more than complex and specialised in the climate of Maya society. Noble status and the occupation where only served and passed on through elite family lineages. Thus revealing that the Maya Civilization was set and it was very difficult to move upwards within the society. Occupations for Maya men was limited to their father's occupation. Thus, if your father was a farmer, then you were a farmer. The upper caste was composed of rulers, nobles and priests. The middle caste were businessmen, merchants and soldiers. The lower caste was made up of farmers and slaves. Kinship 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. Scribes Scribes held a prominent position in Maya courts and had their own patron deities (see Howler monkey gods and Maya maize god). They often came from aristocratic families and likely were organized hierarchically. It appears that some scribes were attached to the royal house, while others were serving at temples and were, perhaps, counted among the priests. 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. Body modifications To the ancient Maya, body modification was a reflection of a cultural, and individual identity. Through different modifications, the body could be experienced individually, used as a symbol, or as a political statement. Beauty was also used to outwardly show and perform social and moral values. Physical remains of the Maya help piece together the motivation and significance for enduring vast amounts of pain, and using great amounts of their wealth to make themselves beautiful. Ancient Maya 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. Therefore, there was aesthetic, religious, and social reasoning behind the modification. Cranium modification The origin of cranial modification among the Maya is unknown, but it possibly was inherited from the Olmecs, predecessors of the Maya, who were located near the Tuxtla Mountains. Cranial modification was one of