1. What was going on in the Americas during 600-1450?
Mapping the Americas
What was going on in the Americas during ?

2. Geographic Challenges

3. Religion and belief systems
South America too…
Despite enduring differences in language and an absence of regional political integration (likely due to geography), there were things all Mesoamerican cultures of this time period had in common:
Religion and belief systems
Social structures
Material culture

4. Placing civilizations in appropriate place and time…

5. Major Mesoamerican Civilizations, 1000 B.C.E.-1519*
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Major Mesoamerican Civilizations, 1000 B.C.E.-1519
Teotihuacan
1. Teotihuacan was a large Mesoamerican city at the height of its power in 450–600 c.e. The city had a population of 125,000 to 150,000 inhabitants and was dominated by religious structures, including pyramids and temples where human sacrifice was carried out.
2. The growth of Teotihuacan was made possible by forced relocation of farm families to the city and by agricultural innovations, including irrigation works and chinampas (“floating gardens”) that increased production and thus supported a larger population.
3. The elite lived in residential compounds separate from the commoners, and controlled the state bureaucracy, tax collection, and commerce.
4. Teotihuacan appears to have been ruled by alliances of wealthy families rather than by kings. The military was used primarily to protect and expand long-distance trade and to ensure that farmers paid taxes or tribute to the elite.
Teotihuacan collapsed around 750 c.e. The collapse may have been caused by mismanagement of resources and conflict within the elite, or as a result of invasion.
Major Mesoamerican Civilizations, 1000 B.C.E.-1519
From their island capital of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs militarily and commercially dominated a large region. Aztec achievements were built on the legacy of earlier civilizations such as the Olmecs and Maya. *

6. Teotihuacan – Classical Era (earlier of the two eras we will cover today)
Teotihuacan = large Mesoamerican city
450–600 c.e.
Population of 125,000 to 150,000 inhabitants
Dominated by religious structures, including pyramids and temples where human sacrifice was carried out

7. Teotihuacan (con’t)
The growth of Teotihuacan was made possible by forced relocation of farm families to the city and by agricultural innovations, including irrigation works and chinampas (“floating gardens”) that increased production and thus supported a larger population.
The elite lived in residential compounds separate from the commoners, and controlled the state bureaucracy, tax collection, and commerce.
Teotihuacan appears to have been ruled by alliances of wealthy families rather than by kings
Elites controlled land, farming, taxation in Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan collapse: ~750 c.e.
Mismanagement of resources and conflict within the elite, or as a result of invasion?

8. *
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The Maya
1. The Maya were a single culture living in modern Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, and southern Mexico, but they never formed a politically unified state. Various Maya kingdoms fought each other for regional dominance.
2. The Maya increased their agricultural productivity by draining swamps, building elevated fields and terraced fields, and by constructing irrigation systems. The Maya also managed forest resources to increase the production of desired products.
3. The largest Maya city-states dominated neighboring city-states and agricultural areas. Large city-states constructed impressive and beautifully decorated buildings and monuments by means of very simple technology—levers and stone tools.
4. The Maya believed that the cosmos consisted of three layers: the heavens, the human world, and the underworld. Temple architecture reflected this cosmology, and the rulers and elites served as priests to communicate with the residents of the two supernatural worlds.
5. Maya military forces fought for captives, not for territory. Elite captives were sacrificed; commoners were enslaved.
6. Maya elite women participated in bloodletting rituals and other ceremonies, but they rarely held political power. Non-elite women probably played an essential role in agricultural and textile production.
7. The most notable Maya technological developments are the Maya calendar, mathematics, and the Maya writing system.
8. Most Maya city-states were abandoned or destroyed between 800 and 900 c.e. Possible reasons for the decline of Maya culture include the disruption of Mesoamerican trade resulting from the fall of Teotihuacan, environmental pressure caused by overpopulation, and increased warfare. *

9. The 411 on The Mayan
A single culture living in present-day Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, the Yucatan Peninsula
Various kingdoms fought for regional dominance
City-states were central to the political organization
Agriculture was successful due Mayan’s ability to drain swamps and create elevated fields
Military forces fought for captives; not territory
Why?
Captives were sacrificed to gods

10. Big Picture
Teotihuacan, biggest, early Mesoamerican city was ruled by elites– Classical Era
Impressive urban architecture
Collapsed in 750 CE = mismanagement by elites?
Mayans:
Mayans shared single culture: city-states, religious-inspired architecture
Maya devised elaborate calendars system, concept of zero, form of hieroglyphic writing
Human sacrifice used by Maya

