Assignment 3A

>In a brief paragraph, tell us what "Pre-Colombian' means.
The pre-Columbian era includes all period subdivisions in the history of the Americas before the appearance of European influences on the continent. While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until they were conquered or greatly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or even centuries after original landing of Columbus.

>Tell us why you chose the topic, tell us about the sources you used (eg if video, what can you expect to see on the video clip you viewed)
I chose this topic because I thought the video was really well made. I thought that the Mayans were very interesting and intelligent and they were part of something that I wanted to learn more about. The video clip I chose talked about a few things but I think that what it basically covered was the legacy that the Mayans have passed down. In the website I used, you can find a lot of facts about the Mayans, I feel like it is more for tourist and seems to be just a basic outline of a tour. It includes photographs, facts, and some commentary at the end for people to comment on what it actually is like when you are there.

>Tell us 3 interesting facts about your topic in 3 separate paragraphs. (organize into 3 separate, delineated paragraphs for reader ease)

The mayans were great astronomers, and I was surprised to find out that they made a 365 day calendar and could even predict solar eclipses. I didn’t know who discovered this or at least who had taken it to a level of making a calendar (I know not a typical calendar like the ones we are used to).

Also the mayans showed there great intelligence in math and astronomy by building “El Castillo”. The pyramid that there are most known for is amazing in that each year on the spring and fall equinoxes a shadow falls on the pyramid in the shape of a serpent. The snake appears to slither down the steps and joins the serpents head at the base of the staircase.

When I was researching I came across this information on the Ball Court Temple and thought it was very interesting. Each end of the ball court has a raised "temple" area. A whisper from one end can be heard clearly at the other end (500 feet away) and through the length and breath of the court. The sound waves are unaffected by wind direction or time of day or night. Many archeologist and other scientist have tried to figure out the strange acoustics of this temple but to this day it has not been explained.

>Cite your sources used for this component and tell us why these sources are credible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyvw6G9Max0

http://www.lost-civilizations.net/mayan-pyramids-chichen-itza.html

Wikipedia isn’t always the most credible source but I think that there are a ton of people out there that would correct it if it were wrong. Also I had found all the information they gave me just spread out in different places so I used this one because it incapsulated all the other research I had found. The youtube video I used was one that you supplied us with so I assumed that you thought it was credible. The third source I used seemed to credible because it looked like a tourist site that a lot of people have used and the URL was very professional looking.