Mod 7: Early American Civilizations review sheet

7.4- North American Societies

Pacific Northwest

geographic location: from Oregon to Alaska

climate: sea and coastal forest

dwellings:

practices:

Hohokam

geographic location: central Arizona

climate: dry desert lands

dwellings:

practices:

Anasazi

geographic location: Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico (four corners region)

climate:

dwellings: cliff dwellings, pueblos, kivas (underground or partly underground ceremonial chambers)

practices:

Components of the Cahokia Civ. (Miss Mound Builders)

• 700 BC- a culture (Adena) began to build huge earthen mounds in which they buried their dead

• 500 years later- the Hopewell began building much larger and plentiful mounds

• 800 AD- the Mississipians created thriving villages based off of farming and trade

• 1000-2000- as many as 30,000 people lived at Cahokia (the leading site of Mississpian culture)

• located in a crossroads region between east and west

North American Social Pyramid and organization

• family was the basis for social organization for Native Americans

• family unit: extended family, including parents, children, grandparents, and other close relatives

• some tribes further organized families into clans (groups of families descended from a common ancestor

• common among Native American clans were the use of totems (a natural object with which an individual, clan, or group identifies itself- symbol or unity- helped define certain behaviors and the social relationships of a group)

North American Religious Beliefs and Practices

• nearly all Native Americans believed that the world around them was filled with nature spirits

• some groups held up one supreme beings, or Great Spirit, above all others

• North American peoples believed that the spirits gave them rituals and customs to guide them in their lives and to satisfy their basic needs → peace and harmony

• beliefs also included great respect for the land as the source of life → used there land but altered it as little as possible

7.5- Maya Kings and Cities

Mayan Civilizations

Political- independent city-state, ruled by a god-king and serving as a center for religious ceremonies and trade

- Pacal the Great rules in the 600s.→ many great building were constructed including the Temple of Inscriptions, where he is laid to rest

- the king is regarded as a holy figure and his position was hereditary

Economic- although Mayan cities were independent of eachother, they were linkied through alliances and trade

- cities exchanges local products like salt, flint, feathers, shells, and honey

- also traded craft good like cotton textiles and jade ornaments

- while they did not have a currency, cocoa beans sometime served as one

- maize, beans, and squash provided the basis of Maya life

- planted on raised beds above swamps

Religion- to worship their gods they prayed and made offerings of food, flowers, and incense

- they also pierced and cut their bodies and offered their blood, believing that this

would nourish the gods

- carried out human sacrifices usually captured enemies, believed that human

sacrifice pleased the gods and kept the world in balance

Social- first rung: king

- second rung: priests and leading warriors

- third rung: merchants and those with specialized knowledge (skilled artisans)

- fourth rung: peasant majority.

Intellectual- developed a 260- day religious calendar, which consisted of thirteen 20- day

months

- a second 365- day solar calendar consisted of eighteen 20- day months, with a

separate period of 5 days at the end

- the calendar helped identify the best times to plant crops, attack enemies, and

crown new rulers

- they based their calendars on the careful observation of the planets, sun, and

moon

- Maya astronomers used a math system that included the concept of zero (used a

shell symbol for zero, dots for the number 1-4 and a bar for five)

- the Maya also developed the most advanced writing system which consisted of

about 800 hieroglyphic symbols, or glyphs → used it to record important historical

events, carving them into a stone of a bark-paper book known as a codex

Arts- the mayan depicted their gods or rulers in art such as through carved statues and bowls, which were made of wood, stone, obsidian, or jade

- architect featured: temples, pyramids and a ball court (the game had political and

religious significance)

The Popul Vuh

• the Highland Maya’s version of the story of creation

• Calm and silence were the great kings that ruled

Reason for Mayan Decline

• basically a mystery

• warfare broke out → disrupted trade and produced economic hardship

• population growth and over farming may have damaged the environment → food shortages, famine, and disease

7.6 Aztecs Control Central Mexico

Teotihuacan People

geography: central Mexico

temples: