Researchers believe their ancestors crossed the Bering Strait at least 25,000 years ago when glacial ice enabled passage from Siberia to Alaska. Originating in the Yucatan around 2600 B.C., the Maya rose to prominence around 250 A.D. and flourished for a millennium, to be eventually conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century.

The early Maya are recognized for their religious beliefs and practices, the foundation for their way of life. As notable are their intellectual achievements that were manifested in great construction feats as well as tremendous advancements in mathematics, astronomy and writing system. 

To most of us, the Maya are known for their elaborate architecture in which they created temples, palaces and brilliant pyramids.  Researchers are baffled as to how the Maya were able to accomplish such engineering marvels without cutting instruments or use of wheeled transport. Without the wheel, draft animals or metal cutting tools, Mayans built magnificent cities, and cleared routes through jungles to create extensive trade networks with distant peoples. 

Through knowledge acquired from contact with earlier civilizations such as the Olmec, the Maya developed a well-formed, highly communicative writing system that was the most advanced in the Americas.  As opposed to alphabetic letters, it consisted of symbols to represent sounds and ideas, which were written phonetically and followed principles of grammar. 

Writers of the elite intelligentsia wrote manuscripts on bark paper painted with quill feathers, and then folded and wrapped it in jaguar skin.  Although hundreds of manuscripts were produced, catholic missionaries considered them sacrilegious and therefore burned all they found. 

Currently, only four manuscripts, known as codices, have been recovered: The Madrid, The Paris, The Dresden, and The Golier Codex.

Two other remarkable ancient books have been discovered that reveal important information about Mayan religion, spirituality and practices.  The Popol Vuh is considered the bible of the Maya. A Mayan Quiché native in Guatemala transcribed it in 1558.  After being lost for almost two centuries, the manuscript was discovered by Father Francisco Ximenez, a priest who found it in his church in Chichicastenango, Guatemala and translated it into Spanish. 

Among the Mayas most remarkable achievements were important advancements made in mathematics and astronomy.  The Maya are credited as the first people to use the number zero in mathematics, regarded as a significant intellectual achievement.  A dot represented the number one, a bar five, and a special symbol represented zero.  Their math system was developed based on the number 20 and enabled the development of a calendar system, as well as accurate astronomical observations and predictions.