The Mayan Indians lived in Mexico thousands of years before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. The Mayan's were an intelligent, culturally rich people whose achievements were many. They had farms, beautiful places and cities with many buildings. The Maya's knew a lot about nature and the world around them. This knowledge helped them to live a better life than most people of that time because they could use it to make their lives more comfortable and rewarding. Knowledge about tools and farming for instance, made their work easier and more productive. The Maya's believed in many gods, including Rain God, Sun God and Corn God. They built large temples to honour their gods. Skilful workers built cities around these temples. It was difficult for them to construct these cities because they had no horses to carry the heavy stones they used to build with. Workers had to carty all of the building materiais themselves. Today, many of these ancient Mayan cities and temples are still standing. Although the cities that the Maya's built were beautiful and the people worked hard to build them very few of the people lived in them. Usually, only the priests lived in the cities. The other people lived in small villages in the forest. Their houses were much simpler than the elaborate structures in the cities. They lived in small huts with no windows, The walls were made of poles covered with dried mud and the roof was made of grass or leaves. Most Maya's lived a simple life close to nature. The Mayan priests studied the Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets. They made a calendar from what they had learnt. The year was divided into 18 months of 20 days each with 5 days left over. The Mayan calendar was more accurate than the European calendars of the time. Around the year 800, the Maya's left their villages and beautiful cities, never to return. No one knows why this happened. They may have died from an infectious disease. They may have left because the soil could no longer grow crops. Archaeologists are still trying to find the lost secrets of the maya's. They are still one of our greatest mysteries. Many Mayan cities and temples can be found in good shape even today because they