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Definition
| 1400 b.c. The earliest known ceremonial center in Mesoamerica, located in coastal Chiapas, Mexico (Soconusco coast). 2-3 tiered settlement hierarchy. Typical household clusters but the chief's house was 22x10m and associated with a significant amount of prestige goods. |
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Definition
The lower 2/3 of Mexico to N. half Central America. Coined by Paul Kirchoff.
1. Step pyramids with temples
2. Writing
3. Solar calendar
4. Ritual human sacrifice |
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Definition
| 1600-400 b.c. Earliest complex societies and cities. Collosal Olmec head, Olmec figurines, powerful rulers based on religious practices |
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Definition
| Coined the term Mesoamerica in 1943 based on shared characteristics |
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Definition
| Valleys are the most productive agricultural areas in Mesoamerica (Valley of Oaxaca). Erosion is a problem (created a sophisticated terrace system). Resource poor. Some resources are obsidian, colored dyes (cochineal), and cacti |
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Definition
| Pinched in part of Mexico. Important for trade and communication (mountain ranges soften out) |
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Definition
| Largest valley in Mexican highlands. 7000 ft above sea level. Climatically temperate. Series of large shallow lakes. |
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Definition
| At a crossroads. Important area for trade and movement. Located near volcanoes. |
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Definition
| Semi-tropical, extremely agriculturally productive but more fragile (easier to degrade, resource rich (cacao, cotton, fish, shellfish, salt) |
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Definition
| Arrives in Veracruz in 1519. Defeats the Aztec city of Tenotichlan in 1521 with an army of 17,000 from Tlaxcalans. Took advantage of existing conflicts. Rest of Mesoamerica was conquered by 1697. |
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Definition
| Agreements made between gods and men. Depicts the creation of a new world |
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Definition
| Indigenous religious trials, took place at the same time as the Spanish Inquisition. Indigenous religion seen as devil worship |
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| Fray Berandino de Sahagun |
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Definition
| Wrote the Florentine Codex. A 12 volume set on Aztec culture |
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Definition
| Originally a book burner. Spent the later part of his life trying to learn the Maya calendar |
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| Fray Bartolome de las Casas |
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Definition
| Advocate for the rights of Indigenous people. In a debate argued that Natives had a high civilized culture and were equal to the Spanish. Pointed out the atrocities of the time. |
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Term
| Myth of Quiche Maya- Popul Vuh |
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Definition
| Creation story. Indigenous people came to trust a priest and allowed him to copy it down. 1701-1703 |
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Term
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Definition
| 10-12,000 b.c. Pre-Paleoindian site. Remains of structures, hearths, stone tools, naturally mummified butchered bones. |
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Term
| Meadowcroft Rockshelter, PA |
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Definition
| Pre-paleoindian artifacts dating to around 17,000 b.c. |
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Term
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Definition
| 10,000-8,000 b.c. People traveled through the McKenzie Corridor in Canada to the tip of S. America. Fluted points for killing Pleistocene megafauna. |
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Term
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Definition
| 8000-1600 b.c. End of ice age leads to the extinction of megafauna and major climatic changes. People during this time were forager/farmers. Shift to agriculture was very gradual. |
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Term
| Tehuacan valley and Oaxaca projects |
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Definition
| Richard "Scotty" MacNeish. Explicitly about finding the origins of agriculture in Mexico. Guila Nequitz Cave in Oaxaca |
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Term
| Richard "Scotty" MacNeish |
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Definition
| Tehuacan Valley Project. Found preserved corn cobs in Coxcatlan Cave |
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Term
| Early Archaic 8000-7000 b.c. |
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Definition
| 10,000-7,000 b.c. Shift towards more regular seasonal movements- different types of resources available seasonally. Mobility reflected in the technology (stone tools, not a lot of material culture, no pottery, no storage) |
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Term
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Definition
| 7,000- 3,500 b.c. 1st evidence of domestication. Part time farmers grew crops along drainage during the rainy seasons. Domesticates small part of the diet. By 3500 b.c. staying in one place for at least the rainy season. Grinding stones (mano and metate). Egalitarian. |
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Definition
| 1st domestication in the new world. Evidence shows that they were brought her by Asians. Used as drinking vessels |
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Definition
| Domesticated around 3500 b.c. from teosinte |
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Term
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Definition
