Did the Mayas have gold?

Question

Am traveling all over mexico and am in Palenque right know I took the tours from locals and privet ones they all have the same storys one of my bigst questions was did the Mayas have Gold and they all answered No

Unlike the aztecs or incas the Mayas didnt depend on gold

its hard for me to belive that they didint have gold

know a lot of locals talk about berried gold all over the place workers working build new homes or diging dichs finding pots or small berrals so were is this gold coming from??

not the mayas¿

Answer 1

While the Spanish conquistadors thought that they would find gold, the Mayan lands did not have much, not anything like the Incas or Aztecs. The Mayans did trade with civilizations that had gold, but their main trade goods were things like salt, obsidian, jade, and some fruit that I can't think of...

I seem to recall that the gold found in the Chichen Itza was Panamanian.

Also, in reference to the previous answer, the 'ruler' was not peeing blood, usually a priest or high rank pieced a part of his body, (usually tongue, ears, lips, or p***s) and gave his blood as an offering.

Most people were buried in graves, facing West or North (I think), while high ranked people were buried in tombs. They were buried with an ear of corn and a small bead. Also usually with something red to give pigment as red was the color or death and rebirth.

Answer 2

Sara's answer is very good.

Let me add something: the concept of value varies depending on the culture: the Spanish 'conquerors' came looking for gold, looking for 'El Dorado' or 'La ciudad de los cesares' (legendary treasures), but gold wasn't always the representative of value:

In the Andes, some societies that had gold prefered bronze as a symbol of status and power. It was more valuable because it needed smelting: a more complex technical process than hammering (gold). So the more complex the work, the more value added to the object.

The other standard for value was how exotic the object was: how hard to get was the material the object was made of. Obsidian is a symbol of status in many of these societies: useful, hard to get (certain colors and quality).

Answer 3

There are mines that used to be in some of the outskirts near Mexico and other countries near there and some are mostly in the Latin countries to.Mayans only cared about showing their true meaning about why they were there not by gold but by there famed structures most of them disappeared but Machu Pichu still stands.That little village is still there today in a story that came from there i'm not really sure if this is just a myth or something but a little mountain near that village is said to have a treasure at the top of it.But it's probably just a story.

Answer 4

the myans treasured gold.they also made human sacrafises to their gods.durring cerimonies the ruler peed blood and the burned the paper that he peed on.they belived he was closest to the gods . they also berried people under their homes.hope this helped!

Answer 5

Yes, they had and used gold. At Chichén Itzá thousands of items were recovered from the cenote. See the link below for more information and pictures.

Most of the gold was originally found in placer deposits and the total amount had been built up over many years. It wasn't that the land was rich in gold.The Spanish melted most of the artifacts down and shipped the ingots to Spain.

Gold was one of humanity's first metals. It's easy to work, is found in workable deposits, and it's rich color is attractive.