Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Chichen-Itza
You've heard of North America. And South America. And Central America. But have you heard of Mesoamerica?
Mesoamerica was the ancient home of the Mayans. It included what is now southern Mexico and parts of four more countries. Look on a map and put your finger on the Yucatan Peninsula. You are in Mesoamerica.
The Mayans have lived in this area for thousands of years. In ancient times, they discovered ways to do many things. They farmed on the steep mountain sides. They invented a calendar. They invented a written language. They invented ways of doing math.
Their way of doing math is interesting. It used just three signs for all of the numbers. A dot stood for the number one. A line stood for five. A shell stood for zero. With these three signs, the Mayans could write any number. Do you know what number this is: three dots and one line? How about this one: two dots and three lines?
The Mayans were smart and creative. They used many inventions that were unknown in other parts of the world.
