Maria's+Modules



Modules:

The topic I am most interested in within the Mayan civilization is their religion. They worshiped many nature gods and had a unique view of the afterlife. Their religious beliefs also led to the development of the Mayan calendar. They also practiced forms of human sacrifice.

 key words: calendar, hieroglyphs, cosmology, afterlife, jaguar,  Kukulcán, science, astronomy

Maria DiCesare

 Module 8:  Kerma: The Rise of an African Civilization

The floodplains along the Nile constitute an important but as yet little utilized series of laboratories for the comparative study of the origins and interaction of ancient civilizations. **

Module 9 http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.ucf.edu/stable/2949213?seq=2&Search=yes&term=maya&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dmaya%26jc%3D j100476%26wc%3Don%26Search.x%3D12%26Search.y% 3D17%26Search%3DSearch&item=4&ttl=182&returnArticleService=showArticle&resultsServiceName=doBasicResultsFromArticle ** 



=****Mesoamerican Archaeology****=


 * Richard S. MacNeish
 * [|Biennial Review of Anthropology], Vol. 5, (1967), pp. 306-331
 * Published by: [|Stanford University Pre]

Module #10/#11

The Mayan religion had 2 million followers at one time in history. Now there are several million people that follow Roman Catholicism, which is similar to many Mayan beliefs. An intricate par of Mayan beliefs was human sacrifice. To the Mayans, the practice helped fertility and nourished the gods. The bloodletting of the human being sacrificed was the main nourishment for the gods. The Mayans believed that if they did not perform human sacrifices, chaos would arise in the world and cosmic disorder would affect them all. A priest performed the sacrifice by making an incision below the ribcage and ripping out the victim's heart. They then burned the heart as a way to feed and nourish the gods that they worshiped.

http://www.religionfacts.com/mayan_religion/index.htm

Module #12

Module #13

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qpdB1HzGAygC&oi=fnd&pg=PA15&dq=mayan+gods&ots=PYx8e2kbhR&sig=DGIDiZAH6lEYvvrcUxSBnGMiFVA#v=onepage&q=mayan%20gods&f=false

 =**Popol vuh: the Mayan book of the dawn of life**=

By Dennis Tedlock The source that I found details the Popol vuh, which is the creation story of the Maya. It also contains a list of kings and the gods that the Mayans believed in. The text even details the importance that maize held in the ancient Mayan world. It explains that the gods created humans out of maize. Astronomy and maize related to each other in terms of specific growing seasons, and this is also prevalent in the text. The Popol vuh is a sacred text to the Mayans, like the Bible is sacred to Christians.