Chapter 5 & 18
Early American Societies
The First Americans
Paleo-Indians
a. Beringian Land Bridge Theory
b. Warmer Climate Theory – Kennewick Man
(see Blackboard for link)
9000 BC clovis tip
Meso-American Cultures - Olmecs, Zapotecs and Teotihuacan
(1000 BC – 800 AD)
Olmecs
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Agricultural
Extensive trade network
Pyramid-type buildings / religious practices
Zapotec (simultaneous with Olmec)
 Monte Alban (Oaxaca)
 Temples and pyramids
 Dwelled on terraces carved into mountains
Teotihuacan (metropolis) (300 BC – 800 AD)
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Temples and palaces
Pyramid of the Sun (sacrificial structure)
Marketplace
Apartment compounds/grid pattern for cities
Toltecs (900-1100AD)
 Warrior society – fierce
 Ushered in era of violence & human sacrifice
Aztecs (1400 AD)
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Mexica People – Lake Aztlan
Sacrifice to gods – Huitzilpochtli (sun god)
Day of Destruction prophecy 2012
Cortez defeats Aztecs 1519
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/naked-science/3489/Overview#tab-Videos/06057_00
National Geographic – What Killed the Aztecs?
Tikal A/B
Temple of Sun A/B
Altar de Sacrificio Vase
Temple of Warriors
Upper & Lower Temple of Jaguars
Mayans (300 BC – 822 AD)
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cacao
human sacrifice
divinity calendar
math/astronomy & ZERO
365 Day Calendar
http://www.ancientweb.org/Mexico/map/index.html
http://www.ancientweb.org/Mexico/#
(interactive map and web link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSw-TES7dgs
Who killed the Maya? – Youtube video for information
Mayan Temple at Tikal
This eighth-century temple, peering over the treetops of a jungle at Tikal, represents the zenith of
the engineering and artistry of the Mayan peoples. Erected to house the body of a ruler, such
pyramidal tombs contained elaborate works of jade jewelry, polychrome ceramics, and intricate
bone carvings depicting the ruler’s life and various deities. This temple dominates a great plaza that
is surrounded by a royal palace and various religious structures.
© William J. Duiker
Pyramid of the Sun
Teotihuacan
Avenue of the Dead
A Sample of Mayan Writing
The Maya were the only Mesoamerican people to devise a complete written language. Like the
Sumerian and Egyptian scripts, the Mayan system was composed of a mixture of ideographs and
phonetic symbols, which were written in double columns to be read from left to right and top to
bottom. The language was rudimentary in many ways. It had few adjectives or adverbs, and the
numbering system used only three symbols: a shell for zero, a dot for one, and a bar for five
.
Courtesy Andromeda Oxford Limited, Oxford, England
South America
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Inhabited for over 12,000 years
“Cavern of Painted Rock” – Chile (10,500 BC)
Peru – Rugged – Andes Mountain Range
Archipelago settlements
Incas (1400s)
•
Lived in and around Andes
mountains
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Worshipped gods of nature –
Vera Cocha (creator god)
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Ancestor Worship
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Court of Dead (Penacha)
•
Emperors
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Cuzco - Capital
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/
south/cultures/inca.html
Link for Information on the Inca
1532 Francisco Pizzaro – Spanish (brought firearms and
horses)
Emperor Atahuapa – captured and offered a trade
Gold to the Spanish !!!
Watch This Video:
http://media.nclive.org/browse_videos.phtml?Subject=18
Conquistadores Episodes 1-4
Machu Picchu
Situated in the Andes in modern Peru, Machu Picchu reflects the glory of Inka civilization. To farm
such rugged terrain, the Inka constructed terraces and stone aqueducts. To span vast ravines, they
built suspension bridges made of braided fiber and fastened them to stone abutments on the
opposite banks. The most revered of the many temples and stone altars at Machu Picchu was the
thronelike ‘‘hitching post of the sun,’’ so called because of its close proximity to the sun god.
© Carol C. Coffin
Societies in North America
“Ancient Ones” – Anasazi (1 AD)
 agricultural community
 New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado
 mastered irrigation by 8 AD
 walled cities and adobe houses
 Descendants are Hop and Zuni
Cliff Palace - Colorado
Dark Canyon
Mesa Verde
Pueblo Bonito
Chaco Canyon