Download Pohl`s Chronology - The Mesoamerican Ballgame

CHRONOLOGY: MESOAMERICAN TIMELINE
Archaeologists divide Mesoamerican civilizational development into three major time
periods: the PreClassic or Formative period extending from 1500 B.C. - A.D. 300, the
Classic period extending from A.D. 300-950, and the PostClassic period extending from
A.D. 950-1521.
THE PRECLASSIC PERIOD
As Mesoamerican populations developed more intensive agricultural techniques, political
specialists began to govern their societies. Doubtless the roles of emerging paramount
chiefs evolved from positions once held by powerful spiritual leaders. Eventually,
population increase led to competition for localized resources and the mechanisms by
which political leaders organized cooperative farming ventures could be applied just as
effectively to mobilizing military forces. In this way PreClassic leaders secured the
powers they needed to centralize authority. Incipient forms of writing begin to appear as
early as 500 B.C. in Oaxaca. Between 500 and 200 B.C. precocious ceremonial centers
emerged in the Maya lowlands at sites like El Mirador, Nakbé, Cerros, and Uaxactún.
THE CLASSIC PERIOD
The Classic period was characterized by the emergence of urban state societies
throughout Mesoamerica. The foremost was Teotihuacán. Boasting a population of over
100,000 inhabitants, it was one of the largest cities in the world between A.D. 200-700.
The Zapotec citadel of Monte Albán rose to dominate much of the present state of
Oaxaca. Enduring civic-ceremonial centers like Tikal, Calakmul, Palenque, Copán and
scores of other powerful lowland Maya city-states, evolved from precocious PreClassic
communities located deep in the heart of Guatemala’s Petén jungle. By A.D. 300,
monuments with hieroglyphic texts describing divine origins illustrate the transformation
of social organization from chiefdoms to institutionalized kingship. Then by A.D. 900,
most of the great centers had been abandoned, some after experiencing continuous
growth for over a millenia. There are many theories postulated to explain societal
collapse, but no single factor tells the whole story. Most ideas focus on the fundamental
instability of Classic elite socio-political organizations compounded by environmental
degradation; climatic changes and the depletion of resources due to overpopulation. Some
areas witnessed a brief florescence of secondary-states between A.D. 800-1200 - an era
sometimes called the Epi-Classic. Ceremonial centers such as Uxmal, Xochicalco,
Cacaxtla, and El Tajín were renowned for their outstanding artistic developments in
intricate mosaic stone facades and fresco painting.
THE POSTCLASSIC PERIOD
During the PostClassic period, regional governments became highly segmented and
commercially oriented. Emphasis was placed on the development of “great houses,”
networks of enclosed rooms and courts ideally suited not only to royal feasts that were an
integral part of long distance alliance formation, but also to the proliferation of an
unequaled level of art and craft production. It was at this time that competition for access
into elite exchange networks became so pronounced that traders and craftspeople were
driven to seek out the rarest and most exotic materials to maximize the value of their
gifts. The technology for smelting gold, silver, and copper, was introduced from Central
and South America, while turquoise mined in the American southwest was exchanged for
the plumage of Scarlet Macaws. Never before had the Mesoamerican economy been
exposed to so many rare materials from such far away places. After the fall of Tula, a
Toltec city-state that dominated Central México from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries,
Aztec peoples moved south to Lake Texcoco. Eventually they were able to affect the
balance of power in the region to such a degree that they were granted royal marriages
with venerable Toltec families. By 1450, the Méxica, now the most powerful of seven
original Aztec groups, incorporated their former rivals and together they conquered an
empire. Eventually, they gave their name to the nation of México, while their city of
Tenochtitlán became what we know as México City today.
PreClassic
San Lorenzo Head #6. Olmec portraits are the first
expressions in art of the emerging systems of social
stratification that would characterize Mesoamerican
civilization. Click on Image for more detail.
Watercolor impression of an Olmec jade mask carved
as the face of a human transforming into a jaguar.
Objects of jade and other precious stone served as
early forms of chiefly wealth but also displayed the
intimate connection between paramount leaders and
the supernatural. Click on Image for more detail.
Carved stone slabs depict mutilated captives at Monte
Albán; the earliest testament to the role that warfare
played in the rise of Mesoamerican states. Click on
Image for more detail.
Classic
Religious ritual at Teotihuacán focused on the great
Avenue of the Dead, a 145 foot wide processional
boulevard that bisected the city. To the left towers the
200 foot high (65 meters) Pyramid of the Sun. Click
on Image for more detail.
Quiriguá Stela E is typical of Maya monuments that
emphasize the institution of divine kingship over the
glorification of individual personality. Symbols
displayed in lavish ritual dress signify the generations
of royal ancestors and gods from whom this lord
claimed descent. Click on Image for more detail.
Temple 1 at Tikal was dedicated to the admiration of
a ruler whose elaborate tomb was found within the
center of the base of the structure. Click on Image for
more detail.
PostClassic
Warrior columns at Tula, Hidalgo. Tula ultimately
established itself as an early PostClassic inheritor of
social and religious institutions first established at
Teotihuacán. Click on Image for more detail.
The Zapotec-Mixtec palaces of Mitla were adorned
with intricate mosaics of stone work. The Late
PostClassic era throughout southern México was
characterized by an emphasis on palaces as centers of
administrative and ritual activity. Click on Image for
more detail.
An Aztec temple and stone monuments discovered in
excavations at Tenochtitlán, the Aztec imperial
capital known today as México City. Click on Image
for more detail.