1. Arrival Theories Maya, Aztec, and Inca Civilizations

2. How did people get to North America?
Pangea
The theory that all the continents on Earth were connected to each other
They separated as the Earth’s plates shifted.

3. Arrival Theories Land Bridge During the Ice Age, glaciers formed
Glaciers sucked up the water from the oceans
The water level decreased and revealed land between Russia and Alaska
People followed animals over the Land Bridge
When the Ice Age was over, the glaciers melted
The water level increased and covered the land between Russia and Alaska

5. Land Bridge Theory

6. Early Arrival/ Coastal Migration
People traveled from Asia to North and South American by way of the Pacific Ocean
Evidence of deep ocean fish fossils convinces scientists that this happened

7. Origin Stories
Stories told by Native Americans to explain how people came to live in North America
Relies on the theory that people were always in North America and did not come from somewhere else in the world
One version of an Origin Story tells of a beaver that was cut into 12 pieces and breathed to life

8. The Mayas

9. Where did the ancient Maya live?
Mesoamerica = Mexico & Central America

10. The Maya were concentrated on and around the Yucatan Peninsula in central America.

12. Maya Political Structure
The Maya civilization was made up of city-states, which were groups of Mayas living together under the same rule
Each city- state had its own ruler and its own laws
The Maya were NOT AN EMPIRE and NOT UNITED politically…

13. Maya Religion
The Maya were polytheistic = believed in more than one god
The Maya practiced human sacrifice = killing people as a gift to the gods
Mayas built temples
to honor their gods
and as places to pray

14. Maya Architecture
The Maya built towering temples and elaborate palaces
Atop the temples, priests performed religious ceremonies and sacrifices while people watched from the plazas below
Ceremonial platforms, temples, pyramids, observatories, ball courts all built by the Maya

17. Advances in learning
The Maya created a writing system of hieroglyphics

18. Advances in learning The Maya created a set of numerals
Also developed a 365-day calendar

19. What happened to the Maya?
The Maya abandoned many of their cities around 900 A.D.
Archaeologists DO NOT KNOW WHY Maya civilization declined
BUT…

20. Maya today
…more than 2 million Maya people live in Guatemala and southern Mexico today.

21. Maya Video Clip http://www.watchknow.org/Video.aspx?VideoID=12203
This National Geographic video shows the Mayan Pyramids. It is part of the series Lost Temples and it tries to give an answer to the question "Why did the Maya abandon their magnificent city of Chichen Itza?" There is reference to Maya culture.

22. Aztecs

23. Where did the Aztecs live?
The Aztecs lived in what is known as the Valley of Mexico in central Mexico.

24. Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan was the capital city of the Aztec Empire.

25. Legend of Tenochtitlan
The gods told the Aztecs to search for an eagle holding a snake in its beak perched atop a cactus. This is where they were to build their capital city. The Aztecs saw this sign on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco.

26. Legend of Tenochtitlan

27. How did the Aztecs build a city in the center of a lake?
Tenochtitlan was built on an island
It was connected to the mainland by causeways leading north, south, and west of the city.
Chinampas were man-made woven islands used to farm on
Built aqueducts which carried water from the mainland to the capital

28. Tenochtitlan
Today, Tenochtitlan is Mexico City

29. Government The Aztecs created an empire through conquest
Conquered people and local rulers had to pay tribute to the Aztecs
The Aztecs had an emperor
The Aztec Emperor’s main job was to lead in war

30. Religion & Mythology Aztecs were polytheistic Huitzilopochtli was
the main Aztec god.
(weets se lo poch tlee)
The Aztecs built massive temples and pyramids dedicated to their gods

31. Religion & Mythology
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Moon

32. Human Sacrifice Human sacrifice was a common practice of the Aztecs.
For the reconsecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed 84,400 prisoners over the course of four days.
To give the sun strength to rise
each day, human sacrifices were
offered.

33. What happened to the Aztecs?
Spanish conquistadors came to the Americas looking for gold
A group of conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes conquered Tenochtitlan and defeated the Aztecs in 1521.
He brought
warriors & diseases

34. Why Cortes was able to defeat the Aztecs, some of the most powerful warriors in history
Aztec priests told of the coming of Aztec god Quetzalcoatl
He was said to be a fair skinned (light skinned) god coming with a group of people and animals (horses)
When Cortes arrived in Technochtitlan, the Aztecs thought he was Quetzalcoatl and they welcomed him
That had a great effect on his ability to conquer the Aztecs

35. Aztec Video Clips “Engineering An Empire”

36. Inca

37. Where did the Inca live?
The Inca controlled an empire in the Andes Mountain region of South America.

38. Government The Sapa Inca (emperor) had absolute power.
He was in charge of politics & religion
The emperor claimed to be the son of the sun.
Government was in charge of arranging marriages
Each family in the community was assigned a job
Everyone had to help with mandatory building projects

39. Religion The Inca were polytheistic.
The primary god was Inti, the sun god.

40. Religion Inca believed in reincarnation.
This is the belief that when you died, you came back as someone or something else
Inca practiced human sacrifice = the killing of a person as a gift to the gods

41. Uniting the Empire
The Inca built a massive road network through mountains and across rivers and gorges.

42. Stonework
The Inca constructed stone temples without using mortars yet the stones fit together so well that a knife would not fit between the stones.

43. Medical Advances The Inca performed successful skull surgery.
The Inca also used medicines to make patients unconscious during surgery

44. The Inca practiced cranial deformation.
-They achieved this by wrapping tight cloth straps around the heads of newborns to alter the shape of their soft skulls into a cone-like shape.

45. Beautiful babies Inca thought it was beautiful to have crossed eyes
They would hang beads in front of their eyes so they would cross

46. What happened to the Inca?
Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, came to the Americas looking for gold
He brought soldiers and diseases (smallpox) which killed the Inca
They also had a Civil War going on, which is when one nation fights against itself

47. Fall of the Inca
BUT ultimately, it was Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro that brought about the fall of the Inca Empire.

48. Inca Video Clip

49. Other Important Info Monotheistic= believed in one god
Theories are things that scientists believe in and have evidence of, but can’t prove