Global History and Geography Eleanor Roosevelt High SchoolMr. Spear

Name: ____________________________________________________ Date: ___________________

Activity Guide 5Unit 2: New Civilizations in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres (2200 – 250 BCE)

DO NOW

Circle the areas in the map above where Olmec and Chavin cultures once existed.

Reading 1The Native Americans, the Indians or indigenos, as most prefer to be called, are Asians. In a sense, Christopher Columbus was not wrong to refer to them as Indians

because they were as Indian as the people who lived in the Indies at the time. There are two theories as to how they came to be living in the Americas.

The first, most widely accepted theory is the Bering Strait theory. This holds that around 18,000 BCE during the Ice Age, the narrow ocean strait between Alaska and Russia froze over revealing a land bridge that was 750 miles wide at its narrowest point. Prehistoric nomadic groups travelled across this bridge in search of game for 2,500 years until the ocean melted and the land bridge disappeared, permanently cutting the migrants off from the rest of Asia. Over the course of 15,000 years, these Asiatic migrants moved down the American continents and formed diverse cultures that included some 25 – 100 million people.

There are some problems with this theory, however. The first is that while recovered artifacts and undisputable DNA and archaeological links exist between North American Indians and Northern Asians can be made, there is little archeological connection between South American Indians and Northern Asians leading some anthropologists to believe that South American Indians are ancestors of Polynesian Islanders who arrived by boat.

1. What is a Polynesian Islander? Do you think it is realistic to believe that Asians traveled to the Americas in prehistoric times by boat? Why or why not?

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Reading 2One of the earliest civilizations of the Americas first appeared in Mesoamerica in 1200 BCE. Researchers today refer to them as the Olmecs. While the Olmecs did have writing, there are few written records left behind and most of what is known about them comes from the archaeological record.

The Olmecs lived both in scattered urban settlements as well as in rural areas where they farmed. The staple of their diet was maize, but they also grew beans, squash and a root called manioc (yucca). They worshipped several gods that, like Egyptian gods, were represented as half-human and half-animal. Interestingly, the Olmecs seem also to spent considerable leisure time playing and watching a kind of ball game on a carefully constructed courts like the one shown on the next page. Researchers disagree on what the exact rules of the game might have been, but it seems that two teams of three would play against each other non-stop, sometimes for days on end. The losing team was executed. Excavations at Olmec sites have also uncovered hundreds of large stone heads like the one shown above. Some anthropologists believe the heads represent Olmec rulers who died. Others believe they were famous ball-players. The ball game was so popular that it eventually became part of the cultures of many later cultures across Mexico and Central America.

1. What is maize? In what form do you think the Olmec people ate it? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What term is used to describe people, like the Olmecs, that worshipped more than one god? What alternative word is used to describe the worship of a single god?

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Reading 2

The Chavin culture developed in and around the Andes Mountains of South America. While they are not considered a full civilization because they did not have writing, they were nevertheless very advanced in some ways. Like the Olmec, the Chavin settled both in large urban areas as well as scattered rural settlements. Their culture was spread across a very diverse geography. Some Chavin peoples lived along an arid seacoast, others high in the mountains. Still others lived in temperate jungles. The hallmark of Chavin culture was its vast system of trade. People in each of these regions exchanged goods in using very organized system of barter. The trade was carried on across the mountains through the use of a domesticated animal called a llama seen below. The staple of the Chavin diet was a grain called quinoa, as well as potatoes and corn, which they learned to grow from contact with the Olmecs. The Chavin also learned to metallurgy and, in turn, gave metal to the Olmecs.

1. What do the terms arid and temperate refer to?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Homework

Read pages 66-70 and answer the questions below.

1. What are two theories as to how humans first migrated to the Americas?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. In what regions did two of the hemisphere’s most impressive cultures develop?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What were the staples of the Mesoamerican diet?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What do the excavations at La Venta and Tres Zapotes reveal about Olmec society?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Describe Olmec religion.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________6. What do archaeologists believe the large stone head discovered among Olmec ruins were meant to represent?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What were the staples of the Chavin diet?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What role did Llamas play in Chavin culture?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Describe Chavin religion.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________

10. What evidence is there that trade existed between the Chavin and the Olmec?________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________