No one can tell where they came from and where they disappeared
Maya is one of the most developed and most mysterious civilizations, about which scientists continue to argue today. Their tribes inhabited the territory of Central America long before the beginning of our era. It is impossible to more accurately determine the heyday of the Mayan civilization - the artifacts left by them do not allow this.
No one is still able to answer the question - when exactly the highly developed civilization fell into decay, which caused the Maya to migrate from the warm climate, from large cities built up with beautiful palaces, to the distant uninhabited North …
The Maya left their descendants a huge number of unsolvable mysteries, over which the best scientists of the planet are fighting. Christian colonists, while exploring Central America, unfortunately, barbarously destroyed many artifacts that were carefully preserved by the Indians living there. But what's left is enough to make anthropologists, archaeologists and other specialists puzzle.
Maya believed that being sacrificed to the gods was a great honor
In general, human sacrifice was very common among the Mayans. They considered the “path to paradise” very difficult and confusing; only women who died during childbirth, soldiers who died in battle, and also those who were chosen as sacrifices to the gods had a chance to get there right away.
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The date of the ritual sacrifice was determined by mathematicians and astrologers through complex calculations, they also indicated the sacrifice - the person on whom the "great honor" fell.
The Maya used sophisticated astronomical instruments
It is proved that the Maya had extensive knowledge of the laws of motion of celestial bodies. They built observatories - to this day, the 15-meter El-Caracol tower has survived on the Yucatan island, from which the Mayans observed what was happening in the sky with the help of special devices.
Maya may have dealt with aliens
In Peru, giant drawings have been found depicting characters hovering above the ground in round helmets. The drawings are so huge that you can distinguish them only by rising to a bird's eye view. It cannot be said with certainty that the Maya encountered alien intelligence, but many scientists have little doubt about it.
Maya may be from Atlantis
Until now, none of the scientists is able to say anything definite about the origin of the Mayan civilization. However, there are assumptions according to which the Maya came from the destroyed Atlantis and, accordingly, were the descendants of the mythical Atlanteans.
This is evidenced by the few surviving documents: they speak of ancient beautiful cities located somewhere in the middle of the ocean and died as a result of floods, fires and earthquakes. Everything is very vague, nothing definite - because the Spanish conquistadors destroyed almost all the written historical documents of the great civilization.
Maya were the first to realize the infinity of time
The Maya had a whole system of calendars. In addition to days and months, they contained information about the movement of planets and constellations, but the most interesting thing is that these calendars had no beginning or end - time in them moved in a circle. The Maya did not recognize such a thing as the beginning or end of the year, being guided only by the rhythm of planetary cycles.
Maya played sports in a civilized manner
The ancient inhabitants of Europe had not yet begun to dress in animal skins - and the Mayans had already built regular courts for playing ball. They had developed rules for a game that at the same time resemble rugby, football and basketball.
Even the Maya sports uniform existed - it consisted of elbow pads, knee pads and a helmet. The losing side was sacrificed to the gods …
Maya still exist
It is clear that a vast civilization could not disappear overnight without leaving a single representative. The modern Maya continue to live in Central America, there are about six million of them.
And the fact is that in antiquity the Mayans did not disappear from the face of the earth, but for unknown reasons were forced to abandon their prosperous cities and go to the North. Scientists suggest different things: perhaps all crops were killed due to a terrible drought, and people had to look for food elsewhere; perhaps the outcome was inevitable due to war, disease or famine; or maybe the Maya just became too numerous to survive in the same place …
Only one thing is known for certain: in the sixteenth century, the Maya, abandoning the idea of living in large cities, began to create agricultural communities. The descendants of a great civilization today live on the same planet with us, but they know no more about their mysterious and brilliant ancestors than everyone else.