1.
Peru
–
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean. Peruvian territory was home to ancient cultures spanning from the Norte Chico civilization in Caral, one of the oldest in the world, to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty with its capital in Lima, ideas of political autonomy later spread throughout Spanish America and Peru gained its independence, which was formally proclaimed in 1821. After the battle of Ayacucho, three years after proclamation, Peru ensured its independence, subsequently, the country has undergone changes in government from oligarchic to democratic systems. Peru has gone through periods of political unrest and internal conflict as well as periods of stability, Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. It is a country with a high Human Development Index score. Its main economic activities include mining, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing, the Peruvian population, estimated at 31.2 million in 2015, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua or other native languages and this mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine, literature, and music. The name of the country may be derived from Birú, the name of a ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama. When his possessions were visited by Spanish explorers in 1522, they were the southernmost part of the New World yet known to Europeans, thus, when Francisco Pizarro explored the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Perú. An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer Inca Garcilasco de la Vega, son of an Inca princess, the Spanish Crown gave the name legal status with the 1529 Capitulación de Toledo, which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of Peru. Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of Peru, the earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 9,000 BC. Andean societies were based on agriculture, using such as irrigation and terracing, camelid husbandry. Organization relied on reciprocity and redistribution because these societies had no notion of market or money, the oldest known complex society in Peru, the Norte Chico civilization, flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BC. These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures that developed mostly around the coastal, the Cupisnique culture which flourished from around 1000 to 200 BC along what is now Perus Pacific Coast was an example of early pre-Incan culture. The Chavín culture that developed from 1500 to 300 BC was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, on the coast, these included the civilizations of the Paracas, Nazca, Wari, and the more outstanding Chimu and Mochica. Their capital was at Chan Chan outside of modern-day Trujillo, in the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America with their capital in Cusco
Peru
–
Sculpted
Chavin head embedded in one of the walls of the temple of
Chavín de Huantar
Peru
Peru
–
A
Moche ceramic vessel from the 5th century depicting a man's head
Peru
–
The citadel of
Machu Picchu, an iconic symbol of pre-Columbian Peru
2.
Archaic period in the Americas
–
The Archaic stage is characterized by subsistence economies supported through the exploitation of nuts, seeds, and shellfish. As its ending is defined by the adoption of sedentary farming and this classification system was first proposed by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips in the widely accepted 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology. In the organization of the system, the Archaic period followed the Lithic stage and is superseded by the Formative stage, the Lithic stage The Archaic stage The Formative stage The Classic stage The Post-Classic stage Numerous local variations have been identified within the cultural rankings. The period has been subdivided by region and then time, for instance, the Archaic Southwest tradition is subdivided into the Dieguito-Pinto, Oshara, Cochise and Chihuahua cultures. Such early mound sites as Frenchmans Bend and Hedgepeth were of time period. Watson Brake is now considered the oldest mound complex in the Americas, more than 100 sites have been identified as associated with the regional Poverty Point culture of the Late Archaic period, and it was part of a regional trading network across the Southeast. Across what is now the Southeastern United States, starting around 4000 BCE, people exploited wetland resources, middens developed along rivers, but there is limited evidence of Archaic peoples along coastlines prior to 3000 BCE. Archaic sites on the coast may have been inundated by rising sea levels, starting around 3000 BCE evidence of large-scale exploitation of oysters appears. During the period 3000 BCE to 1000 BCE shell rings, large shell middens more or less surrounding open centers, developed along the coast of the Southeastern United States. These shell rings are numerous in South Carolina and Georgia, but are found scattered around the Florida Peninsula. In some places, such as Horrs Island in Southwest Florida, four shell or sand mounds on Horrs Island have been dated to between 4,870 and 4,270 Before Present. The site which is considered to be one of the most significant centres of habitation and ceremonial burial in Canada, is located on the north side Rainy River in Northwestern Ontario. It became part of a trading network because of its strategic location at the centre of major North American waterways. In Glyn Edmund Daniel, Christopher Chippindale, feasting with Shellfish in the Southern Ohio Valley, Archaic Sacred Sites and Rituals. Knoxville, U of Tennessee P. ISBN 1-5723-3733-8, gainesville, Florida, The University Press of Florida
Archaic period in the Americas
–
Copper knife, spearpoints, awls, and spud, from the Late Archaic period, Wisconsin, 3000-1000 BC
Archaic period in the Americas
–
Archaeological sites
3.
Piruro
–
Piruro or Phiruru is an archaeological site in Peru. It is situated in the Huánuco Region, Huamalíes Province, Tantamayo District, the site was declared a National Cultural Heritage by Resolución Directoral No. The complex consists of two parts named Piruro I and Piruro II, the latter is situated a bit higher at 9°22′43. 98″S 76°42′16. 44″W. This archaeological zone has had an occupation, its first vestiges date from 3000 to 2500 years B. C. The Fortress of Piruro II can be found in the side of the river Tantamayo over 3. C. Meaning this fortress was built in the period, Girault found architectonic remnants of hewn stones that seem similar to those found in Kotosh. The fortress is composed of walls build with stones hewn in squared shape, the building is composed of 5 floors, where the front of it has rectangular doors and windows. In the front of the building there is a large-scale clearance that shapes a park because in the center of it there are remnants of a stone, anku Isuq Susupillu Wanqaran Andean preceramic Kotosh Religious Tradition
Piruro
–
Phiruru II
4.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
–
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
5.
Federico Kauffmann Doig
–
Federico Kauffmann Doig is a Peruvian historian and archaeologist. Kauffmann Doig was born in Chiclayo, and spent his childhood and infancy in small localities of Cajamarca and Amazonas, of German father, it is provided for the maternal side with forefathers of the millennial culture Mochica. Professor Doctor Federico Kauffmann-Doig was the Peruvian ambassador to Germany, a descendant of John Doig who was born in Maybole on June 24,1792 and who emigrated to Peru in 1820. The ambassador has a doctorate in archaeology, as well as a doctorate in history. He has lectured at several of Peru’s universities and, as a professor at the University of Bonn he taught Peruvian and American archaeology. His prolific professional work has been honoured with the highest award given by Peru in the field of culture and he was the first Latin American to be awarded Swedens Neubergh Medal. He has been decorated by the Peruvian government, as well as by the governments of Belgium, Austria, more about Professor Doctor Federico Kauffmann-Doig. Happy New Year 2011 As a university professor, Kauffmann Doig has exercised the Directors charges of the Museo de Arte and he is General manager of the Monumental and Cultural Patrimony of the Nation and the Director of the Museo Nacional de Antropología y Arqueología and History of Peru. He has translated The Incas and their Ancestors and Machu Picchu, more about the Doctor F. Kauffmann-Doig. http, //www. maybole. org/Notables/doig/prof_dr_federico_kauffmanndoig. htm
Federico Kauffmann Doig
–
Federico Kauffmann at 2011
6.
Pre-Columbian era
–
For this reason the alternative terms of Precontact Americas, Pre-Colonial Americas or Prehistoric Americas are also in use. In areas of Latin America the term used is Pre-Hispanic. Other civilizations were contemporary with the period and were described in European historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya civilization, had their own written records, because many Christian Europeans of the time viewed such texts as heretical, men like Diego de Landa destroyed many texts in pyres, even while seeking to preserve native histories. Only a few documents have survived in their original languages, while others were transcribed or dictated into Spanish, giving modern historians glimpses of ancient culture. Indigenous American cultures continue to evolve after the pre-Columbian era, many of these peoples and their descendants continue traditional practices, while evolving and adapting new cultural practices and technologies into their lives. Now, the study of pre-Columbian cultures is most often based on scientific. Asian nomads are thought to have entered the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge, now the Bering Strait, genetic evidence found in Amerindians maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA supports the theory of multiple genetic populations migrating from Asia. Over the course of millennia, Paleo-Indians spread throughout North and South America, exactly when the first group of people migrated into the Americas is the subject of much debate. One of the earliest identifiable cultures was the Clovis culture, with sites dating from some 13,000 years ago, however, older sites dating back to 20,000 years ago have been claimed. Some genetic studies estimate the colonization of the Americas dates from between 40,000 and 13,000 years ago, the chronology of migration models is currently divided into two general approaches. The first is the short chronology theory with the first movement beyond Alaska into the New World occurring no earlier than 14, 000–17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants. The second belief is the long chronology theory, which proposes that the first group of people entered the hemisphere at an earlier date, possibly 50. In that case, the Eskimo peoples would have arrived separately and at a later date, probably no more than 2,000 years ago. The North American climate was unstable as the ice age receded and it finally stabilized by about 10,000 years ago, climatic conditions were then very similar to todays. Within this timeframe, roughly pertaining to the Archaic Period, numerous archaeological cultures have been identified, the unstable climate led to widespread migration, with early Paleo-Indians soon spreading throughout the Americas, diversifying into many hundreds of culturally distinct tribes. The paleo-indians were hunter-gatherers, likely characterized by small, mobile bands consisting of approximately 20 to 50 members of an extended family and these groups moved from place to place as preferred resources were depleted and new supplies were sought. During much of the Paleo-Indian period, bands are thought to have subsisted primarily through hunting now-extinct giant land animals such as mastodon, Paleo-Indian groups carried a variety of tools
Pre-Columbian era
–
Hopewell mounds from the
Mound City Group in Ohio
Pre-Columbian era
–
hunter-gatherers
Pre-Columbian era
–
Mississippian site in Arkansas,
Parkin Site, circa 1539. Illustration by Herb Roe.
Pre-Columbian era
–
One of the pyramids in the upper level of
Yaxchilán
7.
Paleo-Indians
–
The prefix paleo- comes from the Greek adjective palaios, meaning old or ancient. The term Paleo-Indians applies specifically to the period in the Western Hemisphere and is distinct from the term Paleolithic. Evidence suggests big-animal hunters crossed the Bering Strait from Eurasia into North America over a land and ice bridge, small isolated groups of hunter-gatherers migrated alongside herds of large herbivores far into Alaska. From c. 16,500 – c. 13,500 BCE, ice-free corridors developed along the Pacific coast and this allowed animals, followed by humans, to migrate south into the interior. The people went on foot or used primitive boats along the coastline, the precise dates and routes of the peopling of the New World are subject to ongoing debate. Stone tools, particularly projectile points and scrapers, are the evidence of the earliest human activity in the Americas. Crafted lithic flaked tools are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to classify cultural periods, scientific evidence links Indigenous Americans to Asian peoples, specifically eastern Siberian populations. There is evidence for at least two separate migrations, between 8000–7000 BCE the climate stabilized, leading to a rise in population and lithic technology advances, resulting in more sedentary lifestyle. The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are subject to ongoing research. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets, another route proposed is that, either on foot or using primitive boats, they migrated down the Pacific coast to South America. Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age. Archaeologists contend that Paleo-Indians migration out of Beringia, ranges from c. 40,000 – c. 16,500 years ago and this time range is a source of debate and promises to continue as such for years to come. However, alternative theories about the origins of Paleoindians exist, including migration from Europe, the Paleo-Indian would eventually flourish all over the Americas. These peoples were spread over a geographical area, thus there were regional variations in lifestyles. However, all the groups shared a common style of stone tool production, making knapping styles. Food would have been plentiful during the few months of the year. Lakes and rivers were teeming with many species of fish, birds, nuts, berries and edible roots could be found in the forests and marshes. The fall would have been a time because foodstuffs would have to be stored
Paleo-Indians
–
Paleo-Indians hunting a
glyptodont Heinrich Harder (1858–1935), c.1920. The
Lithic peoples or Paleo-Indians are the earliest known settlers of the Americas. The period's name derives from the appearance of "
lithic flaked " stone tools.
Paleo-Indians
–
The Mammut americanum (
American mastodon) became extinct around 12,000 to 9,000 years ago due to human-related activities or climate-change. A hybrid of human-related and climate-change has been proposed in recent years. See either
Quaternary extinction event or
Holocene extinction
Paleo-Indians
–
Atlatl weights and carved stone gorgets from
Poverty Point.
8.
