Civilization of the Mayans

I know it's been a while since I posted, but not much has been going on with Survivor Guatemala. I was going to write a post about the Mayan civilization but the fine folks at Survivor Fever beat me to it. So I'll summarize their post, link to it and add a little to it. Here it goes . . .
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The Mayan culture was the greatest civilization among the original cultures of the New World. There wasn't just one Mayan state but several states that shared a common culture. Mayan culture lasted from 2600 BC to 250 AD on the Yucatan peninsula (present day southern Mexico, Guatemala, western Honduras, El Salvador, and northern Belize).

Society
Complex and hierarchical with classes and professions, nobles and kings. Slaves too, mostly captured prisoners of war.

Religion
Belief in cycles of destruction and creation in 5,200 year cycles. Priest closely linked with the calendar and astronomy. Sacrifices often involved just foodstuffs, but occasionally human sacrifice which was usually blood-letting (and the blood was the priest's).

Architecture
Two types of pyramids: functional and sacred. Sacred ones were never touched. Functional ones were used for religious ceremonies. The priest would climb up the steps of the pyramid thus becoming closer with the heavens.

Calendar Systems
Two calendars: ritual calendar (260 days) and solar calendar (360 days plus 5 "unlucky days").

Writing System
Highly complex hieroglyphic writing system. Probably only the higher classes were literate. 85% of Mayan hieroglyphics have been decoded. How to Write Your Name in Mayan Glyphs .

Mathematics
The Mayans used a base twenty system. They also had the concept of zero and used it as a place-holder.

Astronomy
The Mayan were accomplished astronomers. Among other things, they could predict eclipses with great accuracy.

For the Survivor Fever post click here .
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Very, very interesting . . .
The Mayan religion reminds me of Shiva in Hinduism while the pyramids and hieroglyphic writing remind me of the Egyptians. So where did the first Americans come from, Asia or Egypt?