11. Great Plaza at Tikal Great Plaza at Tikal*
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Great Plaza at Tikal
Great Plaza at Tikal
Still visible in the ruins of Tikal, in modern Guatemala, are the impressive architectural and artistic achievements of the classic-era Maya. Maya centers provided a dramatic setting for the rituals that dominated public life. Construction of Tikal began before 150 B.C.E.; the city was abandoned about 900 C.E. A ball court and residences for the elite were part of the Great Plaza. (Martha Cooper/Peter Arnold, Inc.) *

12. *
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Ballgame
Ballgame
Mesoamerican people used rubber for many, varied purposes, and codex drawings depict rubber offering balls in the hands of gods and officiating priests. The ritual ballgame, too, has strong religious connotations and was practiced by various Mesoamerican societies. In this rolled-out version of a Maya cylinder vessel, two elaborately outfitted players are captured in mid-volley in this extraordinary ballgame scene. To the right of the first player is a feathered shield, probably a movable ballcourt marker. (Chrysler Museum of Art/Justin Kerr) *

13. Palace doorway lintel, Maya*
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Palace doorway lintel, Maya
Palace doorway is symbolic of the peak of Maya civilization (ca )
Attained a level of intellectual and artistic development equaled by no other Amerindian people.
Developed a sophisticated system of writing
Invented a calendar more accurate than the European Gregorian calendar
Made advances in mathematics that Europeans did not match for several centuries
Palace doorway lintel, Maya
At the peak of their civilization (ca ), the Maya attained a level of intellectual and artistic development equaled by no other Amerindian people. They developed a sophisticated system of writing; invented a calendar more accurate than the European Gregorian calendar; and made advances in mathematics that Europeans did not match for several centuries. Archaeologists have uncovered several Maya sites in Mexico and modern Guatemala. A bas-relief on a palace doorway lintel at Yaxchilan, Mexico, depicts Lady Xoc, principal wife of King Shield-Jaguar (who holds a torch over her), pulling a thorn-lined rope through her tongue to sanctify the birth of a younger wife's child with her blood. This scene reflects the importance of blood sacrifice in Maya culture. The elaborate headdresses and clothes of the couple show their royal status. ((c) Justin Kerr 1985) *

14. Mayan and Aztec Cities

15. Mayan and Aztec Cities continued*
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Mayan and Aztec Cities continued
The Postclassic Period in Mesoamerica, 900–1500
A. The Toltecs
1. The Toltecs arrived in central Mexico in the tenth century and built a civilization based on the legacy of Teotihuacan. The Toltecs contributed innovations in the areas of politics and war.
2. The Toltec capital at Tula was the center of the first conquest state in the Americas. Dual kings ruled the state—an arrangement that probably caused the internal struggle that undermined the Toltec state around 1150 c.e. The Toltecs were destroyed by invaders around 1175 c.e. *

16. Tenochtitlan – The Aztecs*
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Tenochtitlan – The Aztecs
The Aztecs
1. The Aztecs were originally a northern people with a clan-based social organization. They migrated to the Lake Texcoco area, established the cities of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco around 1325, and then developed a monarchical system of government.
2. Gender division of labor was distinct yet complementary. Though warfare increased male power, females maintained control over household and market.
3. The kings increased their wealth and power by means of territorial conquest. As the Aztec Empire increased in size, commoners lost their ability to influence political decisions and inequalities in wealth grew more severe.
4. The Aztecs increased agricultural production in the capital area by undertaking land reclamation projects and constructing irrigated fields and chinampas. Nonetheless, grain and other food tribute met nearly one-quarter of the capital’s food requirements.
5. Merchants who were distinct from and subordinate to the political elite controlled long-distance trade. The technology of trade was simple: no wheeled vehicles, draft animals, or money was used. Goods were carried by human porters and exchanged through barter.
6. The Aztecs worshiped a large number of gods, the most important of whom was Huitzilopochtli, the Sun god. Huitzilopochtli required a diet of human hearts, which were supplied by human sacrifice that increased through time. *

17. Agriculture and Trade
The Aztecs increased agricultural production in the capital area by undertaking land reclamation projects and constructing irrigated fields and chinampas. Nonetheless, grain and other food tribute met nearly one-quarter of the capital’s food requirements.
Merchants who were distinct from and subordinate to the political elite controlled long-distance trade. The technology of trade was simple: no wheeled vehicles, draft animals, or money was used. Goods were carried by human porters and exchanged through barter.

