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Historical Issues
Andean Civilizations Had No Writing
Conquistadores Burned and Defaced Much
Evidence
We learn through physical remains
Conquistadors tried to collect some historical
knowledge but distorted it
Mesoamerica (2000 BC – 1500 AD)
Culture Zone in Central-South Mexico and
Central America
Obsidian is primary weapon / tool material
Stone housing
City-States
Mesoamerican Calendar
Sacrifice of blood and humans
Archaic Period (8000-2000 BC)
Domestication of maize, beans, peppers allows
shift to village life
Few domestic animals
Maize + Beans = more protein than Eurasian
grains
The Formative Period (2000 BC150 AD): Olmecs
The Olmecs
San Lorenzo (1200-900 BC)
La Venta (900 BC)
110 foot pyramids
1000 inhabitants (Priest Elite)
Extensive Jade and Obsidian trade
Olmec Inventions
Heavily copied by later civilizations
Priest-ruled City-States
Sacrifice: Bloodletting and Humans
Mesoamerican Calendar
Writing
Idea of Zero
The Ballgame
Olmec Heads
Olmec Heads
17 Survive
20-40 ton weight
Carved from single blocks
Transported 50 or more miles from mines to
cities
Unclear purpose; some mutilated
Olmec Art
Olmec Art / Were-Jaguars
Olmec Art mixes humans, jungle animals and
half-man / half-Jaguars
Degree of mixing varies
Were-jaguar babies often are portrayed as held
by a stoic, seated adult male.
Role of this art uncertain but some is traded to
other places
Monte Alban
Monte Alban
Monte Alban
Founded around 500 BC where branches of
Oxcaca River Meet
5000 people
Mesoamerican Calendar is found here too
365 day cycle, 260 day cycle, 52 year 'century'
Classical Era (150-900 AD)
Maya at their height and Teotihuacan
An age of prosperous city-states
Warfare is common
Pyramid of the Sun--Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (1st Century AD - 8th
Century AD)
Teotihuacan (1st Century AD - 8th
Century AD)
Ready Access to Sacred Caves and Obsidian
and Farmland
150,000 at height, 9 miles across
2000 Elite homes in center; masses live in
apartments further out
May have ruled, definitely influenced other cities
Large Trade Network
Worships a Storm god and goddess and a
feathered serpent with blood and humans
Decline
Shrinks after 500 AD
8th century—destroyed by Fire
Yet it remains seen as a golden age
The Maya
The Maya
Most literate; best writing system
Greatest City: Tikal
50-70,000
Nobles and retainers rule over numerous
commoners
Wars are common; losers get sacrificed
Maya Religion
Nature and Supernatural = the same
So Rulers have Secular and Religious power
Human sacrifice and blood to appease the gods
The Mayan Ballgame
Reenacts the conflict between the Hero Twins and
the Lords of Xibalba, the Underworld
Mayan 'Science'
Expert Astronomers and Mathematicians (had
idea of zero)
The Long Count Calendar—Most Accurate
before modern times
11 August 3114 BC is cycle starting point (almost
certainly retroactive)
Used interactive cycles of days and true length of
lunar calendar
Base 20 math
Giant cycle will end in 2012 AD
Tikal, Great City of the Maya
Tikal, Great City of the Maya
Tikal, Great City of the Maya
3000 buildings, 14 miles
Massive Causeways link main buildings
Access to flint, swamps, and rivers
39 Kings of the Jaguar Paw Line
Ah Cacau (682-723?)
Collapse in 8th century AD
Collapse
800-900 AD—Total Collapse of original Maya
War, Eco-catastrophe, Overcrowding?
Maya now move to the Yucatan, building Chichen
Itza then Mayapan
Weak by time of Spanish (1500s AD)
The Post-Classic Period (900 AD1521 AD)
The Toltecs:
Invade around 900 AD
Capital at Tula
60,000 people
The Aztecs / Mexica
Arrive in Valley of Mexico in 1200s
Forced onto islands in Lake Texcoco
Build artificial islands of bounded lake muck
Build Tenochtitlan on Islands
Ally with Texcoco and Tlacopan by 1400s
A Tributary Style Empire
Aztec Religion
Sun god Huitzilopochtli needs human hearts or
he will die
Warfare must be constant to get sacrifices of
live warriors
“Flower Wars” used in peacetime
Children sacrificed to Tlaloc to get rain
Huitzilopochtli
Tenochtitlan
Linked to mainland by causeways
Ritual center and Imperial Palace at center
Divided into Wards (capulli)
Grid System
Aqueducts bring fresh water
Aztec Society
Classes
Nobles / Priests
Merchants (pochteca) and Artisans
Commoners
Dress Codes for each class
Commoners are part of capulli; each has tribute
obligations and local temple
Aztec Trade
Guild System
Cacao Beans for small purchases
Fixed lengths of Cotton Cloth(quachtli) for large
Examples:
Small Rabbit: 30 beans
Tamale: 1 bean
1 quachtli = 65 to 300 beans by quality
20 quachtli = 1 year commoner income
Sell your daughter = 500 to 700 beans
Aztec Warfare
All young men learn to fight
Some will become professional warriors
Battle involves mass combat with little strategy;
largely one on one fights to capture people
Clubs and swords of wood with obsidian set in it
and cotton armor
Aztec Women
More rights than medieval / early-modern
European women
Hold property
Inherit property
Trade in marketplace
Craftwork
Low-level priests
But couldn't be warriors
PUMP OUT THOSE BABIES
Death in Childbirth or battle = high position in
afterlife!
Aztec Technology
High Tech
Aqueducts and superb sanitation
Skilled Irrigation
Expert Stone, gold and silver work
Low Tech
Little use of Iron or Bronze,
No Wheel
Obsidian Weapons
Poor to no ships
Andean South America: Preceramic
and Initial Period: 3000-800 BC
Oldest Ritual Center: 2800 BC
Mix of Seafood, Squash, Beans, Chili Peppers
Cotton Clothing
2500 BC: The Llama is domesticated
2000 BC – Pottery is invented, Agriculture
Rises
Chavin de Huantar and the Early
Horizon (800 BC-200 AD)
Chavin de Huantar and the Early
Horizon (800 BC-200 AD)
Chavin de Huantar—900 BC, Peru Highlands
Trade and Agriculture
Declines between 500 and 300 B.C
Skilled metal workers and textile makers
Religion involved hallucinogens and shamanism
The Early Intermediate Period
(200 BC-600 AD)
The Nazca (100 BC – 700 AD)
A Coastal People
Used underground irrigation to turn desert to
farms
Nazca art—animals and plants, severed human
heads
Skilled with making llama cloth from wool
Most famous for their geoglyphs = “Nazca
Lines”
Nazca Lines
Moche Culture (200-700 AD)
Moche Valley in Highlands
Sun and Moon Pyramids
Sun Pyramid = largest adobe structure in the Andes
1200 feet long, 500 feet wide, 60 feet high, made of over
143 million adobe bricks
Irrigation style farmers
Art shows many facets of life
Mass produced but highly diverse pottery with
art showing normal life
The Middle Horizon Through the
Late Intermediate Period (600 AD1475 AD)
Tiwanaku (Bolivia) and Huari (Peru)
Expansionist Cultures in highlands
Tiwanaku—12,000 feet above sea level
20-40,000 by Lake Titicaca
Raised Field Agriculture
Huari
20-30,000
Terraced hills and mountainsides
Chimu Empire
Coastal Empire
Chan Chan (Capital)
30-40,000 people
Big Nobles, Small Nobles, Artisans
Worshipped the Moon
Chimu make monochromatic pottery and work
with precious metals
Pottery shaped like a creature or human
Shiny black finish
Chimu Pottery
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire (13th-16th Century
AD)
2600 miles of coastline
Ruled by a Divine King
Incan Civilization revolved around maintaining
elaborate irrigation—strong rule needed
Potatoes, Gains, Fish, Vegetables, Nuts, Maize,
Camelid and Cuyes meat
Primitive Socialism, managed by King and his
minions
Incas II
Labor Taxation System
Mita System of Labor Tax
Men owed military service
State Employees:
–
Virgins of the Sun—cloth and ceremonial beer
makers
Men managing Imperial herds and warehouses
Dress conveys rank and ethnicity
Inca Technology
Stoneworkers and builders of incredible skill
Reshape mountains to their needs
Expert with pottery and textiles
Art and medicine
But only a knot code for writing
Little bronze and no iron and no wheels
Very crude weaponry
North America
Forest Tribes
Mound Builders
Foot Nomads
Pacific Northwest Tribes
Urbanized Farmers
Plains Tribes
Mobile Temporary Farm Villages
Seagoing Fishers; Totem Pole and Potlach Customs
Arid Southwest
Elevated Towns; irrigation agriculture