Mesoamerica Midterm

studied byStudied by 1 person
0.0(0)
learn
LearnA personalized and smart learning plan
exam
Practice TestTake a test on your terms and definitions
spaced repetition
Spaced RepetitionScientifically backed study method
heart puzzle
Matching GameHow quick can you match all your cards?
flashcards
FlashcardsStudy terms and definitions

1 / 74

encourage image

There's no tags or description

Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.

75 Terms

1

Anthropology

study of humans (nature, society, and past)

New cards
2

Anthropology is…

Holistic, comparative, field-based, and evolutionary

New cards
3

Holistic

all aspects of human life, behavior, and activity

New cards
4

Comparative

Similarities and differences between human societies

New cards
5

Field-Based

Collect data from direct contact woth people, at archeological sites/landscapes, or working with animals

New cards
6

Evolutionary

Anthropologists examine human cultural change over time

New cards
7

Archaeology

Systematic, scientific, recovery, and analysis of artifacts and features in order to answer questions aboit past human culture and behavior

New cards
8

Home of initial maize domestication

Balsas River Valley, Western Mexico

New cards
9

traits defining the Mesoamerican “culture area” - Kirchoff

Argiculture, Technology, Architecture, Art

New cards
10

Archaic years

8000 - 1600 BCE

New cards
11

Early Formative years

1600-900 BCE

New cards
12

Middle Formative years

900-400 BCE

New cards
13

Late Formative years

400 BCE - 250 CE

New cards
14

Early Classic

250-600 CE

New cards
15

Late Classic years

600-1000 CE

New cards
16

Postclassic years

1000-1521 CE

New cards
17

Colonial years

1521-1820 CE

New cards
18

Paleoindian

>20,000-7000 BC: Peopling of the Americas and early hunter-gatherers

New cards
19

Clovis Culture

narrow window between 13000-12700 yrs ago

New cards
20

Evidence of Paleoamericans - Genetic

mitochondrial DNA (ntDNA) - categorized into different genetic populations who share a common ancestor on either their paternal or maternal line

New cards
21

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

New cards
22

Evidence of Paleoamericans - Linguistic

connection between Asia and Americas

New cards
23

Evidence of Paleoamericans - Archaeological

footprints in lake, waterlogged remains, think about female skeleon found

New cards
24

Solutrean Hypothesis

Humans migrated to the Americas >20 kya, crossing the Atlantic along matgin of ice floes

New cards
25

Problem with Solutrean Hypothesis

Time gap between Atlantic crossing and appearance of Clovis tool, no evidence of boat use, no genetic ancestry

New cards
26

The Land Bridge Hypothesis

Migrathion ~13kya by ancestors of Clovis people, spread from Beringia across an ice-free corridor created by lower sea levels

New cards
27

Coastal Migration Hypothesis

Pacific coasts has sites with Clovis peope, traveled by a kelp highway

New cards
28

Paleoindian period - population

small, highly mobile bands, shifting settlement patterns, hunting to live

New cards
29

Atlatl

wooden additon to spears to help add velocity

New cards
30

Valsequillo

Paleoindian site (21000 BC), bones of animals and stone tools found

New cards
31

Tlapacoya

Mammoth kill site on shore of Lake Texcoco

New cards
32

Tepexpan “Man”

skeleton of female located on shore of Lake Texcoco, dated ~10kya

New cards
33

Origins of Agriculture

Wetter and warmer climates during the Holocene Climatic Optimim (~7000-5000 yrs ago)

New cards
34

Cultural changes during the Archaic

Beginnings of food production, changes in tool technology, increased sedentism

New cards
35

Teosinte

grass ancestor of maize, 2 rows of kernals w multiple stalks

New cards
36

Oasis theory (climate change)

Domestication began as a symbolic relationship btwn humans, plants, and animals in response to climate change in the Holocene

New cards
37

Population Pressure Theory

increasing population forced ppl to turn agricultural to produce more food

New cards
38

broad spectrum theory

ppl began exploiting a broader range of plant and animal resources that werent present during the Pleistocene

New cards
39

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

New cards
40

Beer theory

ppl were growing crops w high sugar content to create fermented bevs, served at community feasts and provided mechanisms for social integration

New cards
41

Benefits of Agriculture

Provides large amounts of readily storable food, influences the development of large, permanent villages

New cards
42

Maize Beer

Tesguino - fermented bev created from corn stalk juoce, historically consumed by populations in northern Mexico