18. Chinampas

19. Goddess Tlazolteotl Goddess Tlazolteotl*
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Goddess Tlazolteotl
Goddess Tlazolteotl
The Aztecs controlled much of central Mexico in Religion was the dynamic factor that transformed other aspects of their culture, and they had many gods. The Aztecs believed that Tlazolteotl (sometimes called "Mother of the Gods") consumed the sins of humankind by eating refuse. As the goddess of childbirth, Tlazolteotl was extensively worshipped. Notice the squatting position for childbirth, then common all over the world. (Dumbarton Oaks, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, D.C.) *

20. Big Picture– Post Classic Period
In post classic era, professional militaries allowed Mesoamerican elites to create empires
1st Toltecs; capital Tula
After Toltecs, the Aztecs gradually built an Empire from their island center of Tenochtitlan, which became powerful from forced transfers of labor and goods of defeated peoples (tribute system!)
The Aztec religion, reflected a permanent state of war, demanding increasing human sacrifice
Aztec merchants controlled long-distance trade, and Aztec women had substantial power

21. Land of the Anasazi (northern people, present-day USA)*
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Land of the Anasazi (northern people, present-day USA)
Anasazi: The Ancestral Puebloans
In approximately 100 A. D., the Anasazi settled on a high plateau in an area much different than the rest of the Southwest. The plateau that they settled on was the Colorado Plateau. This large mountainous region encompasses the Four Corners area, as well as, other parts of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Archeologists recognize two major periods in the archeological record of the Anasazi, or Ancestral Puebloans: the Basketmaker and Pueblo.
Basketmaker Period A. D.  
The early Anasazi lived in shallow depressions in the ground covered by a canopy of brush and mud called pithouses. The Ancestral Puebloans made and used baskets as containers; some were woven tight enough to hold water. The Anasazi did not make pottery during this period, but they did raise Mesoamerican corn and squash with dry farming and some flood irrigation. The introduction of corn allowed the Anasazi to settle in one area. At first, the corn was planted in small plots, and while it was growing, the people resumed their hunter-gather pursuits. Over several hundred years, the agriculture of the Ancestral Puebloans advanced to the point that they could live and sustain themselves in permanent villages. During this time period, another Indian culture emerged to the north of the Anasazi...the Fremont Indians of Utah and the eastern Great Basin.
Pueblo Phase A.D.
The term Pueblo refers to an Indian culture that was unique to the Southwest, not to a particular tribe. Even though the Pueblo Indians shared many common elements, each Pueblo village had its own social order and religious practices. The early Pueblo period was a time of territorial expansion and cultural transition. Cotton cloth, aboveground houses, and improved pottery all came about during this period.
At the start of the Pueblo era, the Ancestral Puebloans built the traditional pithouses lodges and semi-subterranean kivas. In addition, above ground storage structures called Jackals were being built. Eventually, the Pueblo families moved out of the pithouses into the Jackals. *

22. Mesa Verde Cliff Dwelling*
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Mesa Verde Cliff Dwelling
Mesa Verde Cliff Dwelling
Located in southern Colorado, the Anasazi cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde hosted a population of about 7,000 in The construction of housing complexes and religious buildings in the area's large caves was probably prompted by increased warfare in the region. (David Muench Photography) *

23. Andean Civilizations, 200 B.C.E. - 1532*
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Andean Civilizations, 200 B.C.E
Cultural Response to Environmental Challenge
1. The harsh environment of the high-altitude Andes, the dry coastal plain, and the tropical headwaters of the Amazon forced the human inhabitants of these areas to organize labor efficiently and thus produce enough food to live.
2. The basic unit of Andean labor organization was the clan (ayllu). Clans held land collectively, and clan members were obligated to assist each other in production and to supply goods and labor to the clan chief.
3. The territorial states organized after 1000 c.e. introduced the institution of the mit’a, which required each ayllu to provide a set number of workers each year to provide labor for religious establishments, the royal court, or the aristocracy.
4. Work was divided along gender lines. Men were responsible for hunting, war, and government; women wove and cared for the crops and the home.
5. The Andean region is divided into four major ecological zones: the coast, mountain valleys, higher elevations, and the Amazonian region. Each region produced different goods, and these goods were exchanged among the various regions through a network of trade routes. *

