The ancient Maya thought and knew a lot about the earth and the sky. When one woke up in the early morning, they would observe the sky and watch the sun rise. Astronomy was a Mayan's primary interest and they were extremely accurate.
The Mayans believed the earth was flat. They believed it had four corners that were either North, South, East, or West. They also thought, on each corner, there was a jaguar holding the sky. Others thought there were four different trees holding each corner. Mayans thought the sky was multi-layered, the heavens had 13 layers, and the Underworld,(Xibalba) had 9 layers.
To observe the sky and the Earth, Mayans used observatories just like we do today. They needed to observe the sky to be able to predict natural disasters. The main reason for observatories was to know when to plant crops. Surprisingly, only priests were allowed to record their observations.
The Mayans’ loved the study of nature. They put their knowledge’s of astronomy and calendars to make a difficult math system. They even had a sun god and a moon goddess. The calendars that the Mayans made were based on the moon. The ancient Mayans were very interested in what they thought of the earth and the sky.