New cards
43

Changes at the end of the Archaic (~2000-1000 BC)

Subsistence, settlement, technology, social organization

New cards
44

Early Formative in the Maya region

small, egalitarian villages, ceramics, and long-distance exchange

New cards
45

Milpa Agriculture Intensification

cultivating diverse crops and shifting plots in order to sustain the population

New cards
46

early formative village characteristics

domestic architeture, trade and exchange, maize agriculture, material evidence for ritual and religion, public architecture

New cards
47

Archaeological evidence for inequality

Difference in domestic architecture and belongings, differences in burials, public architecture

New cards
48

Indicators of inequality in Middle Formative central mexican burials

grave type, grave context, presence/absence of exotic grave goods, artifacts with particular ideological burden

New cards
49

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

New cards
50

Mother Culture

new basic cultureal characteristics and elaborated other beyond the achievents of their neighbors

New cards
51

Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA)

Geochemical signatures show that the Olmec produces decorated pottery

New cards
52

Sister cultures - olmec

Complex chiefdoms spreaf across mesoamerica, including the Gulf Coast

New cards
53

Classic Maya World

intellectual and artistic highpoint of the Maya Lowlands, multiple cities in competition, complex religious and ideological systems

New cards
54

Maya World tree

Ceiba tree (Yaxche)

New cards
55

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

New cards
56

Xibalba

Underworld, 7 lvls

New cards
57

Xuanatunich, Belize

The sky, 13 lvls, often depicted in Classic Period architecture in stairs and doorways

New cards
58

Middle World

represented by turtle or crocodile, plants/animals/humans emerge here

New cards
59

Maize God

represents life prosperity, and abundance on earth, associated w kingship

New cards
60

Cranial Modificatioin

shaping of infants heads using boards or other firm implements - elongated oblique shape mimicking and ear of corn

New cards
61

Animism

The belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the materical universe

New cards
62

Sacrifice

offering made to increase the efficacy of a prayer or the religious purity of an individual or group, depicted in Maya artwork

New cards
63

Auto-sacrifice

Bloodletting to comminicate w ancestors and deities - prefromation of body w sharp implements: obsidian blades, stingray spinesm carves bones, and knotted rope

New cards
64

Xultun Sweatbath

facade embodies by an amphibian goddess, late classic offerings include a human child, juvenile animals, stone tools, and ceramic shards

New cards
65

Popol Vuh

Historic K’iche’ Maya Document (AD 1550) from Guatemala, the maya creation story

New cards
66

Popol Vuh - creation of universe

Water, followed by land, trees, rivers, and animals

New cards
67

Popol Vuh - creation of humans

1 - clay

2 - wood

3 - yellow and white corn

New cards
68

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,

New cards
69

Popol Vuh - Lords of the Under world

one hunter (Hun hunahpu) and Seven Hunter (Vucub Hunahpu) defeated and become the sun and moon

New cards
70

Popol Vuh - Major themes

Maya view of life and death, sacredness of earth, importance of the agricultural cycle

New cards
71

Scienticif Achievements of the Classic Maya

Site planning, writing, math, calendar

New cards
72

Classic Maya - writing

emblem glyphs, scribes, and stone monuments

New cards
73

Classic Maya - math??? LOOK UP

base 20, 1s = 0-19, 20s=20, 400s=20×20, 8000s=20×20×20

New cards
74

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

New cards
75

Classic maya - Solar calendar

365-day that corresponds to a solar year, 18 winals (months) each w 20 day names,

New cards

Explore top notes

note Note
studied byStudied by 64 people
213 days ago
4.7(3)
note Note
studied byStudied by 26 people
891 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 25 people
514 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 4 people
688 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 16 people
903 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 10 people
760 days ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 67 people
701 days ago
5.0(4)
note Note
studied byStudied by 44 people
758 days ago
5.0(3)

Explore top flashcards

flashcards Flashcard (92)
studied byStudied by 11 people
841 days ago
4.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (116)
studied byStudied by 10 people
800 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (43)
studied byStudied by 15 people
3 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (57)
studied byStudied by 17 people
750 days ago
5.0(2)
flashcards Flashcard (40)
studied byStudied by 2 people
177 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (71)
studied byStudied by 42 people
385 days ago
5.0(4)
flashcards Flashcard (82)
studied byStudied by 41 people
88 days ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (222)
studied byStudied by 29 people
646 days ago
5.0(1)
robot