Chapter 21 The Americas Before Columbus

1. Chapter 21 The Americas Before Columbus

2. Mesoamerican Civilizations • 1. The Olmecs along the northeastern coast of Mexico are regarded as the mother culture of the Maya and other tribes of Mesoamerica. La Venta, the most significant of the Olmec sites, flourished from 800 to 400 B.C.E. It was located eighteen miles inland from the Gulf on an island in a swamp and probably supported a population of 18,000. It featured a complex of ceremonial mounds stretching out over one and a half miles. In addition to a huge four-sided clay pyramid, there is also present forty Colossal Heads up to eight and a half feet tall, weighing several tons each, and having Negroid features. • 2. The ancient Maya lived in what constitutes present-day southeastern Mexico, almost all of Guatemala, the western part of Honduras, all of Belize, and the northern half of El Salvador. The height of the civilization came between 250 and 900 C.E. in the tropical forest lowland region of Guatemala at the base of the Yucatan Peninsula. The area was rich in game and building materials (limestone and hardwoods). There was no metal, water was uncertain, and communication difficult. Numerous ceremonial and administrative centers were erected throughout the region yet it remained disunited. At Tikal, the ceremonial precinct was surrounded by dense suburbs that extended from the center for several miles. The population may have numbered as much as 100,000. At Palenque there were a number of temple-pyramids characterized by vaulted galleries, courtyards or patios, and use of stucco work. The principal complex, called the Palace, is about 300 feet long and 240 feet wide with a corbel vaulted aqueduct underneath which carried fresh water. The brilliance of this Classic Mayan civilization faded in about the eighth or ninth century for unknown reasons. Some scholars suggest their demise may have come as a consequence of not only rebellion against increasing demands by the noble and priest class for larger and more ornate ceremonial centers but also greater agricultural production to support a growing population. The latter put strains on the commoners and may also have led to warfare and militarism. These pressures perhaps led to a collapse as the people moved further and further from the centers. • 3. The Post Classic Maya flourished from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century and centered on the YucatánPeninsula. The peninsula is a limestone shelf, mostly without surface rivers. The soil is thin and water is taken from cenotes (sinkholes created by collapse of underground caverns). The Yucatec Maya were influenced by forces from central Mexico, the Toltecs. Mexican legend told of a king-priest being forced from Tula (near Mexico City) at the end of the tenth century. He and his followers proceeded to the Gulf and then to the Yucatan Peninsula and introduced the harsh traditions of the Mexican northwest as well as their art and architecture. The Toltecs were centered at Chichén Itzá which exercised influence and control. Decline set in between 1200 to about 1450. • 4. Teotihuacán was a center of Mesoamerican civilization from 100 to 900. By 500 it covered about eight square miles. The dozen springs and rich agricultural fields (utilizing irrigation, terracing, and canals) supported a population of about 200,000. The city was centered on a two mile long, 150 feet wide avenue off of which branched streets and alleys containing more than three thousand structures including temples, palaces, ball courts, dwellings, and two impressive pyramids, the largest of which was 700 feet on each of the four sides and two hundred feet high. Apparently, Teotihuacán used its agricultural surpluses to trade for raw materials that could be turned into manufactured goods. Trade in these finished products extended to both coasts and south to Guatamala. Around 700, Teotihuacán was destroyed by semi-barbarians from the southwest. • Question: • 1. What were the characteristics of the Mayan and Aztec civilizations? Mesoamerican Civilization

3. The Americas before Columbus • Tremendous range of cultures and environments • Humans arrived in Americas about 20,000 years ago • Made way from Bering Straits to Andes Mountains • Neolithic America • Stone Age lasted until coming of the whites • By 7000 B.C.E., western edge of Americas supported population of Amerindians • By 2000 B.C.E., large scale agriculture existed in SW United States, • Mexican Plain, and coastal plains of South America • First Europeans arrived in 1492, found advanced agricultural techniques

4. Example of pre-Columbian sculpture, Vera Cruz style, 6-9 C.E.

5. First Civilizations • Located on elevated plateaus or tropic lowlands • Olmecs • Earliest civilization known; developed in Southern Mexico • Existed between 1000 B.C.E. and 300 C.E. • Human foundation for all other civilizations in Central America • Very skilled in stone working • Chavin • Developed on Peruvian coast between 800 and 400 B.C.E. • Provided enough food for large population in inhospitable area

6. Mayan Fortress at Tulum, on coast of Caribbean Sea

7. Mayan writing. Glyphs carved on wall at Palenque, Mexico

8. Pyramid at Chichen-Itza. Example of late Maya pyramid architecture

9. Palace of the Nuns, Uxmal. Near Merida, in ucatan Peninsula. Purpose not clear to archeologists, but contains many small rooms like monastery.