The Mayans were famous for their astronomical beliefs and heavy reliance on the sky. The Maya originated from Mesoamerica, located in the southern part of Mexico, spreading further downward to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and many South American countries. They were great astronomers, as they heavily exploited the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars. That said, it's easy to assume that the Mayans were very intelligent since they were able to interpret these ideas without the use of telescopes and compasses. Instead, they used a fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as architecture, mathematics, and naked sight. Interestingly, today we use their interpretations to calculate the time and days of the year. The Maya developed calendars based on the timing of the constellations and careful observations of the sun, moon, and planets. The most popular calendar known as Tzolkin had 260 days. This calendar was combined with a 365-day year known as Haab'. These two calendars met every 52 years, allowing them to predict rains, droughts and epidemics. The planet Venus was also a very important part of Mayan cosmology. The Maya kept detailed records of Venus' position throughout the year as it was associated with warfare. Wars were organized based on the position of the Moon, and warriors and leaders were sacrificed during the darkness of the night. Recording these details, they believed that a year had approximately 584 days, relative to the sun. The Mayans honored many gods, as many elements of the sky were significant to Mayan astronomy and, ultimately, to their lives. First, the sun god was Kinich Ahau, one of the most powerful gods. Followed... half of the paper... the functions of the universe, the rigorous structure of life and architecture along with religious beliefs are remarkable. The Mayans are undoubtedly a wonderful group of people. The fact that we follow their discoveries today shows how intelligent they were. It's difficult to extract details from illustrations with the naked eye, but somehow their ability to make accurate projections of celestial events without modern technology is astonishing. I am not sure that without the discoveries of the Mayans, scientists would be able to discover and investigate so much information today. Works Cited Aveni, Anthony. "Power from Heaven: Ancient Maya Astronomy and the Cult of Venus." Stairs to the Stars: Skywatching in Three Great Ancient Cultures. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997. 93-133.http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/ancientlatinamerica/p/Ancient-Maya-Astronomy.htm