Mesoamerica

Question 1

Horticulture and Animal Domestication

Answer 1

• 6000 BC chilies and squash
• 4000 BC Maize, domesticated form of the teosinte plant
• 3500 BC beans and fruits such as avocado, mango, papaya
• Cotton, yucca, agave for textiles and drinking
• No large work animals
• Dogs, turkeys, ducks domesticated
• Deer and fish were hunted to supplement diet

Question 2

Agriculture

Answer 2

• No large open fields
• Milpa cycle where small plots of land where non-useful plants were burned away, leaving the useful ones. Crops were planted here, and after a few years trees that grew at different rates were planted to replenish the soil. Over time these orchards would turn into forest gardens that looked wild, but each layer of the canopy was useful. Eventually this would turn back into wild forest
• Terracing where hillsides were turned into large terraces that grew crops
• intercropping where complementary species would be planted together to help sustain each other and the soil
• Raised fields which were long fields built during the dry season wih ditches that ran between them. These ditches would flood in the wet season and fill up to water the plants over the entire year. An example is the Chinampas from the Aztec empire

Question 2

Calendar

Answer 2

• Complex calendar system spread across all of Mesoamerica, with slight differences depending on the culture
• Tzolkin Calendar - 260 day sacred calendar with 13 months that had 20 days each. Each day had a name that was associated with certain spiritual forces
• Haab - 365 day civic calendar of 18 months with 20 days each. The final 5 days were tacked on at the end and seen as unlucky.
• The Tzolkin and Haab calendars worked together cycle called the Calendar Round
• If you wanted to tell time beyond the 52 year cycle you would use the long count, which counted from their mythical beginning of time. The idea of the “doomsday” predicted by the Maya is inaccurate, instead it was the beginning of a new cycle.

Question 2

Trade

Answer 2

• jade and Jadeite were traded for their ceremonial use due to their colour. It didn’t matter so much that they were actual jade, more that they had that green colouration
• Obsidian
• Chocolate, which was consumed as a drink by all levels of society and considered the food of the gods. Drunk from round jars by the Olmec, tall cylindrical beakers decorated with scenes by the Aztec, and decorated tall cups by the Maya
• All of these goods are only native to certain regions, but have been found all across Mesoamerica, suggesting that they were traded

Question 3

Astronomy

Answer 3

• Their astronomy was incredibly accurate, far more accurate than the Gregorian calendar we use today
• Codices and glyphs talk about their observation of the stars and the solar year
• They were able to calculate that the astronomical year is 365.2420 days, whereas we have now calculated it to 365.2422.
• Their math system has the concept of 0, making it incredibly accurate
• Worked out the cycles of the planets as well as solstices, equinoxes, etc.
• Their architecture aligned with astronomical events

Question 4

Ball Game

Answer 4

• Sport and ritual purposes
• It was shown in art as being played by leaders and gods, and being integral to the formation of the world
• First evidence found in 1650 BC
• Used a heavy rubber ball, played on an I-shaped ball court with no use of hands, played by 2 teams
• We do not know the rules or what winning/losing meant
• Damage to ball player skeletons is similar to bronco riders in rodeos so it was an intense sport
• Theories state that it was used to replace warfare

Question 5

Religion and Spirituality

Answer 5

• Human sacrifice
• Widespread throughout Mesoamerica
• Artistic depictions and Spanish Colonial accounts confirm this
• Human sacrifice the way we think of it may not have been real
• The art may have been symbolic and depicting ritualistic war, which was common, rather than sacrifice. The ruler may have been killed instead of their army. It also may have been state sanctioned killing similar to Medieval Europe viewed through an outside lens, hence the Spanish accounts.
• Sacrificing your own blood through bloodletting was practiced
• Used as a method to legitimize colonization, so it needs to be thought of critically.

Question 6

Olmecs

Answer 6

• “Rubber people”
• Gulf of Mexico
• Archaeologists first assumed they were a postclassic culture, but it was then discovered that they were preclassic
• Diffusion theory depicts it as the “Mother” of Mesoamerican human culture, which then diffused out and became later cultures, but this is becoming less accepted
• Because it was first thought to be a postclassic culture, artefacts were collected without context so many cultural elements have been lost
• Began with smaller villages, developed cities later
  Main cities were San Lorenzo, and La Venta. San Lorenzo was the largest city they ever built with lots of monumental architecture, pyramid structures, and a placement that helped it avoid flooding. La Venta was a smaller city that formed after the decline of San Lorenzo. It had a huge pyramid and a North-South symmetrical layout.
• Likely made up of city stated rather than a single unified culture
• Colossal stone heads - huge heads carved through grinding as early as 900 BC. Each face was different, so they may have represented early rulers
• Only used stone tools
• `Cities were destroyed and abandoned in 400-350 BC for unknown reasons. Environmental factors were also changing along with environmental and tectonic activity, so people probably just migrated away. This coincides with the end of the preclassic era.