AMERICAS

GENERAL

can divide into three geographic areas:  North America, Mesoamerica, Andean

remember developed entirely separate from Old World

did have large cities and political and econ org, but when faced with challenge crumbled

highly developed agriculture, elaborate cultural systems

many areas densely populated by 1500

lot of diversity of Indians!

very separate (this meant that could not borrow from other cultures!)

no horses

ORIGINS

Asian peoples who crossed ice bridge over a long period between 20,000 and 8,000 bce
slowly spread out

	stone age tools found

	little known of ice age hunting society

	small groups of 20-25

	some physical diversity
		by 1500 2,000 different languages in use

archaic period, 9,000 bce-5000 bce
	evidence of plant domestication in number of regions
	slow change from hunting gathering

by 4,000 bce maize in Central Mexico and peppers, squash and beans
spread north and south, allowed higher population density

in Amazon basin, manioc, or cassava, a flour root

potatoes in Andes

two early cultural centers:  Mesoamerica and the Andean uplands

both areas experienced cultural cycles

basically just a string of centers from peru to mexico

	usually hereditary chiefs

	social hierarchies

MESOAMERICA

vertical zones from lowland to highland (also a feature of Andean civ)

very early on, small permanent settlements appeared

	A.  Olmec
general
			on southeastern coast
			suddenly emerged 1500 bce
	sites at San Lorenzo and La Venta
"mother civilization" of the area?
			maize central
			hereditary rulers
			elaborate religious ceremony
			calendar years of 365 days
			jade carvers
		Mystery

		by 900 bce widely diffused

	B.  Zapotec
		meanwhile Zapotec center at Monte Alban by 500 ce
		urban center of 30,000 people
		writing system

			150-900 ce, classical age

	C.  Teotihuacan, valley of Mexico
		enormous urban center, maybe 200,000
		huge temple pyramids
		defined social structure
		many gods
		influence spread as far south as Guatemala

D.  Maya, 300-900 ce
		southern mexico and central american centers
			tropical
				large area with regional variations (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador
			cities:  Tikal, Copan, Quirigua, Palenmque
		better sources because remnants lasted longer
		monumental architecture
		writing
did write, cannot read, most combined phonic and semantic system
		calendar and math
			used 0, base 20
			ritual and solar calendars made a cycle of 52
3114 bce considered the start of cycle since creation
		religion and statecraft
flat earth, 13 levels of heaven above, nine below, all with a god
lot of dualism, good/bad, night/day, male/female
		irrigation used
		ritual ball court and also ritual human sacrifice
		large pyramids and temples
constant warfare between city-states
		ruler, scribe and priest elite
			by far most were peasants
			slaves from war capture

			700-900 ce, classical age collapse

		Teotihuacan itself destroyed in 650
			Maya cities abandoned
			by 900 most deserted
Northern Maya areas did tend to survive longer

Was it warfare or agricultural exhaustion or disease?

E.  Toltec
around 1000 Toltecs established supremacy around central plateau and controlled all
center was Tula
war empire for about 200 years

NORTH AMERICA

Mississippi river valley agriculture by 2000 bce

by 700 bce Adena culture in southern Ohio, large mounds

Hopewell culture, 200-500 ce
	very elaborate mounds

800-1300 ce, Mississippi valley civ

	large urban centers such as Cahokia, in Illinois
	we know little
	chief and four-layer class

American desert Indians
	pit houses
	Anasazi in four corner region

ANDEAN WORLD

	complex micro-regions

	highland plateaus key

irrigation projects in arid strip and terracing projects in uplands
This required states!

many rise and fall alterations

	A.  Chavin de Huantar 850-250 bce
		llama domesticated
		large stone buildings
		fine craftsmen
		again not much known
		maize and potato

			no unity in region after 300 bce

	B.  Nazca on southern coast
		the famous lines on the plateau

	C.  Mohica state, 200-700 ce
		expanded by conquest

	D.  between 300-900 two regional states emerged
		Tihuanaco in north and Huari in south
			extensive irrigation 
			idea of verticality
			self-sufficiency the goal
			kinship important