Meso-America
Questions
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What are theories of how people originated in
the Americas? What evidence is there for preEuropean Contact?
Where are the first Urban centers and what
characterized them?
Where was the first metropolis?
Where was the first Empire and what sociopolitical changes took place with its
development?
What was the Status of women and where did
it change?
Identifications
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Bering Strait
Rainbow Bridge/Trans-oceanic theory
Olmec
Olmec Heads & hieroglyphics
Tenocelome
Zapotec
Toltec & Teotihuacan
Pyramid of the Sun
Lake Texcoco & Chinampas
Identifications
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Maya
Copan and the Grand Palace
Palenque City-State
Kanal-Ikal, Zac K’uk & Pacal
Popul Vuh
Totilmeiletic
Aztec & Tenochtitlan
Calpullis
PEOPLING OF THE
AMERICAS
Bering Strait & Trans-Oceanic or
Rainbow Bridge Theories
Bering Strait Theory
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Clovis First Culture
11, 500 yrs. projectile points
Trans-Oceanic/Rainbow Bridge
Theory
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Fossil Tooth, Alaska
Monte Verde, Chile
Pleistocene Man, Yuho Pinto Wash, Ca.
Luzia Skeleton, Lagoa Santa, Brazil
Nazca, Peru
Chumash & Hawaiian Oral Tradition
Muslim/African Pre-European Contact
Figure 6-1 p160
The Olmec
“The Mother of Meso-America”
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“People of the land of Rubber”
Mexico city to El Salvador until 4BCE
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First Cities
Pyramids
Stone Monuments
Widespread Trade
System of Writing: Hieroglyphics
Ball Games
Olmec Heads
1500 – 100 BCE
Evidence of preEuropean contact
Olmec City State
Of La Venta
Tenocelome
Zapotec Culture
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Monte Alban (Oaxaca Valley)
20,000 population
Lasted centuries after decline of Olmec
Temples, Pyramids
Terraced Dwellings
Theocracy
Nobles & Priests, farmers & Artisans
System of Writing
Trade complex
Zapotec Grand Plaza,
Monte Albon, Mexico
p161
Zapotec
Hieroglyphics
Toltec Culture
Teotihuacan – First Metropolis
3BCE – 800 CE
Pyramid of the Sun 5CE
p162
Center of Trade
Lake Texcoco
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Irrigation water, fish, waterfowl, basalt,
limestone and chert
Traded with people in Mayan areas
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Obsidian for tools and weapons from
Pachuca and Otumba
Shells and copal from the gulf region
Quetzal bird feathers from Mayan regions of
the South East.
The
Classical
Maya
Figure 6-2 p166
Mayan City-State of Copan
The Ruler “18 Rabbit” ordered the construction
of the Grand Palace
Maya – Gender complimentary
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Gender division of labor emerged
Equitable Value among the sexes
Women took care of the home &
prepared Maize
Men were warriors and Hunters
Tikal – City State
p167
Palenque City-State
Political Power
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Women Rulers
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Kanal-ikal 583-604 CE
Her granddaughter Zac K’uk (612-615 CE)
Pacal (615-683 CE)followed the lineage
of his mother and grandmother.
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His mother ruled outright for three years and
continued to influence politics for twenty-five
years after Pacal took the throne.
He legitimized his rule by transforming her
into the first mother goddess, conferring
upon her divine status.
Funeral Mask
of Pacal
(615 – 683CE)
Leadership
Claimed Divine
Descent
p166
Han China Funeral Jade Body
Suit
p166
Mayan Cosmology
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Mayan Text Popul Vuh - records Mayan
Creation
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Xmucane – the grandmother who assisted
twin brothers in creating a garden.
To make people she ground maize & mixed
with water
Totilmeiletic & the Ancestor God/goddess
& the Maize God
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Father-Mother
Reverence for women’s spirituality and
power
Mayan – City State Politics
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Aristocratic women
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Marriage alliances Ruled as regents
Conducted court rituals
Numerous of sculptures of female leaders
Prominent role in Ball until 8C
Depicted as central characters supporting
battles
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One queen credited herself as a victorious
commander
Social & political rank came from men and
woman
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Almehen “noble” denotes women and men
Ritual Sacrifice
Palace Lintel – 800 CE
Blood letting
Decapitation
Pregnancy & childbirth
p163
Ball Court – Chichen Itza
Toltec City-State of Chichen Itza
p165
Decline, Rise & Fall
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Southern Maya - decline around 900 CE
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Rise of Northern Yucatan - The Toltec's
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Uxmal
Chichen Itza
Mayapan
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Last Capital before - decline in the 1400s.
Aztec Empire
Tenochtitlan
(1325CE)
1 of 3 citystates
Figure 6-3 p168
Socio-political structure
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Divine & secular rule – Hereditary
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Council of Lords
Prime Minister
Positions in Government & Bureaucracy
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Male Nobles raised with manual labor, military
rule and education
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Chose career in military, Government service or
priesthood
Given estates & special right to hire communal
labor
Commoners, indentured workers and
slaves
Economic power
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Military City-States
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Power primarily derived from tribute system
(resembled Sparta)
Cloth, feathers, gold, soldiers
Human sacrifice used to intimidate and
maintain power over incorporated peoples
Cultivation of corn
Extensive trade
Calpullis – Aztec
Neighborhoods
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large kinship groups
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A thousand members
elected military & Civil chief’s
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ran its affairs
served an as intermediary with the central
government
provided taxes
conscripted labor to the state
maintained temples and schools
administered the land held by the community
p162
Gender Division of Labor
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Men
Trained for war
Served army upon
adulthood
priesthood
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Women
Worked in the home
Textile production
Priestesses
Permitted to own &
inherit property
Entered into contracts
Obedience & chastity
desired behavior
(European
interpretation?)
Aztec – Gender Complimentary
Society
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Gendered division of labor
Equal value
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Birth ceremonies
No taboo on menstruation
Ritual duties for both genders
Elder women – place of respect &
consultation
Education differed by gender & class
Marriage & Widows
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Girls of 18 and boys of 20 both influenced
spouse selection
Men asked both parents for her hand
Both punished for adultery
Both could divorce with ease
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Remarriage easy
Both had right to sexual gratification
Birth likened to going to war
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Bodies matured by the time they had children
Midwives had extensive medical knowledge
Higher standard of hygiene than European’s
Women’s Economic Role
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Noble women managed estates,
engaged in trade, Conducted rituals
Common women managed the
household, prepared food, manufactured
textiles, conducted rituals & often
engaged in trade
Midwife
Prostitute (European interpretation?)
Slave
p171
Aztec Religion & Warfare
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Adopted gods
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Great Goddess of Teotihuacan who became
Xochiquetzalli “flowery Plumage” associated
with sexual love and handicrafts
Aztec’s contributed their own culture and
rituals that created a belief system that
focused on human sacrifice
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used fear to keep their tributary states in
check. Gruesome rituals served as a
reminder of their power.
p164
Limitations of Power - politics
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Technically shut out of politics
Informal contributions
Exceptions
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Moctezuma I daughter, Atotoztli ruled in her
own right
Queen Tecuichpo, child of Moctezuma II
managed d to secure large amounts of land
for she and her children during Spanish
conquest.
Early Capulli leaders
p171
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Aztec
Codex
System of
Writing
p168