Warm - up Warm - up • What can you tell me that you already know/ have heard about the Olmecs, Mayans, Incas, Aztecs? • Where is Mesoamerica? • We are going to Computer Lab 105 to explore and be able to explain the cultures of MesoAmerica.
Mar 21, 2016
Warm - upWarm - up
• What can you tell me that you already know/ have heard about the Olmecs, Mayans, Incas, Aztecs?
• Where is Mesoamerica?• We are going to Computer Lab 105 to
explore and be able to explain the cultures of MesoAmerica.
• Where did humans first originate?• How did people first come to America?
MesoamericaMesoamerica• advanced native
civilizations of Central America – Maya, Aztec and Inca.
• This area stretches south from central Mexico to northern Honduras.
OlmecOlmec• Mesoamerica’s first known civilization
builders!!• Rise: Used rivers and flood plain to build
cities.• Fall: Unsure, Outside invaders may have
caused destruction & Olmec may have destroyed own monuments upon the death of their rulers
LocationLocation
• They established themselves in Southern Mexico
ArtArt• Lots of humongous (huge) sculpted heads
5ft tall, 8 tons! May have represented particular Olmec rulers
ReligionReligion
• Polytheistic• Jaguar Important• Animists
ContributionsContributions• The ‘Mother Culture”• Jaguar• Ballcourt Game & ceremonial Centers• Abundant deposits of salt and tar, as well
as fine clay for pottery• Also wood and rubber from the rain forest.
MayaMaya•Rise: 200 BCE Due to
Extensive Trade, Farming Techniques
• Fall: Frequent warfare between kingdoms disrupted trade, invaders from the north
• Population growth creates need for more land
LocationLocationGuatemala, Yucatan
Peninsula (Mexico)
EconomyEconomy• Trade: Food, Feathers,
flint, salt
• Farming: Terrace farming, slash & burn, raised beds in swamps….enabled production of corn, beans, squash
GovernmentGovernment• City –states with
God-Kings
• Religion• Polythestic-
Animistic
Religion ContinuedReligion Continued•Chichen-Itza. – sacred Mayan
religious center. It means “at the mouth of the well of the Itza”
Gods fed on and survived on human blood– human sacrifice.
Arts/ArchitectureArts/Architecture& other & other ContributionsContributions
Pyramids – 4 sided templesTallest structures in MesoAmerica until 1920
•Hieroglyph writing system – –One of only five original writing systems invented.
•Maya math – used zero. & form of decimal system
*
• Great astronomers - predict eclipses of sun and moon. Believed the earth moved through cycles of birth and destruction.
•Best-documented calendars of their time. 365 days
– December 21st, 2012 – Mayan Day of Doom – The end of this cycle according to the Maya.