At the same time that the Ancient Egyptian civilization was thriving, another civilization was thriving on what we now know as the South American continent. This civilization was the Ancient Mayan civilization. And they were just as advanced if not more so in some ways than were the Ancient Egyptians of Egypt.
The Ancient Maya were a Mesoamerican civilization. They had a very advanced writing system in the Americas even prior to European contact. They used sophisticated math systems and had complex and useful cyclical calendars. Spectacular art and monumental architecture were two other notable accomplishments of this civilization.
The Ancient Mayans lived in what is now known as southern Mexico and northern Central America including Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Their descendants still live there today, and many of them speak the Mayan languages.
The Ancient Mayans were master architects, building pyramids and even entire cities, many of which are still standing today.
Ancient Mayan pyramids were made of stone. The stone was carved to create a stair-step design. Their cities grew around the pyramids. They consisted of plazas connected together by sacbeob (whiteway) causeways.
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in Guatemala:
http://www.photoatlas.com/photo/guatemala_tikal_maya_piramyd.jpg
http://www.adventure-life.com/belize/images/GuatemalaPyramid.jpg
http://www.ixchelschool.com/photos/pix/tikal1.jpg
http://www.survivorfever.net/images11/pyramids/tikal_lost_world_pyramid.jpg
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in Belize:
http://botanbelize.com/extimages/Mayan%20ruins.jpg
http://espn.go.com/winnercomm/outdoors/flyfishing/i/P2_ff_fea_belize_05.jpg
http://adventuresinbelize.com/images/Adventures/mayan/altunhasm2.jpg
http://www.greenparrot-belize.com/images/temple.jpg
http://www.adventuresinbelize.com/images/Adventures/advmaster/advmst-maya.jpg
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in Honduras:
http://www.usdivetravel.com/dive49.jpg
http://www.roatanpearl.com/images/copan-ruins.jpg
http://www.bluedanubeholidays.com/pictures/honduras_mayan.jpg
http://www.greatestcities.com/0095pic/149/CP2149.jpg/honduras03-01.JPG
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in El Salvador:
http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t002/T002243A.jpg
http://www.4elsalvador.com/images/Mayan%20Ruins%20of%20Tazumal.jpg
http://www.4elsalvador.com/images/San%20Andres-Mayan%20Ruins.jpg
http://www.sailgemini.com/images/CentralAmerica/ElSalvador/Land2A1Pmid.jpg
http://www.sailgemini.com/images/CentralAmerica/ElSalvador/Land2A1Steps.jpg
At the heart of Ancient Mayan cities existed the largest plazas. They contained governmental and religious buildings, such as the royal acropolis, great pyramid temples, and occasionally ball-courts. Temples and observatories were always constructed so they followed the Mayan interpretation of the orbits of the stars. Outside of this center were less important temples and shrines. At the outskirts lay the homes of the common people.
The Ancient Mayans grew a wide variety of crops, including corn, manioc, and sunflower seeds. These crops were grown in permanent raised fields, terraccing, forest gardens, and managed fallows. There was also harvesting of wild crops. The Mayans ground cacao and mixed it with water to make the first chocolate.
The Ancient Mayans wrote using a series of glyphs (carved figures or characters), which were painted on ceramics, walls, or bark-paper codices (books), carved in wood or stone, or molded in stucco. Each glyph represented a word. Mayans wrote numbers vertically.
The Ancient Mayans believed that time was cyclical, that is, it goes in circles.
The Ancient Mayans are famous for abandoning their civilization. To this day no one is certain what happened to them.
There are many Ancient Mayan cities still standing today. Some of the most well known ones are: Chichen Itza, Coba, Copán Kalakmul, Tikal, and Uxmal. These cites lay forgotten for centuries, until modern-day explorers rediscovered them. Archeological surveys and excavations were conducted (and are still being conducted) on some of these sites, revealing more about Mayan culture. Today, some cities can be visited by tourists.
