Communicate Co.

Characteristics shared by the cultures of Mesoamerica 1. Pyramids were their temples and their rituals included human sacrifices. 2. They used several calendars. For example: Solar - 365 days (18 months of 20 days and 5 additional days), Divinatory – 260 days (13 months of 20 days) and a cycle of 52 solar years or 73 divinatory years. 3. Numbers were based on the number 20 (Did they count with fingers and toes?) 4. They didn’t use metal to make tools but they did use it for decorative purposes. Normally their tools were made of obsidian and flint. 5. They were familiar with the wheel althought there is no archaeological evidence to suggest they used it for transport. 6. Houses were built on a raised platform where they also buried the dead. 7. The ball game spread throughout the Maya area and the evidence for this is the number of ball courts that have been found, the drawings of courts that appear in some of the codexes.and the chronicles written around the time of the Spanish Conquest. 8. A staple diet of corn, beans and squash. 9. Bartering was the basis of commerce. Cacao, copper axes, round green stones and cotton sheets were exchanged during the late Post-Classic period. 10. Religion was based on the duality of opposing forces of Good and Evil.