Recommended reading

Ancient Maya quiz: What do you know about the civilization that built pyramids across Mesoamerica?

Quizzes
By published

Is your knowledge of the ancient Maya as extraordinary as their pyramids?

A photo of two pyramid-shaped temples at Tikal National park
Maya temples at Tikal National Park in Guatemala. (Image credit: Diego Grandi via Alamy)

The ancient Maya civilization stretched throughout Central America and lasted for nearly three millennia. Although never unified into one massive empire, the Maya controlled dozens of city-states, also known as "polities," which arose when people settled in permanent villages and began to cultivate maize. The ancient Maya are well known for their pyramids and for their series of calendars — one of which convinced many people that the world would end in an apocalypse on Dec. 21, 2012. While the ancient political system collapsed between A.D. 800 and 1000, the society did not. Today, more than 7 million Maya live in their original homelands and beyond.

Are you up to date on recent research on the ancient Maya? Take our quiz to find out.

Remember to log in to put your name on the leaderboard; hints are available if you click the yellow button!

More science quizzes

TOPICS
Kristina Killgrove
Kristina Killgrove
Staff writer

Kristina Killgrove is a staff writer at Live Science with a focus on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in venues such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Killgrove holds postgraduate degrees in anthropology and classical archaeology and was formerly a university professor and researcher. She has received awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science writing.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.