Ancient Mayan social class began as a result of surplus. Meaning, that all people no longer had to tend to the fields, leaving time for other endeavors. Your class dictated how you dressed and where you lived. At the top of the ancient Mayan social class were the kings, followed by priests and warriors. Below these were merchants and craftspeople. Following were farmers, and at the very bottom, were slaves. 

Similar to the ancient Indians, the Mayans also developed the concept of zero. Akin to their written language, the Mayans used pictures rather than the numbers we’re used to today. They used positions to show place value and could calculate sums up to the hundreds of millions.

The Mayans didn’t actually use words in their written language, they used pictures. These glyphs represented words, syllables, and sounds, and were combined to make sentences. These glyphs were carved into ancient Mayan monuments and tombs. Scribes wrote down Mayan history into books using these glyphs.