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The Mayans purposefully made their babies cross-eyed if they wished them to have traits of nobility.
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Mothers also tried to flatten their foreheads with boards as this was another feature of nobility. Putty was used to shape the nose like a beak.
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Mayan noblewomen sharpened their teeth into pints by filing them.
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A child was named according to the date of their birth.
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Mayans used human hair for sutures, were capable of making prosthetics, and even filled teeth.
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Mayans used to practice human sacrifice but today it is limited to chickens.
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Mayans knew how to use plants for medicinal purposes. They also used some for their hallucinogenic properties in special ceremonies.
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The Mayans like to play a sport similar to a ballgame, but losing teams were sometimes sacrificed.
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The Mayans had a type of sauna to help them cleanse their bodies.
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The original Mayans had one language but this evolved into many more, There are approximately 70 Maya languages today.
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Tourists can visit Mayan sites to view ruins and pyramids. Chichen Itza is one of the more famous sites of ancient Mayan structures.
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The Mayans had more than one calendar. The Haab had 365 days. The Long Count Calendar has 2,880,000 days and ended in 2012.
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The Mayans had one of ancient civilizations' most advanced systems for writing and would write on almost anything.
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Mayan weapons were made from volcanic rock or obsidian.
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The Mayans believed that the world began on August 11th, 3114BC. This is the starting date of their calendar.
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The Mayans were the first civilization to use the number zero as a place holder, but they were not the first to use it in mathematics.
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The Mayans were astronomers. They believed that the stars and moon and sun were gods, and they marked their eclipses and solstices and equinoxes in their temples and calendars.
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Mayans grew a lot of maize (yellow corn) which was a staple in their diet, along with avocados, tomatoes, chilli peppers, pineapples, beans. Papayas and cacao.
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The last surviving Mayan city was Tayasal, which existed until 1696 when the Spanish conquered it.
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Although the Spanish conquered much of the Mayan kingdom, they were not the ultimate reason for their downfall. History has not provided the answer to this question. It may have been because of a virus carried by the Spanish, but it is not known for certain.
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