Hands on History: Aztec & Maya

This title helps you rediscover the lost world of ancient Central America, with 450 exciting pictures and 15 step-by-step projects. You can step back in time to Central America before the Spanish conquest and discover fascinating facts about the people who lived there. You can explore the cultures and beliefs of the Olmecs, Maya, Toltecs and Aztecs - the great cities they constructed, their astronomical knowledge, their use of medicine, and their insatiable drive for human sacrifice. It features 15 step-by-step projects that actively involve the reader in bringing the past to life - use a fan fit for an emperor, make a Maya backstrap loom, wear a mosaic mask, and create the amazing Aztec sun stone. More than 450 photographs and illustrations include diagrams, historical maps and a pictorial timeline. It is ideal for home or school use for 8- to 12-year-olds. History records the Aztecs and Maya as bloodthirsty warriors and priests who committed brutal acts of human sacrifice, yet this is not the whole story. Ancient Mesoamericans also formed close-knit family groups, made beautiful masks from jade and built breathtaking pyramids that are still standing today.A variety of easy-to-make projects enable you to recreate the past. You can build a Maya house or a pyramid temple, eat Aztec-style tortillas, wear a bat brooch, and enjoy the Mesoamerican board game of patolli.

Fiona Macdonald studied history at Cambridge University and at the University of East Anglia. She has taught at schools and universities and is the author of numerous books for children on historical topics.

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