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Anthropology
study of humans (nature, society, and past)
Anthropology is…
Holistic, comparative, field-based, and evolutionary
Holistic
all aspects of human life, behavior, and activity
Comparative
Similarities and differences between human societies
Field-Based
Collect data from direct contact woth people, at archeological sites/landscapes, or working with animals
Evolutionary
Anthropologists examine human cultural change over time
Archaeology
Systematic, scientific, recovery, and analysis of artifacts and features in order to answer questions aboit past human culture and behavior
Home of initial maize domestication
Balsas River Valley, Western Mexico
traits defining the Mesoamerican “culture area” - Kirchoff
Argiculture, Technology, Architecture, Art
Archaic years
8000 - 1600 BCE
Early Formative years
1600-900 BCE
Middle Formative years
900-400 BCE
Late Formative years
400 BCE - 250 CE
Early Classic
250-600 CE
Late Classic years
600-1000 CE
Postclassic years
1000-1521 CE
Colonial years
1521-1820 CE
Paleoindian
>20,000-7000 BC: Peopling of the Americas and early hunter-gatherers
Clovis Culture
narrow window between 13000-12700 yrs ago
Evidence of Paleoamericans - Genetic
mitochondrial DNA (ntDNA) - categorized into different genetic populations who share a common ancestor on either their paternal or maternal line
Evidence of Paleoamericans - Biological
dental studies show distinct characteristics present in both northeast Asian and Native American populations - shovel and extra 3rd root on lower molar
Evidence of Paleoamericans - Linguistic
connection between Asia and Americas
Evidence of Paleoamericans - Archaeological
footprints in lake, waterlogged remains, think about female skeleon found
Solutrean Hypothesis
Humans migrated to the Americas >20 kya, crossing the Atlantic along matgin of ice floes
Problem with Solutrean Hypothesis
Time gap between Atlantic crossing and appearance of Clovis tool, no evidence of boat use, no genetic ancestry
The Land Bridge Hypothesis
Migrathion ~13kya by ancestors of Clovis people, spread from Beringia across an ice-free corridor created by lower sea levels
Coastal Migration Hypothesis
Pacific coasts has sites with Clovis peope, traveled by a kelp highway
Paleoindian period - population
small, highly mobile bands, shifting settlement patterns, hunting to live
Atlatl
wooden additon to spears to help add velocity
Valsequillo
Paleoindian site (21000 BC), bones of animals and stone tools found
Tlapacoya
Mammoth kill site on shore of Lake Texcoco
Tepexpan “Man”
skeleton of female located on shore of Lake Texcoco, dated ~10kya
Origins of Agriculture
Wetter and warmer climates during the Holocene Climatic Optimim (~7000-5000 yrs ago)
Cultural changes during the Archaic
Beginnings of food production, changes in tool technology, increased sedentism
Teosinte
grass ancestor of maize, 2 rows of kernals w multiple stalks
Oasis theory (climate change)
Domestication began as a symbolic relationship btwn humans, plants, and animals in response to climate change in the Holocene
Population Pressure Theory
increasing population forced ppl to turn agricultural to produce more food
broad spectrum theory
ppl began exploiting a broader range of plant and animal resources that werent present during the Pleistocene
Co-Evoluion Theory
ppl have been interacting w plants and animals over 15000 yrs in the Americas and had knoelwdge of how to exploit them
Beer theory
ppl were growing crops w high sugar content to create fermented bevs, served at community feasts and provided mechanisms for social integration
Benefits of Agriculture
Provides large amounts of readily storable food, influences the development of large, permanent villages
Maize Beer
Tesguino - fermented bev created from corn stalk juoce, historically consumed by populations in northern Mexico
Changes at the end of the Archaic (~2000-1000 BC)
Subsistence, settlement, technology, social organization
Early Formative in the Maya region
small, egalitarian villages, ceramics, and long-distance exchange
Milpa Agriculture Intensification
cultivating diverse crops and shifting plots in order to sustain the population
early formative village characteristics
domestic architeture, trade and exchange, maize agriculture, material evidence for ritual and religion, public architecture
Archaeological evidence for inequality
Difference in domestic architecture and belongings, differences in burials, public architecture
Indicators of inequality in Middle Formative central mexican burials
grave type, grave context, presence/absence of exotic grave goods, artifacts with particular ideological burden
Significance of the Olmec
1 od the earliest “civilization” in meso, evidence for early establishment of hereditart rulership, produced one of the earliest symbol systems, craft specialization, interacted w regions od mesoamerica and influenced them to different degrees
Mother Culture
new basic cultureal characteristics and elaborated other beyond the achievents of their neighbors
Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA)
Geochemical signatures show that the Olmec produces decorated pottery
Sister cultures - olmec
Complex chiefdoms spreaf across mesoamerica, including the Gulf Coast
Classic Maya World
intellectual and artistic highpoint of the Maya Lowlands, multiple cities in competition, complex religious and ideological systems
Maya World tree
Ceiba tree (Yaxche)
Maya cosmos - Cardinal directions
N - sun is at fullest at K’unuch Ajaw
E - direction in which sun is reborn each morning
S - dead sun transformed into Jaguar God of Underworld
W - direction of the dying sun journey to Xibalba
Xibalba
Underworld, 7 lvls
Xuanatunich, Belize
The sky, 13 lvls, often depicted in Classic Period architecture in stairs and doorways
Middle World
represented by turtle or crocodile, plants/animals/humans emerge here
Maize God
represents life prosperity, and abundance on earth, associated w kingship
Cranial Modificatioin
shaping of infants heads using boards or other firm implements - elongated oblique shape mimicking and ear of corn
Animism
The belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the materical universe
Sacrifice
offering made to increase the efficacy of a prayer or the religious purity of an individual or group, depicted in Maya artwork
Auto-sacrifice
Bloodletting to comminicate w ancestors and deities - prefromation of body w sharp implements: obsidian blades, stingray spinesm carves bones, and knotted rope
Xultun Sweatbath
facade embodies by an amphibian goddess, late classic offerings include a human child, juvenile animals, stone tools, and ceramic shards
Popol Vuh
Historic K’iche’ Maya Document (AD 1550) from Guatemala, the maya creation story
Popol Vuh - creation of universe
Water, followed by land, trees, rivers, and animals
Popol Vuh - creation of humans
1 - clay
2 - wood
3 - yellow and white corn
Popol Vuh - the hero twins
sons of the Maize God, Hunter (Hunahpu) and Jaguar Deer (Xblanque), play ball agains Lords of the Underworld, defeat them w trickery,
Popol Vuh - Lords of the Under world
one hunter (Hun hunahpu) and Seven Hunter (Vucub Hunahpu) defeated and become the sun and moon
Popol Vuh - Major themes
Maya view of life and death, sacredness of earth, importance of the agricultural cycle
Scienticif Achievements of the Classic Maya
Site planning, writing, math, calendar
Classic Maya - writing
emblem glyphs, scribes, and stone monuments
Classic Maya - math??? LOOK UP
base 20, 1s = 0-19, 20s=20, 400s=20×20, 8000s=20×20×20
Classic Maya - calendar “Tzolkin”
260-day cycle, 13 day week x 20 day, each doy of cycle consisted of a number and one of 20 day names
Classic maya - Solar calendar
365-day that corresponds to a solar year, 18 winals (months) each w 20 day names,