7.7.2 Summary

The two main groups in Maya society was nobles and commoners. The nobles were simply just aristocrats that were born into powerful families. The king, top officials, and priests were included. Most of Maya society was made of commoners, as you can imagine. Farmers were mostly the ones that made up the commoners group. The best agriculturally land was most likely controlled by the nobles, and the commoners who worked on it. Most Mayas were peasant farmers living on lands around the cities (Hart 192). The men hunted, worked on the fields, and maintained village buildings, The women stayed more closer to home than the men so they could raise children, tend gardens and livestock, and prepared food. At times, women spent some of theeir time working on crafts like weaving and pottery. The basic social unit in Maya society was the extended family, agrouping of sveral related families that lived together (Hart 192). Ballgames in Maya society were not just games, but sacred rituals that reflected the importance of ods and rulers in Maya society. Maya kings used warfare to increase their powewr and prestige, and the kings fought to control trade routes and to take land from their neighbors. For their gods, Mayans would pierce themselves to offer blood to their gods. In addition was human sacrifice. But the people who were sacrificed were usually prisoners of war, slaves, and sometimes children. Not only were sacrifices made, but there were also festivals that took place in Maya society to worship their gods. Most of this was true for Incas and the Aztecs. All of these had the same social classes and practically the same everyday life.

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7.7.2 - Summary - pblanch

The two main groups in the Maya society was Commoner class and the noble Hierarchy. The commoner class was divided into categories based on their sex and age. Most of Maya society was made of commoners. Farmers were mostly the ones that made up the commoners group. The land was most likely controlled by the nobles, and the commoners who worked on it. Women stayed more closer to home so they could raise their children, tend gardens and livestock, an prepared food for dinner. At parts of the day women spent some of their time working on crafts like weaving and pottery. The men worked in fields, and hunted for food. The noble Hierarchy were in three rank of nobles. The first rank were nobles at birth, The second rank were the appointed nobles, and the third rank were the Curacas. Maya kings wanted to increase their power so the kings fought to take land from their other people. Most of the Mayas would pierce themselves to offer blood to their gods, this was called human sacrifice. Usually the people who gave their blood to their gods were usually slaves. The Aztecs planted corn, tomatoes, chili peppers, and squash. The plants roots would grow to the bottom of the lake so they would have an endless supply of water.The Aztecs were mainly agrarian people. They lived to mostly be farmers. They were an organized ridged class structure that influenced many of the aspects lives. They had many beliefs, they believed the sun fought every night and rose to save mankind. They believed that the earth was flat, They believed that if they fed the sun blood, it would rise, and they also believed in 13 havens, and 9 hells. The Incas had a rigid social structure. Each class had it's own hierarchy a system for ranking members of a group according to their importance, this structure provided security and stability for most people. There were distinct people with a distinct language living in mountainous terrain, which was not good for farming. To resolve this problem, terraces were cut into steep slopes,in order to plant crops, this was called irrigation.

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