the cultures and civilizations of the “americas”

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The cultures The cultures and and civilizations civilizations of the of the “Americas” “Americas”

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The cultures and The cultures and civilizations of thecivilizations of the

“Americas” “Americas”

Where did the Native Where did the Native Americans come from?Americans come from?

Migrations from Asia ca. 30,000 – 15,000 yrs ago over Bering strait land bridge;

Isolated for at least 15,000 years!

Kingdoms and Kingdoms and & Empires of & Empires of the Americasthe Americas

Who was in Meso-America? (“Middle America”)

• OlmecOlmec• TeotihuacanTeotihuacan• MayaMaya• ToltecToltec• AztecAztec

OLMECOLMEC• 1500 -300 BCE; Gulf of

Mexico

• Carved enormous stone heads of volcanic rock

• Chief god - human-like with jaguar face

• urban centers; astronomy

• Kings, elite, merchants, laborers

• Hieroglyphics; calendar

• Corn, beans, squash, manioc

Former kings?

TeotihuacanTeotihuacan• Temples

• Quetzalcoatl

• Chinampas

• Apartment housing for commoners

• Obsidian tools

• Aristocratic govt

• Military protected long distance trade

• Decline – violence…

Pyramid of the Sun

Pyramid of the Moon

TeotihuacanTeotihuacan

MayaMaya

MAYAMAYA• Yucatan Peninsula

• City States; hereditary

• Swidden agriculture; no metal tools

• Complex religion - 3 layers (heavens, now and underworld); trances

• Elite, tatoos, human sacrifice (elite capt)

• Writing, ball playing (pok-a-tok), astronomy, • Calendar (365) math system (zero)

• Elite women – high; women important

• demise - war, drought, infighting

****Mayan math computation

Mayan Mayan CalendarCalendar

• first date is actually written 13.0.0.0.0.• three possible equivalences:• 13.0.0.0.0 = 13 Aug 3114 BCE (Gregorian)

13.0.0.0.0 = 11 Aug 3114 BCE (Gregorian)13.0.0.0.0 = 15 Oct 3374 BC (Gregorian)

• Assuming one of the first two equivalences, the Long Count will again reach 13.0.0.0.0 on 21 or 23 December AD 2012

• 13.0.0.0.0 may have been the Mayas' idea of the date of the creation of the world.

Ritual “divine” cycle calendarSolar “civil” calendar“long count” calendar

Maya / Aztec Calendar

Palenque

Mayan Temples

ToltecToltec• Transmitted Teotihuacan & Mayan

culture to the Aztecs

• Conquest state; military power

• Violent culture

• Rivalries

• Tula art -----

• Decline & invasion by the Aztecs

The Aztecs

AZTECAZTECSS

• Nomads; settled on islands • in Lake Texcoco• Adopted agriculture; gradually grew

into an independent power, then empire• Capital city - Tenochtitlan – • Ruler chosen by nobility• War – religious significance (of course)

– legitimized the ruler• War also increased holdings of nobles• War to get captives for human sacrifice

• Society - hierarchy with Aztec ruler & nobility at top & slaves/criminals/debtors at bottom; women had rights

• Tremendous inequalities - nobility vs commoners

• Elaborate ritual; Huitzilopochtli; war/sun • Human sacrifice• Political tribute system; pd in food; goods• Economic: chinampas; barter• Dike in lake: salt/fresh water

Who was in Meso-America? (“Middle America”)

• OlmecOlmec• TeotihuacanTeotihuacan• MayaMaya• ToltecToltec• AztecAztec

• Pyramids of Tenochtitlán

Huitzilopochtligod of war & sun

needed needed human human heartshearts

TlalocGod of Rain

Quetzalcoatlgod of wind &

knowledge

Canoe moving about the

chinampas

Aztec Society in Transition

• Increasingly hierarchical

• Conflict between nobles and growing “middle”

• Violence

• Discontent tribute tribes; sacrifice!

• Empire under Montezuma II conquered by Spaniards (Cortes)

Montezuma II Cortes

Andean Andean SocietiesSocieties

environmentalchallenges…

Moche

Andean CulturesAndean Cultures• Background:

• Early – small coastal & foothills villages

• by 2600 BCE cf - Old Kingdom Egypt

ChavinChavin (900-250 BCE)

• Trade routes; controlled; linked regions

• Maize <----> quinoa, potatoes, llamas

• Adobe & stone; 1st metals; jaguar-man

• Social stratification: priests, elite, etc.

Technologies to meet the needs

• Environmental challenges:

• Altitude

• Frosts

• Arid / drought

• Only llamas!

• Compensations:

• Calendar

• New varieties potatoes & grains

• Terraced farming

• Freeze-dried vegetables & meat

• Llama & alpaca wool

Andean cultureAndean culture• Khipus

• Ayllu

• Hereditary aristocracy & kings

• Mit’a

• Coca (not cacao)

• Colonists

khipus

MocheMoche• Ca. 600 CE

• Maize, quinoa, beans, manioc, sweet potatoes

• Irrigation, canals, aqueducts

• Alpacas & llamas

• Textiles

• Stratified society; theocratic

• Women weavers

Moche ceramic

sculpture

The IncaThe Inca

INCAINCA• huge empire & strong central gov’t

• extending length of South America

• Large professional military

• Built paved roads & suspension bridges - used running messengers; quipus

• Pastoralists; men and women

• Capital Cuzco; sun god; royal family

• Local rulers/chiefdoms; control by hostage taking

Inca terraces; Machu Picchu

Machu Pichu

suspension bridge

Northern PeoplesSouthwestern desert

• Aztec influence incl. maize, squash, beans

• Hohokam irrigation canals

• Anasazi – kivas; cliff dwellings & canyon “appts”, pottery, weaving

• Chaco canyon; Mesa Verde

Anasazi cliff dwellings

Mississippian culture• Oldest mounds – 3000’s BCE• “mound-builders”• Chiefdoms• “Hopewell” cultures• Towns – central plaza surrounded by

mounds; burial mounds, temple mounds• Social stratification; trade• (not accepted as product of the Native

Americans until late 1800’s!)

How Mississippian towns might have looked

Cahokia mounds city; Illinois

Had more inhabitants than Paris at that time (1150)

Etowah Indian Mound