Archaeology of the Americas
–
The archaeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. This includes the study of pre-historic/Pre-Columbian and historic indigenous American peoples and this differs from old world prehistory where the terms Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age are generally used. Lithic stage Defined by the prevalence of big-game hunting. In most places, this can be dated to before 8000 BCE, examples include the Clovis culture and Folsom tradition groups. The Archaic stage Defined by the increasingly intensive gathering of resources with the decline of the big-game hunting lifestyle. Typically, Archaic cultures can be dated from 8000 to 1000 BCE, examples include the Archaic Southwest, the Arctic small tool tradition, the Poverty Point culture, and the Chan-Chan culture in southern Chile. The Formative stage Defined as village agriculture based, most of these can be dated from 1000 BCE to 500 CE. Examples include the Dorset culture, Zapotec civilization, Mimbres culture, Olmec, Woodland, the Classic stage Defined as early civilizations, and typically dating from 500 to 1200 CE. Willey and Phillips considered only cultures from Mesoamerica and Peru to have achieved this level of complexity, examples include the early Maya and the Toltec. The Post-Classic stage Defined as later prehispanic civilizations and typically dated from 1200 CE until the advent of European colonisation, the late Maya and the Aztec cultures were Post-Classic. In some cases, notably, that of Kennewick Man, these laws have been subject to judicial scrutiny. The study does not address the question of separate migrations for these groups, Amerindian groups in the Bering Strait region exhibit perhaps the strongest DNA or mitochondrial DNA relations to Siberian peoples. The genetic diversity of Amerindian indigenous groups increase with distance from the entry point into the Americas. Certain genetic diversity patterns from West to East suggest at least some coastal migration events, geneticists have variously estimated that peoples of Asia and the Americas were part of the same population from 42,000 to 21,000 years ago
Archaeology of the Americas
–
Burnt Hill Stone Circle,
Heath, Massachusetts, USA
9.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
–
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian peoples of the Americas and their descendants. The term Amerindian is used in Quebec, the Guianas, Indigenous peoples of the United States are commonly known as Native Americans or American Indians, and Alaska Natives. Application of the term Indian originated with Christopher Columbus, who, in his search for Asia, eventually, the Americas came to be known as the West Indies, a name still used to refer to the islands of the Caribbean Sea. This led to the blanket term Indies and Indians for the indigenous inhabitants, although some indigenous peoples of the Americas were traditionally hunter-gatherers—and many, especially in the Amazon basin, still are—many groups practiced aquaculture and agriculture. The impact of their agricultural endowment to the world is a testament to their time, although some societies depended heavily on agriculture, others practiced a mix of farming, hunting, and gathering. In some regions the indigenous peoples created monumental architecture, large-scale organized cities, chiefdoms, states, and empires. Many parts of the Americas are still populated by peoples, some countries have sizable populations, especially Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Greenland, Guatemala, Mexico. At least a different indigenous languages are spoken in the Americas. Some, such as the Quechuan languages, Aymara, Guaraní, Mayan languages, many also maintain aspects of indigenous cultural practices to varying degrees, including religion, social organization, and subsistence practices. Like most cultures, over time, cultures specific to many indigenous peoples have evolved to incorporate traditional aspects, some indigenous peoples still live in relative isolation from Western culture and a few are still counted as uncontacted peoples. The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration to and throughout the Americas, including the dates and routes traveled, are the subject of ongoing research. According to archaeological and genetic evidence, North and South America were the last continents in the world with human habitation. During the Wisconsin glaciation, 50–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move across the bridge of Beringia that joined Siberia to northwest North America. Alaska was a glacial refugium because it had low snowfall, allowing a small population to exist, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered most of North America, blocking nomadic inhabitants and confining them to Alaska for thousands of years. Indigenous genetic studies suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas share a single population, one that developed in isolation. The isolation of these peoples in Beringia might have lasted 10–20,000 years, around 16,500 years ago, the glaciers began melting, allowing people to move south and east into Canada and beyond. These people are believed to have followed herds of now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna along ice-free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran Ice Sheets. Another route proposed involves migration - either on foot or using primitive boats - along the Pacific Northwest coast to the south, archeological evidence of the latter would have been covered by the sea level rise of more than 120 meters since the last ice age
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
–
Quechua women in
Peru
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
–
Pai Tavytera Indians in
Amambay Department,
Paraguay, 2012
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
–
Paleo-Indians hunting a
glyptodont
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
–
Drawing accompanying text in Book XII of the 16th-century
Florentine Codex (compiled 1540–1585), showing
Nahuas of conquest-era central Mexico suffering from smallpox
10.
List of archaeological periods (North America)
–
One of the most enduring classifications of archaeological periods and cultures was established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology. They divided the archaeological record in the Americas into 5 phases, the use of these divisions has diminished in most of North America due to the development of local classifications with more elaborate breakdowns of times. The Paleo-Indians stage and/or Lithic stage 2, post-archaic stage - At this point the North American classifications system differs from the rest of the Americas. For more details on the five stages, still used in Mesoamerican archaeology. Cahokia phases and dates taken from Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians, by Pauketat, Timothy R.2004, ohio and Mississippi River Confluence Phases and dates taken from Kentucky Archaeology, edited by R. Barry Lewis,1996, Pg -16
List of archaeological periods (North America)
–
Ohio Hopewell
List of archaeological periods (North America)
–
Middle Mississippian
11.
Caddoan Mississippian culture
–
The Caddoan Mississippian culture was a prehistoric Native American culture considered by archaeologists as a variant of the Mississippian culture. The Caddoan Mississippians covered a territory, including what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, Northeast Texas. The Caddoan Mississippians are thought to be an extension of Woodland period peoples and they were linked to other peoples across much of the Eastern Woodlands through trade networks. This time period saw the introduction of pottery making from peoples to their east, by 800 CE early Caddoan society began to coalesce into one of the earlier Mississippian cultures. Some villages began to gain prominence as ritual centers, with elite residences, the mounds were arranged around open plazas, which were usually kept swept clean and were often used for ceremonial occasions. As complex religious and social ideas developed, some people and family gained prominence over others. This hierarchical structure is marked in the record by the appearance of large tombs with exotic grave offerings of obvious symbols of authority. By 1000 CE a society defined as Caddoan had emerged, the Caddoans had developed a distinct type of pottery making, later described by the de Soto expedition as some of the finest they had seen, even in their European homeland. By 1200, the villages, hamlets, and farmsteads established throughout the Caddo world had begun extensive maize agriculture. Recent excavations have revealed more cultural diversity within the region than had been expected by scholars, Caddoan Mississippian towns had a more irregular layout of earthen mounds and associated villages than did towns in the Middle Mississippian heartland to the east. They also lacked the wooden palisade fortifications often found in the major Middle Mississippian towns, living on the western edge of the Mississippian world, the Caddoans may have faced fewer military threats from their neighbors. Their societies may also have had a lower level of social stratification. The location of the edge of the Eastern Woodlands may account for these differences. However, around 1400 CE, Caddoan populations had peaked, with many ritual centers beginning to decline in population, a more dispersed settlement system developed, with the bulk of the people living on dispersed homesteads and farms rather than in large villages. By this time the broad cultural unity began to break down. Caddoan Mississippian peoples were connected to the larger Mississippian world to the east, artifacts found in The Great Mortuary at the Spiro site included wood, conch shell, copper, basketry, woven fabric, lace, fur, feathers, and carved stone statues. Some artifacts came from as far away as Cahokia in Illinois, Etowah and Ocmulgee in Georgia, many featured the elaborate symbolism of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, a multiregional and pan-linguistic trade and religious network. Exotic material found at Caddoan Mississippian sites included colored flint from New Mexico, copper from the Great Lakes, conch shells from the Gulf Coast, and mica from the Carolinas
Caddoan Mississippian culture
–
Map of the Caddoan Mississippian culture and some important sites
Caddoan Mississippian culture
–
Caddoan
Mississippian culture pottery
Caddoan Mississippian culture
–
Engraved whelk shell from the Craig Mound showing a tattooed figure
Caddoan Mississippian culture
–
Spiro Mounds
12.
Chichimeca
–
Chichimeca was the name that the Nahua peoples of Mexico generically applied to many bands and tribes of nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited northern modern-day Mexico. Chichimeca carried the same sense as the Roman term barbarian to describe people living outside settled, the name and its pejorative sense was adopted by the Spanish. For the Spanish, in the words of scholar Charlotte M. Gradie, in modern times only one ethnic group is customarily referred to as Chichimecs, namely the Chichimeca Jonaz of whom a few thousand live in the state of Guanajuato. The Chichimeca peoples were groups of varying ethnicities and speaking distinct languages from different families. As the Spaniards worked towards consolidating the rule of New Spain over the indigenous peoples during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a number of ethnic groups of the region allied against the Spanish. The first and most long-lasting of these conflicts was the Chichimeca War, for example, virtually nothing is known about the peoples referred to as the Guachichil, Caxcan, Zacateco, Tecuexe, or Guamare. Others, such as the Opata or Eudeve, are described in records. Still other Chichimec peoples maintain separate identities into the present day, for example the Otomi, Chichimeca Jonaz, Cora, Huichol, Pame, Yaqui, Mayo, Oodham, the Nahuatl name Chīchīmēcah means inhabitants of Chichiman, the placename Chichiman means Area of Milk. It is sometimes said to be related to dog, but the is in chichi are short while those in Chīchīmēcah are long. In modern Mexico, the word Chichimeca can have pejorative connotations, such as primitive, savage, uneducated, the first descriptions of Chichimecs are from the early conquest period. In 1526, Hernán Cortés writes in one of his letters of the northern Chichimec tribes and he commented that they might be enslaved and used to work in the mines. The Chicimec, Caxcanes and other people of Northern Mexico fought back against Spanish forces such as Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán when they began trying to enslave them. Their fight against Spanish forces became known as the Mixtón Rebellion, in the late sixteenth century, Gonzalo de las Casas wrote about the Chichimec. Las Casas account was called Report of the Chichimeca and the justness of the war against them and he described the people, providing ethnographic information. He wrote that only covered their genitalia with any clothing, painted their bodies. He mentions as further proof of their barbarity that Chichimec women, having given birth, while las Casas recognized that the Chichimecan tribes spoke different languages, he considered their culture as primarily uniform. This stereotype became even more prevalent during the course of the Chichimec wars, in some areas, the Chichimeca cultivated maize and calabash. From the mesquite, the Chichamecs made white bread and wine, many Chichimec tribes used the juice of the agave as a substitute for water when it was in short supply
Chichimeca
–
Map of the location of prominent Chichimeca peoples around 1550.
13.
Hopewell tradition
–
The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or society, but a widely dispersed set of related populations. They were connected by a network of trade routes, known as the Hopewell exchange system. Within this area, societies participated in a degree of exchange with the highest amount of activity along waterways. The Hopewell exchange system received materials from all over what is now the United States, most of the items traded were exotic materials and were received by people living in the major trading and manufacturing areas. These people then converted the materials into products and exported them through local and regional exchange networks, the objects created by the Hopewell exchange system spread far and wide and have been seen in many burials outside the Midwest. Although the origins of the Hopewell are still under discussion, the Hopewell culture can also be considered a cultural climax, Hopewell populations originated in western New York and moved south into Ohio, where they built upon the local Adena mortuary tradition. Or, Hopewell was said to have originated in western Illinois, similarly, the Havana Hopewell tradition was thought to have spread up the Illinois River and into southwestern Michigan, spawning Goodall Hopewell. The name Hopewell was applied by Warren K. Moorehead after his explorations of the Hopewell Mound Group in Ross County, Ohio, the mound group itself was named for the family who owned the earthworks at the time. What any of the groups now defined as Hopewellian called themselves is unknown. The Hopewell inherited from their Adena forebears an incipient social stratification and this increased social stability and reinforced sedentism, social stratification, specialized use of resources, and probably population growth. Hopewell societies cremated most of their deceased and reserved burial for only the most important people, in some sites, hunters apparently received a higher status in the community because their graves were more elaborate and contained more status goods. The Hopewellian peoples had leaders, but they were not like powerful rulers who could command armies of slaves and these cultures likely accorded certain families a special place of privilege. Some scholars suggest that these societies were marked by the emergence of big-men and these leaders acquired their position because of their ability to persuade others to agree with them on important matters such as trade and religion. They also perhaps were able to influence by the creation of reciprocal obligations with other important members of the community. Today, the features of the Hopewell tradition era are mounds built for uncertain purposes. Great geometric earthworks are one of the most impressive Native American monuments throughout American prehistory, eastern Woodlands mounds have various geometric shapes and rise to impressive heights. The gigantic sculpted earthworks often took the shape of animals, birds, the function of the mounds is still under debate. Due to considerable evidence and surveys, plus the good condition of the largest mounds
Hopewell tradition
–
Hopewell Interaction Area and local expressions of the Hopewell tradition
Hopewell tradition
–
Hopewell mounds from the
Mound City Group in Ohio
Hopewell tradition
–
Carved
mica hand,
Hopewell Mounds
Hopewell tradition
–
Hopewell pipe, points and earspool on display at
Serpent Mound
14.
Coles Creek culture
–
Coles Creek culture is a Late Woodland archaeological culture in the Lower Mississippi valley in the southern United States. The period marks a significant change in the history of the area. Population increased dramatically and there is evidence of a growing cultural and political complexity. Although many of the traits of chiefdom societies are not yet manifested. Coles Creek sites are found in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and it is considered ancestral to the Plaquemine culture. The Coles Creek culture is a development of the Lower Mississippi Valley that took place between the terminal Woodland period and the later Plaquemine culture period. The culture was defined by the unique decoration on grog-tempered ceramic ware by James A. Ford after his investigations at the Mazique Archeological Site and he had studied both the Mazique and Coles Creek Sites, and almost went with the Mazique culture, but decided on the less historically involved sites name. Although earlier cultures built mounds mainly as a part of customs, by the Coles Creek period these mounds took on a newer shape. Instead of being primarily for burial, mounds were constructed to support temples, pyramidal mounds with flat tops and ramps were constructed, usually over successive years and with many layers. A temple or other structures, usually of wattle and daub construction, a typical Coles Creek site plan consisted of at least two and more commonly three, mounds around a central plaza. This pattern emerged in roughly 800 CE and continued for several hundred years, by late Coles Creek times, the site plans are often enlarged to include up to three more mounds. Sites typical of this period are Mount Nebo, Holly Bluff, Kings Crossing, long distance trade seems to have been negligible at this time, as exotic goods and trade items are rare in Coles Creek sites. There is little evidence of domesticated or cultivated plants until the end of the Coles Creek period, acorns are a dominant food source, supplemented with persimmons, palmetto, and some starchy seeds such as maygrass. Coles Creek populations may have loosely managed certain plant resources in order to promote a better or more consistent food supply, maize is found in very limited quantities, but by 1000-1200 CE had begun to increase, although nowhere near the levels it would reach in later Mississippian times. The bow and arrow was introduced in this period, although the continued to be used. Pottery styles changed during this period, as began to create more durable wares with more diversified uses. Wet clay was tempered with particles of dry clay to prevent cracking during firing, most pots were decorated only on the upper half, usually with designs of incised lines or impressed tool marks
Coles Creek culture
–
A map showing the extent of the Coles Creek cultural period and some important sites
Coles Creek culture
–
A wattle and daub house of the type used by Native Americans during the late prehistoric period
Coles Creek culture
–
Bayou Grande Cheniere Mounds
Coles Creek culture
–
Frogmore Mound Site
15.
