular. Everyone was into it.
It was played because:
1. it was fun
2. people could bet on the players (which was fun)
3. slaves and captives were sometimes forced to play against each other and be killed if they lost (which was only fun for the people who were watching; I don't think the slaves and captives were having much fun)
4. When the losers died you could put their skulls on the track for future players to trip on so they'd lose and be killed too (which doesn't seem fun at all to anyone but I guess times have changed)

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