Mesoamerica Midterm

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,