http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file
For complete access to all the files of this collection
	see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php 
==========================================================
*Ancient American Civilizations*
*Mesoamerica*
*© 1998 by John W. Hoopes <http://www.cc.ukans.edu/~hoopes>*

*Paleoindian (?18,000-10,000 BC)* - corresponds to the period of
the initial population of the New World via the Bering Land Bridge
towards the end of the Pleistocene ("Ice Age"). The early limits
of this period are poorly understood and hotly debated. The end of
this period is marked by dramatic climate changes, including
global warming, the receding of glaciers at upper latitudes, and a
worldwide rise in sea levels. These changes, as well as possible
human exploitation, led to the extinction of Pleistocene
megafauna--mammoths and mastodons first, followed by species like
horses, giant beavers, and ground sloths. Archaeological sites are
usually quarries for stone material, short-term camps, or
butchering locations. The latter typically have evidence of big
game kills. Typical artifacts of this period include fluted
projectile points such as Clovis, Folsom, and Magellan
("fish-tail") styles.

*Archaic (10,000 - ca. 3000 BC)* - term used to refer to a period
of mobile, band-level societies with economies based on small-game
hunting, wild plant gathering, fishing, and shellfish collection.
There is a continuation of the nomadic patterns of the Paleoindian
period at first, but the Late Archaic sees the appearance of
regular, seasonally-occupied sites. The trend for sedentism is
most noticeable on the coasts, where sites with large shell
middens indicate seasonal settlement. In general, the Archaic
period is characterized by "incipient" or beginning
agriculturalists. Experimentation with different plant foods
increases through time, resulting in the domestication of species
such as pumpkin, squash, avocado, chile peppers, amaranth, and
early maize. Seasonally nomadic groups become more sedentary, with
small "microband" groups coalescing into larger "macroband"
organizations. Typical artifacts of this period include basketry,
smaller projectile points, and early ground stone tools such as
/manos/ and /metates/.

*Early Preclassic (begins ca. 3000 BC and ends ca. 1000 BC)* - the
term "*Early Formative*" is also frequently used for this period,
which corresponds to the time during which permanent villages and
later large chiefdoms appeared. The beginning of the Early
Formative (3000-1000 BC) is signalled by the appearance of simple
pottery vessels, typically in the form of /tecomates/, or
gourd-shaped, rimless vessels. Village life is based primarily on
agriculture, with special emphasis on the cultivation of maize,
beans, and squash. Food storage becomes important, as does more
efficient food processing in the form of manos and metates.
Hunting remains important, as does shellfish collection on the
coasts. Early pottery, in widespread use by 2400 BC, is decorated
first with "plastic" decoration and later with slipping and
painting. By at least 1700 BC, there is evidence for sophisticated
pottery decoration in the Barra phase of coastal Chiapas. By 1600
BC, large houses, mica mirrors, and fancy figurines suggest the
emergence of differences in wealth and social status. These
provide the foundation for Olmec culture, which begins to flourish
around 1150 BC on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Olmec culture
represents the rise of chiefdom-level societies. It is
characterized by elaborate stone sculpture, massive building
projects, highly crafted artifacts of jade and other precious
materials, and a distinctive art style that indicates the
development of a powerful religious ideology. The most important
Early Formative Olmec site is San Lorenzo.

*Middle Preclassic (ca. 1000-400 BC)* - this period, also known as
the "Middle Formative," is most important for the rise and spread
of religious traditions related to Olmec culture. The trend
towards political centralization that began in the Early Formative
period continues, along with the other traits that accompany
increasing social complexity. The Olmec art style flourishes, with
elaborate expression in carved stone stelae, jade figurines, and
pottery--all emphasizing the "were-jaguar" and baby motifs.
Although San Lorenzo is abandoned, apparently as the result of
conflict, other sites such as La Venta, Tres Zapotes, and Laguna
de los Cerros grow in size and importance. Trade in valuable
minerals, such as jade and obsidian, increases. Evidence for Olmec
religious influence in artistic styles is found outside the Gulf
Coast "heartland" at sites like Chalcatzingo, Oxotitlan, and
Juxtlahuaca Cave. Long-distance contacts are evidenced by Olmec
materials found as far away as El Salvador and Costa Rica.

During this time there is evidence for early agricultural
villages in both the Guatemalan highlands and the lowlands of the
Petén and the Yucatán Peninsula.  One of the earliest of these is
the site of Cuello, Belize, where early pottery, house platforms
and possible ceremonial structures have been uncovered.  It's
during this period that sites like Nakbe, El Mirador, Tikal and
Uaxactún first develop into large villages.  Influence from Olmec
cultures of the Gulf Coast is found at sites like Seibal, where a
buried cache of jade axes similar to those discovered at La Venta
has been found.

