ABOUT MAYANS

THEY HAVE THREE CALENDARS THAT WORK IN

CYCLES. ONE OF THEM, THE HAAB, HAS A 365

DAY CYCLE JUST LIKE THE MODERN GREGORIAN

CALENDAR. THE LONG COUNT CALENDAR CYCLES

ROUGHLY EVERY 2,880,000 DAYS AND WAS SAID

TO RESET IN 2012. THIS LED TO THE

DOOMSDAY PROPHECIES.

THE MAYANS HAD ONE OF THE MOST ADVANCED

WRITING SYSTEMS OF ANY ANCIENT CIVILIZATION

AND WROTE ON ALMOST ANYTHING THEY COULD

FIND, INCLUDING THEIR BUILDINGS.

UNFORTUNATELY MANY OF THEIR WRITINGS WERE

LOST DURING THE SPANISH CONQUEST. THROUGH

LABORIOUS STUDY DURING THE 20TH AND 21 CENTURIES

MUCH OF THEIR REMAINING WRITINGS HAVE BEEN

RECOVERED AND TRANSLATED.

LIKE THE AZTECS, MAYANS NEVER USED IRON OR

STEEL. THEIR WEAPONS WERE MADE OF OBSIDIAN,

OR VOLCANIC ROCK.

BESIDES HAVING FLATTENED FOREHEADS AND

CROSSED EYES, MAYAN NOBLEMAN HAD NOSES THAT

WERE BUILT UP WITH PUTTY GIVING THEM A BEAKED

SHAPE. THEIR TEETH WERE ALSO INLAID WITH JADE.

SPEAKING OF TEETH, NOBLE WOMEN FILED

THEIR TEETH INTO POINTS

OUTSIDE OF THE BABYLONIAN SYSTEMS, THE MAYANS

WERE PERHAPS THE FIRST CIVILIZATION TO EXPLICITLY

USE THE NUMBER 0 AS A PLACE HOLDER. INDIAN

MATHEMATICIANS LATER BECAME THE FIRST

TO USE IT AS A MATHEMATICAL VALUE IN

COMPUTATIONS.

NOBODY KNOWS HOW THE MAYAN EMPIRE DECLINED.

LONG BEFORE THE SPANISH CAME MANY OF THE

GREAT CITIES HAD ALREADY BEEN LONG ABANDONED

AND LAY IN RUINS. SCHOLARS HAVE HYPOTHESIZED

REASONS RANGING FROM DROUGHT AND FAMINE TO

OVERPOPULATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE.