EARLY SOCIETIES OF MESOAMERICA

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EARLY SOCIETIES OF MESOAMERICA
2
Possible Migration Routesindians are not only
asians

• Genetic Evidence
• DNA evidence indicates several different sources
  to Amerindian DNA
• Route 1 The Bering Land Bridge
• Asian migration across a land bridge from Asia
• Lower sea levels made this possible, probably
  route through glaciers
• Migration due to hunter-gatherers following game
• Route 2 Sea-based migration down coasts of
  Western Americas
• Strong evidence of Paleolithic sea-based
  migration in Asia
• Would explain how humans bypassed ice, barriers
• Currents would drive ancient sea-farers down
  coast
• Route 3 The Ancestors of the Polynesians
• Early humans settled Southeast Asia and Australia
  by boats and sea routes
• They island hopped across Pacific to South
  America
• Would account for older archaeological remains in
  South America
• Route 4 Sea-based Migration across North
  Atlantic
• Early humans from Europe followed islands, ice
  pack of ice shelf
• DNA in Great Lakes area indicates someone from
  Europe migrated to this region
• Route 5 Across the narrow passage from Africa to
  South America
• Would presuppose a sea-based migration

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Paleolithic Migrations To the Americas
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What Blood Types Tell Us

• B Allele
• Highest occurrence is in Central Asia
• Lowest in the Americas/Australia
• Relatively high frequency pockets in Africa
• B is the rarest ABO blood allele in Americas
• A Allele
• Highest found in small, unrelated populations in
  Americas
• Absent among Central/South American Indians.
• O Blood Type
• Very common around the world
• High in Indians of Central/South America (around
  100)
• Also relatively high among Australian Aborigines
• High in Europe (in populations with Celtic
  ancestors)
• Lowest frequency found in Eastern Europe, Central
  Asia
• Conclusion
• Diego Negative
• All Africans, Europeans, East Indians, Australian
  Aborigines, and Polynesians are Diego negative.
• Diego Positive
• The only populations with Diego positive people
  may be Native Americans (2-46) and East Asians
  (3-12).

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Waves of Migration

• Blood Groups
• Use Haplogroups
• Shows four waves
• Patterns
• First Wave
• c. 20-13,000 years ago
• Patagonians, Fuegians
• Pericu of Baja California
• Second Wave
• c. 12,000 years ago
• Amerindians
• Third Wave
• c. 10,000 years ago
• Na-Dene Amerinds
• Fourth Wave
• c. 6,000 years ago
• Aleut, Eskimo

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The First Americans

• Patagonians and Fuegians
• Lacked A, B, N Mitochondrial DNA common to
  Amerindians
• Clearly the first to arrive as they lacked DNA
  common to northerners
• Arrived between 13-20 thousand years ago
• Extensive DNA Study
• 1-2 different migration waves in peopling of
  southern South America.
• Three hunter-gatherer groups from Tierra del
  Fuego cluster together
• Mesa Verde, Chile
• Remains dated from 30,000 BCE to c. 12,000 BCE
• Indicates earlier arrival date that previously
  thought
• Suggests migration by canoe from SE Asia,
  Australia
• Land-living Ona (Selknam)
• Called Foot Indians split off from ancestral
  Patagonian group
• Gave rise to the Tehuelche Confined to Tierra
  del Fuego
• Walked around naked when Europeans discovered
  them
• Boat Oriented
• Yamana and Kawesgar
• Distant relatives who split off 6,000 years ago
• Use boat technology identical to oldest known to
  man

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The Na-Dene Amerindians

• Arrived 10,000 Years Ago
• Likely route was by sea-route and boats, the by
  foot
• Closest relatives are the Aleut and Inuit-Eskimo
• Groups tend to be clanish and clickish
• First settlements
• Settled in Taiga area of Alaska, Northwest
  America
• Athabaskan-Eyak Indians (Interior Regions)
• Haida and Tlingit Coastal Indians of Alaskas
  Panhandle
• Hunter-gatherer-fisher
• Natural Highways of Migration
• Yukon River
• Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake River Systems
• Later Migration
• Languages are clear indication of migration
• Aspects of languages are unique to Amerindians
• Clusters exist in Canada and United States
  distant from main areas
• Coastal Na-Dene of Pacific Northwest
• New Mexico and Texas
• Navaho (Pueblo Indians) of New Mexico, Arizona

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Largest Group Amerind

• Came From Asia
• Mitochondrial DNA indicates
• Likely Asian origin
• Two likely routes
• Down the West Coast of the Americas
• Across central regions of North America
• Creation myths
• Tell of a variety of originations of their
  respective peoples.
• Sometimes people were "always there
• Other times humans were created by gods or
  animals
• Some migrated from a specified compass point
• Others came from "across the ocean
• Geographic Distribution of Languages
• Indicates waves of migration
• Indicates clusters of similar, related settlers
  in a given area

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Amerindian Language Families
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The Last to Arrive

• Aleuts of Alaska
• Inuit (Eskimo) of Arctic
• Very close relatives exist in Arctic Asia
• DNA/Blood Types identical to North Asians
• Languages have close Asian relatives
• Arrived 6000 years ago
• Ice-Age had ended long ago
• Migratory Hunter-Gatherers
• Seasonal hunters of sea lion, whales, walrus
• Followed game across northern coasts
• Settled Arctic area all the way to Greenland
• Still today semi-nomadic
• Tended to inhabit coastal islands, tundra
• Stopped penetration at forests of north

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What about Europeans?

• The Solutrean Hypothesis
• Suggests an early Cro-Magnon migration into the
  America
• DNA Evidence exists
• Technological Remains
• Lack of certain archeological remains
• Stone tool technology of Solutreans in
  prehistoric Europe
• May have later influenced the development of the
  Clovis tool-making culture
• Clovis spear points found all throughout North
  America
• Strong similarities between Solutrean and Clovis
  toolmaking styles
• No predecessors of Clovis Technology in Eastern
  Asia, Siberia, or Berinigia
• Probable Migration
• Came From Ice Age Europe probably by boat like
  Eskino (Inuit) hunt
• By way of British Isles, Iceland, Greenland
  island hopping
• Which Amerindians?
• Paleo-Indians who produced the Clovis Point in
  North America
• Some Indians from Great Lakes have European
  mitochondrial DNA

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THE FACE OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
Inuit
Aleut
Incan
Fuegian
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EARLY PRE-HISTORY

• Migration to Mesoamerica
• Humans traveled from Siberia to Alaska, 40,000
  years ago
• Probably came in search of big game
• By 7000 B.C.E., reached southern-most part of
  South America
• As hunting became difficult, agriculture began,
  7500 B.C.E.
• Modern theorists question Bering Strait migration
  
• Early agriculture in Mesoamerica
• Valley of Mexico was first center of agriculture
• Beans, chili peppers, avocados, squashes, gourds
  cultivated
• By 5000 B.C.E., discovered potential of maize,
  the staple food
• Later, developed tomatoes
• Agricultural villages appeared after 3000 B.C.E.
• No large animals, no wheeled vehicles
• Ceremonial centers, by the end of the 2nd
  millennium B.C.E.

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Migration in Meso-America

• Migration
• A common them in legends, writings of
  Pre-Columbian Age
• Linguistic distributions clearly show migration
• In Mesoamerica
• Commoners required to migrate seasonally to labor
  on lands of
• Nobility, state, religious centers
• People exited from existing communities to
  establish new ones
• Quite common amongst tribes of both continents
• Major way new tribes were formed
• Dynastic Migration
• Ruling elites are said to have come from
  somewhere else
• They migrate, take over and assimilate into the
  society
• Migrations from town to town were common
• Often accompanied a change in status or wealth
• Rapid growth of cities
• Shows that numbers migrated from rural to urban
• Common in the Mayans
• Northern Mesoamerica semi-nomadic groups moved
  almost daily
• People captured in war were forced to migrate as
  captives

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The Linguistic Matrix
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THE OLMECS

• Olmecs The "rubber people"
• Earliest center, on the coast of Mexico Gulf,
  1200 B.C.E.
• The other two later centers La Venta and Tres
  Zapotes
• Olmec society
• Authoritarian in nature
• Colossal heads possibly rulers
• Power shown in pyramid construction
• Trade in jade and obsidian
• Decline and fall of Olmec society
• The cause remains a mystery
• Olmecs destroyed ceremonial centers
• Most likely, civil conflict ruined their society
• By 400 B.C.E., other societies eclipsed the
  Olmecs
• Influence of Olmec traditions
• Maize, ceremonial centers were common to later
  societies
• Other legacies Calendar, rituals of human
  sacrifice, ballgame
• Olmecs did not leave written records

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OLMEC ART
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TEOTIHUACAN

• The city of Teotihuacan
• Built in the highlands of Mexico
• Colossal pyramids of sun and moon dominated the
  skyline
• Between 400 and 600 C.E., the city had 200,000
  inhabitants
• Paintings and murals reflect the importance of
  priests
• Teotihuacan society
• Rulers and priests dominated society
• Two-thirds of inhabitants worked in fields
• Famous for obsidian tools, orange pottery
• Professional merchants traded widely
• No sign of military organization
• Cultural traditions
• Inherited Olmecs' culture
• Honored earth god, rain god
• Decline of Teotihuacan
• Military pressure from other peoples since 500
  C.E.
• Began to decline 650 C.E. Invaders sacked city,
  mid-8th century

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TEOTIHUACAN THE CITY
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Teotihuacan and Tula among the Maya

• Mayan Origins
• Original home southern Mexico, Yucatan, Central
  America
• Tikal 600-900 CE expanded from Belize into
  Yucatan, Mexico
• Evidence that a group, its ideas (Teotihuacan?)
  migrated into area to establish states
• Toltec Origins
• Several lineages such as Cocom, Xiu, Itza were
  called dzulob or foreigners
• Chronicles of Chilam Balam kept by villages
  indicate this origin
• Founders had special knowledge that gave them
  right to establish a state
• Many leaders recorded in Mayan records for 700
  years but had Nahua names
• Popul Vu and Chronicles of Cakchiquels
• Show migration as common in region and in
  founding of cities in area
• Indicate Nahua or Tolan connections
• Teotihuacan Influences
• Use of aspects of Teotihuacan writing and
  phraseology suddenly appear in Mayan
• In 378 CE in Mayan Long Count, Tikal conquered
  Uaxacatun
• A stella erected to commemorate the event its
  iconography is from Teotihuacan
• After that the iconography occurs in other Mayan
  stella
• Chichen Itza
• Early founders are clearly Toltec

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EARLY GEOGRAPHY
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The Mayans
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THE MAYA

• The Maya
• Earliest heir of the Olmecs, lived in highlands
  of Guatemala
• Kaminaljuyú, a ceremonial center, but not a
  full-fledged city
• Teotihuacan became dominant during the 4th
  century C.E.
• After the 4th century, society flourished in
  lowlands
• Besides maize, also cultivated cotton and cacao
• Tikal
• Most important Maya political center, 300 to 900
  C.E.
• A bustling city of 40,000 people
• Enormous plazas, scores of temples, pyramids,
  palaces
• Maya warfare
• Victorious warriors won enormous prestige
• War captives became slaves or sacrificial victims
  to gods
• Chichén Itzá
• Rose as a power by the 9th century
• Organized a loose empire in the northern Yucatan
• Maya decline
• Began in 800 C.E., the Mayas (except in Chichén
  Itzá) deserted their cities
• Causes of decline remain unclear

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MAYAN SOCIETY

• Maya society
• Kings, priests, and hereditary nobility at the
  top
• Merchants were from the ruling class, served also
  as ambassadors
• Professional architects and artisans were
  important
• Peasants and slaves were majority of population
• The Maya calendar
• Maya priests understood planetary cycles and
  could predict eclipses
• Besides the solar year, also had a ritual year of
  260 days and 20 months
• Combined attributes of two calendars determined
  the fortune of activities
• Maya writing
• Contained both ideographic elements and symbols
  for syllables
• Maya scribes used writing extensively
• Only four books survived the destruction by
  Spanish conquerors
• The Maya ballgame
• Played by two individuals or two teams
• Very popular, every ceremonial center had
  stone-paved courts

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MAYAN RELIGION

• Religious thought
• Popol Vuh, a Maya creation myth
• Gods created humans out of maize and water
• Gods maintained agricultural cycles
• Gods placated
• Exchanged for honors and sacrifices
• Priests interpreted calendars
• Bloodletting rituals
• Most important rituals, to honor the gods for
  rains
• Sacrificing captives let to many wars for victims
  