*Late Preclassic (400 BC to ca. AD 100)* - also known as the "Late
Formative," this period sees the beginnings of early state-level
societies in various parts of Mesoamerica. Increased population
growth and sophisticated local religious traditions lead to the
appearance of important centers in the Valley of Mexico, highland
Chiapas, the Gulf Coast, and the Maya area..  In the Soconusco
region, complex iconography representing the growth of widespread
mythological systems is evident at sites like Izapa, in the
Pacific foothills of Chiapas.  Jade continues to be favored as a
sign of elite status, and jade caches at sites like Chacsinkin
(Yucatán) indicate that Olmec-style objects are being used by the
Maya as well.  Labor intensive agriculture, such as the use of
raised- (or drained-) fields along margins of bajos and swamplands
provides a stable subsistence base that nonetheless requires
coordination and constant attention.

One of the most significan developments of this period is the
invention of writing systems for recording names and dates.
Writing appears earliest in the Oaxaca Valley, then in Chiapas
(Chiapa de Corzo), the Gulf Coast region (Trez Zapotes) and
highland Guatemala (Abaj Takalik, El Baúl, and Kaminaljuyu). The
first writing systems appear during this period, showing up at La
Venta on the Gulf Coast and at San José Mogote in the Oaxaca
Valley of southern Mexico.  The earliest recorded dates come from
highland Chiapas (Abaj Takalik), highland Guatemala (El Baúl), and
the Gulf Coast (Tres Zapotes). The earliest known Long Count date
is 36 BC (Stela 2, Chiapa de Corzo).

This period also sees the emergence of Maya ceremonialism
based on the observation of celestial events, as evidenced by
stucco masks representing Venus, the sun, and other supernaturals
at sites like Cerros (Belize), Uaxactún (Guatemala), and El
Mirador (Guatemala).  Kaminaljuyu, in the Guatemalan highlands,
and El Mirador, in the heart of the Petén lowlands, become huge
centers of ritual activity during this period.  However, other
centers, like Tikal (Guatemala) are also large and important. 
There is also a flourishing of art styles in western Mexico,
particularly in the provinces of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima.

*Protoclassic (AD 100 - 200) *- The term "Protoclassic" is often
used to refer to a short period of time that follows the Late
Preclassic.  It corresponds to a period of experimentation with
early writing systems and Long Count dates.  It is also during
this time that the first polychrome ceramics appear.  This period
is best thought of as transitional between the Late Preclassic and
the Early Classic in the Maya area (to the north, in Central
Mexico, it's actually the beginning of the Classic period).  There
is increasing evidence that, like the later Epiclassic period, the
"Protoclassic" was characterized by major shifts in the power of
individual ritual centers.  Many of the prominent Late Preclassic
centers, most nobably El Mirador, go into decline and are
eventually abandoned.  Some scholars have even begun talking about
this period as a time of "collapse" similar to what followed the
Late Classic period.

In Central Mexico, this period actually sees the beginning of
the "Classic" period as Teotihuacán succeeds Cuicuilco (destroyed
by a volcanic eruption) as the dominant religious and economic
center in the Basin of Mexico.  At Teotihuacán, the Pyramids of
the Sun and Moon and the Avenue of the Dead are erected at the
"center of the universe" as monuments to the gods of creation.  In
highland Guatemala, Kaminaljuyú flourishes at this time, with
large pyramids and rich burials.

*Early Classic (AD 200 - 600) *- Perhaps the most significant
phenomenon of the Early Classic period is the rise of Teotihuacan
civilization in central Mexico.  The city of Teotihuacan, believed
by many to be the center of the universe, had begun to rise to
prominence around AD 100.  The period between AD 200 and 600
witnessed the city's growth to perhaps as many as 250,000 people. 
Teotihuacan was characterized by centrally planned ceremonial
architecture built on a large grid.  One of the most important
ritual structures was the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, which became
the focus of periodic festivals and celebrations of military
victories.  Teotihuacan belief and symbol systems had a profound
influence on most of the other Mesoamerican cultures of this time.

The Early Classic period in the Maya area is marked by the
appearance of dynastic records with Long Count dates in the Maya
lowlands, this period also sees the flourishing of stone
sculpture, architecture with corbelled vaults, elaborately painted
polychrome ceramics, and finely crafted jades.  The cult of the
Maya ahau, or dynastic ruler, is emphasized through the
documentation of lineages and genealogies on carved stelae.  It is
during the Early Classic that the ruling dynasties at sites like
Tikal, Calakmul, Palenque, Yaxchilán, and Copán   are founded. 
Although Kaminaljuyú remains important for the first part of this
period, Tikal and Calakmul are the largest Maya sites of the
lowland region.  The period is characterized by periodic conflicts
between the ruling families of Maya city-states, which result in
the capture and sacrifice of members of the nobility as well as
the looting of royal tombs.  Tikal dominates neighboring sites
like Uaxactún until Tikal's own conquest by Caracól, a result of
ongoing conflicts and "superpower" competition with the rival city
of Calakmul.  During the Early Classic period, there is evidence
for extensive trade networks that  extend as far north as
Teotihuacán, in Central Mexico and as far south as Costa Rica.

It is also during the Early Classic period that the Zapotec
civilization flourishes at the hilltop site of Monte Alban in the
Oaxaca Valley of southern Mexico.  The city, which had been
founded as early as 500 BC, reaches the peak of its population
during the Early Classic period.

