Mayan Life

The Maya, like other Mesoamerican peoples, were an agricultural civilisation. They grew three main crops: maize, beans, squash.

If you’re a chocolate lover you may also know that they also cultivated the cocoa bean. (Chocolate came to Europe and then the rest of the world via the Spanish conquest of Mexico.)

Most Mayan lived in huts made of adobe (a kind of mud) with thatched roofs made from palm fronds. Things haven’t changed too much - you’ll see these traditional huts dotted all over the Yucatan countryside.

Mayan society was divided into royalty, priests, warriors and everyone else. Royalty lived in the stone-built temples. The ordinary people’s huts were outside these ceremonial centres.

Priests and scribes were involved in writing, astronomy and celebrating religious events. Royalty did the same as Kings and Queens everywhere in the days when Kings and Queens had real power. They ruled the land and sometimes made war - or defended their country - from other Mayan kingdoms.