• Also voluntary bloodshedding

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MAYAN TRADEMayan Weaving
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EARLY Migrations in Central Mexico

• c. 800 Chichimeca and Nonoalca
• Migrated into valley may have sacked Teotihuacan
• Created Tulan Empire, a militaristic state
• After fall of Tula, Tolteca people became
  migratory
• 987 CE conquer or found Maya city of Chichen Itza
• Chichimecs were nomadic wanders in Central Mexico
• Tolteca and Chichimeca became progenitors of
  later royal dynasties
• Quetzalcoatl was a prince of Tula, perhaps a god
  worshipped by Toltecs
• Either the hero was deified or the gods worship
  spread
• It spread throughout Mesoamerica including the
  Maya as Kukulcan
• Michoacan
• Tarascan monarchy looked back to Chichimeca
• They had settled among the lake dwellers
• The Michoaque or Tarascans are linked with the
  Nahua and Otomi
• Toltec ancestry different from Chichimec

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TOLTECS AND TULA

• Toltecs
• Collapse of Teotihuacan in central Mexico, 9th to
  10th century
• Toltecs migrated to central Mexico about the 8th
  century
• Established large state, powerful army from
  mid-10th to 12th century
• Tula
• Capital city of Toltecs
• Center of weaving, pottery, obsidian work
• Close relations with societies of coast, Yucatan
• Toltec decline
• Civil strife at Tula, beginning in 1125
• Nomadic incursion of 1175
• End of 12th c., no longer powerful
• Quetzalcoatl
• Originally a human prince of Tula, dedicated to
  his people
• Tricked, driven from power
• Gradually became a hero, god in struggle with
  evil deities

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The Mythical Migration of Roots

• Aztecs or Mexica
• Migration of the Aztecs from the north towards
  Mexico valley
• Began c. 1000 CE reached Central Valley c. 1250
  CE
• Glorifying their Chichimec ancestry
• The Aztec rulers chose a member of the Colhua
  royal family, Acamapichtli
• He became their first emperor (tlatoani) after
  the foundation of Tenochtitlan
• The Aztecs
• Circular Migration
• Sometimes it starts in Basin of Mexico at
  Colhuacan
• Means the Place of the Owners of Grandfathers
• Often disguised as Teo- (true) Colhuacan
• Aztlan
• Situated on an island in a lake like Lake Texcoco
• Duran, Spanish Chronicler records Mexica account
• Moteuczoma sent envoys to locate Chicomoztoc,
  Colhuacan
• His accounts indicate a primitive, idyllic
  version of Tenochtitlan
• Account indicates Aztecs could not go back after
  fall from grace

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EARLY AZTECS

• The Mexica
• Known as Aztecs, arrived in central Mexico about
  mid-13th century
• Tough people, wandering, fighting for century in
  central Mexico
• Settled at Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City)
  about 1345
• Plentiful food supplies and chinampas by Lake
  Texcoco
• The Aztec empire
• Military campaigns against neighboring societies,
  mid-15th century
• Conquered and colonized Oaxaco in southwestern
  Mexico
• Made alliance with Texcoco and Tlacopan
• Empire ruled 12 million people and most of
  Mesoamerica
• Tribute and trade
• Tribute obligations were very oppressive
• Empire had no bureaucracy or administration
• Allies did not have standing army
• Tribute from 489 subject territories
• Tribute flowed into Tenochtitlan

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AZTEC WORLD
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MEXICA SOCIETY

• Warriors
• Military elite at top of rigid social hierarchy
• Mostly from the Mexica aristocracy
• Enjoyed great wealth, honor, and privileges
• Mexica women
• No public role, but enjoyed high honor as mothers
  of warriors
• Honor of bearing children was equal to that of
  capturing enemies in battle
• Priests
• Ranked among the Mexica elite specialized in
  calendrical and ritual lore
• Advisers to Mexica rulers, occasionally, became
  supreme rulers themselves
• Cultivators and slaves
• Cultivators worked on chinampas (small plots of
  reclaimed land)
• Often worked on aristocrats land
• Paid tribute and provided labor service for
  public works
• Large number of slaves, worked as domestic
  servants
• Craftsmen and merchants
• Skilled craftsmen enjoyed some prestige
• Tenuous position of merchants
• Supplied exotic goods and military intelligence

