Mesoamerica Notes mod 9 done

Mesoamerican Writing Systems

  • Mesoamerican writing systems varied by culture.
  • Rebus writing (writing with images) was common among many groups, such as the Nahua and Mixtec.
    • Example: Drawing an eye, a heart, and an apple to communicate "I love apples."
  • Many visual writing systems in Mesoamerica functioned similarly.
  • Phrases used to describe these systems: "writing without words" or "writing with signs."
  • Also called pictographic, ideographic, or picture writing.
  • Example of a convention for showing marriage:
    • Two figures seated and facing one another on the same platform.
    • Lord 8 Deer and Lady 13 Serpent in the Codex Zouche-Nuttall.

Maya Hieroglyphic Writing

  • Only the Maya used a writing system like ours, where signs designate sounds and syllables to create words.
  • Maya hieroglyphic writing is logographic.
    • It uses a sign (picture, symbol, or letter) to communicate a syllable or a word.

Calendars

  • Other shared features among Mesoamerican peoples were the 260-day and 365-day calendars.
    • The 260-day calendar was a ritual calendar, with 20 months of 13 days.
    • The 365-day calendar was based on the sun, had 18 months of 20 days, with five "extra" nameless days at the end, and was used for agriculture.

Calendar Cycles

  • Every 52 years, the calendars completed a full cycle.
    • Special rituals commemorated the cycle.
    • The Mexica celebrated the New Fire Ceremony as a period of renewal.
  • These cycles were understood as life cycles, reflecting creation, death, and rebirth.
  • The Maya also used a Long Count calendar (marked time along an extended line that does not repeat).

Religion and Pantheon of Gods

  • A complex pantheon of gods existed within each Mesoamerican culture.
  • Many groups shared similar deities, with some variation.

Important Deities

  • Storm/rain god:
    • Mexica: Tlaloc
    • Maya: Chaac
    • Zapotec: Cocijo
  • Feathered serpent deity:
    • Mexica: Quetzalcoatl
    • Maya:
      • Kukulkan (Yucatec Maya)
      • Q'uq'umatz (K'iche Maya)
  • Artworks show these deities with similar features.
    • The storm/rain deity often has goggle eyes and an upturned mouth/snout.
    • Feathered serpent deities typically showed serpent features paired with feathers.

Mesoamerica Definition

  • Mesoamerica refers to diverse civilizations sharing cultural characteristics in modern-day Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.

Shared Cultural Traits

  • Complex pantheon of deities
  • Architectural features
  • Ballgame
  • 260-day calendar
  • Trade
  • Food (maize, beans, and squash)
  • Dress
  • Accoutrements (earspools)

Well-Known Mesoamerican Cultures

  • Olmec
  • Maya
  • Zapotec
  • Teotihuacan
  • Mixtec
  • Mexica (Aztec)

Geography of Mesoamerica

  • Incredibly diverse: humid tropical areas, dry deserts, high mountainous terrain, and low coastal plains.

Origin of the Term "Mesoamerica"

  • Paul Kirchkoff first used the term in 1943.
  • "Meso" is Greek for "middle" or "intermediate."
  • Designates geographical areas with shared cultural traits prior to European invasion.

Mesoamerica vs. Native North America

  • Mesoamerican art: Mexico and much of Central America.
  • Native North American art: Indigenous peoples in the U.S. and Canada.
  • Recent consideration of connections between Southwestern and Southeastern U.S. and Mesoamerica (Greater Southwest or Greater Mesoamerica).
  • Demonstrates contact through trade, shared beliefs, migration, or conflict.
  • Ball courts found in Arizona sites (e.g., Pueblo Grande of the Hohokam).
  • Modern-day geographic terms (Mesoamerica, Southwestern U.S.) are recent designations.

Diversity within Mesoamerica

  • Each culture possessed unique qualities and cultural differences.
  • Mesoamerica was not homogenous.

Periods of Mesoamerican History

  • Divided into distinct periods with sub-periods (early, middle, and late).
    • Archaic Period: c. 3500-1500 BCE
    • Pre-Classical (or Formative) Period: c. 1800 BCE-250 CE
    • Classic Period: c. 150-650 CE
    • Epiclassic Period: c. 650-900 CE
    • Postclassic Period: c. 900-1519 CE

Cultures Associated with Periods

  • Pre-Classical: Olmec, Teotihuacan, Tlatilco, Maya, Zapotec
  • Classic: Teotihuacan, Maya
  • Epiclassic: Maya, Toltec
  • Postclassic: Toltec, Aztec (Mexica), Mixtec, Maya

End of the Postclassic Period

  • Contested date, presumed to be the arrival of Spaniards in Tenochtitlan in 1519.
  • Mesoamerican culture continued under Spanish control but was transformed.

Pre-Columbian Term

  • Designates indigenous cultures prior to Columbus's arrival.
  • Includes those in Mesoamerica, South America, and the Caribbean.
  • Problematic for several reasons.

Languages of Mesoamerica

  • No single language united the peoples of Mesoamerica.
  • Linguists believe Mesoamericans spoke more than 125 different languages.
  • Example: Maya peoples spoke Yucatec Maya, K'iche, or Tzotzil, among others.
  • The Mexica spoke Nahuatl.

