Maya

The Mayan Empire, centered in  beautiful, present day Guatemala, made many useful contributions to today's society. Around sixth century A.D., the Mayans reached their peak in power and mighty influence by excelling in agriculture, pottery, writing, designing their own calendar, and also left behind an impressive amount of architecture and artwork. On your journey to this magnificent fallen empire, you will take a step back in time to this advanced civilization. As most ancient society's were, the Mayans were very religious people. They created several temples to their gods. These temples were very similar to Egyptian pyramids as seen below. Their gods were based on the agricultural year, such as the sun, moon, harvest, rain, etc. At the top of society were the kings,

 high-priests, and scribes.

temple used in Mayan worship

In the ruling class, primogeniture was a system used to choose new leaders. This was when new kings gained power due to blood relation. The current king passed down his position to his son. After the birth of a heir, the king performed a blood sacrificial ceremony by drawing blood from his own body as an offering to his ancestors. As a new king took the throne, human sacrifices would take place, and the unlucky victim would be prisoners that were collected during war.

Ancient Mayan art is one thing you should make sure to look at and pay attention to the incredible detail, it will not disappoint! The art was made out of many natural materials such as clay and stucco to make models, paintings on paper and plaster, and wood carvings. Many of the greatest art pieces were the sculptures of the kings or religious figures.

 One of the many achievements of the civilization is their ability to thrive in the tropical environment. Most ancient civilizations flourished in drier environments because of easy access to centralized management of irrigation which formed a basis for society. Here, it could have been easy to fall apart, but they surprisingly did not. This tropical environment is absolutely stunning, and will just add to the beauty of the trip.