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MEXICA RELIGION

• Mexica gods
• Tezcatlipoca giver/taker of life, patron deity
  of warriors
• Quetzalcóatl supporter of arts, crafts, and
  agriculture
• Ritual bloodletting common to all Mesoamericans
• Huitzilopochtli the war god
• Human sacrifice encouraged by devotion to
  Huitzilopochtli
• Large temple at the center of Tenochtitlan
• Hundreds of thousands sacrificed to this war god
• Rivalry between Huitzilpochtli, Quetzalcoatl
• Quetzalcoatl protector of humans
• Tricked by some gods, fall from grace
• Driven into exile with promise to return

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Caribbean Migrations

• The Saladoids
• Migrated c. 6000 BCE to islands
• Known by the style of the pottery they made
• Ancestors of the Taino
• Arawak and Carib Indians
• Arawak
• Migrated from north coast of South America c.
  1000 CE
• Settled the islands of the Caribbean
• Largely peaceful, traded with other islands,
  mainland
• Carib
• Originated in the Orinoco Area
• Language indicate they migrated from interior of
  Brazil
• Master boat builders, sailors
• Traded goods for gold, silver of mainland
• Very warlike and aggressive

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EARLY ANDEAN SOCIETY

• Geography
• Impacted north-south movement and communication
• Created micro-cultures small cultures isolated
  within region
• Early migration
• By 12,000 B.C.E. hunter-gathers reached South
  America
• By 8000 B.C.E. began to experiment with
  agriculture
• Complex societies appeared in central Andean
  region 1000 B.C.E.
• Andean societies located in modern day Peru and
  Bolivia
• Early agriculture in South America
• Main crops beans, peanuts, sweet potatoes,
  cotton
• Fishing supplemented agricultural harvests
• By 1800 B.C.E., produced pottery,
• Temples and pyramids appeared

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CHAVIN AND MOCHE

• The Chavín Cult
• Very popular around 900 to 800 B.C.E.
• Vanished completely by about 300 B.C.E.
• Cult was probably related to introduction of
  maize
• Cult left large temple complexes and elaborate
  art works
• Complexity of Andean society
• Techniques of producing cotton textiles and
  fishing nets
• Discovered gold, silver, and copper metallurgy
• Cities began to appear shortly after Chavíncult
• Early Andeans did not make use of writing
• Mochica (300-700 C.E.)
• One of several early Andean states, located in
  northern Peru
• Mochica ceramics lives of different social
  classes
• Mochica did not integrate the whole Andean region

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ANDEAN GEOGRAPHY
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COMING OF THE INCA

• After Chavin and Moche
• Several regional states dominated Andean South
  America
• All built upon previous accomplishments,
  civilizations
• Chucuito
• Chucuito dominated highlands around Lake Titicaca
  
• Cultivation of potatoes, herding llamas and
  alpacas
• Traded with lower valleys, chewed coca leaves
• Chimu
• Powerful kingdom in lowlands of Peru
• Arose prior to mid-15th century
• Extensive Irrigation networks
• Cultivation of maize and sweet potatoes
• Capital city at Chanchan, massive brick buildings

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THE INCA

• The Inca empire
• Settled first around Lake Titicaca among other
  peoples
• Ruler Pachacuti launched campaigns against
  neighbors, 1438
• Built a huge empire stretching 4000 kilometers
  from north to south
• Ruled the empire with military and administrative
  elite
• Inca bureaucrats relied on quipu
• Mnemonic aid made of an array of small cords to
  keep track of information
• Cuzco and Machu Picchu
• Capital of the Inca had 300,000 people in the
  late 15th century
• Machu Picchu hidden in mountain, jungles last
  retreat of Inca
• Inca roads
• Two major roads linked the south and north
• Runners carried messages across empire
• Paved with stone, shaded by trees
• Supported centralized government, facilitated
  spread of Quechua

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INCA MAP
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INCA SOCIETY

• Trade
• No large merchant class
• Incas bartered agricultural surplus locally
• Not much specialization
• The chief ruler
• Chief ruler was viewed as descended from the sun
• In theory, the god-king owned everything on earth
  
