Ancient Mayan society was similar to other societies in regard to their

social class A social class is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the Upper class, upper, Middle class, middle and Working class, lower classes. Membership in a social class can for ...

es. The two main categories in society were the

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

class and the

commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

class. The elites had control over every city's

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

; however, the vast majority of the population fell into the commoners category. The Maya lived in houses surrounded by extended

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

. The type of house that an individual had depended largely on how much power they had. The elites had houses that were larger and made of longer-lasting material than the commoners. The quality and quantity of items inside a person's house also depended on status in their society.

Households

The

household A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

s in Maya civilization consisted of extended families living near each other and sharing common spaces. The nuclear family each had personal homes. The shared areas would sometimes include a

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

, kitchen area, storage area, and manufacturing area. The amount of shared buildings in a household depended on how many families were living there, how large the nuclear homes were, and what the occupations of that family included. Women spent the majority of time at the house with children, while the men had to go

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and provide for the family. The women were in charge of

gardening Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants as part of horticulture. In gardens, ornamental plants are often grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants, such as root vegetables, leaf vegetables, fruits ...

and would teach their

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

s as they grew older. When a young man was old enough to marry he would leave his parents' house. He would then build a new house near his father's house and once he had a wife they would live there together and raise children. The shape of the houses was the same for both main classes. The differences were the size of the houses and the materials used to build the houses. They would either be oblong or rectangular in shape. Every house contained some type of

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...

. The ancient Maya used pottery for cooking, eating, and storing

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

. The pottery of the commoners was less elaborate than that of the elite. The elite had pottery for household tasks but they also had pottery for decoration and

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

. The items inside the royal homes were yet another way for them to show power and wealth. The houses consist of mud and stone walls with thatched roofs. The houses also have straw to protect them from things such as rain and snow. The Ancient Maya houses have not changed for well over a thousand years.

The Commoner houses

The commoners made up the majority of the population and included skilled craftsmen. The individual homes of the commoners were occupied by nuclear families. This included parents and their children. Since the commoners did not have the power and prestige that the elites had, their houses were usually made out of perishable goods. They would use trees, mud, and grass to construct their homes. They would pack mud onto the walls to keep out

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

fall and for

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

control. They would cover the top of the house with grass or tree branches to try to prevent rain from entering the house. If the house had a hearth in it there was a danger of

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...

since most of the material used to build the house was not fire resistant. Sometimes the house would have a stone foundation, but it was rare. The house was usually one big room, sometimes separated by a wall. It was common for the families to decorate the wall in the front of their house by using lime to make it whiter. The sleeping area was in the back of the house and the front of the house had the door, facing east, and sometimes a porch area. The family would sleep in the same room. The beds were made out of sapling rods and a mat was placed on top. They would use cloths made out of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

for a blanket to keep warm at

night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends o ...

. The commoner's houses had to be remodeled often because of the materials used to build them. When a relative died they would usually bury them either under the relatives' floor or near the house. This is one of the reasons that there is less knowledge about the commoners than there is about the elites.

Elite houses

The elite people in the Maya society held political power. They were the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

s and

royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...

of the cities. Because they had more power than the commoners they lived in the center of the city. Since lineage was so important to the Maya people, the nobles also lived in the same location as their extended families. The kingship was inherited so in order to be royalty one had to be either born into the family or marry into the

. The people that were considered elite had to show their power and show that they held higher standings than the commoners. They did this by building larger homes than the majority of society and by using better materials to do so. Using high quality materials ensured the longevity of their house. One way to prevent damage was using vaulted masonry, it was harder for enemies to destroy and harder for accidental fires to burn down the structure. The structure was made with non-perishable items including stone for the walls and

roof A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

. Their houses were also unique from the commoners in that their structures were built on higher platforms, instead of smaller dirt

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher el ...

s. The elite had more resources for burying their relatives. Instead of burying a relative under the house or near the house with no protection, they were buried inside of

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

Notes

References

* * * * * {{Maya Maya society