Fremont culture
–
In the Navajo culture the pictographs are credited to people who lived before the flood. The Fremont River itself is named for John Charles Frémont, an American explorer and it inhabited sites in what is now Utah and parts of Nevada, Idaho and Colorado from AD1 to 1300. It was adjacent to, roughly contemporaneous with, but distinctly different from the Ancestral Pueblo peoples located to their south, Fremont Indian State Park in the Clear Creek Canyon area in south-central Utah contains the biggest Fremont culture site in Utah. Thousand-year-old pit houses, petroglyphs, and other Fremont artifacts were discovered at Range Creek, nearby Nine Mile Canyon has long been known for its large collection of Fremont rock art. Other sites are found in The San Rafael Swell, Capitol Reef National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Zion National Park, first, Fremont culture people foraged wild food sources and grew corn. The culture participated in a continuum of fairly reliable subsistence strategies that no doubt varied from place to place, other unifying characteristics include the manufacture of relatively expedient gray ware pottery and a signature style of basketry and rock art. Most of the Fremont lived in single and extended family units comprising villages ranging from two to a dozen pithouse structures, with only a few having been occupied at any one time. The Fremont are sometimes thought to have begun as a group of the Ancestral Pueblo people. According to archaelogist Dean Snow, Fremont people generally wore moccasins like their Great Basin ancestors rather than sandals like the Ancestral Puebloans and they were part-time farmers who lived in scattered semi-sedentary farmsteads and small villages, never entirely giving up traditional hunting and gathering for more risky full-time farming. Snow notes that Fremont culture declined due to changing climate conditions c.950 CE, the culture moved to the then-marshy areas of northwestern Utah, which sustained them for about 400 years. Traces of Fremont, Society and Rock Art in Ancient Utah, text by Steven R. Simms, photographs by Francois Gohier. ISBN 978-1-60781-011-7 Snow, Dean R. Archaeology of Native North America, video on Fremont culture- Scientific American Frontiers
Fremont culture
–
Typical Moki Hut placement in the crevice of the cliff
Fremont culture
–
A Fremont Granary; called Moki Huts locally
Fremont culture
–
Fremont petroglyph,
Dinosaur National Monument
Fremont culture
–
Pilling Figurines, unfired clay Fremont figurines, on display in the
College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum.
16.
Marksville culture
–
This culture takes its name from the Marksville Prehistoric Indian Site in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. Marksville Culture was contemporaneous with the Hopewell cultures of Ohio and Illinois and it evolved from the earlier Tchefuncte culture and into the Baytown and Troyville cultures and later the Coles Creek and Plum Bayou cultures. It is considered ancestral to the Natchez and Taensa Peoples, the Hopewell tradition was a widely dispersed set of related populations, which were connected by a common network of trade routes, known as the Hopewell Exchange System. The Marksville culture was a manifestation of this network. Settlements were large and usually located on terraces of major streams, the pipes had flat bases with a hole for a stem, and a bowl in the center. Animal figurines on the platform arent unusual, with the bowl being located in the animals back, the high status leaders organized community life, and officiated at burial ceremonies, an important part of the Marksville Culture. The mounds were constructed in stages over many years, with the first stage being a flat, the ceremonies may have been held years apart and those who died between ceremonies were temporarily stored in other locations, then gathered up and buried together. Although made from clay, Marksville pottery was similar in design and decoration to pottery found in Illinois. A typical vessel was three to five inches tall and three to seven inches in diameter and often decorated with geometric and effigy designs, usually stylized birds and this decorated pottery was made primarily for ceremonial uses, with other plainer utilitarian ware for daily use. Marksville pottery influenced Santa Rosa pottery, a character of the contemporary Santa Rosa-Swift Creek culture. Crooks mound Grand Gulf Mound List of Hopewell sites
Marksville culture
–
A map showing the geographical extent of the Marksville cultural period.
Marksville culture
–
Hopewell platform stone pipe from Ohio
Marksville culture
–
Ohio Hopewell
17.
Mississippian culture
–
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American civilization archeologists date from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was composed of a series of settlements and satellite villages linked together by a loose trading network. The Mississippian way of life began to develop in the Mississippi River Valley, cultures in the tributary Tennessee River Valley may have also begun to develop Mississippian characteristics at this point. Almost all dated Mississippian sites predate 1539–1540, with exceptions being Natchez communities that maintained Mississippian cultural practices into the 18th century. A number of traits are recognized as being characteristic of the Mississippians. Although not all Mississippian peoples practiced all of the following activities, the construction of large, truncated earthwork pyramid mounds, or platform mounds. Such mounds were usually square, rectangular, or occasionally circular, structures were usually constructed atop such mounds. The adoption and use of shells as tempering agents in their shell tempered pottery. Widespread trade networks extending as far west as the Rockies, north to the Great Lakes, south to the Gulf of Mexico, the development of the chiefdom or complex chiefdom level of social complexity. The development of institutionalized social inequality, a centralization of control of combined political and religious power in the hands of few or one. The beginnings of a settlement hierarchy, in one major center has clear influence or control over a number of lesser communities. The adoption of the paraphernalia of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, also called the Southern Cult and this is the belief system of the Mississippians as we know it. SECC items are found in Mississippian-culture sites from Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast, the SECC was frequently tied in to ritual game-playing, as with chunkey. The Mississippians had no writing system or stone architecture, the Mississippi stage is usually divided into three or more chronological periods. Each period is an historical distinction varying regionally. At a particular site, each period may be considered to begin earlier or later, the Mississippi period should not be confused with the Mississippian culture. The Mississippi period is the stage, while Mississippian culture refers to the cultural similarities that characterize this society. The Early Mississippi period had just transitioned from the Late Woodland period way of life, different groups abandoned tribal lifeways for increasing complexity, sedentism, centralization, and agriculture
Mississippian culture
–
A map showing approximate areas of various Mississippian and related cultures.
Mississippian culture
–
A Mississippian priest, with a ceremonial flint mace and severed head, image by Herb Roe, based on a
repoussé copper plate
Mississippian culture
–
Stone effigies found at the
Etowah Site
Mississippian culture
–
Mississippian culture ceramic effigy jug, possibly representing a feline, with swirls painted in clay slip, found at
Rose Mound in
Cross County, Arkansas, U.S., 1400-1600 CE, 8" (20 cm) high
18.
Mogollon culture
–
The Mogollon culture is one of the major prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. The culture flourished from the period, c.200 CE, to either 1450 or 1540 CE. The name Mogollon comes from the Mogollon Mountains, which were named after Don Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollón, the name was chosen and defined in 1936 by archaeologist Emil W. Haury. Key differences included brown-paste, coil-and-scrape pottery, deeply excavated semi-subterranean pithouses, eight decades of subsequent research have confirmed Haurys initial findings. The earliest Mogollon pithouses were deep and either circular or oval-shaped, over time, Mogollon people built rectangular houses with rounded corners and not as deep. Their villages also had kivas, or round, semi-subterranean ceremonial structures, Mogollon origins remain a matter of speculation. One model holds that the Mogollon emerged from a preceding Desert Archaic tradition that links Mogollon ancestry with the first prehistoric human occupations of the area, in this model, cultural distinctions emerged in the larger region when populations grew great enough to establish villages and even larger communities. The Mogollon were, initially, foragers who augmented their subsistence efforts by farming, through the first millennium CE, however, dependence on farming probably increased. Water control features are common among Mimbres branch sites from the 10th through 12th centuries CE, the nature and density of Mogollon residential villages changed through time. The earliest Mogollon villages are small hamlets composed of several pithouses, village sizes increased over time and by the 11th century surface pueblos became common. Cliff-dwellings became common during the 13th and 14th centuries, Research on Mogollon culture has led to the recognition of regional variants, of which the most widely recognized in popular media is the Mimbres culture. Others include the Jornada, Forestdale, Reserve, Point of Pines, San Simon, an alternate way of viewing Mogollon culture is through three periods of housing types, Early Pithouse Late Pithouse Mogollon Pueblo. Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in southwestern New Mexico was established as a National Monument on 16 November 1907 and it contains several archaeological sites attributed to the Mimbres branch. At the headwaters of the Gila, Mimbres populations adjoined another more northern branch of the Mogollon culture, the TJ Ruin, for example, is a Classic Mimbres phase pueblo, however the cliff dwellings are Tularosa phase. The Hueco Tanks State Historic Site is approximately 32 mi northeast of El Paso, Mimbres may, depending on its context, refer to a tradition within a subregion of the Mogollon culture area or to an interval of time, the Classic Mimbres phase within the Mimbres branch. Classic Mimbres phase pottery is particularly famous pottery, and Classic Mimbres pottery designs were imitated on Santa Fe Railroad Mimbreños china dinnerware from 1936 to 1970, three Circle phase pithouse villages within the Mimbres branch are distinctive. Houses are quadrilateral, usually with sharply-angled corners, plastered floors and walls, local pottery styles include early forms of Mimbres black and white, red-on-cream, and textured plainware. Large ceremonial structures are dug deeply into the ground and often include distinctive ceremonial features such as foot drums, Classic Mimbres phase pueblos can be quite large, with some composed of clusters of communities, each containing up to 150 rooms and all grouped around an open plaza
Mogollon culture
–
Kinishba ruins near Fort Apache, Arizona
Mogollon culture
–
Mimbres sub-group pictorial pot, depicting a mythical fish
Mogollon culture
–
Cliff dwellings at Las Jarillas Cave, part of the
Forty houses, Chihuahua archeological site.
Mogollon culture
–
The rock wall of the canyon, the Cueva de las Ventanas cliff-dwelling is located left of center above a debris-covered cone.
19.
Plaquemine culture
–
The Plaquemine culture was an archaeological culture in the lower Mississippi River Valley in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana. Good examples of culture are the Medora Site in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Plaquemine culture was contemporaneous with the Middle Mississippian culture in the Cahokia site in St. Louis and it is considered ancestral to the Natchez and Taensa peoples. The Plaquemine Culture occupied the rest of Louisiana not taken by the Caddoan Mississippian culture during this time frame and its people are considered descendants of the Troyville-Coles Creek culture. A prominent feature of Plaquemine sites are large ceremonial centers with two or more large mounds facing an open plaza, the flat-topped, pyramidal mounds were constructed in several stages. Sometimes they were topped by one or two smaller mounds, mounds were often built on top of the ruins of a house or temple and similar buildings were usually constructed on top of the mound. In earlier times, buildings were circular, but later they were likely to be rectangular. They were constructed of wattle and daub, and sometimes with wall posts sunk into foot-deep wall trenches, at times, shallow, oval or rectangular graves were dug in the mounds. These might have been for primary burials, but more often they were for the reburial of remains originally interred elsewhere, one kind of pottery occasionally placed in the graves is called killed pottery. This type has a hole in the base of the vessel that was cut while the pot was being made and they also decorated their pots in other characteristic ways. They sometimes added small solid handles called lugs and textured the surface by brushing clumps of grass over the vessel before it was fired. They often cut designs into the surface of the wet clay and, like their Caddoan contemporaries, Plaquemine peoples also had undecorated pots that they used for ordinary daily tasks. Pottery during this phase still used dry clay particles as a tempering material, beginning during the Terminal Coles Creek period, Mississippian cultures far upstream from the Plaquemine area began expanding their reach southward. The Plaquemine peoples absorbed more Mississippian influence and the area of their culture began to shrink after 1350 CE. Eventually the last enclave of purely Plaquemine culture was the Natchez Bluffs area, while the Yazoo Basin, historic groups in the area during first European contact bear out this division. In the Natchez Bluffs, the Taensa and Natchez, had held out against Mississippian influence and they continued to use the same sites as their ancestors and carry on the Plaquemine culture. Groups who appear to have absorbed more Mississippian influence were identified at the time of European contact as those tribes speaking the Tunican, Chitimachan, ISBN 0-8203-1888-4 R. Barry Lewis and Charles Stout, editors. Mississippian Towns and Sacred Spaces, University of Alabama Press,1998, ISBN 0-8173-0947-0 Jeffrey P. Brain, Winterville-Late Prehistoric Culture Contact in the Lower Mississippi Valley, Mississippi Department of Archives and History,1989
Plaquemine culture
–
A map showing the geographical extent of the Plaquemine cultural period and some of its major sites.
Plaquemine culture
–
2 mounds superimposed on top of Emerald Mound
Plaquemine culture
–
Mounds and wattle and daub house from Grand Village of the Natchez
Plaquemine culture
–
Pottery from the Grand Village of the Natchez
20.
Plum Bayou culture
–
Plum Bayou culture is a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that lived in what is now east-central Arkansas from 650—1050 CE, a time known as the Late Woodland Period. Archaeologists defined the culture based on the Toltec Mounds site and named it for a local waterway, exotic materials found at Plum Bayou sites reveal trade with the Ozark Plateau, West Gulf Coastal Plain, and the Ouachita Mountains. Major Plum Bayou sites with single or multiple mounds include, Plum Bayou culture was one of the earliest groups to build ceremonial community centers with platform mounds and they primarily lived in small villages in the uplands and floodplains of the White and Arkansas Rivers. Archaeologists divide Plum Bayou settlements into single household, multiple household, multiple household with mound, farmers grew crops such as amaranth, chenopodium, bottle gourd, knotweed, little barley, maygrass, squash, sunflower, and sumpweed. In some later Plum Bayou sites, maize was cultivated in small amounts, supplementing their farming, Plum Bayou peoples also hunted game and gathered wild plants, such as cherries, grapes, plums, persimmons, and nuts. This culture is defined in part by its ceramics, much of Plum Bayou ceramics was plainware, tempered with shells. Named types of ceramics found at Plum Bayou sites include Coles Creek incised var. Keyo, Larto Red, Officer Punctated, Red slip, or clay paint, was also used to decorate some ceramic vessels. While neighboring cultures adopted maize cultivation and increasingly complex religions and political organization, people continued to occupy the region, but they abandoned their ceremonial sites. Culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley Odell, George H. Stone Tools, Theoretical Insights into Human Prehistory
Plum Bayou culture
–
Toltec Mounds, the largest known Plum Bayou site
Plum Bayou culture
–
Toltec Mounds Site
Plum Bayou culture
–
Coles Creek sites
21.