24. Incan Empire—High in the Andes*
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Incan Empire—High in the Andes
The Inca
1. The Inca were a small chiefdom in Cuzco until their leaders consolidated political authority and began a program of military expansion in the 1430s. By 1525, the Inca had constructed a huge empire.
2. The key to Inca wealth was their ability to develop a strong military and to use it to broaden and expand the traditional exchange system that had linked the various ecological zones of the Andes region together. The Inca used the mit’a labor system to form their armies; build their capital city; maintain their religious institutions; and provide for the old, the weak, and the ill.
3. The Inca generally left local rulers in place, controlling them by means of military garrisons and by taking their heirs to Cuzco as hostages. At the central level, the Inca created an imperial bureaucracy led by a king. Each king was required to prove himself by conquering new territory.
4. The capital city of Cuzco was laid out in the shape of a puma, and its buildings were constructed of stone laid together without mortar. Cuzco’s palaces and richly decorated temples were the scene of rituals; feasts; and sacrifices of textiles, animals, other tribute goods, and the occasional human.
5. The cultural attainments of the Inca Empire include astronomical observation, weaving, copper and bronze metallurgy, and gold and silver working. They did not rely on extensive record-keeping but did keep track of bureaucratic records such as tribute with a system of knotted cords called khipus. The Inca did not introduce new technologies but made more efficient use of existing technology to increase the profits gained by the trade among the ecological zones of the Andean region.
6. Inca domination resulted in increased wealth but also in reduced levels of local autonomy. When the elite fell into civil war in 1525, Inca control over its vast territories was weakened. *

25. Expansion of the Empire

26. Road System

27. Machu Picchu

28. Big Picture- Andean Civilizations
Andean societies developed despite geographic challenges
Arid coastlands
Cold highlands
Tropical rainforest
Ayllu (clans) and mit’a (laborers) provided the social base for Andean socio-political organization
Moche developed a powerful state based on irrigated agriculture, exchange b/t ecological regions, and powerful religious elite
Incans: From small chiefdom to power military empire
Roads, irrigation networks, terracing
Broken by Civil War though on the eve of European arrival

29. *
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Inca Tunic
Inca Tunic
Like the Aztecs, the Incas were a small militaristic group that established one of the most extraordinary empires in the world. Gradually, Inca culture spread throughout Peru; roads built by the Incas linked most of the Andean region. Weavers in this region produced beautiful textiles from cotton and from the wool of llamas and alpacas. The Inca inherited this rich craft tradition and produced some of the world's most remarkable textiles. The quality and design of each garment indicated the weaver's rank and power in this society. This tunic was an outer garment for a powerful male. (From The Textile Art of Peru. Collection created and directed by Jose Antonio de Lavalle and Jose Alejandro Gonzalez Garcia (L.L. Editores, 1989)) *

30. Question The Inca civilization was originally based on
control of religious institutions.
military dominance.
reciprocal gift giving and the redistribution of textiles.
the control of jade, like the Olmec civilization.

31. Answer The Inca civilization was originally based on
control of religious institutions.
military dominance.
reciprocal gift giving and the redistribution of textiles. (correct)
the control of jade, like the Olmec civilization.
Hint: See page 360.

32. Question Mesoamerica was never united politically. economically.
religiously.
culturally.

33. Answer Mesoamerica was never united politically. (correct)
economically.
religiously.
culturally.
Hint: See page 340.

34. Question
The Maya cosmos was divided into three layers
that connected along a vertical axis that traced the course of the moon.
that connected along a horizontal axis that traced the course of life and death.
that connected along a horizontal axis that traced the course of the sun.
that connected along a vertical axis that traced the course of the sun.

35. Question The Mesoamerican ball game was played only by women.
exemplified the frivolous lifestyle of elites.
had deep religious meaning.
was meant to entertain, not enlighten.

36. Answer The Mesoamerican ball game was played only by women.
exemplified the frivolous lifestyle of elites.
had deep religious meaning. (correct)
was meant to entertain, not enlighten.
Hint: See page 346.

37. Timing? (It’s confusing, huh?)
Early, early (BCE) = Olmecs, Chavins
100 CE = Teotihuacan temple complex built
250 CE = Maya early classic period begins
~750 CE= Teotihuacan destroyed
CE = Maya centers abandoned, end of classic period
Start of post classic period
968 CE = Toltec capital of Tula founded
1175 Tula destroyed
1325 Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (“teno-cheat-lan”) founded
1430s Inca expansion begins
1500 decline of “northern peoples” society: “Anasazi”
Inca conquer Ecuador
Europeans arrive