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The Mayas used symbols and pictures to record ideas. They carved these symbols into stones and wrote them in books made with paper. What is one result of the Maya's advanced writing system?

A.
The emperors could change public opinion.
B.
The Maya left behind artifacts from the time period.
C.
Students had to spend many years in school.
D.
The Maya controlled explorers from distant lands.

1 Answer

4 votes

Final answer:

The result of the Maya's advanced writing system is that they left behind artifacts, such as engravings and codices, which recorded their history, culture, and knowledge, and have aided modern understanding of their civilization. The correct option is b.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Maya civilization's advanced writing system had several consequential outcomes. One significant result was that the Maya left behind artifacts from their time period, allowing modern scholars to decipher and understand their culture, history, and knowledge. Their writing system, composed of phonetic symbols and logograms, was used to record a wide array of information, including political histories, rituals, genealogies, and other cultural documents. The hieroglyphs were not only engraved in stone but also written in codices, or ancient books, which were made of paper from tree bark. This means that the Maya were able to preserve their historical and ritual information well beyond their civilization's reign.

Unfortunately, much of their written records were destroyed during the Spanish conquest, but the remaining artifacts, including those written in clay, provide scholars with valuable insights into the vast extent of Mayan knowledge in areas such as mathematics and astronomy. It's also through these writings that we can understand the complexity of Mayan social structure and their long-distance trading practices across Central America.