Poverty Point culture
–
Archeologists have identified more than 100 sites as belonging to this mound builder culture, which also formed a large trading network throughout the eastern part of what is now the United States. It was begun well before the construction of the pyramids in Egypt, next oldest is the Poverty Point Culture, which thrived from 2200 BC-700 BC, during the late Archaic period in the Americas. Evidence of this mound builder culture has been found at more than 100 sites, including the Jaketown Site near Belzoni, the largest and best-known site is at Poverty Point, which lies on the Macon Ridge near present-day Epps, Louisiana. The Poverty Point culture may have hit its peak around 1500 BC and it is one of the oldest complex cultures, and possibly the first tribal culture in the Mississippi Delta and in the present-day United States. The people occupied villages that extended for nearly 100 miles on side of the Mississippi River. Poverty Point culture was followed by the Tchefuncte and Lake Cormorant cultures of the Tchula period, although the earthworks at Poverty Point are not the oldest in the United States, they are notable as the oldest earthworks of this size in the Western Hemisphere. In the center of the site is a plaza, a constructed and leveled, flat, archeologists believe the plaza was the site of public ceremonies, rituals, dances, games and other major community activities. The site has six concentric earthworks separated by ditches, or swales, the ends of the outermost ridge are 1,204 metres apart, which is nearly 3/4 of a mile. The ends of the embankment are 594 metres apart. If the ridges were straightened and laid end to end, they would compose an embankment of 12 kilometres long, originally, the ridges stood 4 feet to 6 feet high and 140 feet to 200 feet apart. Many years of plowing have reduced some to only 1 foot in height, archeologists believe that the homes of 500 to 1,000 inhabitants were located on these ridges. This was the largest settlement at that time in North America, the site also had a 50 feet high,500 feet long earthen pyramid, which was aligned east to west. A large bird effigy mound, measuring 70 feet high and 640 feet across, is located on the Poverty Point site. On the western side of the plaza, archeologists have found some unusually deep pits, one explanation is these holes once held huge wooden posts, which served as calendar markers. Using the sun’s shadows, the inhabitants could have predicted the changing of the seasons and this great building project demanded a sustained investment of human labor, the organized skill and the cultural will to sustain the effort over many centuries. One authority calculated that it would more than 1,236,007 cubic feet of basket-loaded soil to complete the earthworks. That would mean 1,350 adults laboring 70 days a year for three years, stone cooking balls were used to prepare meals. Scholars believe dozens of the balls were heated in a bonfire
Poverty Point culture
–
An aerial view of the
Poverty Point earthworks, built by the prehistoric Poverty Point culture, located in present-day
Louisiana.
Poverty Point culture
–
Female effigy clay objects from Poverty Point
Poverty Point culture
–
Atlatl weights and carved stone gorgets from Poverty Point
22.
Troyville culture
–
The Troyville culture is an archaeological culture in areas of Louisiana and Arkansas in the Lower Mississippi valley in the southern United States. It was a Baytown Period culture and lasted from 400 to 700 CE during the Late Woodland period and it was contemporaneous with the Coastal Troyville and Baytown cultures and was succeeded by the Coles Creek culture. Where the Baytown peoples built dispersed settlements, the Troyville people instead continued building major earthwork centers, the Troyville-Coles Creek people lived on gathered wild plants and local domesticates, and maize was of only minor importance. Acorns, persimmons, palmetto, maygrass, and squash were all more important than maize. Tobacco was cultivated as well, and protein came from deer and smaller mammals, culture, phase, and chronological table for the Mississippi Valley
Troyville culture
–
Map showing the geographic extent of the
Baytown, Coastal Troyville and Troyville cultures
Troyville culture
–
Peck Mounds
Troyville culture
–
Troyville Earthworks
23.
Weeden Island culture
–
The Weeden Island Cultures are a group of related archaeological cultures that existed during the Late Woodland period of the North American Southeast. The name for group of cultures was derived from the Weedon Island site in Old Tampa Bay in Pinellas County. Weeden Island cultures are defined by ceramics, which fall into two categories, sometimes called secular and sacred, sacred ceramics are found primarily in mounds, while secular ceramics are found primarily in middens and house sites. The two types of ceramics have separate histories, and the secular ceramics show considerable variation between regions, Milanich, et al. compare the Weeden Island sacred complex to the Hopewell and Mississippian complexes, i. e. a ceremonial complex practiced by several cultures. To the east of this Weeden Island heartland, Weeden Island secular components developed out of the Deptford culture, the sacred or ceremonial component of Weeden Island developed out of the Hopewell tradition-based Yent and Green Point traditions. It persisted in areas until the end of the Woodland period ca. Weeden Island sites have found from Mobile Bay to the Okefenokee Swamp. They used upland interior regions almost exclusively for resource extraction, although some scholars contest this, the site on Weedon Island where Weeden Island sacred ceramics were first described was excavated by Smithsonian Institution archaeologist J. Walter Fewkes in 1923 and 1924. Archaeologists now recognize that the Weedon Island site is well outside the heartland of the Weeden Island culture, the Weedon Island site was part of the Weeden Island-related late Manasota culture. The Manasota culture developed around 500 BCE,700 years before the development of the Weeden Island sacred complex, the secular component of the Manasota culture had no connection with the secular components of heartland Weeden Island cultures. Undefined Weeden Island culture variants are found in southeastern Alabama and southwestern Georgia outside the Kolomoki/Wakulla Weeden Island areas and it is most widely accepted that the Weeden Island culture be split into two time periods, the Weeden Island I Period and Weeden Island II Period. Some Weeden Island II cultures later developed into variants of the Mississippian culture. The Weeden Island culture was preceded by the Deptford culture and it was followed by the Alachua culture in the Cades Pond culture area, by the Suwannee Valley culture in the McKeithen culture area and by the Fort Walton Culture in the Northwest area. The north peninsular Gulf coast variant of the Weeden Island culture existed along the Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida from the Aucilla River southward to what is now Pasco County. It also included such inland wetland areas as the Cove of the Withlacoochee and Gulf Hammock and this region has not received as much attention from archeologists as have other variants of the Weeden Island culture. As in other Weeden Island areas, there is a difference between ceremonial/prestige pottery, found primarily in mounds, and the utilitarian pottery found in village sites. The prevalence of undecorated pottery and the lack of major excavations means that the chronology of the Weeden Island culture in the north peninsular Gulf coast is poorly understood, the Weeden Island culture was not uniform over the north peninsular Gulf coast. Ceramics related to the Swift Creek culture are found scattered at early sites throughout the area, but particularly so in Taylor County, later sites in Taylor County show some influence from the Fort Walton culture
Weeden Island culture
–
Late Woodland cultures
24.
Mesoamerican chronology
–
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods, the Paleo-Indian, the Archaic, the Preclassic or Formative, the Classic, and the Postclassic. However, this applies to other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations as well. 3500-2000 BCE During the Archaic Era agriculture was developed in the region, Late in this era, use of pottery and loom weaving became common, and class divisions began to appear. Many of the technologies of Mesoamerica in terms of stone-grinding, drilling. 1800 BCE–200 CE During the Preclassic Era, or Formative Period, large-scale ceremonial architecture, writing, cities, the Olmec civilization developed and flourished at such sites as La Venta and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán. 200–1000 CE The Classic Era was dominated by numerous independent city-states in the Maya region and also featured the beginnings of political unity in central Mexico, regional differences between cultures grew more manifest. The city-state of Monte Albán dominated the Valley of Oaxaca until the late Classic, highly sophisticated arts such as stuccowork, architecture, sculptural reliefs, mural painting, pottery, and lapidary developed and spread during the Classic era. In the Maya region, numerous city states such as Tikal, Calakmul, Copán, Palenque, Uxmal, Cobá, each of these polities was generally independent, although they often formed alliances and sometimes became vassal states of each other. The main conflict during this period was between Tikal and Calakmul, who fought a series of wars over the course of more than half a millennium, each of these states declined during the Terminal Classic and were eventually abandoned. This is sometimes seen as a period of increased chaos and warfare, the Postclassic is often viewed as a period of cultural decline. However, it was a time of technological advancement in architecture, engineering, metallurgy came into use for jewelry and some tools, with new alloys and techniques being developed in a few centuries. The Postclassic was a period of rapid movement and population growth — especially in Central Mexico post-1200 —, for instance, in Yucatán, dual rulership apparently replaced the more theocratic governments of Classic times, whilst oligarchic councils operated in much of Central Mexico. Likewise, it appears that the wealthy pochteca and military orders became more powerful than was apparently the case in Classic times and this afforded some Mesoamericans a degree of social mobility. The Toltec for a time dominated central Mexico in the 11th–13th century, the northern Maya were for a time united under Mayapan, and Oaxaca was briefly united by Mixtec rulers in the 11th–12th centuries. The Aztec Empire arose in the early 15th century and appeared to be on a path to asserting dominance over the Valley of Mexico region not seen since Teotihuacan. Spain was the first European power to contact Mesoamerica, however, and its conquistadores, by the 15th century, the Mayan revival in Yucatán and southern Guatemala and the flourishing of Aztec imperialism evidently enabled a renaissance of fine arts and science. Examples include the Pueblan-Mexica style in pottery, codex illumination, and goldwork, the flourishing of Nahua poetry, arguably, the Post-Classic continued until the conquest of the last independent native state of Mesoamerica, Tayasal, in 1697. Mesoamerican civilization was a network of different cultures
Mesoamerican chronology
–
Vessel from the Capacha culture, found in Acatitan, Colima.
Mesoamerican chronology
–
A typical Pre-Classic figurine from central Mexico, similar to the "pretty ladies" of the
Tlatilco culture.
Mesoamerican chronology
–
Olmec head, La Venta
Mesoamerican chronology
–
Middle Formative, Olmec style, Kneeling lord with incised toad on his head, 900–500 BCE, in the
Princeton University Art Museum
25.
Capacha
–
Capacha is an archaeological site located about 6 kilometers northeast of the Colima Municipality, in Colima State, Mexico. This site is the heart of the ancient Mesoamerican Capacha Culture, the Capacha Culture peoples were located between the Jalisco Sierra Madre Occidental and the Colima Valley. Several sites in the region have relations with Capacha, such as the Embocadero II site in the Mascota Valley, there is also evidence of green stone articles, Jadeite cylindrical beads and possibly Amazonite, as well as Turquoise fragments. Beatriz Braniff and other researchers pointed the presence of a tertium quid in central Mexico differentiated from Olmec traditions, during prehispanic times, the region of the Colima state was seat of various ethnic groups which flourished in western Mexico. The region was inhabited by various Lordships that disputed the territories, archaeologists recognize the origin of Mesoamerica in a mother culture represented by the Olmec style and culture. But in the region no evidence has been found to date nothing that can be identified as such. Indeed, there is no evidence even of Teotihuacan (central Mesoamerican influence from the Classic period and it is clear that Colima and other western regions cultures had their own personality. The detail and artistic quality of women, men, dogs, parrots, bats, snakes, etc. sculptures, recent excavations in Colima and Michoacán enable us to recognize at least two roots, as old as the Olmec. These are Capacha and El Opeño, Capacha, before 1500 BCE had burials that include beautiful ceramic bules and vases with Stirrup” handle, certain type figurines and metates. It was discovered and studied by Isabel Truesdell Kelly, American archaeologist who made excavations in the Colima area in 1939. Similarities between pieces of this culture and contemporary ceramics in the region of Ecuador suggest that there were some very the early western mesoamerican cultures, by this name is known the Capacha archaeological site in Colima. Was the first with complex features and developed in the region, Capacha was contemporary of other important regional cultural developments, such as El Opeño, Michoacán, and the first Tlatilco phase in the Valley Mexico. The geographical spread of ceramic Capacha parts covers the Pacific coast, particularly important are the burials discovered by Gordon F. Ekholm in Guasave, Sinaloa. The Capacha Culture includes nine sites identified in the half of the Colima State. Archaeological elements of this tradition have been discovered in the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Sinaloa, Guerrero, among this sites are the following, El Opeño is an archaeological site located in the municipality of Jacona, in the Michoacán state, México. It is home to a site, mainly known from the ceramic material found in the funerary complexes of the site. El Opeño tombs are the oldest in Mesoamerica, have been dated to around 1600 BCE, hence they predate de Olmec culture development, with main centers in the Gulf of Mexico coast and flourished some centuries later. La Campana is a site located a few kilometers from Capacha
Capacha
–
Capacha Culture Vessel.
Capacha
–
Capacha culture extension Map.
26.
Cholula (Mesoamerican site)
–
Cholula, was an important city of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, dating back to at least the 2nd century BC, with settlement as a village going back at least some thousand years earlier. The site of Cholula is just west of the city of Puebla. Its immense pyramid is the largest such structure in the Americas, and it is located in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of the central Mexican highlands. It is surrounded to the west by the snow-covered peaks Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, the summer rainy season and the melted snow in winter provide a great environment for irrigation agriculture. There is also a confluence of several streams with the Atoyac River that creates a wetland to the north. This has resulted in abundant and excellent agriculture during the colonial period, maize is the major crop cultivated but they also harvested maguey, chiles, and cochineal for dye. The soil is rich in clay, which made pottery and brick-making an important part of their economy, textiles and elaborate decorative capes were also popular. Cholula’s strategical location in the center of the Mexican highlands gives it a place as a trade outpost. Here, trade routes connected the Gulf coast, the Valley of Mexico, Tehuacan Valley, from there, trade routes went to the Pacific coast, where the longer Pacific Coast communication and trade route existed. Because of its location, Cholula served as the center where primary trade routes. Textiles were of importance for Cholula’s economy. During the Postclassic period they were a unit of tribute. Textiles were manufactured for local consumption and traded extensively by different merchants that frequented the city, textile production accounts are provided by ethnohistorical and archaeological sources. Spanish writings from Colonial times have noted their excellence in dying techniques, artifacts such as spindle whorls found at different Cholula site loci provide evidence for the extensive production of textiles in the site. These are rare from the Formative and the Classic periods but become more prevalent in the Postclassic, only unbaked-clay whorls may have been used during the earlier periods but these are not preserved in the archaeological record. The high concentration of spindle whorls recovered from Cholula in comparison to other Mesoamerican sites attests to the important role played in their economy. Cholula grew from a village to a regional center between AD600 and 700. The earliest occupation dates back to the Early Formative period, in the 1970s, Mountjoy discovered a waterlogged deposit dating to the Late Middle Formative period near the ancient lake shore
Cholula (Mesoamerican site)
–
Basalt head sculpture
Cholula (Mesoamerican site)
–
The massacre of Cholula
Cholula (Mesoamerican site)
–
Cholula Massacre
Cholula (Mesoamerican site)
–
Only a fraction of a staircase on one side of the Great Pyramid of Cholula has been restored to its former state.
