Olmec, Toltec, Moche & Nazca

The Ice Age  From around 100,000 BC to around 8,000 BC thick ice sheets covered parts of Europe, Asia, and North America

The Ice Age

After the people spread out …  The Olmec 1,400 – 400 BC  The Moche 200 – 750 AD  The Nazca 250 – 750 AD  The Toltec 900 – 1,100 AD

Olmec  The Olmec people lived in Central America, covering a vast area.

Olmec  They settled mostly around the Coatzacoalcos River system  They were excellent farmers, having domesticated maize, beans, squash, sweet potato, avocado, cacao, sunflower & cotton.  They also ate of the abundant fish, turtles, snakes, mollusks, birds, peccary, opossums, raccoons, rabbits & deer. Dog was the most plentiful protein source!

Olmec  The Olmec were known for their intellectual developments. They were the first to develop the concept of zero. They invented the first writing system in the Americas. They extracted latex from the rubber tree. They took part in long-distance trade. They developed sophisticated mathematics and calendar systems.

Olmec Art  The Olmec people were excellent potters, stone workers and carvers. Notice the details in the face, and the overall realism of this figure.

Olmec Art  The Olmec people were excellent potters, stone workers and carvers. The elongated skulls were a symbol of the upper classes, and were achieved by reshaping the skulls of infants.

Olmec Art  The Olmec people were excellent potters, stone workers and carvers. This carved stone shows the serpent god above an Olmec king.

Olmec Art  The Olmec people were excellent potters, stone workers and carvers. This shows another stone carving of an Olmec king.

Olmec Art  The Olmec people were excellent potters, stone workers and carvers. This illustration shows numbers on a monument, showing the Olmec numbering system.

Olmec Art  The Olmec people were excellent potters, stone workers and carvers. This is a mask carved from a solid piece of Jade. The Olmec jade source, long a mystery, has recently been located in Guatemala.

Olmec Art  The most famous works of Olmec art are the giant stone heads. So far, 17 heads, depicting Olmec kings, have been found.  These heads are up to 15 feet tall.

Nazca

 Little is known about the Nazca people.  The Nazca were excellent potters and weavers.  The dry climate has preserved their work for hundreds of years.

Nazca The pottery is smooth with baked on colors and illustrations

Nazca This pottery figure shows a total solar eclipse!

Nazca The woven pieces show spirits and gods.

 The dry climate also preserved the bodies of their dead. Nazca

 The Nazca also built pyramid structures.

 The Nazca are best known, however, for the markings on the floor of the desert.  These markings, intersecting lines, pictures, and geometric shapes are sometimes miles long, and are only visible from the air.  The drawings can be up to 1000 feet long. Nazca

Moche  Further north in Peru, the Moche lived at roughly the same time as the Nazca.  The Moche were known for their metal work, pottery, and ritual sacrifices.

Moche The Moche also built pyramids

Moche This shows a moche living quarters, and a burial chamber

Moche This shows an intact burial excavated at a Moche site.

Moche This is a pottery duck drinking flask

Moche The Moche made detailed realistic images of their kings

Moche The Moche made detailed realistic images of their kings

Moche The Moche made detailed realistic images of their kings

Moche These are musical instruments, a trumpet and a flute.

Moche The Moche made frightening masks of their gods

Moche They also crafted fine jewelry of copper, silver and gold.

Moche These were inlaid gold ear ornaments.

Moche A ceremonial silver and gold mask.

Moche A gold ornament showing a god performing a ritual beheading.

Toltec  Much later, and further north, the Toltec people were inhabiting central Mexico.  The Toltec were also master builders, and built cities rivaling any in Europe.

Toltec  The Toltec ceremonial capital, Teotihuacan, and the cities of Kukulkan and Tula, were population and cultural centers of the Toltec civilization.

Toltec  Tula is known for the warrior columns.

Toltec  Tula is known for the warrior columns.

Toltec  Tula is known for the warrior columns.

Toltec  Teotihuacan is a city that was the 6 th largest in the world in around 500 AD  It had a population of around 120,000 to 200,000 people.

Toltec Teotihuacan was built along the 2 mile long “Avenue of the Dead.” It was anchored by the Pyramid of the Moon and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, and flanked by the gigantic Pyramid of the Sun.

Tour of Teotihuacan

Toltec Overhead view of Teotihuacan

Toltec The Temple of Quetzelcoatl

Toltec The Temple of Quetzelcoatl

Toltec The Temple of Quetzelcoatl

Toltec The Pyramid of the Moon

Toltec The Pyramid of the Moon

Toltec  The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest in the Americas.  It is 738 by 738 feet at the base and stands 207 feet tall.

Toltec The Pyramid of the Sun

Toltec Teotihuacan -- Temple of the Sun

Later …  After these civilizations declined, we will learn about the rise of the Maya, Inca and Aztec civilizations.