Maya

            Bloody kings, cross eyed babies, and priests with jade teeth are all signs of the Mayan's splendid civilization. The Mayans lived on the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico; and their classical period was from 200 - 900 C.E. The Mayans had an extraordinary civilization because of their rich culture and intellect. In a civilization " a relatively high level of cultural and technological development"(Miriam Webster Dictionary) has to exist. The Mayan calendar is a great example of how intelligent the Mayans were. They used astronomy to figure out that there were 365 days in a year. Their culture and religion also help to declare the Mayans as a great civilization. .
             The Mayan calendar is very complex and accurate. It was made up of three different parts; the Tzolkin, the Haab, and the Long Count. The Tzolkin was their religious calendar and had 260 days in it. The Haab was the secular calendar and was mainly used for crops. It consisted of 20 months of 18 days and a short month of 5 days where they were not supposed to do anything because the days were considered to be unlucky. Every 52 years the Haab and the Tzolkin would start a new year on the same day. The Mayans thought that that was when a new creation would begin and the Mayans would pray and ask for repentance. When the Mayans needed to measure amounts of time longer than 52 years they would use the long count. The Mayan priests and kings were the only ones who knew how to read the calendars and would demonstrate their power by predicting eclipses. People also needed the priests to tell them when to plant crops. .
             The Mayan culture is a big part of what made them a civilization. The Mayan had a very structured class system. One would be born into a class and it would be very difficult to move up . The majority of the Mayans were commoners and slaves. They were the ones used for human sacrifices and paid the most taxes to the priests. The only way one could move up would was to become a warrior.