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Mesoamerican & Andean World. The Life in the Americas. lacked nearly all animals suitable for domestication metallurgy was less developed in the Americas Writing limited in the Americas to Mesoamerica most highly developed among the Maya Early Andeans did not make use of writing
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The Life in the Americas • lacked nearly all animals suitable for domestication • metallurgy was less developed in the Americas • Writing limited in the Americas to Mesoamerica • most highly developed among the Maya • Early Andeans did not make use of writing • fewer and smaller classical civilizations in the Americas • lack of interaction with other major cultures
Migration to Mesoamerica • By 9500 B.C.E., humans reached the southernmost part of South America • As hunting became difficult, agriculture began (7500 B.C.E.) • Early agriculture: beans, squashes, chilis; later, maize became the staple (5000 B.C.E.) • Agricultural villages appeared after 3000 B.C.E.
The "rubber people” • Elaborate complexes built • The colossal human heads--possibly likenesses of rulers • Rulers' power shown in construction of huge pyramids • Trade in jade and obsidian • Decline of Olmecs: • systematically destroyed ceremonial centers by 400 B.C.E.
Mayan society • hierarchical • Kings, priests, and hereditary nobility at the top • Merchants were from the ruling class; they served also as ambassadors • Professional architects and artisans were important • Peasants and slaves were majority of population
Mayan Culture • Religious thought • PopolVuh (creation myth) • taught that gods created humans out of maize and water • Gods maintained agricultural cycles in exchange for honors and sacrifices • Bloodletting rituals honored gods for rains • The Maya calendar: both solar and ritual years interwoven • Maya writing: ideographic and syllabic • only four books survive
Andean Society • Main crops: beans, peanuts, sweet potatoes, cotton • Fishing supplemented • By 1800 B.C.E.: pottery, built temples and pyramids • Discovered gold, silver, and copper metallurgy • Chavín: A Pan-Andean Religious Movement • beliefs apparently drew on both desert region and rain forests • probably used hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus
Mayan City-States • frequent warfare; capture and sacrifice of prisoners • densely populated urban and ceremonial centers • ruled by “state shamans” who could mediate with divine • no city-state ever succeeded in creating a unified empire
Rapid Collapse • began in 840 • population dropped by at least 85 % • elements of Maya culture survived • Reasons for the collapse • extremely rapid population growth after 600 c.e. outstripped resources • political disunity and rivalry prevented a coordinated response to climatic catastrophe • warfare became more frequent
Moche World • Complex societies appear after 1000 B.C.E. • modern-day Peru and Bolivia • rule by warrior-priests • some lived on top of huge pyramids • rulers had elaborate burials • Human scrafice • superb craftsmanship of elite objects
