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Historical Issues
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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)
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Culture Zone in Central-South Mexico and
Central America
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Obsidian is primary weapon / tool material
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Stone housing
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City-States
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Mesoamerican Calendar
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Sacrifice of blood and humans
Archaic Period (8000-2000 BC)
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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
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San Lorenzo (1200-900 BC)
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La Venta (900 BC)
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110 foot pyramids
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1000 inhabitants (Priest Elite)
Extensive Jade and Obsidian trade
Olmec Inventions
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Heavily copied by later civilizations
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Priest-ruled City-States
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Sacrifice: Bloodletting and Humans
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Mesoamerican Calendar
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Writing
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Idea of Zero
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The Ballgame
Olmec Heads
Olmec Heads
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17 Survive
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20-40 ton weight
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Carved from single blocks
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Transported 50 or more miles from mines to
cities
Unclear purpose; some mutilated
Olmec Art
Olmec Art / Were-Jaguars
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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
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Founded around 500 BC where branches of
Oxcaca River Meet
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5000 people
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Mesoamerican Calendar is found here too
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365 day cycle, 260 day cycle, 52 year 'century'
Classical Era (150-900 AD)
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Maya at their height and Teotihuacan
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An age of prosperous city-states
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Warfare is common
Pyramid of the Sun--Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (1st Century AD - 8th
Century AD)
Teotihuacan (1st Century AD - 8th
Century AD)
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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
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May have ruled, definitely influenced other cities
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Large Trade Network
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Worships a Storm god and goddess and a
feathered serpent with blood and humans
Decline
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Shrinks after 500 AD
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8th century—destroyed by Fire
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Yet it remains seen as a golden age
The Maya
The Maya
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Most literate; best writing system
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Greatest City: Tikal
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50-70,000
Nobles and retainers rule over numerous
commoners
Wars are common; losers get sacrificed
Maya Religion
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Nature and Supernatural = the same
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So Rulers have Secular and Religious power
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Human sacrifice and blood to appease the gods
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The Mayan Ballgame
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Reenacts the conflict between the Hero Twins and
the Lords of Xibalba, the Underworld
Mayan 'Science'
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Expert Astronomers and Mathematicians (had
idea of zero)
The Long Count Calendar—Most Accurate
before modern times
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11 August 3114 BC is cycle starting point (almost
certainly retroactive)
Used interactive cycles of days and true length of
lunar calendar
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Base 20 math
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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
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3000 buildings, 14 miles
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Massive Causeways link main buildings
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Access to flint, swamps, and rivers
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39 Kings of the Jaguar Paw Line
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Ah Cacau (682-723?)
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Collapse in 8th century AD
Collapse
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800-900 AD—Total Collapse of original Maya
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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)
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The Toltecs:
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Invade around 900 AD
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Capital at Tula
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60,000 people
The Aztecs / Mexica
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Arrive in Valley of Mexico in 1200s
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Forced onto islands in Lake Texcoco
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Build artificial islands of bounded lake muck
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Build Tenochtitlan on Islands
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Ally with Texcoco and Tlacopan by 1400s
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A Tributary Style Empire
Aztec Religion
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Sun god Huitzilopochtli needs human hearts or
he will die
Warfare must be constant to get sacrifices of
live warriors
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“Flower Wars” used in peacetime
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Children sacrificed to Tlaloc to get rain
Huitzilopochtli
Tenochtitlan
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Linked to mainland by causeways
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Ritual center and Imperial Palace at center
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Divided into Wards (capulli)
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Grid System
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Aqueducts bring fresh water
Aztec Society
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Classes
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Nobles / Priests
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Merchants (pochteca) and Artisans
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Commoners
Dress Codes for each class
Commoners are part of capulli; each has tribute
obligations and local temple
Aztec Trade
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Guild System
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Cacao Beans for small purchases
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Fixed lengths of Cotton Cloth(quachtli) for large
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Examples:
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Small Rabbit: 30 beans
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Tamale: 1 bean
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1 quachtli = 65 to 300 beans by quality
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20 quachtli = 1 year commoner income
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Sell your daughter = 500 to 700 beans
Aztec Warfare
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All young men learn to fight
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Some will become professional warriors
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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
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More rights than medieval / early-modern
European women
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Hold property
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Inherit property
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Trade in marketplace
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Craftwork
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Low-level priests
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But couldn't be warriors
PUMP OUT THOSE BABIES
Death in Childbirth or battle = high position in
afterlife!
Aztec Technology
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High Tech
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Aqueducts and superb sanitation
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Skilled Irrigation
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Expert Stone, gold and silver work
Low Tech
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Little use of Iron or Bronze,
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No Wheel
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Obsidian Weapons
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Poor to no ships
Andean South America: Preceramic
and Initial Period: 3000-800 BC
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Oldest Ritual Center: 2800 BC
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Mix of Seafood, Squash, Beans, Chili Peppers
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Cotton Clothing
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2500 BC: The Llama is domesticated
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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)
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Chavin de Huantar—900 BC, Peru Highlands
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Trade and Agriculture
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Declines between 500 and 300 B.C
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Skilled metal workers and textile makers
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Religion involved hallucinogens and shamanism
The Early Intermediate Period
(200 BC-600 AD)
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The Nazca (100 BC – 700 AD)
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A Coastal People
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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)
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Moche Valley in Highlands
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Sun and Moon Pyramids
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Sun Pyramid = largest adobe structure in the Andes
 1200 feet long, 500 feet wide, 60 feet high, made of over
143 million adobe bricks
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Irrigation style farmers
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Art shows many facets of life
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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)
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Expansionist Cultures in highlands
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Tiwanaku—12,000 feet above sea level
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20-40,000 by Lake Titicaca
 Raised Field Agriculture
Huari
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20-30,000
Terraced hills and mountainsides
Chimu Empire
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Coastal Empire
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Chan Chan (Capital)
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30-40,000 people
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Big Nobles, Small Nobles, Artisans
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Worshipped the Moon
Chimu make monochromatic pottery and work
with precious metals
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Pottery shaped like a creature or human
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Shiny black finish
Chimu Pottery
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire (13th-16th Century
AD)
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2600 miles of coastline
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Ruled by a Divine King
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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
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Labor Taxation System
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Mita System of Labor Tax
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Men owed military service
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State Employees:
–
Virgins of the Sun—cloth and ceremonial beer
makers
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Men managing Imperial herds and warehouses
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Dress conveys rank and ethnicity
Inca Technology
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Stoneworkers and builders of incredible skill
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Reshape mountains to their needs
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Expert with pottery and textiles
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Art and medicine
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But only a knot code for writing
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Little bronze and no iron and no wheels
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Very crude weaponry
North America
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Forest Tribes
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Mound Builders
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Foot Nomads
Pacific Northwest Tribes
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Urbanized Farmers
Plains Tribes
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Mobile Temporary Farm Villages
Seagoing Fishers; Totem Pole and Potlach Customs
Arid Southwest
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Elevated Towns; irrigation agriculture