Classic Maya · 250-900

Maya writing, numbers and calendars

The Maya built the most complete writing system of the ancient Americas, counted with zero and tracked time in great cycles. Students read Maya numbers, learn how the script was cracked, and ask who should keep the four Maya books that survived.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 750 to AD 1562
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

The Maya built the most complete writing system of the ancient Americas, counted with zero and tracked time in great cycles. Students read Maya numbers, learn how the script was cracked, and ask who should keep the four Maya books that survived.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Read and write Maya numbers from 0 to 19 with dots, bars and the shell sign for zero.
  • Explain how the 260-day and 365-day calendars worked together.
  • Describe how Maya books were destroyed and how the script was deciphered in the 20th century.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 750

A stairway of words

Open the map in 750 and zoom in on Copán, in the south of the Maya world. Its Hieroglyphic Stairway holds the longest known Maya text. Who do you think was meant to read it?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 683

A king in stone

Move to Palenque in 683, the year King Pakal died. The Temple of the Inscriptions is named after its long carved texts. What would a king want written in stone?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1562

Books on fire

Jump to 1562 and zoom in on the Yucatán peninsula. That year the Spanish friar Diego de Landa had Maya books burned at Maní. Only four Maya books survive today. What was lost?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Maya writing mixes signs for whole words with signs for syllables. Why might a script use both?
  2. The Maya used a sign for zero. Why is zero such an important idea in mathematics?
  3. The 260-day and 365-day calendars meet again only every 52 years. How would you explain that to a younger student?
  4. Diego de Landa burned Maya books, yet his own notes later helped scholars read the script. How should we judge him?
  5. The surviving Maya books are kept in Dresden, Madrid, Paris and Mexico City. Where do you think they belong?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Charlemagne, who ruled in the years when Maya scribes were still carving dated inscriptions. Charlemagne had his scribes copy books in a clear new handwriting. Discuss: why do rulers care so much about writing?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.