Defining Mesoamerica
Name two modern countries included in the Mesoamerican region.
Mexico (central and southern states)
Belize
Guatemala
El Salvador
Honduras (western regions)
Nicaragua (parts)
Costa Rica (parts)
True or false: The domestication of maize took thousands of years
True - began around 10,000 years ago, but first agricultural villages don't show up until clearly until ca. 1500 BCE
What were the two main centers of Olmec civilization?
San Lorenzo and La Venta
Which of these does not belong? San José Mogote, Veracruz, Zapotec, Oaxaca, Monte Albán
Veracruz - the rest can be bundled together
•Zapotec – ethnicity/language, e.g., “The Zapotec civilization”
•San José Mogote – the chiefdom that relocated to Monte Albán
•Monte Albán – name of the first Zapotec state
•Oaxaca or Valley of Oaxaca – present-day name for the region / Mexican state
Where did the names Avenue of the Dead, Pyramid of the Sun, and Pyramid of the Moon come from?
The Aztec gave these names to key monumental features in Teotihuacan
Mesoamerican societies share an agricultural and belief system based in what plant?
Maize - the staple food as well as the foundation for Mesoamerican ideas about the nature of being
What is Hoyo Negro and what was found there?
Hoyo Negro = complex of flooded caves in Quintana Roo, Mexico
Findings include:
Naia, the nearly intact skeleton of a teenage Paleoamerican girl
Remains of at least 26 other large mammals, including a saber-toothed tiger
All slipped through a hidden sinkhole in the cave and fell 30 m into a shallow pool of water
What was the environmental setting of the Olmec culture?
low-lying riverine and estuarine zones in the Gulf states of Veracruz and Tabasco
High dependence on aquatic resources
What site was San Jose Mogote's main rival?
San Martin Tilcajete
What was the relationship between Teotihuacan and Monte Alban like?
Both primary / first-generation states
Peaceful diplomacy
Exchanged goods and gifts
Sent ambassadors- Lápida de Bazán monument in Monte Alban
Sent communities to live in each other’s cities - Zapotec barrio in Teotihuacan
Describe some of the shared principles of Mesoamerican site planning.
•The shared geography was framed by the four world directions
•Cities, towns, and villages incorporated buildings that were stages for Mesoamerican rituals
•Ball courts, temples, astronomical observatories
•Site planning embedded the built environment within a cosmological order
Describe what life was like for Archaic Mesoamericans.
Highly mobile hunter-gatherer-foragers who were starting to experiment with agriculture
Dry season:
•Small family groups
•Caves or small campsites
•Collected a wide variety of plants (wild and semi-domesticated) and hunted animals
Wet season:
•Lots of families come together in large campsites to take advantage of seasonal resources
•Ad hoc ritual – dancing, cannibalism, human sacrifice, courtship
•Emphasis on mobility, but returning to some of the same places annually
What are werejaguars?
Divine, powerful human-jaguar hybrids depicted in Olmec art
Usually shown with:
- Almond-shaped eyes
- Downturned open mouth
- Cleft forehead
Public building complexes show narrow access
Earth and sky iconography on pottery
Jadeite earlobe
Iron ore mirrors
What was found inside the Ciudadela at Teotihuacan?
Ciudadela compound, includes the Temple of the Feathered Serpent
~200 sacrificial victims buried inside
Some have been identified as warriors with trophies (ornaments made of human teeth and jaws)
What are the generally recognized chronological periods in Mesoamerican archaeology, in order from oldest to most recent?
•Archaic
•Formative (Preclassic)
•Classic
•Postclassic
•Colonial
How did Mesoamericans transform wild teosinte into domesticated maize?
• Teosinte loves "disturbed environments" - so when mobile hunter-gatherers would return to their campsites after being away, teosinte would be all over the place - they became familiar with it
Began selecting for mutations that were beneficial for human cultivation:
- Fruit cases with tough rachis (corncob)
- Soft glume (seeds)
- Double rows of seeds
- Mutation to assist gelatinization of starch in corn kernel to make tortillas
Over time, this led to permanent genetic change -> the emergence of domesticated maize as a species completely reliant on humans
What is the significance of babies in Olmec art?
This emphasis on lineage and cycles of rebirth (and connections to maize) may also explain why babies in general are such an important motif in Olmec art
What activities do archaeologists think occurred in the men's houses of San José Mogote?
Specialized ritual structures, described by archaeologists as Men’s Houses
Chewing tobacco + lime, taking drugs, planning raids, holding rituals
Name three crafts / goods that were produced in the workshops of Teotihuacan apartment compounds.
Many examples, including cosmetics, basketry, figurines, grinding tools, lapidary/shell working, mica, plaster, hide working, pottery, obsidian, slate, tailoring, textiles, worked bone, incensarios, puppets, plaster polishing, rabbit breeding, possible pulque production
Name two elements of Mesoamerican "high culture."
Presence of elites/nobles/royalty - claimed legitimacy in exercising powers of governance through exclusive practices in everyday life, like cuisine, dress, and architectural ornamentation
Special valuable materials: jade, rare feathers, fine textiles
Writing, astronomy, calendars
Histories of political dynasties - not only literate, but self-consciously historical
What do Naia's teeth tell us about her life, diet, and health?
Lots of things, including:
The exposure of Naia’s tooth roots suggests she suffered from periodontal (gum) disease
Naia has very little evidence of wear on her teeth, indicating she used her teeth to chew soft foods, with very little if no inclusion of tough fibrous foods - she likely ate a lot of simple carbs, like honey and fruit.
Meat can’t be ruled out either – it is a relatively soft food – so this study does not shed further light on the big game vs. forager debate
Her front teeth are chipped, showing that she
used them as tools to work hard objects
Naia experienced a pregnancy in the last few years of her life, which would have increased her chances of getting cavities due to the nutritional stresses of pregnancy
What do the colossal heads tell us about Olmec society?
We discussed two different interpretations:
Most consider the colossal heads to be portraits of individual Olmec kings - powerful, hierarchical rulers
We know transporting stones was extremely labor-intensive.
Because the monuments were so labor-intensive, most scholars assumed that Olmec leaders wielded power over communities, by controlling material resources.
More recently, archaeologists like Wendt have argued that the cooperation and collective action model better fits the archaeological data.
In this view, large labor projects like moving stone heads were completed as cooperative events to benefit the community and demonstrate commitment to a shared religious system - not because they were forced
In this model, colossal heads are not portraits of kings, but of ancestors, cultural heroes, or individuals from cosmological narratives
What does Monument 3 depict and why is it significant?
After SJM's temple was destroyed during a raid, a new temple was built to replace it. A threshold in the new temple was set with a carved stone, known as Monument 3.
Depicts a naked corpse of a captive with heart removed
Zapotec glyph for his name – among the earliest known instances of writing in Mesoamerica
Commemorates the sacrifice of a chiefly rival taken in combat - shows just how important chiefly competition was to the formation of the first Zapotec state, as this monument was dedicated shortly before the founding of Monte Albán
Dates to 580-510 BCE
Describe Teotihuacan's apartment compounds.
•Multifamily apartment compounds were the key social unit in this urban society - families had their own set of rooms, with shared spaces for activities as well
•2000+ apartment compounds at the city’s peak
•Social practices connected the lives of people living in the same apartment compound to each other and to the Teotihuacan state: Domestic rituals, Burial of ancestors, Shared occupations and ethnicities, Marriage and kinship ties
•Some show a shared ethnic identity, and/or a shared craft specialization