can people be made of corn according to maya tradition they can but it took the maya gods a while to figure out how to do it at first they made people out of things like mud and wood but these creatures couldn't speak finally the gods mixed their blood with may's flower the result walking talking human beings no wonder the early maya called themselves the people of the maze the maya emerged around the same time as the zapotec their culture began to develop to the east of the zapotec in areas of present-day southern mexico and central america around 1500 bc these areas included lowlands in the north highlands in the south the forests of the yucatan peninsula and the tropical jungles of mexico and guatemala like the olmec farmers maya farmers developed successful agricultural practices they produced surpluses of corn including beans chili peppers cacao beans and of course maize which the maya considered sacred these surpluses allowed some people to become priests merchants and crafts people in some villages to gain great wealth wealthier villages with religious ceremonial centers arose around 500 bc in time these villages grew into cities the development of the maya cities produced a class system with four main classes at the top was the king who performed religious ceremonies and was believed to have descended from the gods next came priests and warriors the priests decided when farmers could plant and when people could marry they also conducted important religious ceremonies warriors were well respected and well trained merchants and crafts people followed these upper classes craftspeople made articles out of pottery and designed buildings and temples the merchants sold and traded goods often with buyers in other maya cities finally farmers who made up the majority of the population and slaves were at the bottom of the heap most slaves were prisoners of war they were given the worst jobs and were often killed when their masters died class determined where people lived and how they dressed people who belong to the upper classes lived in stone buildings and will colourfully decorated clothes and jewelry farmers wore plain clothes and lived in mud huts while wealthy enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle farmers worked hard in the heat to grow their crops on hillsides they carved out terraces on which to grow their maize cacao beans and chili peppers in drier areas they dug channels that carried river water to their fields in addition to doing their own work sometimes farmers had to tend the king's fields and build monuments and temples in his cities eventually the maya learned how to track seasonal changes this knowledge helped them predict the best time to plant and harvest their crops you will learn more about how the maya measured time later in this chapter above all however the farmers looked to their gods to control the weather and increase their harvests religion was central to everyone's lives and the maya worshiped many gods including the gods of fire sun war rain and maize all of these gods were thought to influence every aspect of people's lives in both good and bad ways to please the gods the maya made frequent offerings of food animals plants and precious objects as you have already learned the maya believed that terry gods had given their blood to create people in return the maya sometimes offered their own blood or made human sacrifices to honour their gods just as mays nourished people the maya believed that blood nourished the gods rather than sacrifice one of their own however the maya often sacrificed a member of the lowest class in their society a slave