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.