Teen Summer Camp Programs in
     Maya Cultural Anthropology

   The Maya never discovered the wheel, metals such as iron or bronze, and had no pack animals. Yet, during their rise from the earlist villages around 1000 BC to their final days only a few hundred years before the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors, the Maya became one of the greatest civilizations of all time on earth. During a period when Western Europe lay in the grip of the Dark Ages, the Maya had advanced astronomy, irrigation agricultural, military and cultural alliances and trade with other civilizations thousands of miles distant. The Maya Calender still stands as one of the accurate ever produced by any culture and spans tens of thousands of years in its calculations.

   Of all native peoples of the Americas only the Maya developed a written language, one so complex than many portions of it still remain undeciphered. And the mathematical concept of zero was in widespread use by the Maya before even being discovered many European cultures. And then suddenly it all ended after nearly two thousand years the Maya civilization vanished within only a few decades. Why?

   Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico all held portions of the Maya Empire. Shortly after being granted independence from Great Britain, the government of Belize recognized the vital need to protect Maya ruin sites within its borders and established a series of National Parks and protected Archaeological Sites to preserve for al time the excavated Maya cities. These Parks remain open to the public and vistors from around the world are welcome to explore and discover the story of the Maya.

   Water Planet Adventures, Teen Scuba and Sailing Summer Camps and Programs, offers a structured fourteen module course in Mayan Anthropology during our summer Voyages at no additional cost to students. Participation is voluntary and students who complete all fourteen lessons receive a Certificate of Participation. During the course we conduct excursions to major Mayan sites where professional local guides lead tours followed by exploration of the ruins.