American Cities
Mesoamerica
A. Olmecs
B. Maya
C. Teotihuacán
II. Andean/Peruvian Civilizations
III. North American Cities
I.
IDs: Olmecs, sacred ball game, Pakal,
Smiling God
Tignor, Worlds Together,
Worlds Apart: Argument about
Mesoamerica
…[A]s great as the Olmec, Teotihuacán
and Mayan societies were, there was
little carryover from one society to
the next. Cultural development was
much less cumulative here than in
Afro-Eurasia, where new regimes
built on the old-often by absorbing
their predecessors.
Western Hemisphere
Mesoamerica & Central Andes
I. Mesoamerica
Neolithic Revolution,
ca. 3000 BCE
Central valley of
Mexico
Villages
Maize
No great river
No large animals
No wheel
No metalwork
Succession of Civilizations, 1200
BCE – 1500 CE
A. Olmec Civilization, 1500-350BCE
1. Cities as religious centers,
but most lived in villages (dense
settlement)
La Venta
Giant Heads
2. Religious Unity
Priests/shamans
Were-jaguars
Blood-letting
Sacred Ball Game
Rain God
3. Power Structure
Circulation of sacred objects
Ritual sacrifice
Archaeologists’ Division of Periods
in Mesoamerica
Preclassic: 1800 BCE-150 CE (Olmec &
Early Maya periods)
Classic: 150-900 CE (Full Maya &
Teotihuacán periods)
Postclassic: 900-1500 CE (Toltec &
Aztec periods)
B. Maya
Pre-classical
period
Calendar
Trade
Writing (ca.
500 BCE)
Classic Maya (150-900 CE)
Yucatan
Peninsula
1. Gov’t: Citystates
Palenque
2. Sacred Kingship
Pakal “Lord Shield”
Pakal Receiving crown from his
mother Lady Zak’K’uk (glyph)
Building Programs
Temple of Sun
Chan Balum
Bloodletting
3. Writing: Glyphs & Pictograms:
Popol Vuh
4. Long Count Calendar
5. Decline: Warfare and/or
Environmental Stress?

cacao
C. Teotihuacán (300 BCE – 750
CE)
1.
2.
City-state in
Valley of
Mexico
No King, but
powerful army




100,000-200,000
residents
2000 apartment
buildings
Pyramids
“Street of the
Dead”
3. Decline: Warfare/invasion
Quetzalcoatl:
Feathered Serpent
F. Other civilizations: Zapotec
II. Andean/Peruvian Civilizations
Earliest
civilization
s
Caral (2627 –
2020 BCE)
Chavín
(1400-400
BCE)
A.
B. Vertical Environment
Narrow coastal plain:
irrigated fields
Lower mountain
elevations: corn
Higher: potatoes
Highest: grazing
animals
Amazon: cotton,
manioc
United by religion & culture, not
empire
Spread of Cultural artifacts
Religious Practices
Smiling god
Hallucinogenic drugs
Were-jaguars
C. Middle Civilizations
Moche (highland
Peru; 200 BCE500 CE)
Nazca (southern
Peru, 200 BCE500 CE)
Nazca Lines
D. Tiahuanaco (500-1000 CE)



Highland city of
115,000
Center of trade
networks
Vertical
environment
E. Chimú Empire (1100-1460)


Pacific Coast
(northern Peru)
Chan Chan
III. North American Cities



Cahokia (6001350)
Commercial hubs
of trade
networks
mounds