Does anybody know some contributions that the ancient maya civilization contributed to present society?
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There is the Mayan Calendar!
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It really created slavery, when civilization went from small family owned farms to being able to create larger ones with irrigation. they need people to work the fields and create the irrigation systems which was very hard work.
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No, there isn't. And the Mayas didn't predict the end of the world.\n They were so advanced in cosmology that they created a 10.000 years calendar to predict solar and lunar solstis, for sacrefices, war, games....\n The Maya calendar stop at the 21-23 december 2012,it's on the same date that our solar system will be aline perfectly with the milky way.( we are right now under it )\n For them it was the end of an era, not the world. They said that with this phenomena, humanity will go from darkness into the light and open new frontier for us to explore.\nIn fact all the texts on the subject are not totally translated so nobody knows, when that happens, what will happen.\n No end of the world just a prediction like Y2K and other...
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Well, some basic concepts from the ancient times have been\nGreat Pyramids- represent man honoring king/pharoah\nGreek Parthenon- represent man honoring humanity\nNotre Dam- represent man honoring God\nHope this helps.  My social studies class was talking about this the other day!
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Ancient Egypt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\nEgyptian society was a merging of North and Northeast African as well as Southwest Asian peoples. ... Open problems Main article: Unsolved problems in Egyptology . There is a question as to the ... \n\nen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian Cached page \nShow more results from "en.wikipedia.org".\nThe Daily Summit - Egyptian Perspectives - \nCairo has gone a long way in ICT during the past decade but several problems still exist and ... Egyptian human rights activist sees the initiative similarly but says that the Egyptian society is ... \n\nwww.dailysummit.net/english/archives/2003/12/07/egyptian_perspectives_.asp Cached page \nMuslim American Society\n... on Immigrants' Rights • MAS Freedom Foundation Condemns Egyptian ... The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation is seeking to raise ... Prospects and Problems • Muslims in American Politics\n\nwww.masnet.org
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Actually, that's pretty easy.  They are both "Mesoamerican" civilizations.  The term "Mesoamerica" was formalized by a scholar named Paul Kirchoff.  He outlined a trait list of items that various cultures within Mesoamerica had in common.  Any of Kirchoff's traits should apply to either the Maya or Aztec cultures.\n\nSee the links listed below:
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Humanity, pre-history.
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Actually, it is the Maya calendar that is going to "roll over" to the next digit on 2012.  The Aztecs did not use this particular calendar.\n\nWe have absolutely no hard data on what the Maya believed might happen on this date.  What we do know is that some of their sacred texts project / prophecize events long into the future (AFTER 2012).  So we can be sure they did not feel this would be the end of everything.\n\nThe ancient Maya were very interested in cycles.  What came before may indicate what will happen in the future.  Therefore, keeping close track of time was important to their world view.  The change in 2012 is actually like their "millenium" event that we experienced in our year 2000.  As a technological society, there were many who worried about the Y2K apocalypse.  The ancient Maya would have surely celebrated / recognized / worried about / or otherwise noted this momentous change in their calendar.  But I don't believe that they would have claimed it was the end of the world.\n\nIf you are into crystals, astrology, or other new age phenomena, you may find plenty of info on the web regarding 2012.  But don't believe for a second that it is rooted in our true knowledge of ancient Maya prophecies.  The truth is we simply do not know what the ancient Maya believed would happen.  In fact, in this case, negative evidence is important.  If they really believed the world would end at the turning of their calendar, don't you think that there would have been some note of it in their ancient monuments or the prophetic books of Chilam Balam?\n\nAnd to answer your question directly.  No, I don't think the world is going to end.
