ANCIENT AMERICAS: THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS

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ANCIENT AMERICAS THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS
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THE OLMECS

• Olmecs The "rubber people"
• Earliest center, on the coast of Mexico Gulf,
  1200 B.C.E.
• The other two later centers La Venta and Tres
  Zapotes
• Olmec society
• Authoritarian in nature
• Colossal heads possibly rulers
• Power shown in pyramid construction
• Trade in jade and obsidian
• Decline and fall of Olmec society
• The cause remains a mystery
• Olmecs destroyed ceremonial centers
• Most likely, civil conflict ruined their society
• By 400 B.C.E., other societies eclipsed the
  Olmecs
• Influence of Olmec traditions
• Maize, ceremonial centers were common to later
  societies
• Other legacies Calendar, rituals of human
  sacrifice, ballgame
• Olmecs did not leave written records

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OLMEC ART
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ANDEAN GEOGRAPHY
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EARLY ANDEAN SOCIETY

• Geography
• Impacted north-south movement and communication
• Created micro-cultures small cultures isolated
  within region
• Early migration
• By 12,000 B.C.E. hunter-gathers reached South
  America
• By 8000 B.C.E. began to experiment with
  agriculture
• Complex societies appeared in central Andean
  region 1000 B.C.E.
• Andean societies located in modern day Peru and
  Bolivia
• Early agriculture in South America
• Main crops beans, peanuts, sweet potatoes,
  cotton
• Fishing supplemented agricultural harvests
• By 1800 B.C.E., produced pottery,
• Temples and pyramids appeared

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CHAVIN AND MOCHE

• The Chavín Cult
• Very popular around 900 to 800 B.C.E.
• Vanished completely by about 300 B.C.E.
• Cult was probably related to introduction of
  maize
• Cult left large temple complexes and elaborate
  art works
• Complexity of Andean society
• Techniques of producing cotton textiles and
  fishing nets
• Discovered gold, silver, and copper metallurgy
• Cities began to appear shortly after Chavíncult
• Early Andeans did not make use of writing
• Mochica (300-700 C.E.)
• One of several early Andean states, located in
  northern Peru
• Mochica ceramics lives of different social
  classes
• Mochica did not integrate the whole Andean region

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TEOTIHUACAN

• The city of Teotihuacan
• Built in the highlands of Mexico
• Colossal pyramids of sun and moon dominated the
  skyline
• Between 400 and 600 C.E., the city had 200,000
  inhabitants
• Paintings and murals reflect the importance of
  priests
• Teotihuacan society
• Rulers and priests dominated society
• Two-thirds of inhabitants worked in fields
• Famous for obsidian tools, orange pottery
• Professional merchants traded widely
• No sign of military organization
• Cultural traditions
• Inherited Olmecs' culture
• Honored earth god, rain god
• Decline of Teotihuacan
• Military pressure from other peoples since 500
  C.E.
• Began to decline 650 C.E. Invaders sacked city,
  mid-8th century

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TEOTIHUACAN THE CITY
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Teotihuacan and Tula among the Maya

• Mayan Origins
• Original home southern Mexico, Yucatan, Central
  America
• Tikal 600-900 CE expanded from Belize into
  Yucatan, Mexico
• Evidence that a group, its ideas (Teotihuacan?)
  migrated into area to establish states
• Toltec Origins
• Several lineages such as Cocom, Xiu, Itza were
  called dzulob or foreigners
• Chronicles of Chilam Balam kept by villages
  indicate this origin
• Founders had special knowledge that gave them
  right to establish a state
• Many leaders recorded in Mayan records for 700
  years but had Nahua names
• Popul Vu and Chronicles of Cakchiquels
• Show migration as common in region and in
  founding of cities in area
• Indicate Nahua or Tolan connections
• Teotihuacan Influences
• Use of aspects of Teotihuacan writing and
  phraseology suddenly appear in Mayan
• In 378 CE in Mayan Long Count, Tikal conquered
  Uaxacatun
• A stella erected to commemorate the event its
  iconography is from Teotihuacan
• After that the iconography occurs in other Mayan
  stella
• Chichen Itza
• Early founders are clearly Toltec

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EARLY GEOGRAPHY