The Maya is one of the most mysteriousinhabitants who ever inhabit our Earth. The definition of "tribe" is not entirely suitable for them, because it was a highly developed civilization that originated in the central part of America, right up to Mexico.
And even the little that we got,contemporaries, from culture and knowledge, which the Maya Indians owned, amazes anthropologists, archeologists and sociologists with a high level. Scientists have found evidence that they were able to develop a special, very detailed time reference system, as well as an alphabet of hieroglyphs.
The Maya Indians lived in the territories of modernHonduras, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, as well as Mexico. The exact date of their appearance remains unknown, it is obvious only that for ten centuries BC in these places settlements of the mysterious people already existed.
This civilization is known for its tombs andpyramidal temples, miraculously preserved after the Spaniards, who mercilessly destroyed everything that was considered "pagan idols" or accessories of a pagan cult. Thus, most of the annals, of which the Maya writing was composed, were destroyed.
However, even such a barbaric attitude towards cultureThis people could not completely destroy the traces of his residence on the continent. And even the very little that archaeologists found on the site of their ancient settlements, confirms the high level of their development.
The Mayans hunted a lot.Their main and for a long time the only weapons were considered to be serbatans - they are bamboo tubes, from which hunters fired clay balls. Shoot from the bow representatives of this people learned from their neighbors - the Aztecs.
Today it is already known that representatives of thispeople were excellent farmers who developed agricultural technology, far ahead of time. Applied art, which the Maya Indians owned, is so interesting that the works created by their hands, still amaze our imagination.
Less than one hundred and fifty years ago in the territories,where in ancient times these Indians lived, were found the ruins - the ancient Mayan cities. For more than a thousand years, thick rainforests hid from the human eye their temples, palaces and even huge pyramids. And although these tombs are inferior in size to the Egyptian, however, they are much richer decorated with stone carvings.
Representatives of the Mayan people revered numerousgods, while they believed that every occupation, each profession must have a patron deity. Even the world-famous Mayan calendar for each day determined its god.
Many of us have heard that 2012 is consideredyear of the end of the world, but not everyone knows that this date of the apocalypse originated in the decoding of the famous Mayan calendar, created thousands of years ago.
The counting of this ancient peopleends on December 21 this year. Today, a lot of talk and write about it. Some believe in the inevitability of the end of the world, others just chuckle, considering the Mayan calendar as nothing more than mysticism. And although many of us are not superstitious, we still feel some concern.
However, the Maya, composing its famous calendar andcounting its 5216 years, did not at all imply that the end of the world would come to an end, on the contrary, they predicted a restoration of the balance between the male and female beginnings.
And yet, not even the calendar is the mostmysterious in the history of this ancient civilization. About a thousand years ago, the Maya suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth, and no one can reliably tell why it happened and what happened to this advanced people - the Maya Indians.
