Social classes[edit]
Scribes[edit]
Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts and had their own patron deities (see Howler Monkey Gods and Maya maize god). They are likely to have come from aristocratic families. One must assume that some scribes were attached to the royal house, while others were serving at temples and were, perhaps, counted among the priests. It seems likely that they were organized hierarchically. Maya art often depicts rulers with trappings indicating they were scribes or at least able to write, such as having pen bundles in their headdresses. Additionally, many rulers have been found in conjunction with writing tools such as shell or clay ink pots.
Kinship[edit]
Ancient Maya kinship and descent have alternatively been described as patrilineal, matrilineal, and bilateral. Maya political organization has been characterized as both segmentary (involving well-defined lineages and clan-like structures) and centralized.
Body modifications[edit]
Ancient Mayans placed a high value on certain extreme body modifications, often undergoing tedious and painful procedures as a rite of passage, an homage to their gods, and as a permanently visible status symbol of their place in society that would last a lifetime, and into their afterlife.
High-status Mayan mothers would artificially induce crosseyedness (strabismus) and would strap on boards to flatten the foreheads of high-born infants as a lifelong sign of noble status.[3] The eye condition was used to honor Kinich Ahau, the crosseyed sun god of the Mayans. Once their permanent teeth had arrived, adolescent warriors had their teeth filed to sharp points to give them a fierce appearance, and as a further mark of status.[4] High-status women often had their teeth filed, in different patterns, and would have jadeite, hematite, pyrite, turquoise, or other decorations inset into holes drilled in their teeth.[4]