1. Topic 4: Pre-Columbian Americas

2. 2. What common assumptions did Americans share?

3. Pre-Columbian Americas Incredibly diverse Created complex societies, spectacular cities, complex understandings of the world, complicated writing systems, religious rituals But DIDN’T Domesticate large animals Develop iron Develop a wheel

4. Geography and the Americas isolated, “biological sameness” one continent, no physical separations open to arrivals, good harbors, rivers hospitable climate diversity of lifestyles, from hunter gatherers to complex empires

5. North America Most sparsely populated region of Americas Hundreds of tribes or nations which historians have grouped into “cultural areas” Many were predominately hunter-gatherers though many groups also engaged in agriculture full- or part-time Maize introduced from Mesoamerica after 1000 BCE

6. Cultural zones of North America

8. The Lenni Lenape

9. Anasazi dwellings Mound Builders

10. Mesoamerica “Meso” = middle Earliest agriculture and complex societies in the Americas –8000-7000 BCE cultivated beans –4000 BCE maize –2000 BCE agriculture spread throughout Mesoamerica

11. Creation myth of the Mayans in the Popol Vuh “… They sought and discovered what was needed for human flesh… Broken Place, Bitter Water Place is the name: the yellow corn, white corn came from there… And these were the ingredients for the flesh of the human work, the human design, and the water was for the blood… It was staples alone that made up their flesh.”

12. Chronology of Mesoamerica Early complex society 1200-100 BCE  Olmec society “Rubber People” “Classical” societies 200 BCE-750 CE  Teotihuacan society 300-1100 CE  Maya society “Post-classical” societies 950-1150 CE  Toltec society 1345-1500 CE  Aztec / Mexica society

14. Zones of Mayan and Aztec influence

15. The Olmecs “The inhabitants of rubber country” Built complex ceremonial centers at San Lorenzo, La Venta, Tres Zapotes Best known for huge stone heads

16. 15 heads have been found Between 5-10 feet tall The heaviest is 20 tons!

17. Olmecs: The “mother culture” of later Mesoamerican societies Cultivation of maize Ceremonial centers with temple pyramids Calendar Sacrificial bloodletting rituals Ball games

18. Sacrificial bloodletting Shedding blood honored the gods who watered crops; it was believed essential to the survival of agricultural society From rulers and priests to prisoners Bloodletting extended to human sacrifice Stone relief depicting Mayan Princess shedding blood from her tongue.

19. Mayan artwork also depicting bloodletting through tongues

20. The “ball game” 3600 years old Played from Arizona to Paraguay Played on an I-shaped court with a rubber ball Played one-on-one or in teams Had religious significance Mayan statue of a ball player

22. Ball court and goal at Chichen Itza

23. Teotihuacan Emerged as a village 500 BCE A major city-state for over a thousand years High point: 200,000 people, 8 square miles

24. Pyramid of the Moon Pyramid of the Sun Avenue of the Dead

28. The Maya A series of “city- kingdoms” 300-900 CE: built 80 large ceremonial centers Pyramids at Tikal

31. The Maya Calendar Maintained by priests Built upon Olmec calendar Combined solar and ritual calendars Solar calendar very accurate Could predict eclipses and equinoxes

32. The Ritual Calendar Meshed with the solar calendar of 365 days 19,000 permutations It took 52 years to complete a cycle Within the ritual calendar, the numbers 1 – 13 were matched up with a sequence of 20 day names

33. Maya numerals  ZERO

34. Maya writing Over 800 symbols Most writings were destroyed by the Spanish—stone inscriptions and four codices survived Only 85% deciphered

35. The Dresden Codex Codices were fold-up books written on tree bark. All but four were destroyed by the Spanish

36. Andean Civilizations The mountainous environment made agriculture and political organization difficult “stacked” agriculture The ayllu

37. 1000 BCE – 700 CE

38. Chapter 5: The Americas and Oceania Early Societies of Oceania –Early Societies in Australia and New Guinea Insert map on page 120