Mesoamerica/Mesoamerican culture


I. The Formative/Pre-Classic period

A. 8000-3500 B.C.E., domestication of crops

B. 3000-1800 B.C.E., agricultural economies and
settled villages

C. 1800-300 B.C.E., emergence of cities, temples and pyramids, trade, writing

-Olmecs (Veracruz "Olmec Heartland" and Central Mexico; San Lorenzo, 1200-900 B.C.E.)

-Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Mixe-Zoque (Oaxaca)

-Maya : highland (Guatemala, Chiapas) and lowland (Guatemala, Belize, Yucatan)


II. The 'Classic' period

A. Oaxaca

- Monte Albán, 500 B.C.E. - 800 C.E.

B. Maya, 200 - 900 C.E.

- Tikal, Quiriguá, etc.(Guatemalan lowlands)
- Palenque (Chiapas)
- Copán (Honduras)

C. Central Mexico, 150 B.C.E. - 700 C.E.

- Teotihuacan

Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl)

- Cholula

III. The Postclassic period

A. Major characteristics

- fragmentation
- migrations
- warfare
- religious exchange

 

B. Major sites and centers

1. Oaxaca

- Zapotecs and Mixtecs

Mitla, 1300-1521

2. Maya

- Yucatan peninsula

Chichen Itzá, 750-1200
Mayapán, 1283-1450

- Guatemala/Chiapas highlands

Iximché (Kaqchikel), 1470-1527
Q'umarkaj/Utatlán (K'iche'), 1225-1524

3. Central Mexico

Cholula, 100-1520
Tula, 800-1150
Tenochtitlan, 1325-1521

IV. The Mesoamerican calendar(s)

-ritual (tzolk'in):

13 numbers + 20 day names = 260 days to return to where it started.

1 Imix, 2 Ik, 3 Ak'bal, 4 K'an, etc. takes 260 days to return to I Imix

The oldest calendar, earliest examples from Olmec/Oaxaca region c. 900 B.C.E.

-solar (haab):

18 months of 20 days + 5 "dangerous" extra days at end of year = 365 days

-Calendar round/Divinatory calendar:

Combo of both, one cycle = 52 years. This "century"/transition marked by New Fire Ceremony

-Maya Long Count:

A cycle of 13 bak'tuns (about 5,128 yrs each), began 13.0.0.0.0 on Aug. 12, 3114 B.C.E., Calendar Round 4 Ajaw 8 Kumk'u. Next bak'tun was 1.0.0.0.0. Returned to 13.0.0.0.0 on Dec. 21, 2012 C.E. with a different Calendar Round date, 4 Ajaw 3 K'ank'in.

-k'in = day
-uinal = 20 days
-tun = 18 uinals (+/- one solar year)
-k'atun = 20 tuns (+/- 20 years)
-bak'tun = 400 tuns (+/- 400 years)

 

II. Mesoamerican writing (+/- 2600 years ago)

Mesoamerica is one of only five cultures in the world to have developed writing independently.
The others are Sumerians (Iraq), Chinese, Harappans (Pakistan) and Egyptians.

4 systems: Mixtec, Zapotec, Maya, Aztec
only 20 +/- precolumbian books survive today

 

A. Glyphs: Pictographic, logographic, phonetic symbols

- Maya glyphs record words and grammar/syntax

- Mixtec, Zapotec, Nahua writing uses all three types of symbols but does not record grammar/syntax

B. Stelae
C. Precolumbian and colonial-era codices
D. Colonial-era manuscripts

- Popol Wuj

K'iche' Maya
Santa Cruz el Quiche (Guatemala)
1703, copied by Francisco Ximénez
1850s, removed to and published in Europe