The Americas American civilizations before “encounter” or “conquest”

Early Settlements 40,000 to 10,000 BCE The Bering Land Bridge (Ice Age) Diet: pumpkin, corn, grain, etc. A diverse climate: hunting and farming, depending on climate. Social structures, alliances, and warfare Population Common characteristics: elders, shaman, priests- warriors- alliances and inter-tribal warfare

Population 90 million to 120 million people in Americas before the Europeans 30 million a piece for the Aztecs and Incas

Norte Chico Peru, outside of Lima 3,000 BCE America’s first urban center Consisted of at least 25 cities Temple in Huaricanga (built between 3200 and 2500 BCE) around size of the 2 nd Pyramid at Giza Irrigation Civilization may have been abandoned for areas that were easier to farm.

Norte Chico

Chavin 900 BCE to 500 BCE-Peru Lack of written language Artisans: ceramics and weavings Agriculture and territorial expansion Polytheistic: jaguar deity Mastered cultivation of corn Used rivers to expand up into Mountains

Chavin

Nazca 300BCE-600CE and Moche 0-600CE Chile/ Bolivia/ Peru Nazca took over from Chavin Nazcas added more color to ceramics and textiles Examples of brain surgery! 55-60% success rate Put board on head of nobles to elongate their forhead Nasca Lines: only visible from air Probably religious w/ depiction of animals Rudimentary hot air balloon? Chile: Atacama Desert: mummified bodies

Nazca Lines

Nazca Brain Surgery/ Skulls

Olmec Gulf of Mexico (1500 BCE to 200 BCE) “Mother Culture” of Mesoamerica Gulf coast community Calendar system Cities for nobles/ Priests Writing system: hieroglyphics and stone carving Colossal heads

Olmec Colossal Heads

Teotihuacan 200BCE- 700 CE (contemporaneous with Roman Empire) Pyramid of the Sun ( 3 rd largest pyramid in the world) Famous for monumental architecture City of Teotihuacan= largest city in the Americas Nuhuatl- name: true name is unknown Terraced farming Temples of Sun, Moon, and Quetzalcoatl

Teotihuacan

Mayas

Incas

Capacocha Beautiful beyond exaggeration," is how one Spanish chronicler described Tanta Carhua. Carhua was a 10-year old Inca child whose father offered her to the Inca Emperor as a Capacocha sacrifice. She was taken by priests to Cuzco where she met the Inca Emperor, and on her return journey to the mountain where she would be sacrificed the procession passed through her home village. According to the legends, Tanta Carhua told the village: "You can finish with me now because I could not be more honoured than by the feasts which they celebrated for me in Cuzco." Tanta Carhua was then taken to a high Andean mountain, placed in a shaft-tomb and walled in alive. Chicha, a maize alcohol, was fed to her both before and after her death. And in death, this beautiful ten-year old child became a goddess, speaking to her people as an oracle from the mountain, which was reconsecrated in her name.

Tanta Carhua

Aztecs