The Mayas

Just like Native Americans used to live in the United States, there were indigenous people who lived in El Salvador long before the Spanish arrived. One of the Native American groups of El Salvador is the Maya. The Mayas lived in Mexico and Central America, and there are still Mayas living in Central America today!

In ancient times, the Mayas built beautiful cities and ran successful communities. They learned many things and were very advanced. They understood a lot about science, space, math, and engineering. They were even one of the first groups of people to have the idea of “0.” The Mayas also developed a written language they used to communicate.

I was able to visit Belize a few weeks ago. In Belize, there are many Maya ruins. Some of the ruins are beautiful temples that were once very important places. Others are not uncovered and look like mountains. There are also artifacts that are found inside of caves. Archeologists and historians cannot know exactly what the Mayas were like, but they can use clues from these Maya sites to learn about their lives.

Here is a Maya pyramid at Xunatunich in San Ignacio, Belize

To see some Maya ruins you have to swim into a cave. I went on a
tour of this cave with MayaWalk Tour company, and they shared this picture.

There is not nearly as many Maya sites in El Salvador as there are in Belize. There are some pyramids here, but nothing nearly as impressive as in Belize, Guatemala, or Honduras. Even though they are small, El Salvador does have some very important Maya sites.

Throughout Central America there are Maya pyramids, but the only place there are still Maya homes is in El Salvador. The Mayas built their pyramids out of stone that can last for a long time. They built their homes, however, out of sticks and clay. Overtime the Maya homes were destroyed. At a place called, Joya de Cerén in El Salvador, however there is still some evidence of Maya homes. This is because a volcano erupted and covered all the homes in ash. This ash saved the homes. Archeologists and historians have learned a lot about daily life by studying the homes found at Joya de Cerén.

Here is the foundation of a Maya house in Joya de Cerén.

This is a shaman's (doctor) office. The shaman who worked
here was a woman. 

For a long time, historians believed that the Mayas did not know about the wheel. They believed that the Maya people never had the idea to invent a wheel. However, in El Salvador, archeologists found a toy dog that had wheels. This proves that in fact the Mayas knew how to make wheels, they just didn’t really use them. The dog with wheels might be El Salvador’s most important Maya artifact.

Here is the dog with wheels, one of the most important Maya pieces
in El Salvador. 

I love learning about different cultures, like the Maya. Click the link below to do some Maya math! :) 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B91xK8CIpJ_tQloyRmUzY2NuRXc/view?usp=sharing