| 3,500-2,000 b.c.Domesticates a larger part of the diet. Increased sedentism (totally sedentary by the very late archaic). Relying on rainfall in addition to floodwater |
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Term
| Interventions that may lead to domestication |
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Definition
1. Propagation
2. Cultivation
3. Harvesting
4. Storage |
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Term
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Definition
| Taking the seeds of plants that have desirable characteristics- intentionally or unintentionally. |
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Term
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Definition
| Nurturing plants while they grow. Watering, irrigation, weed removal, pest removal. |
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Term
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Definition
| Harvesting can cause unnatural selection. Sturdy/weak rachis. The way the seed falls off may affect which get replanted later |
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Term
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Definition
| Storing plants that don't last through the planting season |
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Definition
| Altered to suit human needs. Selected characteristics for humans rather than nature. Depends on humans to grow and reproduce- a symbiotic relationship |
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Term
| Characteristics for domestication |
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Definition
1. Seed annually
2. Easier to domesticate genetically
3. Easily adapt to different environments
4. Easy to store (whole point is to generate a surplus)
5. Eventually become highly productive |
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Term
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Definition
| "Scotty" MacNeish. Nuclear zones/optimal areas where wild precursors were abundant (highlands). Overtime, foragers would gain more knowledge about them and focus more time on them as they became more productive. Exploiting the crops would make the people more sedentary. Ignores the fact that early domesticates weren't productive |
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Term
| "Seasonal scheduling" theory |
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Definition
Kent Flannery. Systems theory- people part of an ecosystem, goal is to maintain equilibrium. Upper population limit that the land can hold -> Humans obtain food through technology-> Mobile lifestyle limits population -> People begin focusing more on the production of the plant that is available to them (teosinte)-> Requires staying in one place longer -> Population growth and you hit the carrying capacity -> Cause people to focus more intensively on teosinte
Also ignores that teosinte wasn't productive to begin with. |
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Term
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Definition
Original domestication is the result of a search for status and prestige. Initial domesticates were considered prestige food. Population consists of people who are aggrandizers/accumulators-> also leads to invention of pottery, and trade. Maize originally used for maize beer.
No evidence for status differences until thousands of years later. |
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Term
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Definition
| 2000-800 b.c. Major agricultural changes. Sedentary agricultural lifestyle. Population growth, permanent structures, storage, pottery technology |
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Term
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Definition
| 2000-1400 b.c.25-50 houses made of waddle and daub, 100-300 ppl |
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Term
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Definition
| Household cluster- house floor 4x5m and patio, oven/hearth, human burials outside of house (some differences- achieved status), midden, bell-shaped pit storage area |
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Term
| Early formative figurines |
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Definition
| Naked (except for ornamentation and headgear) women at significant life stages. Associated with the domestic. Suspension holes on the top suggest they may have been worn. |
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Term
| Early formative ceramic technology |
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Definition
| Very elaborate. More so than later pottery. Forms are derived from bottle gourds. Were they adapted from existing forms? Some evidence that they were model after pottery from the south. Aggrandizer model. Evidence for kilns. |
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Term
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Definition
| Part human part feline imagery. Most common Olmec motif. Shaman can transform into supernatural animals |
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Term
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Definition
| Tres Zapotes, La Venta. Developed "mother culture theory" that Olmec gave birth to fundamental of Mesoamerican culture. |
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Term
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Definition
| Tres Zapotes, San Lorenzo, La Venta |
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Term
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Definition
| Excavated by Michael Coe and Anne Cyphers. Largest site in the later part of the early formative (1200-800 b.c.)- 5000-10,000 people. Lowland-very productive. Series of monumental platforms. Colossal stone heads- portraits of rulers. Olmec altars/thrones. |
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Term
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Definition
| Middle formative as San Lorenzo declines (800-400 b.c.). 500 ha. Over 10,000 ppl.Courtyards, plazas, pyramids, massive stone heads, thrones. Massive basalt lined tombs. Ritual caches- had sacred symbolic power. Central pyramid |
