Early Mesoamerican Societies, 1200 B.C.E.-1100 C.E

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Early Mesoamerican Societies, 1200 B.C.E.-1100 C.E.Origins

migration across Bering land bridge Spear Shaft

or, evolved independently 30 000 yrs old

and/or by sea from Asia

•by 9500 BCE reached southernmost part of South America

•hunter/gatherer societies; evolved into agricultural societies

beginning 8000 BCE


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Andean Societies: from 12 00 BCE individualized due to

geography

→ Moche/Chimú in the Valley of the Moche River

Chu Chu

→ Tiahuanaco


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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 – 800 000 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


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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 - 2004


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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


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Mayan society: connections and learning

Invention of ‘Zero’

Calendar of 365.242 days (17s off modern calculations)

Ideographs and a syllable-alphabetPopol Vuh

Importance of bloodletting rituals


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Gain: blood and grain

nature of warfare

chinampas agriculture feeding cities of 200 K


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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


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Toltec (1000 CE)

• centered at Tula, NW of Teotihuacán

• ethnically/culturally mixed – Mayans from south, others from north

• far-reaching trade network

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Cahokia Mounds

• near St Louis in now Illinois

• settled beginning c. 300 (?)

• city of 15 000• sophisticated building

• commercial hub• fabrics in particular

• outgrew environment?


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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 periodbut was the lens through which they viewed the New World

allowed them to insert themselves

Documents

Early Mesoamerican Societies, 1200 B.C.E.-1100 C.E