Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 1 Early Mesoamerican Societies, 1200 B.C.E C.E. Origins migration across Bering land bridge Spear Shaft or, evolved independently yrs old and/or b y sea from Asia by 9500 BCE reached southernmost part of South America hunter/gatherer societies; evolved into agricultural societies beginning 8000 BCE

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 2 Andean Societies: from BCE individualized due to geography → Moche/Chimú in the Valley of the Moche River Chu Chu → Tiahuanaco

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 3 Olmecs (1200 – 100 BCE) the ‘rubber people’ Production: staple: maize (but also earlier - beans, peppers, avocados, squashes and gourds) herding of turkeys, small dogs Society and Culture probably authoritarian, stratified conscripted laborers to construct ceremonial sites tombs for rulers, temples, pyramids, drainage systems La Venta – man-days of labour Constructions: Ceremonial Centers Olmec Heads up to 10 ft tall, 20 tons transported by dragging, rolling on logs by up to 1000 workers

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 4 Mysterious Decline of Olmecs ceremonial centers destroyed no evidence of warfare revolution, civil war? FAMSI Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies Olmec monument discovered 1996; emergency funding to move it

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 5 Maya (300 BCE – 900 CE) Evidence: huge cities discovered in 19C like cities in eastern hemisphere Terrace Farming (to capture silt) Cacao beans hot chocolate currency Major ceremonial center at Tikal (one of over eighty) Warfare to capture enemy soldiers Ritual sacrifice and enslavement of enemies Small kingdoms - constant conflict

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 6 Mayan society: connections and learning Invention of ‘Zero’ Calendar of days (17s off modern calculations) Ideographs and a syllable-alphabet Popol Vuh Importance of bloodletting rituals

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 7 Gain: blood and grain nature of warfare chinampas agriculture feeding cities of 200 K

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 8 City of Teotihuacán (500 BCE – 650 CE) eventually a massive city in the highlands of Mexico lakes in area of high elevation extensive trade network, influenced surrounding areas

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 9

Toltec (1000 CE) centered at Tula, NW of Teotihuacán ethnically/culturally mixed – Mayans from south, others from north far-reaching trade network 10

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 11 Cahokia Mounds near St Louis in now Illinois settled beginning c. 300 (?) city of sophisticated building commercial hub fabrics in particular outgrew environment?

Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. 12 Why does this matter? concept ‘pre-Colombian’ is not neutral part of all of our pasts→ sophisticated production → sophisticated trade networks → sophisticated societies ALL before Europeans arrived in the early modern period but was the lens through which they viewed the New World allowed them to insert themselves