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Term
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Definition
| Made of basalt blocks. 2 juveniles buried in fabric bundles (fetal position), covered in red paint, offerings of jade and shell- ascribed status |
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Term
| Chiefdom/Initial Complexity |
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Definition
1.Leaders/mobilized labor
2.Ascribed status (most fundamental feature)
3. Public buildings
4. Resource surplus
5. Complex trade system
6. People pay tribute to the chief |
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Term
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Definition
| Chiefs gain dominance over other chiefs. The top is the paramount chief and around that are local chiefs. 2 tiered settlement hierarchy is associated with a 1 tiered administrative hierarchy |
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Term
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Definition
| Chiefs gain dominance over other chiefs. The top is the paramount chief and around that are local chiefs (only loosely tied to the paramount). 2 tiered settlement hierarchy is associated with a 1 tiered administrative hierarchy |
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Term
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Definition
| The number of levels of administration |
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Term
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Definition
| What chiefdom are built on. Resources acquired by the chief are used to establish relationships with other chiefs |
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Term
| Theory of Initial Social Complexity |
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Definition
Mike Blake, John Clark. Cultural changes -> some people are aggrandizers -> Must have an intensifiable habitat (r-selected domesticates) -> creating an exotic good through craft specialization and trade -> Sponsored ritual feasts (establishing debt)
Social complexity is a natural outgrowth of people competing for resources and environmental constraints being taken away |
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Term
| Polities with exclusionary political authority |
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Definition
| Unfettered power. Fundamentally different from common people. Ideology emphasizes special qualities. Aggrandizement. Fewer ideological and social controls on ruler. Ties between elites more important - The Olmec |
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Term
| Polities with corporate forms of rulership |
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Definition
Ideologies focus on the group. Ruler's authority through their membership in the group. Power sharing. Large scale corporate projects that celebrate the group rather than the individual.
Teotihuacan |
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Term
| Early formative Olmec influence |
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Definition
| Exchange of prestige goods. Exchange of ideas (decorative motifs, were-jaguars). Ideas are also originating outside of the heartland. Supports "Sister culture" theory |
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Term
| Middle Formative Olmec influence |
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Definition
| Spread of monumental art. Better evidence for conquest, but not a broad Olmec empire. Most likely exchange of ideas and trade. |
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Term
| Chalcatzingo, Morelos Valley |
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Definition
Trading center/corridor. Olmec style throne/altar found (Terrace 25- sunken patio). Shows signs of alliance rather than conquest.
Dave grove. 3 tiered settlement hierarchy. 30ha. Center of the site located on a series of artificial terraces. Sculptures in the rocks on the hills depict human sacrifice (1st example in Mesoamerica) |
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Term
| Chalchuapa, Soconusco coast |
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Definition
| Carved stone monuments that look like Olmec rulers |
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Term
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Definition
| More carved stone art in the Olmec style |
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Term
| Canton Corralito, Chiapas |
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Definition
| Evidence of conquest by the Olmec. Local ceramic style entirely replaced by ones from the Gulf Coast. Evidence shows they were made in the gulf coast |
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Term
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Definition
| Matthew Sterling. Olmec the innovators of major ideas of religion and rulership |
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Term
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Definition
| Interaction amongst societies that gave rise to religious principles important in later periods |
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Term
| San Jose Mogote, Valley of Oaxaca |
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Definition
Largest site in the VO (in the Etla arm) until 500 b.c. 70ha, 1000 ppl. 3 tiered settlement hierarchy. Mound 1- 15m above the valley floor. 600b.c. temple on top of mound is burnt down by raiding parties (enemies gaining power). High status house built in it's place- rulers response to crisis. Elaborate masonry tomb (1st in Ma) has a dozen projectile points- increasing conflict.
Monument 3- Danzante- Human sacrifice, new form of ritual. Trying to turn things around by demonstrating religious power
Population declines to 34 ha by 600, and in total decline by 500 |
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Term
| Middle formative collapse |
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Definition
| 600-400 b.c. Breakdown in exchange networks. Emerging series of new political centers. The beginning of human sacrifice. New types of art and architecture |
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