Pre-Hispanic Culture

Pre-Hispanic Culture

Topic 8

Objective

Identify the characteristics of the Classic Period.

Identify the different Olmec gods.

Open Ended

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the Pre-Hispanic cultures?

Archaic Era

• When a culture switches from being nomadic to sedentary.

• The end of the Ice Age, when the big animals disappeared.

• During this time, population grew 5 times as it did during the Paleoindian times.

• As the population grew, they had smaller territories to exploit.

Archaic Era

• It is believed that the Archaic era started at the 10 000 B.C. and ended at 4 000 B.C.

• In Mesoamerica it is estimated that it ended near 2 500 B.C.

Archaic Era

• According to Schwimmer (1998) the Archaic period in the region of Manitoba, (in Canada), is one that marked a development creating technologies.

• One of the important technologies developed in this era, are the bladed projectile points, attached to a stick that was meant to be thrown.

• Other tools in this time were made with stone, like axes.

Archaic Era Manitoba

In the particular case of Manitoba, the climate change also change their diet.

Tepexpan Man

• Discovered by Helmut de Terra

• It is a skeleton that, believed at first to be 10 000 years old, because it was discovered near a mammoth of that age.

• He was not 10 000 years old.

• In fact, she was a woman.

Open Ended

How old were you in 2007?

Naia The Oldest Most complete human skeleton in the Americas

• ¿Quién es Naia? Video

• Nuevos descubrimientos entorno a Naia Video

• Madre y maltratada: revelan nuevos datos de Naia, el esqueleto más antiguo y más completo recuperado en América

Archaic Agriculture

• According to (ArteHistoria, 2014) some of the most popular foods and varieties per area:

• Mesoamerica: corn, beans and squash.

• Maize used in Oaxaca since 7 500 B.C., in Tehuacan since 5 000 B.C. and in Tamaulipas in 3 000 B.C.

• The varieties of squash or pumpkin appeared in different times

• The Andean Area specialized in potatoes near the 3,500 B.C.

The Olmecs

The Olmecs

• It started before 1200 B.C. 1500 B.C. to

• Ended around 400 B.C.

• Olmec comes from the Aztecs it means "people from the region of the rubber"

• Lack of archaeological records regarding their origins and extent of many of their settlements are not known.

The Olmecs

•  San Lorenzo, La Venta, Tres Zapotes and Las Limas.

• San Lorenzo flourished between 1 200 and 900 B.C., trading obsidian, jade, rubber, pottery, and feathers, etc.

• Estimated population around 18 000 people

The Olmecs

Symmetric planning, they planned their cities in order to create balance and proportion. 

 It was in La Venta were the very first pyramid from Mesoamerica was constructed.

At La Venta, the buildings are placed symmetrically along a north-south axis with four colossal heads facing outwards at key points, seemingly acting as guardians to the complex. A huge ceremonial step pyramid (now a shapeless mound), a sunken plaza once lined with 2 meter high basalt columns, and two smaller pyramids/mounds provide features that would be copied time and again at the major sites of later Mesoamerican cultures with whom equal attention was paid to the precise alignment of buildings (Cartwright, 2013).

Olmec religion

Olmec Colossal heads

• According to Cartwright, those were carved in basalt and have unique features, they may represents governors or rulers from the Olmec People.

• Some could measure 3 m high and weight 8 tons. 

• The person represented used a helmet almost every time and could be portrayed with jaguar paws. 

Olmec Colossal heads

According to Cartwright (2013): “The fact that these giant sculptures depict only the head may be explained by the belief in Mesoamerican culture that it was the head alone which bore the soul.”

Olmec colossal head

According to Cartwright (2013): “The fact that these giant sculptures depict only the head may be explained by the belief in Mesoamerican culture that it was the head alone which bore the soul.”

Chalcatzingo The King

Carving in rocks and paintings in the entrances of caves also were are found in the Olmec culture, depicting rulers like at Oxtotitlan or Chalcatzingo, were they are depicted in a green bird suit and in a throne with a maize landscape, respectively.

Kunz Axe

It is described by the American Museum of Natural History (2014) as a figure that looks like a beast and a human.

named like that in honor of George Frederick Kunz, an expert in minerals and worker at Tiffany that was the owner of the figure.

The mouth of the Kunz Axe looks like a jaguar with eyes shaped like almonds, it is believed that the figure represents somebody who transform himself into a jaguar.

The end of the Olmecs

Why did the Olmec civilization disappear?​

War

Disease

Natural disaster

Perhaps its population grew until there was no enough food to feed its people.

Bibliographic references:

Cartwright, M. (2013). Olmec Civilization. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.ancient.eu/Olmec_Civilization/ Celia, M. (2009). El periodo arcaico. La guía. Retrieved from http://www.laguia2000.com/la-prehistoria/el-periodo-arcaico Foster, L. (1997). A brief history of Mexico. USA: Facts on File. Maestri, N. (2014). Mesoamerica Timeline. About Education. Retrieved from http://archaeology.about.com/od/latinamerica/a/mesoamerican_timeline.htm Mark, J. (2012). Maya Civilization. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://www.ancient.eu/Maya_Civilization/ Minster, C. (2014). The Gods of the Olmec. About Education. Retrieved from http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/The_Olmec/a/The-Gods-Of-The-Olmec.htm Mirambell, L. et al (1979). Historia de México. Tomo 1. México: Salvat Editores. Musée Canadien de L’Histoire (2014). La civilisation maya. Retrieved from http://www.museedelhistoire.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/maya/mmc05fra.shtml National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian Latino Center. (2014). The Calendar System. Living Maya Time. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/5XA93B Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission (2014). Archaic Period - 10,000 - 4,000 years ago. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/CLCpdR Planet Earth (2009). Isotope analysis dates ancient Mexican. Retrieved from http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=478&cookieConsent=A Schwimmer, B. (1998). The Archaic Period. University of Manitoba. Retrieved from https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/manarchnet/chronology/archaic/ Sosa, A. (s.f.). The Huastec Culture Museum. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Retrieved from http://www.revistascisan.unam.mx/Voices/pdfs/6821.pdf Vázquez, J. Z. (2000). Una historia de México I. México: Editorial Patria.