Transcript Classical & Post classical American

The cultures and civilizations
of the
“Americas”
Where did the Native
Americans come from?
Migrations from Asia ca. 30,000 – 15,000
yrs ago over Bering strait land bridge;
Isolated for at least 15,000 years!
Kingdoms and &
Empires of the
Americas
Who was in Meso-America?
(“Middle America”)
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Olmec
Teotihuacan
Maya
Toltec
Aztec
OLMEC
Former kings?
• 1500 -300 BCE; Gulf of
Mexico
• Carved enormous stone
heads of volcanic rock
• Chief god - human-like with
jaguar face
• urban centers; astronomy
• Kings, elite, merchants,
laborers
• Hieroglyphics; calendar
• Corn, beans, squash, manioc
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Temples
Teotihuacan
Quetzalcoatl
Chinampas
Apartment housing for commoners
Obsidian tools
Aristocratic govt
Military protected long distance trade
Decline – violence…
Teotihuacan
Pyramid of the
Sun
Pyramid of the
Moon
Maya
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Yucatan Peninsula
City States; hereditary
Swidden agriculture; no metal tools
Complex religion - 3 layers (heavens, now
and underworld); trances
Elite, tatoos, human sacrifice (elite capt)
Writing, ball playing (pok-a-tok), astronomy,
**Mayan math computation
Calendar (365) math system (zero)
Elite women – high; women important
demise - war, drought, infighting
MAYA
Mayan
Calendar
Ritual “divine” cycle calendar
Solar “civil” calendar
“long count” calendar
• first date is actually written 13.0.0.0.0.
• three possible equivalences:
• 13.0.0.0.0 = 13 Aug 3114 BCE (Gregorian)
13.0.0.0.0 = 11 Aug 3114 BCE (Gregorian)
13.0.0.0.0 = 15 Oct 3374 BC (Gregorian)
• Assuming one of the first two equivalences,
the Long Count will again reach 13.0.0.0.0 on
21 or 23 December AD 2012
• 13.0.0.0.0 may have been the Mayas' idea of
the date of the creation of the world.
Maya / Aztec Calendar
Palenque
Mayan Temples
Toltec
• Transmitted Teotihuacan & Mayan
culture to the Aztecs
• Conquest state; military power
• Violent culture
• Rivalries
• Tula art -----
• Decline & invasion by the Aztecs
The Aztecs
• Nomads; settled on islands
AZTECS
• in Lake Texcoco
• Adopted agriculture; gradually grew
into an independent power, then empire
• Capital city - Tenochtitlan –
• Ruler chosen by nobility
• War – religious significance (of course)
– legitimized the ruler
• War also increased holdings of nobles
• War to get captives for human sacrifice
• Society - hierarchy with Aztec ruler &
nobility at top & slaves/criminals/debtors
at bottom; women had rights
• Tremendous inequalities - nobility vs
commoners
• Elaborate ritual; Huitzilopochtli; war/sun
• Human sacrifice
• Political tribute system; pd in food; goods
• Economic: chinampas; barter
• Dike in lake: salt/fresh water
Who was in Meso-America?
(“Middle America”)
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Olmec
Teotihuacan
Maya
Toltec
Aztec
• Pyramids of Tenochtitlán
Huitzilopochtli
god of war & sun
needed human
hearts
Tlaloc
God of
Rain
Quetzalcoatl
god of wind &
knowledge
Canoe moving
about the
chinampas
Aztec Society in Transition
• Increasingly hierarchical
• Conflict between nobles and growing
“middle”
• Violence
• Discontent tribute tribes; sacrifice!
• Empire under Montezuma II
conquered by Spaniards (Cortes)
Montezuma II
Cortes
Moche
Andean
Societies
environmental
challenges…
Andean Cultures
• Background:
• Early – small coastal & foothills villages
• by 2600 BCE cf - Old Kingdom Egypt
Chavin (900-250 BCE)
• Trade routes; controlled; linked regions
• Maize <----> quinoa, potatoes, llamas
• Adobe & stone; 1st metals; jaguar-man
• Social stratification: priests, elite, etc.
Technologies to meet the needs
• Environment
al challenges:
• Altitude
• Frosts
• Arid / drought
• Only llamas!
• Compensations:
• Calendar
• New varieties
potatoes & grains
• Terraced farming
• Freeze-dried
vegetables & meat
• Llama & alpaca wool
Andean culture
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Khipus
Ayllu
Hereditary aristocracy & kings
Mit’a
Coca (not cacao)
Colonists
khipus
Moche
• Ca. 600 CE
• Maize, quinoa, beans, manioc, sweet
potatoes
• Irrigation, canals, aqueducts
• Alpacas & llamas
• Textiles
• Stratified society; theocratic
• Women weavers
Moche
ceramic
sculpture
The Inca
huge empire & strong central gov’t
INCA
extending length of South America
Large professional military
Built paved roads & suspension bridges used running messengers; quipus
• Pastoralists; men and women
• Capital Cuzco; sun god; royal family
• Local rulers/chiefdoms; control by
hostage taking
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Inca terraces;
Machu Picchu
Machu Pichu
suspension bridge
Northern Peoples
Southwestern desert
• Aztec influence incl. maize, squash,
beans
• Hohokam irrigation canals
• Anasazi – kivas; cliff dwellings &
canyon “appts”, pottery, weaving
• Chaco canyon; Mesa Verde
Anasazi cliff dwellings
Mississippian culture
• Oldest mounds – 3000’s BCE
• “mound-builders”
• Chiefdoms
• “Hopewell” cultures
• Towns – central plaza surrounded by
mounds; burial mounds, temple mounds
• Social stratification; trade
• (not accepted as product of the Native
Americans until late 1800’s!)
How Mississippian towns might
have looked
Cahokia mounds city; Illinois
Had more inhabitants than Paris at that time (1150)
Etowah Indian
Mound