Week One
Mesoamerica and Beyond
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I. The Formative/Pre-Classic period

A. 8000-3500 BCE, domestication of crops

B. 3000-1800 BCE, agricultural economies and settled villages

C. 1800-300 BCE, emergence of cities, temples and pyramids, writing

1. Olmecs:

-San Lorenzo (1200-900 BCE) (Veracruz + Central Mexico)
-Aguada Fénix? (1000-800 BCE) (Tabasco)

2. Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Mixe-Zoque (Oaxaca)

3. Maya (Aguada Fénix?)

-highland (Guatemala, Chiapas)
-lowland (Tabasco, Yucatán, Guatemala, Belize)


II. Language and Culture

A. 7-11 language families w/ +/-63 surviving languages and many more dialects. Most commonly known:

1. Mixtec (western Oaxaca)

2. Zapotec (eastern Oaxaca)

3. Maya (Guatemala, Yucatán, Chiapas, Belize, eastern Huasteca in Veracruz)

    -28 surviving, most variety in Chiapas and Guatemala
    -K'iche' Maya, language of Popol Wuj
    -Yucatec Maya, language of lowlands

4. Nahuatl (central + western Mexico, western Huasteca (Veracruz)

    -varieties in Chiapas and El Salvador (Nawat)
    -varieties in northern Mexico

III. The Mesoamerican calendar(s)

A. Ritual (tzolk'in):

1. 13 numbers + 20 day names = 260 days

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

2. The oldest calendar:

-earliest examples are from Olmec/Oaxaca region c. 900 BCE -- but vigesimal system is much older (e.g., in count of side platforms at San Lorenzo and Aguada Fénix)

B. Solar (haab):

1. 18 months of 20 days + 5 "dangerous" extra days at end of year = 365 days

C. Calendar round:

1. Combo of both, one cycle = 52 years

-the Mesoamerican "century"
-transition marked by New Fire Ceremony

D. Maya Long Count:

1. A cycle of 13 bak'tuns (about 5,128 yrs each)

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

2. Began 13.0.0.0.0 on Aug. 12, 3114 BCE, 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 CE, with a different Calendar Round date, 4 Ajaw 3 K'ank'in