A people who built great cities, read the stars — and never really disappeared.
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These are the new words for the Maya. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = D (a temple) · 2 = G (a pyramid) · 3 = C (a city-state) · 4 = B (a calendar)
5 = H (writing) · 6 = A (a drought) · 7 = F (to abandon) · 8 = E (a scientist)
Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one.
The Maya were a people who lived in the rainforests of Central America. Their land is now part of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Their great time, which we call the Classic period, was from about 250 to 900 AD. This was the same time as the Roman Empire, and the Maya were still building after Rome fell.
There was never one big Maya empire. Instead, there were many cities, and each one ruled itself. Big cities like Tikal and Calakmul had thousands of people. Each city had its own king, its own gods, and often a war with the city next door.
Above the trees, the Maya built huge stone pyramids with a temple on top. They built wide squares and palaces too. And they did all of this with no metal tools, no wheels and no big animals to carry things. This was very hard work in a hot, wet forest.
1. Was there one big Maya empire? Explain.
2. Why was it so hard for the Maya to build their cities?
1. No. There were many cities, and each city ruled itself, with its own king and its own gods.
2. They built huge pyramids and cities in a hot, wet forest, with no metal tools, no wheels and no big animals to carry things.
The Maya were great scientists. From tall towers, they watched the sun, the moon and the stars for many years. They knew the planet Venus very well, and they could say where it would be years before. They made a calendar that was almost perfect, and they understood the number zero — something many other people did not know yet.
The Maya also had writing. They were the only people in the ancient Americas with a full writing system. They wrote with small picture-signs called glyphs. They wrote on their stone buildings, on pots, and in folding books made of bark-paper. These books are called codices.
The Maya made many of these books. But in the 1500s, when Spanish priests came, they burned almost all of them, because they thought the books were bad. Today, only four old Maya books are left in the whole world.
1. Name two things the Maya knew about the sky and numbers.
2. What happened to almost all the Maya books?
1. Any two: they could say where Venus would be years before; they made an almost perfect calendar; they understood the number zero.
2. In the 1500s, Spanish priests burned almost all of them. Today only four are left.
Then, over about a hundred years, something went wrong. In the south, one big city after another stopped building. People stopped carving dates in stone. Slowly, they left. By about 900 AD, the great southern cities like Tikal and Palenque were almost empty, and the forest grew back over them.
Why did this happen? Scientists think the biggest reason was the weather. There were very bad droughts — long years with little rain. In this land there were no big rivers, so the farms needed the rain. There were also too many people, the soil was tired, and the cities were always at war. All of these problems came together, and the system broke.
But the Maya did not disappear. In the north, cities like Chichén Itzá grew strong for hundreds of years more. And the people are still here today. More than seven million Maya live in Mexico and Central America now. They speak Maya languages, and they keep some of the old festivals. For a long time, no one could read the old glyphs. Then a Russian scientist, Yuri Knorozov, showed that the glyphs were the sounds of the Maya language. People laughed at him, but he was right. Now we can read most of the writing, and the old stones tell us about real kings, real wars and real dates.
1. Why did the southern cities go quiet around 900 AD?
2. Give two reasons why "the Maya disappeared" is not true.
1. The biggest reason was very bad droughts with little rain. There were also too many people, tired soil, and many wars. All these problems came together.
2. Any two: northern cities like Chichén Itzá grew strong after that; more than seven million Maya live in the region today; they still speak Maya languages and we can now read most of the old writing.
The Maya story is full of nouns we want to say more about: a people, a city, a calendar, a king. A relative clause lets you add more information to a noun in the same sentence. You do not have to start a new sentence.
Put who, which, where or whose in each gap.
1. The Maya were a people lived in the forest.
2. They built pyramids are still standing today.
3. Tikal is a city many people once lived.
4. The Maya, books were burned, wrote with glyphs.
5. Knorozov was a scientist read the old writing.
1. who (people)
2. which (things — pyramids)
3. where (a place — the city)
4. whose ("their books")
5. who (a person)
Join the two short sentences into one. Use who, which, where or whose. Then read it out loud.
1. The Maya were a people. They watched the stars.
2. A drought is a long time. There is little rain.
3. Chichén Itzá is a city. The Maya built it in the north.
1. The Maya were a people who watched the stars.
2. A drought is a long time which has little rain. (Also good: a long time when there is little rain.)
3. Chichén Itzá is a city which the Maya built in the north. (Or: a city where the Maya lived in the north.)
There is a real podcast about the Maya. It is for native speakers, so it is fast and quite difficult — that is normal! You do not need to understand every word.
From the Noiser podcast network. About 50 minutes. It plays on the Noiser site, or search "Short History Of The Maya" on Spotify.
Play on Noiser →Prefer Spotify? Open the show and find the Maya episode.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of the Maya in your own words. Use these steps to help you: a people who lived in the forest → many cities, each with its own king → reading the stars and writing with glyphs → the books that were burned → the droughts and the empty cities → but the people are still here, and we can read the writing again.
Try to use relative clauses (who, which, where, whose) and some of the key words (temple, pyramid, city-state, calendar, writing, drought, abandon, scientist).
Is there an old place — a ruin, a temple, an old city — in your country, or one you have visited? Where is it? How old is it? Who built it? Why do you like it?
Tell a story of your own. It can be about an old place, a people, or a mystery from the past. Use relative clauses to add detail (who, which, where, whose).
Not sure what to talk about? Choose one: