Transcript Innovation Sites

Innovation
Sites
Cultural Hearths…that are
not river valley sites
River Valley Theory
Early Civilizations
Americas
Americas
Physical Map
Mesoamerica
Early People of Mesoamerica
How do these dates compare?
8000BCE-7000BCE

Beans, chili peppers, avocados, squash, gourds
4000BCE
3000BCE

earliest farming
- Maize
agricultural villages
Domesticated animals included: turkeys, dogs – no draft
animals, thus no wheeled vehicles
2000BCE

elaborate ceremonial centers (pyramids, temples,
palaces)
Early Societies South America
 12,000BCE
:hunters and gatherers into South
America (deer, llama, alpaca)
 Mountainous
and coastal regions
 Cool, moist climate provided natural harvests
(squash, gourds, potatoes)
 8,000BCE
changing climate led to agriculture,
 2500BCE – 2000BCE first permanent settlements
along coast
 Cultivated
beans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, cotton
 Later settlements in the highlands
 1000BCE
some evidence of complex societies
Important Geography Notes
 Climate:
mirror image
 Sub Saharan Development is different
than Mediterranean Coast
 Limited Natural Harbors
 River travel is difficult: cataracts, reversing
and underground currents
 Uneven distribution of resources
 Soils for farming only adequate in certain
areas
Who were the earliest,
innovative people of
Mesoamerica and of
South America?
Is Gordon Childe’s 10
point model supported
by their beginnings?
Was there an innovative site of
civilization?
What does the evidence
suggest?
Are they too, a study in the 10
point model?
Uncovering the mysterious
beginnings of Mesoamerica,
South America and SubSaharan Africa
3500 BCE – 600BCE…
What did we discover?
What locations deserve the designation
Innovative?
AMERICAS
Mesoamerican Legacy
 How
do the archeological remains
support our understanding (and
justification) of the Mesoamerican
innovative site?
 Which group is the innovative people?

How would you organize the details into a
coherent understanding of historical
development for the area?
 Does
the evidence pose problems for
Child’s 10 point model?
MESOAMERICA
 Lowland
Coast of the Gulf of Mexico
 Abundant rainfall – no need for extensive irrigation,
but


Olmecs
elaborate drainage- chinampas, pot irrigation
Slash and burn
Elaborate temples, pyramids, stone sculptures,
jade animal impressions, tombs
 Probably authoritarian
 Military
Force – local chiefs
 Elite classes in ceremonial center - cities
After
400BCE?
Impact
of Olmecs
No
written
records beyond
calendar inscriptions
Olmec
traditions diffused
(possibly through trade)…
Rituals, pyramids, calendar
Heirs to the Olmecs…
MESOAMERICA
Development of Teotihuacan
 500 BCE
Valley of Mexico
 Lakes


abundant supplies of fish, waterfowl as well as fresh
water and opportunities for transportation
Water channeled into fields for agriculture
 Thriving

metropolis: Very Urban
temples, residential neighborhoods, busy markets,
workshops
 Little
written records – paintings & murals
 POSSIBLE Theocracy- pyramids
MESOAMERICA
Teotihuacan Society
 CLASSES:
Priests, artisans, merchants, cultivators
 TECHNOLOGICAL

DEVELOPMENT:
Obsidian tools, orange pottery
 TRADE:
Extensive networks throughout region –
possible colonial arrangements

