How did the Mayans adapt to their environment to survive?
The Mayan adapted to their environment by having deer and monkeys as food. Also, trees and other plants were good building materials. The Mayan built structures such as large plazas for public gatherings, canals to control the flow of water, and shaped nearby hillsides into flat terraces to allow farmers to grow crops.
What was the Mayans way of life?
These nomadic people lived in small family bands. Around 2500 B.C. they started cultivating maize and abandoned a nomadic way of life to settle in villages surrounded by cornfields. The Maya created arable land by using a “slash-and-burn” technique to clear the forests.
Why didn’t the Mayans survive?
Scholars have suggested a number of potential reasons for the downfall of Maya civilization in the southern lowlands, including overpopulation, environmental degradation, warfare, shifting trade routes and extended drought. It’s likely that a complex combination of factors was behind the collapse.
How did the Mayan civilization grow?
With increased trade came wealth and the growth of cities into large urban-states, like those of the Classic Maya civilization. Although their principal crop was corn, farmers also cultivated beans, squash, and fruit trees. Black beans and red beans contributed protein to the Maya diet.
What was the climate where the Mayans lived?
One of the many intriguing things about the Maya was their ability to build a great civilization in a tropical rainforest climate. Traditionally, ancient peoples had flourished in drier climates, where the centralized management of water resources (through irrigation and other techniques) formed the basis of society.
What did the Mayans use cenotes for?
The regional term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly used for water supplies by the ancient Maya, and occasionally for sacrificial offerings.
Can you swim in the sacred cenote?
You CANNOT go up to the water or swimming in this cenote; there is no way in or out. In fact, the Mayans used to throw people in because then they couldn’t get out.
