Mesoamerican Civilizations

1
Mesoamerican Civilizations

• Chronology
• Early Excavations
• Predominant Cultures

2
Early Excavations

• Matthew Williams Stirling (1896-1975)
• In 1938, Stirling made an expedition to southern
  Mexico to excavate Olmec artifacts. After
  discovering colossal heads and taking pictures of
  them he sent the photos to the National
  Geographic Society.
• Later he was advised to apply for grants from the
  NGS which he received and was supported by the
  NGS and the Smithsonian Institution between 1938
  and 1946.

http//www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/
pqrst/stirling_matthew.html
3
Early Excavations cond

• Dr. Alfonso Caso, a Mexican archaeologist, led
  one of the first explorations and restorations of
  this archaeological zone.
• His project, completed in 18 stages, began in
  1931 and finished in 1953.
• Based on studies of the architecture of the
  buildings, tombs, ceramics, and jewelry, he
  determined that the history of Monte Alban could
  be divided into distinct epochs based on social
  organization, population density, and exchange
  systems. In this manner he established 5 epochs
  designated as Monte Alban I, II, III, IV and V

http//www.mexonline.com/oaxaca/oxarc101.htm
4
Marshall Saville

• Marshall Saville, the first Curator of Mexican
  and Central American Archaeology at the AMNH
  (1894-1907).
• He used the relatively new technology of the
  camera to great effect in documenting his
  excavations.

http//archaeology.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.ht
m?zi1/XJsdnarchaeologyzuhttp3A2F2Fanthro.a
mnh.org2Fanthropology2Fresearch2Farchaeo.htm
5
Sonora, Mexico

• The Sonora-Sinaloa Archaeological Survey Project
  directed by Gordon F. Ekholm (1937-1940).

http//archaeology.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.ht
m?zi1/XJsdnarchaeologyzuhttp3A2F2Fanthro.a
mnh.org2Fanthropology2Fresearch2Farchaeo.htm
6
Linda Schele

• Linda Schele was a Mesoamerican scholar who died
  in 1998.
• She is best know for her work on translations of
  Maya hieroglyphs and has written several great
  books which include "Maya Glyphs The Verbs"
  (Schele 1982), the "Palenque Bodega" book (Schele
  and Mathews 1979), "The Blood of Kings" (Schele
  and Miller 1986), "A Forest of Kings" (Schele and
  Freidel 1990), "Maya Cosmos" (Freidel, Schele,
  and Parker 1993), and "The Code of Kings" (Schele
  and Mathews 1998).

http//www.famsi.org/research/schele/
7
Mesoamerican Chronology

• Contact ca. AD 1500
• Late Post-Classic Period AD 1200-1500
• Early Post-Classic Period AD 900-1200
• -------
• Late Classic Period AD 600-900
• Early Classic Period (Mexico AD 150-650/Maya AD
  250-600)
• -------
• Late Formative (Pre-Classic) Period 300 BC - AD
  300
• Middle Formative (Pre-Classic) Period 900-300 BC
• Early Formative (Pre-Classic) Period
  1500/1800-900 BC
• -------
• Archaic (Incipient Farming) Period 7000 - 2000
  BC
• -------
• Early Hunters 11,000 - 7,000 BC

8
Early Hunters

• Hunter-Gatherers
• Mobile
• Small groups
• Pre-ceramic, pre-writing

9
Archaic

• Early hunter-gatherers transitioning to
  horticulture.
• Beginning sedentism
• Pottery begins late

10
Pre-Classic (Formative)

• Nation States
• Development of cities
• Olmec
• Also Zapotec and early Maya (Late Formative)

11
Olmec

• 1939 Matthew Stirling was sent by the Smithsonian
  and National Geographic to investigate giant
  stone carvings.
• Olmec lived in this area between 1500 B.C. and
  100 A.D.

12
Olmec Area
13
Colossal Heads
14
Characteristic Traits

• Building of clay pyramids and temple mounds
• Particular sculptural style
• weeping or snarling jaguar/human infant
• were-jaguar
• colossal heads
• basalt monuments
• Fine jade carving
• Basic Mesoamerican civilization
• Artifacts with Olmec traits found in preclassic
  horizons throughout Mesoamerica.
• Cult of the Jaguar considered a basic Olmec
  trait.

15
Classic

• Teotihuacan grows to a metropolis and its empire
  dominates Mesoamerica.
• The greatest era of the cities of the Maya
  southern lowlands, such as Tikal, Palenque, and
  Copán.
• The Classic Era ended earlier in Central Mexico,
  with the fall of Teotihuacan around the 7th
  century, than it did in the Maya area, which
  continued for centuries more.
• The late period of continued Maya development is
  sometimes known as the Florescent Era.

