Download The Olmec & the Kingdom of Cusco

The Olmec & Andean
Proto-cultures
The Roots of Ancient Central and South American Civilization
Who Were the Olmec?
 The Olmec were a civilization that flourished between 1200
BCE and 400 BCE in the Southern Gulf Lowlands of Mexico
 They are considered by many to be a proto-civilization – a
precursor to later similar cultures like the Maya and Aztec.
Where did the Olmec
Come From?
 Most of what we know from the Olmec
civilization is derived from archaeology.
Few written records survive.
 While most historians believe that the
Olmec were an indigenous American
civilization, some have speculated that the
Olmec culture was an offshoot of a
powerful seafaring African or Hindu
culture. Their main evidence is the claim
that the statues produced by the Olmec
have characteristically African features
 Which argument do you think is most
convincing? Why?
How did the Olmec
Influence Later Cultures?
 Many of the features of Maya and Aztec culture were
likely adapted from the Olmec including:
 Urban planning and agricultural techniques
 Human and blood sacrifices
Ballcourt goal at
 Polytheistic religion
Chichen Itza
(Wikipedia)
Early Olmec
Calendar Tres
Zapotes
(wikipedia
Step Pyramids at Tikal,
Guatemala (Civilization.ca)
What About the Andean
Protocultures
 At approximately the same time the Olmec
civilization was emerging in present day
Mexico, several Andean civilizations were
experimenting with irrigated agriculture in the
highlands and lowlands in present day Peru,
Chile and Equador
 Much of what we know about the Incan proto
civilizations comes from post-conquest
accounts, archaeology and oral tradition, as the
Inca had no written language that we know of,
though they did store data using a knotted
ropes called a quipu
 The Inca and the precursor cultures were expert
masons building some of the most impressive
stone buildings and infrastructure in the world
The Kingdom of Cusco
 The Inca would rule the largest empire
in the pre-Columbian Americas and
developed a complex and extremely
effective system of government
 The Incas began as a kingdom centred
in the city of Cusco around 1100C.E.
 The 40,000 or so Incans would conquer
or absorb most of the other cultures in
the Andes by the time the Spanish
arrived in 1533
Machu Picchu: Road to the Sky