*Late Classic (AD 600 - 900)* - The beginning of the Late Classic
period is marked by major upheavals in central Mexico.  Between AD
600 and 700, the center of Teotihuacan suffers from a dramatic
decline, with repercussions throughout Mesoamerica.  The city
loses most of its population, either through warfare, disease, or
abandonment.  This is not an end to Teotihuacan's influence, which
persists for several centuries through peoples descended from
Teotihuacan lineages.

The period of the flourishing of Maya civilization in the
Petén, Chiapas, western Honduras, and the Yucatán Peninsula. 
Populations of Maya centers like Tikal swell to almost 100,000
people, supported by intensive agricultural techniques that
include raised fields and labor-intensive harvests.  Maya
architecture and artwork reach their highest expression, as
evidenced by centers like Palenque, Yaxchilán, Copán, Dos Pilas,
and Chichén Itzá.  Maya vase painting becomes a fine art, with
depictions of Maya royal life and scenes from mythology (such as
the Popol Vuh).  Pyramid/tombs are constructed to honor Maya
/ahaus/, whose lives are filled with ceremonial activities
centering on bloodletting rituals, calendric events, dynastic
rites of succession, and warfare with lords of other Maya
centers.  Around AD 800, there is evidence for a dramatic increase
in the frequency, prevalence, and scale of warfare, which takes
its toll on the social landscape.  By the end of the Late Classic
period, the ceremonial cycle of stela carving and the dedication
of buildings comes to an end at most of the centers in the Petén,
probably as a result of increased warfare and environmental
stress.  However, ritual activity continues in the northern
Yucatán Peninsula, especially at sites like Chichén Itzá and Uxmal.

*Epiclassic (AD 800 - 1000)* - term used to refer to the events
that characterize the transition between the end of the Late
Classic period and the beginning of the Postclassic.  Among the
important markers of this period is evidence for the "collapse" of
Classic Maya culture in the southern lowlands, including frequent
images of warfare and sacrifice.  At the sites of Dos Pilas,
Aguateca, and Punta de Chimino in the Petexbatún region of
Guatemala there is evidence for defensive fortifications in
respons to large-scale warfare as well as significant
environmental degradation.  By contrast, in the northern lowlands
(the Yucatán Peninsula), this period sees the flourishing of Maya
culture at sites like Uxmal, Sayil, and Chichén Itzá.  Here, the
Epiclassic period is marked by increasing evidence for contact
with cultures from the Gulf Coast and Central Mexico.

In central Mexico, the Epiclassic is the period duiring which
important centers like Cholula, Cacaxtla, and Xochicalco rise to
prominence.  There is evidence for a continuity of rituals similar
to those practiced at Teotihuacan.  Many Epiclassic centers may
have had populations that included the descendents of prominent
lineages and refugees from Teotihuacan.

*Early Postclassic (AD 1000-1300)* - The Early Postclassic is best
known for the rise of Toltec culture, which actually had its
origins in the Epiclassic period.  The dominant center of Toltec
culture was at Tula, in the state of Hidalgo, north of the Valley
of Mexico.  Centers like Cholula remained important foci of ritual
activity, although they also appear to have suffered from periodic
military conflicts.  It is during this time that we see the
flourishing of several of the noble lineages mentioned in Mixtec
codices, whose genealogies and histories are recorded in these
screenfold books.

*Late Postclassic (AD 1300-1519)* - term used to refer to the last
period of occupation prior to the arrival of Cortes and the
Spanish Conquest.  The most prominent culture of the Late
Postclassic period is that of the Aztecs, who used military and
ideological force to dominate a large part of ancient Mexico.  The
group commonly referred to as the Aztecs was actually multiethnic,
established as the result of an alliance between the Mexica and
the inhabitants of Texcoco and Tlacopan after the defeat of the
Tepanec kingdom based at Aztcapotzalco..  The Aztec twin cities of
Tenochtitlán and Tlatelolco, located on an island in Lake Texcoco,
became the center of the Aztec Empire.  The Aztecs had a highly
centralized, tribute state based on the extraction of labor and
goods from conquered populations.

Maya civilization survived into the Late Postclassic at
important ceremonial centers in the northern Yucatan as well as in
the highlands of Guatemala.  The southern lowlands, where many
centers of Classic Maya culture flourished, were never completely
abandoned.  The island kingdom of Topoxte (in the middle of Lake
Yaxha) and the kingdom of the Itzá around Lake Tayasal survived
until the 17th century and are among the last strongholds of Maya
resistance to Spanish domination.  However, in general, sites are
smaller and ferocious competition between rulers of small kingdoms
is evident.  Among the last Maya sites in the Yucatán are Mayapán
and Tulúm.  In the highlands of Guatemala, the Quiché kingdoms of
Utatlán and the Cakchiquel capital of Iximche prevail.  Although
the Maya were never conquered by the Aztecs, Postclassic Maya
culture was strongly influenced by traditions the Gulf Coast and
Central Mexico. *Return to Home Page
<http://www.cc.ukans.edu/~hoopes/506>* *Send email to Prof. Hoopes
<mailto:hoopes at ukans.edu>*