What are the cultural achievements of the ancient Maya Civilization?
It was in the lowland areas of Central America that Maya civilization reached its cultural pinnacle. As a testimony to their achievements are the many splendid cities with towering temple pyramids, large palaces, courtyards, monuments and shrines that are found in the jungles of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and southern Mexico. These centers were all constructed without beasts of burden or wheeled vehicles and many were connected by roads known as sacbeobs. The longest sacbe currently known extends more that 100 kilometers and connects the sites of Coba and Yaxuna in the Yucatan. Within the center of the large cities lived the elite rulers of ancient Maya society. The right to rule was hereditary and power was predominantly passed from father to son. There are, however, records of occasional female rulers at some lowland sites. Most members of the community lived beyond the city centers. This support population generally lived in large thatched buildings that were constructed above maso
