What were Maya homes like?

• The Maya built huge amounts of temples, palaces, causeways, schools and marketplaces.

• The royals and nobles lived in the centre and the ordinary people further out.

• The temples and palaces were mainly made of stone.

• Wood was used for beams and poles, and thatch for huts, covered with adobe, which was mud strengthened straw.

• The Maya did not use the wheel.

• They moved stone on logs or with pulleys.

• Ordinary Maya homes were not built on platforms like the city temples and palaces but on ground level.
• They were built in an oval shape, from wooden poles with clay and mud (wattle and daub).
• They had a thatched roof, or plants, to keep the rain and snow out.
• Stone walls were rare.
• They had one room which they all shared, including the parents, sometimes with a wall to divide the house.
• They would sleep in the back part.

• There might have been a fireplace to cook on and every house had pottery.
• Beds were made from young tree (sapling) branches with a mat placed on top.
• They often buried family members underneath or near the house.

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