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By the most minimal, literal definition, a civilization is a complex society. Technically, anthropologists distinguish civilizations in which many of the people live in cities and get their food from agriculture, from band and tribal societies in which people live in small settlements or nomadic groups and subsist by foraging, hunting, or working small horticultural gardens. When used in this sense, civilization is an exclusive term, applied to some human groups and not others.\n\n\nThe earliest known civilizations (as defined in the traditional sense) arose in Mesopotamia around 3500-4000 BCE between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq, the Nile valley of Egypt, the Indus Valley region of modern-day Pakistan and North India, and the parallel development of Chinese civilizations in the Huang He (Yellow River) and Yangtze River valleys of China, while smaller civilizations arose in Elam in modern-day Iran, and on the island of Crete in the Aegean Sea, as well as in present-day Mexico. The inhabitants of these areas built cities, created writing systems, learned to make pottery and use metals, domesticated animals, and created complex social structures with class systems
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The most powerful figure in the empire was the Sapa Inca ('the unique Inca'). Only descendants of the original Inca tribe ever ascended to the level of Inca. Most young members of the Inca's family attended Yachayhuasis (houses of knowledge) to obtain their education.\n\nThe Tahuantinsuyu was a federalist system which consisted of a central government with the Inca at its head and four provinces: Chinchaysuyu (NW), Antisuyu (NE), Qontisuyu (SW), and Qollasuyu (SE). The four corners of these provinces met at the center, Cuzco. Each province had a governor who oversaw local officials, who in turn supervised agriculturally-productive river valleys, cities and mines. There were separate chains of command for both the military and religious institutions, which created a system of partial checks and balances on power. The local officials were responsible for settling disputes and keeping track of each family's contribution to the mita (mandatory public service).\n\nOf the Inca arts, Architecture was by far the most important, with pottery and textiles reflecting motifs that were at their height in architecture. The main example is Machu Picchu. The stone temples constructed by the Inca used a mortarless construction process first used on a large scale by the Tiwanaku. The Inca imported the stoneworkers of the Tiwanaku region to Cusco when they conquered the lands south of Lake Titicaca. The rocks used in construction were sculpted to fit together exactly by repeatedly lowering a rock onto another and carving away any sections on the lower rock where the dust was compressed. The tight fit and the concavity on the lower rocks made them extraordinarily stable in the frequent earthquakes that hit the area. The Inca used straight walls except on important religious sites and constructed whole towns at once.\n\n \nThe Inca made many discoveries in medicine. They performed successful skull surgery, which involved cutting holes in the skull to release pressure from head wounds. Coca leaves were used to lessen hunger and pain, as they still are in the Andes. The Chasqui (messengers) chewed coca leaves for extra energy to carry on their tasks as runners delivering messages throughout the empire.\n\nThe Inca diet consisted primarily of fish and vegetables, supplemented less frequently with the meat of cuyes (guinea pigs) and camelids. In addition, they hunted various animals for meat, skins and feathers. Maize was malted and used to make chicha, a fermented alcoholic beverage. The Inca road system was key to farming success as it allowed distribution of foodstuffs over long distances. The Inca also constructed vast storehouses, which allowed them to live through El Niño years in style while neighboring civilizations suffered.\n\nThe Inca believed in reincarnation. Those who obeyed the Incan moral code — ama suwa, ama llulla, ama quella (do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy) — went to live in the Sun's warmth. Others spent their eternal days in the cold earth. The Inca also practiced cranial deformation. They achieved this by wrapping tight cloth straps around the heads of newborns in order to alter the shape of their still-soft skulls. These deformations did not result in brain damage.
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The Inca Empire used terrace farming.\n\nFor more information:\n\nhttp://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/geography/terracefarming.htm
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well if you meant old days before the invention of tv ,airplanes ,motorized ships .you will have a different ansrwers. in the past cultures were isolated far from each others until trades and needs for food and other vital needs start to move populations to farther places where these communities  met other communities and not only goods and material things are traded knowledges of new ideas ,thoughts and in some cases ,wars between tribes, lead the winners to gain cultural ideas ,they i mean humain immigration through hunger or commerce or drought lead the humain communities to intersect and social religious ,economical thinking ,languages had to meet and today we are dissolved almost in a huge village called planet earth .
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I dont know them by heart but I do know they are in the book called Popol Vuh (sacred book) and what I could remember is the previous answer, in 2012 we´re history.  You can look it up in the following site:\nwww.sacred-texts.com/nam/maya/pvgm
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Here's some info and some links for you:\n\n[edit] Pre-Classic Era\nc. 20th century BC - 2nd century AD\n\nThe start of nation-states. The first large scale ceremonial architecture, development of cities. The development and flourishing of the Olmec civilization at such sites as La Venta and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. Early Zapotec and Maya civilization. Important early Maya cities include El Mirador and Cival.\n\nMiddle Pre-Classic Period \n900 BC   Rich tombs in the Copan valley \n600 BC   Tikal settled by early villagers \n500 BC   Large towns and long-distance trading appear in Peten, Guatemala \nLate Pre-Classic Period \n400 BC   Late pre-classic period begins. Construction of large temples with plaster masks flourish at Nak'be, El Mirador and other early Maya sites. Formulation of the institute of kingship \n200 BC   Early Izapa monuments with Popol Vuh mythology in the south. Sculpted temples begin to appear throughout the northern lowlands. Carved and dated monuments and large towns in the southern highlands. Early settlements at Teotihuacan. \n100 BC   Appearance of writing in the Maya zone. Snake mountain appears in the architecture of Waxaktun and Cerros. \n50 BC   Structure 5C-2nd at Cerros. North Acropolis and stelae at Tikal. Group H at Waxaktun. El Mirador the dominant lowland center. Green obsidian from Teotihuacan region at Nohmul. \nAD Time
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Many very traditional groups of Indians people won't share their very spiritual practices. The best way to find out about things of that nature is to find an actual Mayan Indian and hope they are willing to share their knowledge.
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There are a lot of categories in which we're not behind.  Consider for example medical and other scientific research, high quality universities, social mobility, and overall economic health.  It would not be unreasonable to argue that the American people (notice I didn't say government) do more to advance civilization than any other people.
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Here's what I could find, plus a link.  I hope it helps.\nTepeu With Gucumatz the Mayan creator deities. The Quiché, Guatemala \nToquichen The beneficent supreme being and creator is the protective governor of all things. The Araucanians of the Pampa, Argentina. \nE Alom The ”Conceiver of Children.” With E Quaholom the primordial pair of deities. The Quiché, Guatemala\nhttp://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9062259/Quiche