Download Early Mesoamerican Civilizations

Early Mesoamerican
Civilizations
The Olmec and the Chavin
The Isolated Americas
Total and complete—all the ideas,
technology, agriculture, writing, etc. flying
around Eurasia was absent from here
 Environmental challenges: north-south
axis, lots of mountains, changing terrain
kept people separated and not alike
 Around 1000 BC the development of
some trade, some domestication of plants
led to urbanization and social
stratification
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The Olmecs
A cultural force
—considered the
mother of Mexican culture
 Flourished between 1200-400 BC
 Coincides with the Greeks, the Zhou, the
Assyrians (western Asia), the Israelites in
the Promised Land (Canaan); after the
Hittites

The Olmecs
Famous for their 16
giant head sculptures
probably “portraits”
of important leaders
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Agriculture led to development of urban
areas—corn, beans, and squash, maybe
manioc
As leaders emerged, they organized irrigation
and public works projects
Large-scale religious and civic buildings
became the cultural draw
The Olmecs
Special buildings and large
artificial platforms were
sites of gatherings—people
would visit from surrounding
areas for these
 Cities laid out according to
astronomical patterns like stars
 Produced high quality crafts like jade figurines,
necklaces, etc. that distinguished their culture
 Ball game—rubber ball through a small stone
hole in the wall, went on for days, players
often died

The Olmecs
Rulers controlled
People with aweInspiring religious
Rituals; rulers were
Associated with the gods through sacrifices and
bloodletting
 Polytheistic, most gods dual natures (gender),
the jaguar was important symbol/god
 Political center at San Lorenzo, then moved to
La Venta
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The Chavin
Located in Peru, in the
Andes Mountains
 The coast of Peru had a
dependable food supply (maize),
which lends itself to urbanization
 Coastal populations traded textiles, food,
ideas with those in the mountains and each
other; Chavin de Huantar (capital) located at
crossroads of trade
 Chavin is simply one group that dominated a
long time and seems to have inherited culture
from this area

The Chavin
Large labor projects
indicate developed elite &
maybe military control of
neighbors to help construct
buildings with very elaborate
drainage system beneath
them to resist floods
 Like Olmec, used religious rituals to attract
“followers”/gain influence—jaguar again a
major religious symbol
 Chavin de Huantar seems like a pilgrimage
site

The Chavin
Social Classes: class of
priests, main king and more
local leaders existed, highly
skilled artisans, must have
been a large lower (slave?)
class to build
 No evidence of destruction of society—
increased warfare did occur at certain
times, but when this group lost power is
unknown
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Compare the Contemporaries
Use of religion by elites to control some
aspect of society
 Role of lowest class of people
 Geographical advantages/disadvantages
 Do this for:
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Chavin
Olmec
Egypt
China
Mesopotamia