Week 1 - Basics of Mesoamerica

Week 1 - Basics of Mesoamerica

1. TIME PERIODS

   • Paleoindian
     • ????-Ended 7000 BC
       • Crossing of land bridge between Siberia and Alaska
         • Santa Isabel Iztapan - bones from at least 8 mammoths found with chipped stone artifacts
           • Temporary camps, low population density
             • Clovis - Hunting mega-fauna
               • Folsom - Hunting smaller, modern animals
                 • Tequixquiac (Hidalgo, Mexico) - organic remain with manmade modifications
                   • Megafauna extinctions - hypotheses; humans are to blame, or climate is to blame
   • Archaic
     • 7000BC-1800BC
       • Domestication of food plants
         • Maize, Beans, Squash
           • Mobility decreases
             • Guila Naquitz, used as seasonal camp
               • Tehuacan Valley, transformation from foraging to village farming
                 • Gourds = first Meso domesticate
                   • EVIDENCE OF CHANGE: -Stratigraphy (repeated evidence of occupation of same site over a period of time) (for example, cooking evidence, changing tool types such as ground stone (mano y metate), projectile points, and basketry and wood)
   • Pre-Classic
     • 1800 BC - 150 AD
       • Appearence of civic-ceremonial architecture such as ball courts and elite residences
         • THE OLMEC
           • Pasa de la Amada (Chiapas)
             • Monte Alban
   • Classic
     • Urban planning, grids, population increase
       • Teotihuacan
         • Step pyramids - Tikal, Palenque
     • AD 300 - 950
   • Post-Classic
     • AD 950-1521
       • Chichen Itza - Maya
         • Tenochtitlan - Aztecs

2. KEY MESOAMERICAN FEATURES

   • Ritual 260-day calendar and 365-day agricultural calendar, cyclical passage of time, maya had THREE calendars including Long Count
   • Stepped Pyramids
   • The Ballgame
   • No use of wheel/draft animals
   • Obsidian tools/weapons
   • Maize, Beans, Squash, Peppers, Tomatos, Cacao

3. ADOPTION OF AGRICULTURE

   • Population Pressure
     • Sedentism -> accumulation of stuff and people
       • More reliable food source = need more people
         • More people = more mouths to feed
   • Prestige Model
     • The knowledge of how to grow a plant domesticating brings people and groups prestige
   • Risk Reduction
     • Unreliability of the natural environment to give you enough food.
       • agriculture reduces risk of your group going hungry

Images and files in the map