Little evidence of military or conquest
 Olmec

cultural foundations:
writing, calendar, sacrifices
 Decline
after 650CE – purposefully burned
MESOAMERICA
Development of the Maya
 2000bce earliest evidence
 300BCE
Highlands of Guatemala– fertile soil
 300 – 900 CE Mesoamerican lowlands
 Terrace
farming trapped silt from rivers
 Genuine
cities developed into City state
system (Tikal and Chichen Itza)
 80
large ceremonial centers
 Continuous fighting -Human sacrifices
 Chichen
empire
Itza (900-1000CE) loosely organized
MESOAMERICA
Maya Society & Religion
 Social
Classes (Large priestly class, Hereditary
landowning noble class, Merchant class from
nobles and ruling elite, Architects, artisans,
peasant, slaves)
 INNOVATIONS/TRADITIONS
 Mathematical
knowledge (concept of
zero)
 Astronomy solar year -365.242
 Maya scribes – hieroglyphics (history,
poetry, myth, administration, astronomical
records) only 4 remain
 Creation story Popol Vuh
ANDEAN
REGION
Contact with Mesoamerica?
 South
developed largely independently
 Geography
discouraged contact
 Communication within Andean region difficult
 Several
agricultural products and technologies
diffused slowly:
 Maize
and squash to South America
 Gold, silver, copper metallurgy to Mesoamerica
South America:
Andean Region
Who
is the innovative site?
How, and why did they develop
in this mountainous region?
What major development center
to our understanding contradicts
the 10 point model?
SIPAN, Moche Culture
1987
ANDEAN REGION
Chavin Cult
 Development
of agriculture & ceremonial
centers – 2000BCE in dry coastal regions
 Large
populations served as stimulus for
emergence of fertility cult


Temple complexes, elaborate works of art
Intricate stone carvings (jaguars, hawks, eagles,
snakes)
 Weavers,
metal craftsmen
 Increasing
complexity – 200BCE large cities
(public buildings, extensive residential districts)
ANDEAN REGION
Mochica State
 Valleys
of Western Andes
 Complex
society with considerable
specialization of labor (300 – 700 CE)
 No writing system – evidence through art
 Regional
kingdom created through force
 Integrated
economic zones (highlands, central
valley and coastal regions) Vertical trade
 Highlands
(potatoes, llama meat, alpaca wool)
 Central valley (maize, bean, squash)
 Coasts (fish, cotton)
ANDEAN REGION
Sub-Saharan Africa
Was there a civilization that
developed independently?
How should we define
urban?
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
EAST AFRICA
Kingdom of
Kush
In Nubia
Capital at Meroe
1700BCE- 500
Kingdom of
Aksum
4th cent BCE
Kush
Aksum
Great Zimbabwe
 “Sacred
house”
 Peak - late 11th Century (DISC. 19TH c)
 Questions surrounding ability to
sustain sizeable population? (Trade)
 East African Connections
AFRICA
Later development significantly
influenced by Trans-Saharan Trade
and camel caravans
AFRICA
Nok culture, city at Ife, Yoruba
People
 Sahel Region
 1000 BCE
 Strong
cultural
tradition
 Mythological cities?
Jenne-Jeno
 Earliest
settlement 3rd Century BCE
 Great interior floodplain of the Middle Niger,


rich alluvial soil
well-suited to the cultivation of rice
 worked
iron, fashioning the metal into both jewelry and
tools
 By 450 CE, over 60 acres



Central inhabited area surrounded by a city wall
40 smaller additional settlements
13,000 inhabitants
 The
archaeology of Jenne- jeno and the surrounding
area show an early, indigenous growth of trade and
social complexity. (Yet, lack of a state?)
Why is this significant in the
development of Sub-Saharan
Africa ?
Predates Mediterranean and European
outside influences!
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/socsci/ca/books/bkf3/imaps/AC_06_206_b
antu/AC_06_206_bantu.html
 Language
Group
Migrations
 1000BCE – 1000CE
 Out of Central West Africa -to- South and
East
 Diffusion of ideas, resources throughout
Africa
Iron
Metallurgy
Agricultural Knowledge
 Plantains,
yams, bananas
Bantu Migrations’
Significance… to the modern era
 The
Bantu - 2/3 of Africa's population, (south and east)
 language
 The
group not a distinct ethnic group.
most widely spoken Bantu-derived language is
Swahili, which is used by up to 50 million speakers on the
eastern coast of Africa.