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in the ancient city of Chichen Itza:
http://www.cs.uccs.edu/~chow/pub/master/pjfong/Pictures/Tropical/Chichen%20Itza.jpg
http://www.travelagencies.com/incimage/images/Chichen%20itza.jpg
http://www.heinz-ria.de/bilder_cd/bildordner/chichen_itza_observatorium.jpg
http://www.maps-of-mexico.com/photos/yucatan/chichen-itza/chichen-itza-picture-of-mexico-1.jpg
http://www.strempfer.de/wolfram/fernweh/images/chichen_itza.jpg
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in the ancient city of Coba:
http://www.playa.info/images/alltournative_coba_pyramid.jpg
http://www.seamonkeybusiness.com/images/coba/mayan_ruins_coba_mexico.jpg
http://www.happen.net/travel/img/mexico/coba.jpg
http://www.akumal-luxury-villas.com/main/daytrips/ruins/coba.jpg
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in the ancient city of Copan:
http://www.enjoyhonduras.com/images/copan01.jpg
http://www.roatanonline.com/honduras/images_copan/copan10.jpg
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in the ancient city of Calakmul:
http://www.cactusrock.com/images/Calakmul.jpg
http://www.andalemexico.com/photos/calakmul_04.jpg
http://www.farhorizon.com/ctrlamer/hidden_maya_citites/calakmul.jpg
http://www.campeche.ca/images/view_from_the_top_calakmul.jpg
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in the ancient city of Tikal:
http://www.adventure-life.com/belize/images/TikalRuins.jpg
http://www.slickrock.com/images/tikal.jpg
http://www.adventuresinbelize.com/images/Adventures/mayan/tikal1.jpg
Here are some pictures of Ancient Mayan ruins in the ancient city of Uxmal:
http://wild-net.com.au/mexico/assets/images/uxmal_ruins4_280.jpg
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20070314/i/r1125281119.jpg <--- Look who's in this one =)
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20070313/i/r4118048662.jpg <---- lol Here he is again.
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20070313/i/r554968085.jpg <--- Boy he sure looks happy doesn't he? Wish he was that excited about taking care of our own country!
http://www.aerosaab.com/images/ideas/uxmal_01.jpg
PS - Don't let the pictures with curious George in them take away the beauty of the ruins in the backround.
The Ancient Mayans, just like the Ancient Egyptians, have been said to be descendants of Atlantis as well.
However there is no direct evidence for this like there is with the Ancient Egyptians. It can be proven, by the Ancient Egyptian's own hieroglyphs that they were descendants of Aha-Men-Ptah (Atlantis). It can also be proven that the Ancient Egyptians followed an exact path after they landed off the coast of Morocco to where they eventually ended up in what we now know as Egypt.
However, I have been unable to find evidence so far that can directly link the Ancient Mayan's to Atlantis. Other than their advanced Mathematics of course. But it is also said that the Ancient Egyptians may have traded with the Ancient Mayans because the Egyptians were aware of iron which would allow them to travel far distances if need be.
No matter where the Ancient Mayans originated from though, it can certainly be said that they were a special civilization of some of the highest science and intelligence that this planet has ever known.
The Ancient Mayans kept extremely detailed astronomical records and they followed the cycles of the planets and stars as they travel around in their orbits. We are currently in the 4th cycle recorded by the Maya. It started in 3114 B.C. and lasts for 5126 years until 2012.
With the end of the 4th cycle comes... the beginning of the 5th cycle. The Maya believe that in the 5th cycle the ancient wisdom of the Maya will be rediscovered by the world and it will be a new dawn for mankind!
In the coming years we face another apocalyptic test, as time leads us up to the classic Maya millennium, on December 21, 2012 (based on our Western Gregorian calendar). That's when the Maya calendar will turn over to all zeros — 13.0.0.0.0 by the long count.
The Ancient Mayan use of the zero by at least A.D. 200 is one of their key claims to fame, since the zero was not introduced to the West until the insights of Aryabhata, a fifth-century Indian mathematician, reached Europe.
The Maya millennium comes 5,126 years after the creation, which, by their reckoning, occurred precisely on August 11, 3114 B.C.
Central to the Ancient Mayan's philosophy was a belief in the cyclical nature of time and an awesome fear that one day, possibly sooner rather than later, our World would come to an end. It seems that they believed that the Sun would one day no longer send its life force, thereby bringing to an end the fifth and last age of man.
They counted the days according to two calendars, one a "vague" year of 365 days and the other a shorter cycle of 260 days. Every day had two names, one according to each calendar so that the same combination of names would not recur for 52 years. When one of these 52 year time periods came to an end they would leave their cities and, going up into the surrounding hills, anxiously watch the stars.
The sign they were looking for was the Pleiades star-group, symbolising for them a cosmic snake's rattle, crossing the southern meridian at midnight. This, they believed, meant that the heavens had not stopped turning and the Sun would rise again. They celebrated the birth of this new 'century' with rejoicing and the lighting of fires, symbolising the rebirth of the world.