27.
Epi-Olmec culture
–
Epi-Olmec was a successor culture to the Olmec, hence the prefix epi- or post-. Tres Zapotes and eventually Cerro de las Mesas were the largest Epi-Olmec centers though neither would reach the size, other Epi-Olmec sites of note include El Mesón, Lerdo de Tejada, La Mojarra, Bezuapan, and Chuniapan de Abajo. The Epi-Olmec culture represented a transformation of, rather than a sharp break with. Many Olmec motifs, for example, were employed by its successor culture, Tres Zapotes, one of the largest Olmec sites, continued as a regional center under the Epi-Olmec culture. And daily life for the non-elites continued much the same, subsistence farming with hunting and fishing, wattle-and-daub houses, thatched roofs. It has been proposed these exotic trade goods were replaced as prestige items by locally created luxury goods, such cotton cloth, in contrast to earlier Olmec art, Epi-Olmec art displays a general loss of detail and quality. Ceramic figurines were less detailed, and the basalt monuments and stelae at Tres Zapotes lacked the artisanship, refinement. In contrast, Epi-Olmec monuments show an increasing concern with historicity. These dated transcriptions were made possible by the Epi-Olmec cultures very early use of the Long Count calendar as well as an early writing system. The Isthmian script appears on several Epi-Olmec sculptures including La Mojarra Stela 1, the Tuxtla Statuette and these Epi-Olmec texts were the most detailed of this era in Mesoamerica. While neither the Isthmian script nor the Long Count calendar were confined to the Epi-Olmec culture, their use, whereas contemporaneous Izapan monuments, some 330 miles to the southeast, display mythic and religious subjects, Epi-Olmec monuments glorified rulers. La Mojarra Stela 1, for example, shows a ruler in an elaborate outfit, similar Epi-Olmec monuments featuring finely dressed figures with towering, flowing headdresses include the Alvarado Stela and El Mesón Stela 1. Unlike the La Mojarra Stela 1, these two monuments also show a subordinate, and likely intimidated, smaller figure, some badly eroded Isthmian script glyphs may appear on the Alvarado Stela. El Mesón Stela 1 has no text and this exalted ruler monumental art later became common in the Maya lands to the east during the Classic era. By 250 CE, Cerro de las Mesas, Remojadas, although Tres Zapotes would continue into the Classic era, its heyday had passed and Epi-Olmec had given way to the Classic Veracruz culture. The Olmecs, Americas First Civilization, Thames & Hudson, London, Justeson, John S. and Terrence Kaufman Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing and Texts. Pérez de Lara, Jorge and John Justeson Photographic Documentation of Monuments with Epi-Olmec Script/Imagery at Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, pool, Christopher Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-78882-3. Schuster, Angela M. H. Epi-Olmec Decipherment in Archaeology, stark, Barbara L. Framing the Gulf Olmec in Olmec Art and Archaeology in Meosamerica, National Gallery of Art, pp. 31–53
Epi-Olmec culture
–
Left side image of La Mojarra Stela 1 showing a person identified as "Harvester Mountain Lord"
Epi-Olmec culture
–
Important Epi-Olmec sites
28.
Huastec civilization
–
The Huastec people were an early offshoot of the Maya peoples that migrated northwards. Surviving remains from the Huastec civilization include several large sites, a well-preserved temple. By the Late Postclassic, the Huastecs had developed metallurgy and were producing copper alloys, the Aztec Empire conquered the Huastec region around the 15th century, and probably demanded tribute payments. The Huastec civilization is poorly studied, although there is a body of stone sculpture. In the Late Postclassic, the Huastec region was a centre for metallurgy that included the production of copper alloys, the Huastec region was conquered by the Aztecs, probably in the 15th century, and it is likely that the Huastecs paid tribute to the Aztec Empire. Notable Huastec archaeological sites include Vista Hermosa, with 120 platform mounds, Platanito with 150 platform mounds, and Tamtok, the Huastecs were not politically unified, and were organised into a number of competing city-states. The Huastec are an offshoot of the Maya. Although the Huastec language is a Mayan language, the Huastec civilization is not considered to be a part of the Maya civilization and they did not employ the Maya writing system, and there are no known pre-Spanish Conquest Huastec documents. Several studies have argued a more recent split from the mainstream Maya in the Postclassic, based on archaeological, in the latter case, it is proposed that the Huastec migrated from the central Maya region as a result of the Classic Maya collapse. The Huastecs emphasised the worship of Quetzalcoatl, and circular temples to the deity are found throughout the region
Huastec civilization
–
Late Postclassic Huastec temple at Castillo de Teayo
Huastec civilization
–
Life-Death Figure, 900–1250.
Brooklyn Museum
29.
Izapa
–
Izapa is a very large pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the Mexican state of Chiapas, it was occupied during the Late Formative period. The site is situated on the Izapa River, a tributary of the Suchiate River, near the base of the Tacaná volcano, the settlement at Izapa extended over 1.4 miles, making it the largest site in Chiapas. Izapa remained occupied through the Late Classic period, the period of Izapa’s height is still unknown due to little material for carbon dating, so the issue is still widely debated. Izapa is located on wet and hilly land made of volcanic soil, the weather is very hot and very wet. The area around Izapa was a major producing area known as the Soconusco region. Izapa was a site that included extensive monuments and architecture. The site had eight groups of mounds with between 80 and 130 total mounds, of which about half have been restored. Group F is at the end of the site, Groups A, B, C, D, G. From north to south, the site is about 1.5 km long. The core area of Izapa is formed by Groups A to E, G and H, group F contains a ballcourt amongst other structures, and corresponds to the late occupational phase of the site. Izapa’s architecture makes up roughly 250,000 cubic meters when combined, the site included pyramids, sculptured plazas and squares, and possibly two ball courts. There are two open areas that resemble ball courts found at other Mesoamerican sites, but it is unclear if these two courts were used for the ballgame. Mound 30A was where a stepped pyramid was built and this pyramid was around ten meters high and probably used for religious and ceremonial purposes. Like many Mesoamerican sites, Izapa is laid out just east of true north and it is aligned with the volcano Tacaná and also seems to be situated to the December solstice horizon. Michael Coe describes Izapa as being a link between the Olmec and the early Maya. Other archaeologists argue that there is not yet known to support Coe. Virginia Smith argues that Izapan art is too unique and different in style to be the result of Olmec influence or the precursor to Maya art, Smith says that Izapan art is very site specific and did not spread far from the site. Izapan art most likely did indirectly influence Maya art, though it would just be one of the influences on the Maya
Izapa
–
View of the ruins of Izapa
Izapa
–
Soft
greenstone figurine from Izapa, 300 BCE - 250 CE.
Izapa
–
Tacana volcano as seen from Izapa to the north
Izapa
–
Stela 2 from Izapa
30.
Mezcala culture
–
The Mezcala culture is the name given to a Mesoamerican culture that was based in the Guerrero state of southwestern Mexico, in the upper Balsas River region. The culture is understood but is believed to have developed during the Middle and Late Preclassic periods of Mesoamerican chronology. The culture continued into the Classic period when it coexisted with the metropolis of Teotihuacan. The Mezcala cultural region has been looted by the local population. In terms of its resources, the present-day state of Guerrero has not seen extensive professional excavations. Only one Preclassic Mezcala site, Ahuinahuac, has been investigated by archaeologists undertaking controlled excavations, excavations of Classic period Mezcala sites have taken place at Organera Xochipala and El Mirador. The sculptural style of the Mezcala culture is known from looted andesite. Archaeologists believe that the culture developed during the Middle and Late Preclassic periods of Mesoamerican chronology, at this time, the great metropolis of Teotihuacan developed to the north in the Valley of Mexico. In the Mezcala area, Teotihuacan influence is pervasive, at the same time, there was also considerable influence going the other way, from the Mezcala area to Teotihuacan. Anthropologists characterized the western societies as chiefdoms, at a time when states rose in Central Mexico, unlike other areas of western Mexico, the Guerrero tradition in ceramics and site planning shows influence from Central Mexico. For instance, settlements along the Balsas River had pyramids, central plazas and these included over fifty-six masks and ninety-eight figurines. Twenty-six of the figurines were divided equally between two boxes and arranged in south-facing rows. Mezcala-style sculpture is characterised by abstract facial features, suggested by lines and differences in texture, the sculptural style of the Mezcala culture may have been influenced by the Olmecs. In turn, it may have influenced the development of sculpture at the Classic-period metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico
Mezcala culture
–
Mezcala stone mask at the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Mezcala culture
–
Greenstone Mezcala mask in the
Museo de América in Madrid
Mezcala culture
–
Mezcala Temple Model,
Walters Art Museum. The Mezcala sculptural style emphasizes geometric abstraction in both human figures and architectural models.
31.
Mixtec
–
The Mixtec region and the Mixtec peoples are traditionally divided into three groups, two based on their original economic caste and one based on the region they settled. High Mixtecs or mixteco alto were of the class and generally richer. In recent times, a reversal or equalizing has been seen. The third group is Coastal Mixtecs mixteco de la costa whose language is related to that of the Low Mixtecs, they currently inhabit the Pacific slope of Oaxaca. The Mixtec languages form a branch of the Otomanguean language family. In pre-Columbian times, a number of Mixtecan city states competed with each other, like the rest of the indigenous peoples of Mexico, the Mixtec were conquered by the Spanish invaders and their indigenous allies in the 16th century. Pre-Columbia Mixtecs numbered around 1.5 million, today there are approximately 800,000 Mixtec people in Mexico, and there are also large populations in the United States. The term Mixtec comes from the Nahuatl word mixtecah, cloud people, there are many names that the Mixtecs have for naming themselves, ñuù savi, nayívi savi, ñuù davi, nayivi davi. etc. This all denominations can be translated as people of the rain, the historic homeland of Mixtec people is La Mixteca, called in Mixtec language Ñuu Savi, Ñuu Djau, Ñuu Davi, etc. depending on the local variant. They call their language saan davi, daan davi or tuun savi, in pre-Columbian times, the Mixtec were one of the major civilizations of Mesoamerica. Important ancient centres of the Mixtec include the ancient capital of Tilantongo, as well as the sites of Achiutla, Cuilapan, Huajuapan, Mitla, Tlaxiaco, Tututepec, Juxtlahuaca, the Mixtec also made major constructions at the ancient city of Monte Albán. The work of Mixtec artisans who produced work in stone, wood, according to West, the Mixtec of Oaxaca. were the foremost goldsmiths of Mesoamerica, which included the lost-wax casting of gold and its alloys. At the height of the Aztec Empire, many Mixtecs paid tribute to the Aztecs and they put up resistance to Spanish rule until they were subdued by the Spanish and their central Mexican allies led by Pedro de Alvarado. Mixtecs have migrated to parts of both Mexico and the United States. In recent years a large exodus of indigenous peoples from Oaxaca, such as the Zapotec, as of 2011, an estimated 150,000 Mixteco people were living in California, and 25,000 to 30,000 in New York City. Large Mixtec communities exist in the cities of Tijuana, Baja California, San Diego, California and Tucson. Mixtec communities are generally described as trans-national or trans-border because of their ability to maintain, there is considerable documentation in the Mixtec native language for the colonial era, which has been studied as part of the New Philology. There is considerable Mixtec documentation for land issues, but sparse for market activity, long distance trade existed in the prehispanic era and continued in indigenous hands in the early colonial
Mixtec
–
Turquoise mosaic mask. Mixtec-Aztec, 1400-1521 AD
Mixtec
–
Mixtec king and warlord
Eight Deer Jaguar Claw (right) Meeting with Four Jaguar, in a depiction from the precolumbian
Codex Zouche-Nuttall.
Mixtec
–
Plate 37 of the
Codex Vindobonensis. The central scene is supposedly the origin of Mixtecs from a tree that begat the ancestors of this people.
Mixtec
–
The stucco reliefs in the Tomb 1 of Zaachila (The Valley, Oaxaca) reveal a remarkable influence from Mixtec art. It is likely that the tomb belongs to a person whose name is registered in the Nuttall Codex. Tomb 1 of Zaachila, Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Late Postclassic.
32.
Olmec
–
The Olmecs were the first major civilization in Guatemala and Mexico following a progressive development in Soconusco and modern southwestern pacific lowlands of Guatemala. They lived in the lowlands of south-central Mexico, in the present-day states of Veracruz. It has been speculated that Olmec derive in part from neighboring Mokaya and/or Mixe–Zoque, the population of the Olmecs flourished during Mesoamericas formative period, dating roughly from as early as 1500 BCE to about 400 BCE. They were the first Mesoamerican civilization, and laid many of the foundations for the civilizations that followed, among other firsts, the Olmec appeared to practice ritual bloodletting and played the Mesoamerican ballgame, hallmarks of nearly all subsequent Mesoamerican societies. The aspect of the Olmecs most familiar now is their artwork, the Olmec civilization was first defined through artifacts which collectors purchased on the pre-Columbian art market in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Olmec artworks are considered among ancient Americas most striking, the name Olmec comes from the Nahuatl word for the Olmecs, Ōlmēcatl or Ōlmēcah. This word is composed of the two words ōlli, meaning rubber, and mēcatl, meaning people, so the word means rubber people, the Olmec heartland is the area in the Gulf lowlands where it expanded after early development in Soconusco. This area is characterized by swampy lowlands punctuated by low hills, ridges, the Tuxtlas Mountains rise sharply in the north, along the Gulf of Mexicos Bay of Campeche. Here the Olmec constructed permanent city-temple complexes at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, in this region, the first Mesoamerican civilization emerged and reigned from c. The beginnings of Olmec civilization have traditionally been placed between 1400 and 1200 BCE, past finds of Olmec remains ritually deposited at El Manati shrine moved this back to at least 1600–1500 BCE. It seems that the Olmec had their roots in early farming cultures of Tabasco and these shared the same basic food crops and technologies of the later Olmec civilization. What is today called Olmec first appeared fully within the city of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, the rise of civilization was assisted by the local ecology of well-watered alluvial soil, as well as by the transportation network provided by the Coatzacoalcos River basin. This environment may be compared to that of other ancient centers of civilization, the Nile, Indus, and Yellow River valleys and this highly productive environment encouraged a densely concentrated population, which in turn triggered the rise of an elite class. The elite class created the demand for the production of the symbolic, the state of Guerrero, and in particular its early Mezcala culture, seem to have played an important role in the early history of Olmec culture. Olmec-style artifacts tend to appear earlier in some parts of Guerrero than in the Veracruz-Tabasco area, in particular, the relevant objects from the Amuco-Abelino site in Guerrero reveal dates as early as 1530 BC. The city of Teopantecuanitlan in Guerrero is also relevant in this regard, the first Olmec center, San Lorenzo, was all but abandoned around 900 BCE at about the same time that La Venta rose to prominence. A wholesale destruction of many San Lorenzo monuments also occurred circa 950 BCE, which may indicate an internal uprising or, less likely, an invasion. The latest thinking, however, is that changes may have been responsible for this shift in Olmec centers
Olmec
–
Olmec Head No. 3 from
San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan 1200–900 BCE
Olmec
–
"
The Wrestler ", an Olmec era statuette, 1400–400 BCE
Olmec
–
Olmec jadeite mask 1000–600 BCE
Olmec
–
Great pyramid in
La Venta,
Tabasco
33.
