mesoamerican civilization Flashcards
mesoamerica
-“middle america”
-cultural region = everyone had similar characteristics
-land bridge linked americas to russia, it melted
-~8000 yrs ago, shift to sedentary lifestyle
-~3000 yrs ago, highly developed societies in mesoamerica and andes
maya classic pyramid
-“golden age”
-pryamid plaza complex (ppl would worship and watch rituals)
-agriculture, irrigation, terracing
-polytheistic
-king was believed to be related to
gods, served as mediator
-temples and palaces were white stucco pyramids, painted colors w elaborate inscriptions
-one of first to develop concept of zero
the ball game
-played throughout region, ball courts in every city
-spaniards wrote incorrectly about it
-courts had inscriptions with rules
-courts shaped like an I, alley in middle with endzones
-purpose was to get ball to other side and score, cannot move ball with feet or hands, keep it off ground
-misconceptions: had to get ball in hoop, losing team was sacrificed
-cities would host games, kids played, believed that gods played it
-1500 ball courts discovered
teotihuacan
-right outside mexico city
-became most powerful influential city in central mexico
-unknown what they called themselves (name comes from aztecs who found abandoned city “the place where gods were created”
-structure destroyed, city abandoned by 750
olmecs
-mexico
-one of earliest groups w sophisticated civilization
-unknown what they called self (olmec means “rubber people” bc aztecs knew they produced rubber”
-evidence of them developing ball game
-glyphs found
-cities San Lorenzo and La Venta were only for elites
-8 androgynous deities
-17 intact giants heads of different faces, likely portraying rulers
the maya at el mirador
-first superhighway network
-tallest pyramids in the americas
-kan kingdom, first ever state in americas (would’ve had largest population at the time)
