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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