Quelepa
–
Quelepa is an important archaeological site located in eastern El Salvador. The site was founded around 400 BC, in the Late Preclassic period, the inhabitants constructed a platform from plaster and pumice and rebuilt it a number of times. Artefacts recovered during the excavations of the site indicate that the population depended upon subsistence agriculture. The site belonged to the Mesoamerican cultural region, Quelepa is generally considered to have been settled by the Lenca people. Quelepa means stone jaguar in the Lenca language, probably in reference to the large Jaguar Altar found at the site, throughout its occupational history, the inhabitants crafted stone tools from obsidian. The site appears to have linked to trade routes extending to western El Salvador. This cutting off did not result in stagnation at the site, the Quelepa archaeological site is located 1 kilometre outside the small village of the same name. The ruins are situated along the bank of the San Esteban River. The site is located 8 kilometres west-northwest of the town of San Miguel, Quelepa is 13 miles north of the neighbouring site of Los Llanitos. The archaeological site divided into East and West groups by a stream called the Quebrada Agua Zarca. The ruins have an altitude of between 160 and 180 metres above sea level. The archaeological remains of Quelepa are on privately owned land under cultivation, the area to the west of the Quebrada Agua Zarca is planted with maize and cotton, as is the area south of the river. The general area around Quelapa is part of the plain of the Río Grande de San Miguel. The volcano is the most prominent local landmark, with its peak at 2,132 metres above sea level. The climate of Quelepa is classified under the Köppen system as tropical wet, the majority of rainfall falls between in months of September and October with a long dry season from November to May. Monthly rainfall averages between 300 and 400 millimetres in September and less than 25 millimetres in March, native fauna has been practically extinguished by the heavy use of pesticides on the local cotton crops. Andrews reported many iguanas near the watercourses and the occasional snake, Quelepa was founded around 400 BC, in the Late Preclassic period. The first inhabitants of the constructed a platform from plaster and pumice
Quelepa
–
The San Miguel volcano dominates the local topography
Quelepa
–
Location of Quelepa within the Mesoamerican cultural region
34.
Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
–
Nearly all of the artifacts associated with this shaft tomb tradition have been discovered by looters and are without provenance, making dating problematic. The first major undisturbed shaft tomb associated with the tradition was not discovered until 1993, at Huitzilapa, until recently, the looted artifacts were all that was known of the people and culture or cultures that created the shaft tombs. So little was known, in fact, that a major 1998 exhibition highlighting these artifacts was subtitled, Art and it is now thought that, although shaft tombs are widely diffused across the area, the region was not a unified cultural area. Archaeologists, however, still struggle with identifying and naming the ancient western Mexico cultures of this period, the shaft tomb tradition is thought to have developed around 300 BCE. Some shaft tombs predate the tradition by more than 1000 years – for example, the tradition lasted until at least 300 CE although there is not wide agreement on the end date. The Western Mexico shaft tombs are characterized by a vertical or nearly vertical shaft, the base of the shaft opens into one or two horizontal chambers, perhaps 4 by 4 metres, with a low ceiling. The shaft tombs were associated with an overlying building. Multiple burials are found in chamber and evidence indicates that the tombs were used for families or lineages over time. The sites of El Opeño and La Campana in Colima feature some shaft tombs, Grave goods within these tombs include hollow ceramic figures, obsidian and shell jewelry, semi-precious stones, pottery, and other household implements such as spindle whorls and metates. More unusual items include conch shell trumpets covered with stucco and other appliques, unlike those of other Mesoamerican cultures such as the Olmec and the Maya, shaft tomb artifacts carry little to no iconography and so are seemingly bereft of symbolic or religious meaning. The plentiful ceramic figurines have attracted the most attention, and are among the most dramatic, since the vast majority of these ceramics are without provenance, analysis has largely focused on the ceramics styles and subjects. The major stylistic groups include, Ixtlan del Rio and these abstract figurines have flat, squarish bodies with highly stylized faces complete with nose rings and multiple earrings. Seated figurines have thin rope-like limbs while the standing figurines have short stocky limbs, chinesca or Chinesco figurines were named by art dealers after their supposed Chinese-like appearance. An early type, Chinesco is identified with Nayarit and up to five major subgroups have been identified, Type A figurines, the so-called classic Chinesco, are realistically rendered. One prominent curator, Michael Kan, finds that their calm and these Type A figures are so similar to one another that it has been suggested that they were the production of a single school. Types B through E are more abstract, characterized by puffy, slit-like eyes blended into the face and these figures are often shown seated or reclining, with shortened bulbous legs quickly tapering to a point. The Ameca style, associated with Jalisco, is characterized by an elongated face, the aquiline nose is also elongated and the large eyes are wide and staring, with pronounced rims created by adding separate strips of clay around the eyes. The wide mouth is closed or slightly opened and the hands have carefully delineated nails
Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
–
Reconstruction of excavated shaft tomb exhibited at the
Museo Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, México.
Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
–
A Nayarit tableau showing a multi-layered tree with birds. It has been proposed that the birds represent souls who have not yet descended into the underworld, while the central tree may represent the
Mesoamerican world tree.
Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
–
An ancestor pair from Nayarit, 100 BCE - 200 CE, executed in the Ixtlán del Río style.
Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
–
A Chinesco-style figurine (Type C), showing the archetypal puffy, slit-like eyes and short tapered legs.
35.
Teuchitlan tradition
–
The Teuchitlan tradition was a pre-Columbian complex society that occupied areas of the modern-day Mexican states of Nayarit and Jalisco. Although evidence of Teuchitlan tradition architecture appears as early as 300 BCE, the tradition is rather abruptly extinguished at the end of the Classic era, ca.900 CE. The Teuchitlan tradition is notable for its circular central plazas and conical step pyramids, according to researcher Phil Weigand, these unusual structures are unique in the Mesoamerican architectural repertoire and indeed are not found anywhere else in the world. The Teuchitlan tradition is an outgrowth of the shaft tomb tradition. The Guachimontones archaeological site, just outside modern-day Teuchitlán, Jalisco, is the largest and most complex site within the Teuchitlan tradition, the center of the ancient village was occupied by three circular areas, each of with a multi-level circular step pyramid at its center. There are a total of 10 such Circles within Teuchitlan, along with four rectangular plazas, the circular pyramids are thought to be cosmograms, representing the mythological structure of the universe, and the circular poles that were set into their center the Mesoamerican world tree. Based on the many ceramic tableaus that have recovered, it is similarly thought that volador ceremonies were conducted from the pole. During the 2001 excavations at the Guachimonton site, the reported finding 6 localities with either Capacha or Capacha-like ceramics. Most were unstratified, but 2 were actually stratigraphic in early layers and this made the archaeologists suspect that the precinct must have had a fairly important Early/Middle Formative component. There are several characteristics of a ranked society present within Teuchitlan tradition societies — the circular plazas, however, based semi-fortified sites excavated in key mountain passes on the edge of the Teuchitlan core area, it is thought that the larger Teuchitlan tradition area was politically fragmented. The onset of the Postclassic era in western Mexico, as elsewhere in Mesoamerica, was marked by abrupt changes. Beekman, Christopher S A Classic Period Political Boundary in the Sierra La Primavera Region, Jalisco, Mexico, presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Anaheim. Beekman, Christopher S Political Boundaries and Political Structure, the Limits of the Teuchitlan Tradition in Ancient Mesoamerica, Vol 7, No 1, pp. 135–147. Form and Meaning in the Earliest Cities, A New Approach to Ancient Urban Planning in Journal of Planning History, Vol.6, in Ember, Melvin, Peregrine, Peter Neal. Weigand, Phil C. and Christopher S. Beekman La Civilización Teuchitlan in La Jornada, Suplemento Cultural, vol 210, no 1-4
Teuchitlan tradition
–
A reconstruction of 'Circle 2' (in foreground) and 'Circle 1' at
Guachimontones
Teuchitlan tradition
–
The conical
stepped-pyramid at 'Circle 2',
Guachimontones
36.
Teotihuacan
–
Additionally, Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools that garnered high prestige and widespread usage throughout Mesoamerica. The city is thought to have been established around 100 BC, the city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries AD, but its major monuments were sacked and systematically burned around 550 AD. Teotihuacan began as a new center in the Mexican Highlands around the first century AD. This city came to be the largest and most populated center in the pre-Columbian Americas, Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population. The term Teotihuacan is also used for the civilization and cultural complex associated with the site. The later Aztecs saw these magnificent ruins and claimed a common ancestry with the Teotihuacanos, the ethnicity of the inhabitants of Teotihuacan is also a subject of debate. Possible candidates are the Nahua, Otomi, or Totonac ethnic groups, scholars have also suggested that Teotihuacan was a multi-ethnic state. The city and the site are located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the State of México. The site covers a surface area of 83 square kilometres and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It is the most visited site in Mexico. The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztecs centuries after the fall of the city around 550 A. D, the term has been glossed as birthplace of the gods, or place where gods were born, reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. Nahuatl scholar Thelma D. Sullivan interprets the name as place of those who have the road of the gods and this is because the Aztecs believed that the gods created the universe at that site. The name is pronounced in Nahuatl, with the accent on the syllable wa, by normal Nahuatl orthographic conventions, a written accent would not appear in that position. Both this pronunciation and Spanish pronunciation, are used, and both appear in this article. The original name of the city is unknown, but it appears in texts from the Maya region as puh. This naming convention led to confusion in the early 20th century. It now seems clear that Tollan may be understood as a generic Nahua term applied to any large settlement, the early history of Teotihuacan is quite mysterious, and the origin of its founders is uncertain. Around 300 BC, people of the central and southeastern area of Mesoamerica began to gather into larger settlements, Teotihuacan was the largest urban center of Mesoamerica before the Aztecs, almost 1000 years prior to their epoch
Teotihuacan
–
View of the Avenue of the Dead and the
Pyramid of the Sun, from the
Pyramid of the Moon.
Teotihuacan
–
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
–
The view from the
Pyramid of the Sun
Teotihuacan
–
Platform along the Avenue of the Dead showing the
talud-tablero architectural style
37.
Tlatilco culture
–
Tlatilco culture is a culture that flourished in the Valley of Mexico between the years 1250 BCE and 800 BCE, during the Mesoamerican Early Formative period. Tlatilco, Tlapacoya, and Coapexco are the major Tlatilco culture sites, Tlatilco culture shows a marked increase in specialization over earlier cultures, including more complex settlement patterns, specialized occupations, and stratified social structures. In particular, the development of the centers at Tlatilco. Specifically, the Tlatilco culture is defined by the presence of, Both ritual, Both animal and human figurines rendered in a somewhat stylized manner. Clay masks and other ritual objects. Olmec-style decorations, motifs, designs, and figurines such as the hollow baby-face figurines or the pilli-style costumed males, one survey of Tlatilco graves found that Olmec-style objects were ubiquitous in the earliest upper-middle status burials but were unrelated to wealth. The Olmec-style artifacts appear suddenly, abundantly, and pervasively in the record at the outset of the Ayotla phase. By 800 BCE, the hallmarks of the Tlatilco culture fade from the archaeological record, by 700 BCE, Cuicuilco had become the largest and most dynamic city in the Valley of Mexico, eclipsing Tlatilco and Tlapacoya. Olmec figurine Bradley, Douglas E. and Peter David Joralemon The Lords of Life, The Iconogaphy of Power and Fertility in Preclassic Mesoamerica, Snite Museum of Art, the Olmecs, Americas First Civilization, Thames & Hudson, London. The San Pablo Pantheon Mound, a Middle Preclassic Site Found in Morelos, Mexico, in American Antiquity, v35 n1, January 1970, niederberger Betton, Christine Paléo-paysages et archéologie pré-urbaine du Bassin de Mexico, Centre d’études mexicaines et centraméricaines, coll. Pool, Christopher A. Olmec Archaeology and Early Mesoamerica
Tlatilco culture
–
Two Tlatilco figurines, from the Manatial phase, 1000 - 800 BCE.
Tlatilco culture
–
The "Acrobat", ceramic art from
Tlatilco, dated 1200-900 BCE. This figurine's left knee has a hole for pouring liquid.
Tlatilco culture
–
External video
Tlatilco culture
–
Usually associated with the
Inca, this stirrup jar is from Tlatilco, 1100 - 800 BCE.
38.