16
Teotihuacan

• Size and Construction
• At its height, around 125,000 people and covering
  22 sq kilometers.
• More ceremonial centers than any other
  prehispanic site.
• Planned and laid out along a rectilinear network
  of roads and paths.
• Avenue of the Dead-major north to south axis.
• East and West Avenues divided the city into
  quadrants.
• The citadel was at their center.
• In front of this was the great compound.

17
Temples and Pyramids

• Constructed with Talud-tablero architecture
• cut stone facing
• Framed panels (tablero)
• sloping basal elements (talud)
• 5000 known structures.
• Pyramid of the Sun
• 212 ft high, 700 ft wide, 35,000,000 cu ft of
  fill (equivalent to 10 modern oil tankers).
• cave located underneath with sacred objects in
  it.
• Pyramid of the Moon
• located at the north end of the avenue of the
  dead.
• Temple of the Feathered Serpent (at the Citadel)
• Residential structures
• apartment compounds

18
Pyramid of the Sun
19
Maya

• Slow, gradual change.
• Did not develop overnight.
• Due to several factors resource concentration,
  population growth, beginnings of cultural
  variability, development of ideologies, migration
  of ideas from other cultures
• Small Kingdoms, No centralized state.
• succession of regional centers
• not really dominant over neighbors
• Productive agriculture

20
Mayan Regions
21
Palenque
22
Uaxactun
23
Tikal
24
Floating Gardens-Chinampas
25
The Mesoamerican Ballgame

• Called tlachtli by the Aztecs, game played with
  hard rubber ball.
• Spanish document stone rings as goals, but those
  dating before 700 A.D. do not have them.
• Typically i-shaped courts, balls weighing up to 5
  pounds.
• ball had to be kept in motion
• could not be hit with hands or feet
• associated with fertility, death, militarism and
  sacrifice.
• sacrifice of defeated team members documented in
  late accounts.

26
Ballcourt
27
Calendar System

• Calender Round
• basic unit was a day, not broken down further.
• two recurring cycles of time 260-day and 365-day
  ran simultaneously making up a period of 52
  years.
• 260-day cycle (MayaTzokin, AztecTonalpohualli)
• primarily religious and divinatory
• guidance of daily affairs
• 20 named days, combined with numbers 1-13, in
  which the exact combination of name and number
  would recur every 260 days.
• not based on natural phenomenon.
• 365-day cycle (MayaHaab, AztecXihuitl)
• 18 named months of 20 days each, plus 5
  additional days of apprehension and bad luck at
  the end of the year.
• Days numbered from 0-19, and to return to any
  given date, 52 years would have to pass.
• Prophesy that this world will end in 2012.

28
Collapse of the Maya

• Circa A.D. 800-900
• Monumental architecture ends
• Depopulation of large centers
• Theories
• Drought
• Warfare

29
Post-Classic

• Collapse of many of the great nations and cities
  of the Classic Era, although some continue, such
  as in Oaxaca, Cholula, and the Maya of Yucatán,
  such as at Chichen Itza and Uxmal.
• This is sometimes seen as a period of increased
  chaos and warfare.
• The Toltec for a time dominate central Mexico in
  the 11th - 13th century, then collapse.
• The northern Maya are for a time united under
  Mayapan.
• The Aztec Empire rises in the 14th century and
  seems on the path to asserting a dominance over
  the whole region not seen since Teotihuacan, when
  Mesoamerica is discovered by Spain and conquered
  by the Conquistadors.

30
Toltec
31
Atlantids from Tula Grande
32
The Aztec

• From A.D. 1200 to A.D. 1370 the Basin of Mexico
  was occupied by various central Mexican peoples.
• Chichimec people settled in the area from the
  North and gradually overcame the people living
  there at that time.
• primarily due to Xolotl, who ruled a somewhat
  barbaric horde.
• Technically squatted in the area of Tenochtitlan
  and were know as the Mixeca but today Aztecs is
  more common.

33
Basin of Mexico
34
Tenochtitlan
35
Spanish Arrival Cortes

• Spanish arrive in A.D. 1519 at Vera Cruz.
• March inland to Tenochtitlan
• Received by Moctezuma II, who was then held
  captive by Cortes and his men.
• Moctezuma II dies, replaced by nephew (dies
  almost immediately from small pox), replaced by
  another nephew Cuahtemoc.
• Cuahtemoc is forced to surrender in AD 1521.