1. A Separate World MesoAmerica

2. 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.)

3. 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 = CE
Mathematics – concept of “zero”
Constructed elaborate calendars to accurately calculate the length of a solar year.

6. Political Unit = Tikal

7. 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

8. Teotihuacan – America’s greatest city
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.

9. Civilizations of the Andes
Central Peruvian coast was home to one of the First Civilizations: Norte Chico 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.

10. 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)

11. 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

12. Pueblos

13. 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

14. Cahokia Mounds