The ancient Maya civilization occupied the eastern third of Mesoamerica, primarily the Yucatan Peninsula. The topography (mayan geography) of the area greatly varied from volcanic mountains, which comprised the highlands in the South, to a porous limestone shelf, known as the Lowlands, in the central and northern regions. The southern portion of the Lowlands were covered by a rain forest with an average height of about 150 feet.

The Mayans were the single largest block of American Indians north of Peru and were centered in the Yucatan Peninsula. A sophisticated Mayan number system existed as far back as the Early Classic period (400 AD). 

The Popol Vuh, thought written in the 1500s from oral legend-tradition, an epic of the Quiche Maya rediscovere in a Guatemal Library in 1854. Only copies and translations exist of this 'bible' containing a creation story of two gods, Tepeu and Gucumatz (sea-creature feathered serpents) who, after creating the earth decided to make the first humans.

Their first attempts proved unsuccessful. They attempted to make man of mud, but man could neither move nor speak. After destroying the mud men, they tried again by creating wooden creatures that could speak but had no soul or blood and quickly forgot him. Angered over the flaws in his creation, they destroyed them by tearing them apart. In their final attempt, the “True People” were constructed with maize. The following is an excerpt of this myth:

They came together in darkness to think and reflect. This is how they came to decide on the right material for the creation of man. ... Then our Makers Tepew and Q'uk'umatz began discussing the creation of our first mother and father. Their flesh was made of white and yellow corn. The arms and legs of the four men were made of corn meal. 

The Mayans were very advanced astronomically. Unlike the Greeks of the Homeric age, they knew that with the Evening and Morning Stars they were dealing with the same object. At Chichen Itza you can see the observatory they built to track the planet Venus which they knew to an accuracy of a few hours a year. They used a figure of 584 days for the orbit of Venus while the actual value is 583.92.