Toltec
–
The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology. The Aztec oral and pictographic tradition also described the history of the Toltec Empire, giving lists of rulers, among modern scholars it is a matter of debate whether the Aztec narratives of Toltec history should be given credence as descriptions of actual historical events. Others maintain that continued analysis of the narratives as sources of history is futile. No consensus has yet emerged about the degree or direction of influence between these two sites, another source of controversy is the fact that New Age authors such as Carlos Castaneda and Don Miguel Ruiz, who say that they represent Toltec teachings. For this tradition of knowledge see Toltec, traits associated with this horizon are, The Mixteca-Puebla style of iconography, Tohil plumbate ceramic ware and Silho or X-Fine Orange Ware ceramics. The presence of traits associated with Tula in Chichén Itzá is also taken as evidence for a Toltec horizon. The existence of any meaning of the Mixteca-Puebla art style has also been questioned, while Tula does have the urban complexity expected of an imperial capital, its influence and dominance was not very far reaching. Evidence for Tulas participation in trade networks has been uncovered, for example. The debate about the nature of the Toltec culture goes back to the late 19th century and this led him to posit the theory that Chichén Itzá had been violently taken over by a Toltec military force under the leadership of Kukulcan. The historicist school of thought persisted well in to the 20th century, represented in the works of such as David Carrasco, Miguel León Portilla, Nigel Davies. Nicholson, which all held the Toltecs to have been an ethnic group. This school of thought connected the Toltecs to the site of Tula. This tradition assumes that much of central Mexico was dominated by a Toltec Empire between the 10th and 12th century CE, the Aztecs referred to several Mexican city states as Tollan, Place of Reeds, such as Tollan Cholollan. Archaeologist Laurette Sejourné, followed by the historian Enrique Florescano, have argued that the original Tollan was probably Teotihuacán, Florescano adds that the Mayan sources refer to Chichén Itzá when talking about the mythical place Zuyua. Many historicists such as H. B, for example, they seek to discern between the deity Quetzalcoatl and a Toltec ruler often referred to as Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl. Scholars such as Michel Graulich and Susan D. Gillespie maintained that the difficulties in salvaging historic data from the Aztec accounts of Toltec history are too great to overcome, the first is described as a valiant triumphant warrior, but the last as a feeble and self-doubting old man. This caused Graulich to consider that the only historical data in the Aztec chronicles are the names of some rulers. Furthermore, among the Nahuan peoples the word Tolteca was synonymous with artist, artisan or wise man, and toltecayotl
Toltec
–
An expressive orange-ware clay vessel in the Toltec style, from the
American Museum of Natural History collection.
Toltec
–
Toltec pyramid at
Tula, Hidalgo
Toltec
–
A map of the layout of the archaeological site of Tula, Hidalgo
Toltec
–
Stucco relief at Tula, Hidalgo depicting
Coyotes,
Jaguars and
Eagles feasting on human hearts.
39.
Totonac people
–
The Totonac /ˈtoʊtoʊˌnɑːk/ people resided in the eastern coastal and mountainous regions of Mexico at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519. Today they reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and they are one of the possible builders of the pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained quarters in Teotihuacán. Until the mid-19th century they were the main producers of vanilla. The term totonac refers to the living in Totonacapan, some authors had translated the term totonac as a Nahuatl word meaning People of Hot Land. The translation for this according to the Totonac Language is tutunacu meaning Three Hearts signifying their three cities or cultural centers, Cempoala, Tajin and Teayo. In the 15th century, the Aztecs labeled the region of the Totonac Totonacapan, Totonacapan was largely hot and humid. Along with the agricultural crops of maize, manioc, squash, beans, pumpkin and chili peppers. Even during the disastrous central Mexican famine of 1450-1454, the region remained an agricultural center. At that time, many Aztecs were forced to sell themselves or their members as slaves to the Totonac in exchange for subsistence maize. There is an absence of comals, metates and manos meaning the Totonacs did not eat tortillas, however. The Totonacs ate fruit most notably zapotes, guavas, papayas, plantains, men hunted and fished shark, turtle, deer, armadillo, opossums, and frogs. Peasants as well as nobles ate corn porridge in the morning, lunch was the main meal of the day and consisted of manioc, bean stew or even a rich meat sauce for the nobles. Fish and seafood as well as game was eaten by both nobles and farmers, Totonac women were expert weavers and embroiderers, they dressed grandly and braided their hair with feathers. The Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún stated that, in all aspects of their appearance, the women were quite elegant, women wore skirts, noble women wore shell and jade necklaces and earrings and often tattooed their faces with red ink. Married women wore their hair in the Nahuatl fashion while peasant women wore their hair long, likewise, the noble men dressed well, adorning themselves with multicolored cloaks, loin cloths, necklaces, arm bands, lip plugs and devices made of the prized quetzal feathers. Hair was kept long with a tuft of hair on the top tied up with a ribbon. Houses were generally thatched and had an overhang, the region of Totonacapan was subject to Aztec military incursions from the mid-15th century until the Spanish arrival. Despite the e tablishment of Aztec fortifications throughout the region, rebellion was endemic, major Totonac centers were Papantla, with an estimated population of 60,000 in 1519, Xalapa, and Cempoala
Totonac people
–
Totonacs of Papantla,
Veracruz performing the "
voladores " ritual
Totonac people
–
View of the main square of the ruins of the city of
Cempoala, capital Totonaca Nation, the first to establish a military alliance with the Castilian armies to attack the dominions of
Aztec Triple Alliance or Ēxcān Tlahtolōyān.
Totonac people
–
Ceramic.
40.
Classic Veracruz culture
–
El Tajin was the major center of Classic Veracruz culture, other notable settlements include Higueras, Zapotal, Cerro de las Mesas, Nopiloa, and Remojadas, the latter two important ceramics centers. The culture spanned the Gulf Coast between the Pánuco River on the north and the Papaloapan River on the south, the major theme of Classic Veracruz art is human sacrifice, particularly in context of the Mesoamerican ballgame. This art is rendered with extensive and convoluted banded scrolls that can be seen both on monumental architecture and on art, including ceramics and even carved bones. At least one researcher has suggested that the heads and other formed by the scrolls are a Classic Veracruz form of pictographic writing. This scrollwork may have out of similar styles found in Chiapa de Corzo. In addition to the scrollwork, the architecture is known for its remarkable ornamentation and this ornamentation produces dramatic contrasts of light and shadow, what art historian George Kubler called a bold chiaroscuro. While Classic Veracruz culture shows influences from Teotihuacan and the Maya, instead, the seeds of this culture seems to have come at least in part from the Epi-Olmec culture centers, such as Cerro de las Mesas and La Mojarra. The Classic Veracruz culture is sometimes associated with the Totonacs. However, there is little or no evidence that the Totonacs were the originators of the Classic era culture, much or most of the population, however, lived in isolated homesteads, hamlets, or villages. Cotton was also an important crop, the Classic Veracruz culture venerated many common Mesoamerican deities, in particular a death god and an earth monster. The Classic Veracruz culture was seemingly obsessed with the ballgame, every cultural center had at least one ballcourt, while up to 18 ballcourts have been found at El Tajin. It was during Late Classic here in north-central Veracruz that the ballgame reached its height, the ballgame rituals appear throughout Classic Veracruz monumental art. The walls of largest ballcourt, the East Ballcourt at El Tajin are lined with carved murals showing human sacrifice in the context of the ballgame, a defining characteristic of the Classic Veracruz culture is the presence of stone ballgame gear, yokes, hachas, and palmas. Yokes are U-shaped stones worn about the waist of a ballplayer, archaeologists generally suppose that the stone yokes are ritual versions of leather, cotton, and/or wood yokes, although no such perishable artifacts have yet been unearthed. While the yokes and hachas have been found from Teotihuacan to Guatemala, until the early 1950s, the Classic Veracruz ceramics were few, little understood, and generally without provenance. Artist and art historian Miguel Covarrubias described Classic Veracruz ceramics as powerful and expressive, endowed with a charm and sensibility unprecedented in other, Remojadas style figurines, perhaps the most easily recognizable, are usually hand-modeled, and often adorned with appliqués. Of particular note are the Sonrientes figurines, with triangular-shaped heads, Nopiloa figurines are usually less ornate, without appliqués, and often molded. The Classic Veracruz culture produced some of the few wheeled Mesoamerican figurines and is noted for the use of bitumen for highlighting
Classic Veracruz culture
–
View of the ceremonial centre of El Tajín, Veracruz (Mexico).
Classic Veracruz culture
–
The Classic Veracruz culture and other important Classic Era settlements.
Classic Veracruz culture
–
One of a series of murals from the South Ballcourt at El Tajin, showing the sacrifice of a ballplayer.
Classic Veracruz culture
–
Two palmas, characteristic of Classic Veracruz culture. Height: 18 in. (45 cm).
41.
Xochipala
–
The archaeological site belongs to the Classic and Postclassic eras, from 200-1400 CE. The Organera Xochipala archaeological zone takes its name from the village of Xoxhipala. The archaeological site belongs to the Classic and, most importantly, in the mid-20th century this site, representative of the Mezcala culture, was extensively looted of an estimated 20,000 pieces. Most of the artifacts have been studied as looted pieces appearing in art collections. The area is known for its Xochipala-style figurines and stone bowls. The site is notable for the discovery of a corbelled arch. Whether the corbelled arch was developed in Guerrero or was imported from the Maya regions is still unsettled. The mound complex of Las Mesas is located six kilometers to the south/southwest of the modern town of Xochipala. Some important monoliths were found there, the Xochipala style is represented by some of the earliest and most naturalistic Mesoamerican figurines, as well as a number of bowls intricately carved from very hard stone. The first rediscovered Xochipala-style figurine was purchased in Guerrero in 1897 by William Niven, unfortunately, no Xochipala figurine has yet been found in archaeological context, but only through collectors and art dealers. The earliest date assigned to any figurine is 1500 BCE but without provenance, so dating is based on stylistic, to achieve a more realistic look, many of the figurines were first modeled without clothing, which was then draped applique-like about the body. It has been suggested that the figurines may have been dressed in perishable clothing. Hugh Honour Expressive gestures, naturalistic forms of hair, breasts, some of the most imaginative, lively, and naturalistic figuines yet known in Mesoamerica. David Grove This small group constitutes some of the greatest miniature ceramic sculpture made in the Americas, the figures stand out in intensity and naturalism from all other works. These primal works of superb technical virtuosity represent some of the greatest ceramic figurines in all of the vast body of Mesoamerican art. Gillett Griffin In his seminal 1972 book, Carlo Gay attributed the sophisticated artistry of the Xochipala figurines to a culture that was the predecessor of the Gulf coast Olmecs. According to Gay, the naturalistic Early Xochipala figurines led over centuries to the stylised Late Xochipala style which in turn led to what archaeologist Gillett Griffin has called abstracted. Despite what Griffin describes as a pure Olmec stratum, others have few similarities between Xochipala figurines and Olmec art
Xochipala
–
Two Formative Period Xochipala figurines, 13th - 10th century BCE (?)
Xochipala
–
Xochipala in relation to other Formative Period archaeological sites.
Xochipala
–
A female, often identified as a
ballplayer 10th - 9th century BCE or 15th - 10th century.
42.
Zapotec civilization
–
The Zapotec civilization was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows that their culture goes back at least 2,500 years, the Zapotec left archaeological evidence at the ancient city of Monte Albán in the form of buildings, ball courts, magnificent tombs and grave goods including finely worked gold jewelry. Monte Albán was one of the first major cities in Mesoamerica, Zapotec civilization had its beginnings in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca in the late 6th Century BC. The three valleys were divided between three different-sized societies, separated by 80 km2 “no-man’s-land” in the middle, today occupied by the city of Oaxaca, archaeological evidence from the period, such as burned temples and sacrificed captives, suggest that the three societies competed against each other. At the end of the Rosario phase the valleys largest settlement San José Mogote, during the same period a new large settlement emerged in the “no-man’s-land”. That settlement, which was constructed on top of a mountain overlooking the three Central valleys was Monte Albán, similarities between the pottery of San José Mogote and at early Monte Albán indicate that the people who populated Monte Albán were the same ones who had left San José Mogote. The Zapotec state formed at Monte Albán began an expansion during the late Monte Alban 1 phase, Zapotec rulers seized control over the provinces outside the valley of Oaxaca. They were able to do this during Monte Alban 1c to Monte Alban 2 because none of the provinces could compete with the valley of Oaxaca both politically and militarily. By 200 AD the Zapotecs had extended their influence, from Quiotepec in the North to Ocelotepec and Chiltepec in the South, Monte Albán had become the largest city in what are today the southern Mexican highlands, and retained this status until approximately 700 AD. The expansion of the Zapotec empire peaked during the Monte Alban II phase, Zapotecs conquered or colonized settlements far beyond The Valley of Oaxaca. Most notably, this expansion is visible in the change of ceramics found in regions outside the valley. These regions own unique styles were replaced with Zapotec style pottery. What today is referred to as building J, is shaped like an arrowhead, the glyphs have been interpreted by archaeologists to represent the provinces that were controlled by the Zapotecs of Monte Albán. In addition, each group also depicts a head with an elaborate head dress carved into the slabs. These are assumed to illustrate the rulers of the provinces who were taken over, small polities, seeing that resistance would be futile, may accept a face-saving offer. Larger polities unwilling to lose their autonomy may have to be subdued militarily, during the expansion of Monte Alban 2 state, we think we see both colonization and conquest. The name Zapotec is an exonym coming from Nahuatl tzapotēcah, which inhabitants of the place of sapote. The Zapotec referred to themselves by some variant of the term Beenaa, the Zapotec languages belong to a language family called Oto-manguean, an ancient family of Mesoamerican languages
Zapotec civilization
–
Palace of Columns,
Mitla,
Oaxaca
Zapotec civilization
–
Zapotec at greatest extent
Zapotec civilization
–
A funerary urn in the shape of a "bat god" or a jaguar, from Oaxaca, dated to AD 300–650. Height: 9.5 in (23 cm).
Zapotec civilization
–
Looking over the site of
Monte Alban. Situated on a mountaintop, Monte Alban overlooks much of the Valley of Oaxaca.
43.