The Ballgame

  • Played across Mesoamerica, beginning with the Olmecs.
  • Ballcourts located in a city's sacred precinct.
  • Solid rubber balls were passed between players (no hands allowed!).
  • The goal was to hit the ball through markers.
  • Players wore padded garments.

Meanings of the Ballgame

  • Symbolized cosmological ideas, including the movement of the sun through the underworld.
  • War captives played against members of a winning city or group.
  • Symbolized defeat in war.
  • Sometimes played instead of going to war.

Objects Displaying Aspects of the Ballgame

  • Clay sculptures of ballgames occurring on courts.
  • Ballplayers in Maya painted ceramic vessels and sculptures.
  • Stone reliefs at El Tajin and Chichen Itza depict moments culminating in ritual sacrifice.
  • Painted pictorial codices (e.g., Codex Borgia) display I-shaped ballcourts.
  • Stone depictions of ballgame clothing.
  • Today, people in Mexico still play a version of the ballgame.

Mesoamerican Achievements

  • Societies impress with sophistication and artistic achievements.
  • Understanding continues to expand with ongoing research and archaeological excavations.

Recent Discoveries

  • Recent excavations in Mexico City uncovered a new monumental Mexica sculpture.
  • Buried with unique objects.

Ballcourts in North America

  • Ballcourts closer to California than El Tajin and Chichen Itza.
  • Reconstructed remains at the Wupatki National Monument near Flagstaff, Arizona.
  • Over 200 ballcourts, built between 750-1200 CE, discovered in Arizona.
  • Suggests importance for the Wupatki and their southern neighbors.
  • Likely "borrowed and modified the ballcourt idea from earlier contact" with native cultures of Mexico.

Religious Beliefs and Cosmological Ideas

  • Difficult to generalize; they were complex.
  • Belief in the universe's division along two axes: vertical and horizontal.
  • The axis mundi is at the center where these axes meet.
  • The horizontal plane has four directions branching off from the axis mundi (cardinal directions).
  • The vertical plane splits the world into three major realms: celestial, terrestrial, and underworld.

Mexica Cosmological System

  • Image in the Codex Féjervary-Mayer displays the cosmos's horizontal axis.
  • Xiuhtecuhtli (fire god) stands in the place of the axis mundi.
  • Four nodes (trapezoidal petals) branch off, creating a Maltese Cross.

Associations with Directions

  • East (top): red, blue tree and quetzal
  • South (right): green, cacao and parrot
  • West (bottom): blue, maize and blue-painted bird
  • North (left): yellow, cactus and eagle
  • Two figures flank the plant in each arm of the cross.
  • These figures and Xiuhtecuhtli represent the Nine Lords of the Night.
  • This cosmogram describes how the Mexica conceived of the universe.

Region of Mesoamerica

  • Includes central and southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.
  • Diverse geographic landscape of highlands, jungles, valleys, and coastlines.
  • Mesoamericans did not exploit technological innovations such as the wheel (though used in toys).
  • Did not develop metal tools or metalworking techniques until at least 900 CE.
  • Known for megalithic (large stone) sculpture and extremely sharp weapons from obsidian (volcanic glass).
  • Featherwork and stonework in basalt, turquoise, and jade dominated artistic production.
  • Exceptional textiles and metallurgy flourished further south in pre-Columbian Andean and Central American cultures.

Shared Characteristics of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Cultures

  • Ritual ballgame
  • Pyramid building
  • Human sacrifice
  • Maize as an agricultural staple
  • Deities dedicated to natural forces (rain, storm, fire)

Sophisticated Systems

  • Development of sophisticated systems of writing.
  • Advanced understanding of astronomy.
  • Accurate and complex calendar systems, including the 260-day sacred calendar and the 365-day agricultural calendar.
  • Cities like La Venta and Chichen Itza were aligned in relation to cardinal directions and had a sacred center.
  • Cultural trademarks persisted for more than 2,000 years across civilizations like the Olmec (c. 1200-400 BCE) and the Aztec (c. 1345 to 1521 CE).

The Ballgame Iterations

  • Played in different iterations at different times and places.
  • It is still played today in many Mesoamerican cultures.
  • The 2017 Mesoamerican Ballgame Tournament was held in Teotihuacan, Mexico.
  • Played with a rubber ball that players hit with their elbows, hips, or knees.
  • Considered an important ritual.
  • Practiced first by the Olmec and last by the Aztec.
  • Players wore protective gear to avoid injury.
  • May have tried to score the ball through a ring high on the wall of the ballcourt.
  • Numerous rubber balls and ballcourts have been discovered throughout Mesoamerica in El Tajín and Monte Albán.
  • The largest surviving ballcourt is located in Chichen Itza.
  • The fate of the game and player was determined by the gods.

Introduction to Mesoamerica - Key takeaways

  • Avocado, tomato, and chocolate all originate from Mexico and are based on Nahuatl words (ahuacatl, tomat, and chocolat/).
  • Nahuatl is the language of the Nahua ethnic group, including the Mexica (Aztecs).
  • The Mexica were one of many Mesoamerican cultural groups that flourished in Mexico prior to the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century.