Ancient Maya
The lost civilization
By Georgia
Mayans wore brilliant headdresses made of bright, colourful feathers of tropical birds. Royal members would wear a quetzal feather in their headdress. These feathers were very rare and generally trraded for valuable goods throughtout Mayan and Non Mayan civilizations.
The wealthy wore large amounts of jewlery, mainly carved out of colourful shells and green jade.
Important chiefs and leaders would wear a bird beak on their nose and covering their mouth. This showed great importance.
Mayan Worriors wore Jaguar skin clothing and headdresses which they felt represented the Jaguar god. Strong, brave and fierce, everything the Mayan warriors wanted to be. They also wore jade jewlery.
Important Mayans would use body ink and use a scarring technique to draw on their body.
The Mayans also cleared the forest floor so that small, edible plants could grow.
Dogs were the only tame animals of the Mayan people. They raised turkey and honeybees in farms and hunted deer, rabbits and piglike animals. They also fished for shellfish and fish in rivers and the sea.
Terrace farming used a method similar to the Inca civilization, where they cut terraces into the hillsides to make usable plots
.
Raised filed farming was used mainly in the lowlands where the earth can be swampy and difficult to grow crops. Farmers dug up mud from the swamp and shaped it into raised fields that rose two to four feet above the water canals that surrounded them. Fish swam in these canals and provided fertilizer via their droppings. Plants like water lillies grew in the cannals to help keep them from drying up. These plants were also used as fertilizer. These swamp systems were very productive though hard work. The fields would produce two or three harvests a year.
Slash and burning techniques (also known as milpa) were used in forest areas. This process involved cutting growth area, burning it and using the resulting field to plant in, using ashes as soil nutrition. After several years, the nutrition in the soil would be used up and another area would be burnt and slashed, leaving the first area to grow back.
Mayan farmers grew Maize and guords. Maize was the main food of the Mayans which was prepared by the women in a variety of different ways. These included an alcoholic drink called balche, which was sweetened with honey and spiced with bark as well as flat maize cakes in a form of bread which are known today as tortillas. The Mayans also grew avocados, chilli peppers, squash and sweet potatoes.
The clothing the Mayans wore kept them comfortable in hot, tropical climates.
Men wore cloth tied around their hips and passed between their legs. Some men also wore a cloak called a Manta.
Women wore lose dresses that reached their ankles.
Upperclass Mayans wore clothes decorated with embroidery and ornaments.
Chocolate was greatly loved by all Mayans, rich or poor. It was made from cocao and tasted very bitter. In order to sweeten the drink they added honey and chilli for spice. This was mixed with water and sometimes maize. The Mayans were very fussy with their chocolate drink and required froth ontop. In order to do this they would poor the drink from high above the cup or blow on the spout of the pot in order to mix air with the drink.
Food and Clothing
The Mayans were reknowned farmers and relied heavly on maize to feed their community. Maize was prepared mainly by Maya women as well as vegetables such as gourds. The Maya's clothes were similar throughout all Mayan cities, with royals wearing important jewlery.