Andean civilizations
–
The Andean civilizations made up a loose patchwork of different cultures that developed from the highlands of Colombia to the Atacama Desert. The most advanced civilizations were those of the Inca Empire and the Muisca, there were other cultures in Ancient Peru and earlier cultures in Tiwanaku and the Norte Chico civilization. The Inca Empire was the last sovereign political entity that emerged from the Andean civilizations before the Spanish conquest, the Inca Empire was a patchwork of languages, cultures and peoples. The components of the empire were not all uniformly loyal, nor were the local cultures all fully integrated, Spanish rule ended or transformed many elements of the Andean civilizations notably influencing religion and architecture. The Norte Chico civilization was a complex society that included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru. It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas and one of the six sites where civilization separately originated in the ancient world and it flourished between the 30th century BC and the 18th century BC. The alternative name, Caral-Supe, is derived from the Sacred City of Caral in the Supe Valley, complex society in Norte Chico arose a millennium after Sumer in Mesopotamia, was contemporaneous with the Egyptian pyramids, and predated the Mesoamerican Olmec by nearly two millennia. The Chavín culture in Peru is thought to have been primarily a religious cult, the culture apparently began in the Andes highlands and then spread outward throughout the country. The Chavín culture has very distinctive art styles, particularly in effigy pots, Chavin de Huantar was an important ritual centre for Chavin Culture, dating to around 1,500 BC. The Valdivia Culture is one of the oldest settled cultures recorded in the Americas and it emerged from the earlier Las Vegas culture and thrived on the Santa Elena peninsula near the modern-day town of Valdivia, Ecuador between 3500 BC and 1800 BC. The Nazca culture was the culture that flourished from 100 to 800 AD beside the dry southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage. They also built a system of underground aqueducts, known as puquios. The Nazca Province in the Ica Region was named for this people, the Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state. Rather, they were likely a group of autonomous polities that shared a common culture, as seen in the rich iconography. They are particularly noted for their elaborately painted ceramics, gold work, monumental constructions, Tiwanaku is an important Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, South America. The ruins of the ancient city state are near the shore of Lake Titicaca in the La Paz Department, Ingavi Province, Tiwanaku Municipality. The site was first recorded in history by Spanish conquistador
Andean civilizations
–
Inca Empire
Andean civilizations
–
The Caral pyramids in the arid Supe Valley, some 20 km from the Pacific coast.
Andean civilizations
–
The Moche culture is world-renowned for its pottery, in picture a
Condor from about 300 AD.
Andean civilizations
–
Chimú gold adornments. 1300 AD
Larco Museum, Lima-Perú
44.
List of Indigenous peoples of South America
–
The following is a list of indigenous peoples of South America. These include the living in South American in the pre-Columbian era. The Circum-Caribbean cultural area was defined by anthropologist Julian Steward, who edited the Handbook of South American Indians and it spans indigenous peoples in the Caribbean, Central American, and northern South America, the latter of which is listed here. The Colombia and Venezuela culture area includes most of Colombia and Venezuela, southern Colombia is in the Andean culture area, as are some peoples of central and northeastern Colombia, who are surrounded by peoples of the Colombia and Venezuela culture. Eastern Venezuela is in the Guianas culture area, and southeastern Colombia and this region includes northern parts Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, and parts of the Amazonas, Amapá, Pará, and Roraima States in Brazil. This region includes Amazonas, Maranhão, and parts of Pará States in Brazil and this region includes southern Brazil and Eastern Bolivia
List of Indigenous peoples of South America
–
A
Guaraní family in
Mato Grosso do Sul,
Brasil, 2004
45.
El Abra
–
This cave system is one of the first evidences of human settlement in the Americas, dated at 12,400 ±160 years BP, used by the hunter-gatherers of the late Pleistocene epoch. The rock shelter, containing petroglyphs, is situated at the edge of the Bogotá savanna. In 1960, the Indiana University collaborated in a deeper research, the Fúquene stadial, named after Lake Fúquene, close to the village of the same name, is defined from 15,000 to 12,500 BP. It is characterized by a climate, flora typical of páramo ecosystems. About 12,500 years ago, a rise of temperature allowed the return of Andean cloud forest. Articles of this period are abrienses, flint s, and chopper cores, while the climate was more benign, the cave system was gradually abandoned. Dated 11,000 BP, it is characterized by a new cooling of the climate, recession of the forests, around 10,000 years BP the last glaciation ended, the Andean forest appeared again. The lithic instruments show a rise in recollecting activities, with rodents and vegetables consumed, the El Abra caves were abandoned gradually. In Aguazuque, around 5,000 BP, agriculture was established on elevated terraces, list of Muisca and pre-Muisca sites Andean preceramic Aguazuque, Checua, Tequendama, Tibitó Gómez Mejía, Juliana. Aceituno Bocanegra, Francisco Javier, and Sneider Rojas Mora, Aguazuque, Evidence of hunter-gatherers and growers on the high plains of the Eastern Ranges, 1-316. Banco de la República, Fundación de Investigaciones Arqueológicas Nacionales, evidencias culturales durante el Pleistocene y Holoceno de Colombia - Cultural evidences during the Pleistocene and Holocene of Colombia. Estado actual de las investigaciones sobre la etapa lítica en Colombia, Correal Urrego, Gonzalo, Thomas van der Hammen, and J. C. Lerman. Artefactos líticos de abrigos en El Abra, Colombia, Checua, Una secuencia cultural entre 8500 y 3000 años antes del presente - Checua, a cultural sequence between 8500 and 3000 years before present, 1-95. Hurt, Wesley, Thomas van der Hammen, and Gonzalo Correal Urrego, la ecología y tecnología de los abrigos rocosos en El Abra, Sabana de Bogotá, Colombia. Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica Colombiana 109, Hammen, Thomas van der, and E González. Historia de clima y vegetación del Pleistoceno superior y Holoceno de la Sabana de Bogotá, Hammen, Thomas van der, and Gonzalo Correal Urrego. Prehistoric man on the Sabana de Bogota, data for an ecological prehistory, stratigraphic Dating and Cultural Sequences of Pre-Hispanic Northern South America, 381-393. El hombre prehistórico en la Sabana de Bogotá, datos para una prehistoria ecológica
El Abra
–
Cave
petroglyph
46.
Chachapoya culture
–
The Chachapoyas, also called the Warriors of the Clouds, was a culture of Andes living in the cloud forests of the Amazonas Region of present-day Peru. The Inca Empire conquered their civilization shortly before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, since the Incas and conquistadors were the principal sources of information on the Chachapoyas, there is little first-hand or contrasting knowledge of the Chachapoyas. Writings by the chroniclers of the time, such as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, were based on fragmentary second-hand accounts. Much of what we do know about the Chachapoyas culture is based on evidence from ruins, pottery, tombs. Spanish chronicler Pedro Cieza de León noted that, after their annexation to the Inca Empire, by the 18th century, the Chachapoyas had been devastated, however, they remain a distinct strain within the indigenous peoples of modern Peru. The name Chachapoya was given to this culture by the Inca, the Chachapoyas territory was located in the northern regions of the Andes in present-day Peru. It encompassed the region formed by the confluence of the Marañón River. This territory also included land to the south up to the Chuntayaku River, but the center of the Chachapoyas culture was the basin of the Utcubamba river. The contemporary Peruvian city of Chachapoyas, Peru derives its name from the word for this ancient culture as does the defined architectural style. The area of the Chachapoyas is sometimes referred to as the Amazonian Andes due to it being part of a mountain covered by dense tropical forest. The Amazonian Andes constitute the eastern flank of the Andes, which were covered by dense Amazon vegetation. The region extended from the cordillera spurs up to altitudes where primary forests still stand, the cultural realm of the Amazonian Andes occupied land situated between 2, 000–3,000 metres. The finds at Manachaqui’s late Pre-ceramic Period levels also yield radiocarbon dates averaging 2700 BCE, around 1400 BCE, the Initial Period Manachaqui phase witnessed the adoption of ceramic technology and the appearance of a “Chachapoya ceramic tradition”. Ceramics found at the central Chachapoyas site of Huepón were given a later date, despite the archaeological evidence that people began settling as early as 200 CE or before, the Chachapoyas culture is thought to have developed around 750-800 CE. Referred to as the Machu Picchu of the north, Kuélap receives few visitors due to its remote location, other archaeological sites in the region include the settlement of Gran Saposoa, the Atumpucro complex, and the burial sites at Revash and Laguna de las Momias, among others. It is estimated that only 5% of sites of the Chachapoyas have been excavated according to a BBC documentary from January 2013. The conquest of the Chachapoyas by the Inca Empire took place, according to Garcilaso and he recounts that the warlike actions began in Pias, a community on a mountain on the edge of Chachapoyas territory likely to the southwest of Gran Pajatén. According to de la Vega, the Chachapoyas anticipated an Inca incursion, the chronicle of Pedro Cieza de León also documents Chachapoya resistance
Chachapoya culture
–
Inside
Kuélap
Chachapoya culture
–
Walls of Soloco fortress, Chachapoyas, Peru
Chachapoya culture
–
Valley of the
Marañón between
Chachapoyas (Leymebamba) and
Celendín
Chachapoya culture
–
Sarcophagi of Carajia. Chachapoyas culture.
47.
Chancay culture
–
Not much is known about the Chancay civilization, which developed in the later part of the Inca Empire. This culture emerged after the fall of the Wari civilization, parts of the southern Chancay area were conquered by the Chimú in the early fifteenth century and in about 1450 A. D. the Incas were occupying both areas. It is believed that the Chancay had a political structure. Thus the Chancay culture declined in the century to make way for the territorial expansion of the Inca Empire. The center of the Chancay culture was located 80 kilometers north of Lima and it is a desert region but has fertile valleys bathed by rivers and is rich in resources that allowed for, among other things, extensive agricultural development. The Chancay developed intense trade relations with regions, allowing them to interract with other cultures. The Chancay culture based its economy on agriculture, fishing and trade, water reservoirs and irrigation canals were built by engineers in order to develop agriculture. The Chancay also traded with other regions either by land towards the Peruvian highlands, the settlements in Lauri, Lumbra, Tambo Blanco, Handrail, Pisquillo Chico and Tronconal focused mainly on artisans producing large-scale ceramics and textiles. The Chancay culture is the first of the Peruvian cultures that had mass production of ceramics, textiles and metals such as gold and they were also noted for their wood carved items. The curacas, political leaders, regulated the production of artisans, the most well-known Chancay artefacts are the textiles which ranged from embroidered pieces, different types of fabrics decorated with paint. A variety of techniques, colours and themes were used in the making of textiles and they used an array of colours including yellows, browns, scarlet, white, blues and greens. In type of fabric used include llama wool, cotton, chiffon and their technique involved were decorated open weave, brocade, embroidery, and painting. Brushes were used to paint anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, geometric and other creative designs directly on the canvases, the Chancay are known for the quality of their painted tapestries. The typically geometric designs also included drawings of plants, animals such as fish, cats, birds, monkeys, birds and deities wearing crescent-like headdresses were one of the more common decorative features. They produced a variety of such as clothing, bags. Many Chancay textiles survive to date and it is believed that their production was quite extensive, due to the quantities that have been preserved. The quality of the material appears to be good as they were carefully made. Canvases or gauzes were used primarily for religious and magical purposes and they were made for covering the head of the dead in the form of a headdresses
Chancay culture
–
Solid clay idol called cuchimilco from the Chancay culture.
Chancay culture
–
A pitcher typical to the Chancay culture.
Chancay culture
–
Ceramic pot from the Chancay culture.
Chancay culture
–
A straw sewing box from the Chancay culture.
48.
Cultural periods of Peru
–
This is a chart of cultural periods of Peru and the Andean Region developed by Edward Lanning and used by some archaeologists studying the area. An alternative dating system was developed by Luis Lumbreras and provides different dates for some archaeological finds, most of the cut-off years mark either an end of a severe drought or the beginning of one. These marked a shift of the most productive farming to or from the mountains, and tended to mark the end of one culture and the rise of another. The more recent findings concerning the Norte Chico civilization are not included on this list, ancient Peru Amazonas before the Inca Empire The Pre-Incan Lost Pyramid of Puñay Edward P. Lanning,1967 Peru Before the Incas
Cultural periods of Peru
–
Pre-history
49.
Hydraulic culture of mounds (Bolivia)
–
Beni, sometimes El Beni, is a northeastern department of Bolivia, in the lowlands region of the country. It is the second largest department in the country, covering 213,564 square kilometers, with a population of 420,000, Beni is the second most sparsely populated of the nine departments of Bolivia, after Pando. Although Beni is rich in resources, the poverty level of its inhabitants is high. The main economic activities are agriculture, timber and cattle, the Beni region features many large mounds connected by earthen causeways which were built by ancient inhabitants. The first European settlers were Spanish Jesuits sent to convert the inhabitants, chiefly in the southern half of the department. Today, the Beni region is the seat of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of El Beni. The importance of cattle ranching is prominent in the regional culture, other industries significant to the region include logging, small-scale fishing and hunting, farming, and in recent years, eco-tourism. The inhabitants are descendants of Cruceños who streamed north following the course of navigable rivers. The culture is known as lowland Camba and not Andean and it has been remarked that the Camba dialect, as well as the customs of the inhabitants of Bolivias tropical lowlands, are almost purely Andalusian. The Beniano diet consists largely of rice, bananas, beef, some popular dishes include Majao, Masaco, and others, many featuring cured/salted meats. Considerable resentment existed against the government, which allegedly did very little to build roads or integrate the Beni into the economy. Most of these turned to cattle ranching, considerable social unrest took place in 2007 and 2008, leading some to consider separatism as plausible. Between about 4000 BC and the 13th Century AD this region was settled by important and their civil structures were based, both environmentally and economically, on the use of specific environmental characteristics. You can still see miles and miles of channels and man-made hills if you fly low over Beni. When the Spanish arrived the region had already been in decline for three hundred years. However, this is where products that are now used worldwide have their origin, among them tobacco, peanuts, cotton, cassava, vanilla. The Spanish initially were intensely interested in this area, during the first century of colonization, they believed the mythical city of El Dorado could be found in this region. However, they never found this legendary city of gold and they soon lost interest in the area, between the 19th and 20th centuries northern Beni became Bolivias rubber capital
Hydraulic culture of mounds (Bolivia)
–
Llanos (plains) of Beni
Hydraulic culture of mounds (Bolivia)
–
Coat of arms
Hydraulic culture of mounds (Bolivia)
–
Beni savanna
Hydraulic culture of mounds (Bolivia)
–
Capybara family in the region of Rurrenabaque, Beni Dept.