• After death, mummified rulers became
  intermediaries with gods
• Aristocrats and priests
• Aristocrats enjoyed fine food, embroidered
  clothes, and wore ear spools
• Priests led celibate and ascetic lives, very
  influential figures
• Peasants
• Delivered portion of their products to
  bureaucrats
• Besides supporting ruling classes, revenue also
  used for famine relief
• Provided heavy labor (mita) for public works
• Society ruled as a socialist type centralized
  state

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INCA RELIGION

• Inca gods Inti and Viracocha
• Venerated sun god called Inti
• Considered other natural forces divine
• Also honored the creator god, Viracocha
• Sacrifices of animals, agricultural products, not
  humans
• Moral thought
• Concept of sin
• Violation of established order
• Concept of after-death
• Punishment and reward
• Rituals of absolving sins
• Through confession, penance

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The Inca

• Emergence, c. 1200 CE
• Emerged in the area of Cuzco
• Originated as city-state, small population
• Wide-ranging Expansion, 1438 CE
• Significance of Conquest, Expansion
• Each Inca had to conquer land, goods
• Booty became treasury for mortuary temple
• No conquest, no treasure, lousy temple to gods
• Movements
• Transportation
• Empire was linked by roads and royal runners
• Roads used to transport goods to and from
  capital, store houses
• Social Movement
• Local nobles educated in capital and returned to
  lands to rule
• Local nobles sent tribute to Incas capital
• Labor Movement
• Mita each village owed specific number of
  laborers, days to Inca
• Workers moved to work on projects for the Inca
• Mita also provided soldiers to the Incas armies
  to expand the state

44
Ayllu Mitmaq as Colonies

• Ayllu
• All Inca divided into social groups
• Kinship groups spread across geography
• Each Ayllu
• Claimed land at different elevations
• This insured a variety of produce
• Grazing land within ayllu held in common
• Farming land given to families based on size
• Conquered peoples had their own ayllus similarly
  structured
• Mitmaq
• Inca colonies
• Each ayllu contributed people
• Relocated to new territories
• Each new mitmaq required to bring lands under
  cultivation
• Each mitmaq served as a garrison to control new
  lands
• Each mitmaq spoke Quechua, Amyara, the Incan
  languages

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Quechua Shows Colonization
46
INDIGENOUSAMERICANCULTURALREGIONS
47
SOCIETIES OF THE NORTH

• Pueblo and Navajo societies
• Two large settled societies in the contemporary
  American southwest
• By about 700 C.E., began to build stone and adobe
  buildings
• Iroquois peoples
• Agricultural society in the woodlands east of the
  Mississippi River
• Five Iroquois nations emerged from Swasco
  society, 1400 C.E.
• Women were in charge of Iroquois villages and
  longhouses
• Mound-building peoples
• Built earthen mounds throughout eastern North
  America
• Mounds used for ceremonies, rituals, dwelling,
  burial sites
• Showed influence of contacts with Mesoamericans,
  Mayans
• Cahokia
• The largest mound at Cahokia, Illinois
• 15-38,000 people lived in Cahokia society, c.
  12th century
• Burial sites reveal existence of social classes
  and trade

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American Southwest

• The Anasazi
• Nomadic Hunter Gathers became Sedentary farmers
• Semi-permanent farming villages later arose with
  extensive trade
• Settlements linked by extensive pedestrian roads
  like Inca roads
• Original trade goods were surplus foods
• Area lacks trees, metals, etc. for which Anasazi
  traded food, finished goods
• Trade goods from the Great Basin, North Mexico,
  Pacific, Mississippi area
• Many trade goods (copper, feathers) from Central
  Mexico
• Mined turquoise for trade to Mesoamerica
• 300 Year Great Drought c. 1200 forced abandonment
  of towns
• Semi-sedentary, farming an area for 30 years and
  migrating to new site
• Environmental stress could have weakened
  civilization
• Area had thin soil, little water so overfarming
  relatively easy
• Internal conflict, invasion by new nomads likely
  cause of migration
• Descendents
• Likely Descendents Hopi, Navajo, Zuni
• Pueblo Indians have similar building techniques,
  farming, pottery
• They also had trade contacts with Mesoamerica

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The Anasazi MovementArchaeology andSpace
Age Technology have revealed an extensive
network of roads
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GEOGRAPHIC MAP