A Separate World MesoAmerica

Interaction…??? Egypt & Mesopotamia Persia & Greece The Silk Road The Americas had little to no interaction with the outside world or each other. Civilizations occurred without extensive domestication of animals or iron working technologies. (Aztec and Incan civilizations will be addressed later in our studies.)

Classical Maya – thriving, cultural society Traced civilization to 2000 BCE in present day Guatemala and the Yucatan region of Mexico. Creation of writing system – pictographs and phonetic. Sophisticated agriculture Most notable achievements = 250-900 CE Mathematics – concept of “zero” Constructed elaborate calendars to accurately calculate the length of a solar year.

Political Unit = Tikal

Decline of the Maya Neither foreign invasion nor internal rebellion Historical collapse was incredibly rapid and complete. Drought in 840CE Famine Epidemic Warfare The great cities were deserted = 909CE

Teotihuacan – America’s greatest city http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGZ4AwqUQWE City was begun ca. 150 b.c.e. By 550 c.e., population was 100,000–200,000 City was centrally planned on a gridlike pattern Mysterious collapse ca. 650 c.e.

Civilizations of the Andes Central Peruvian coast was home to one of the First Civilizations: Norte Chico 3000 BCE (long before the Incas) Classical period – 1000BCE-1000CE Chavín: A Pan-Andean Religious Movement 900 b.c.e., Chavín de Huántar became focus of a religious movement-deities: jaguars, crocodiles, and snakes. Chavín de Huántar was well located along trade routes Probably used hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus Faded by 200 b.c.e.

Moche: A Regional Andean Civilization flourished between about 100 and 800 c.e. along 250 miles of Peru’s north coast agriculture based on complex irrigation system ecological disruption in sixth century c.e. undermined the civilization many other civilizations grew up in the Andes (Nazca, Huari, Chimu)

From Chaco to Cahokia “Semi-sedentary” peoples were established in the eastern woodlands of North America, Central America, the Caribbean islands, and the Amazon basin. The Ancestral Pueblo: development of larger settlements (pueblos) most spectacular was in Chaco canyon largest “great house” or town (Pueblo Bonito) was five stories high with over 600 rooms hundreds of roads radiated out from Chaco Chaco was a center for turquoise production warfare / drought after 1130 great houses abandoned by 1200

Pueblos

The Mound Builders Mississippi river valley Hopewell: large burial mounds and geometric earthworks Cahokia (near present-day St. Louis, MO) flourished between 900 and 1250 c.e. introduction of maize agriculture allowed larger population central mound: terraced pyramid of four levels

Cahokia Mounds