Week 7 Schedule
Week 7 Schedule:
| Due Date | Activity |
|---|---|
|
Mar 4 |
Read & Examine: Week # 7 Module Textbook: Chapter 5 Watch: All Videos |
|
Feb 26 |
Exam # 1 in Class |
|
Mar 4 |
Exam # 1 Multiple Choice T/F Questions |
Image: Mayan Codex
Topic:
Ancient Americas
North and South America were the last continents to be populated by humans. In most of the Western Hemisphere, human communities remained small and relatively isolated from one another. The first humans to arrive in North America traveled from Asia to Alaska. There is some debate about the nature and timing of the migrations that resulted in the settlement of the Americas. Evidence for the peopling of the Americas makes it difficult to establish a firm chronology. Scholars have categorized the societies of North American Amerinds into four principal types: hunter-gather bands, limited-scale tribal societies, full-scale tribal societies, and complex mound-building and trading societies. The hunter-gather bands of the Arctic and Great Basin lacked any genuine political organization. Limited-scale tribal societies emerged where conditions allowed large associations of villages or bands to form around common cultural attributes and often a common leader. In contrast to limited-scale tribal societies where the tribe operated as the center of political life only intermittently, the tribe functioned continuously in full-scale tribal societies. Finally, three North American Indian groups (Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian) developed urban economies and complex governance structures similar in some respects to early river civilizations of Asia and Northeast Africa.
The Olmec created Mesoamerica’s earliest complex society, with large cities and long-distance trading networks. The Olmec calendar suggests both the sophistication of Olmec ritual and the Olmec’s mathematical skills. The Maya emerged after the collapse of the Olmec, and with substantial borrowing from their predecessors. The Maya had a hierarchical society with a sacred king at the top of each Maya city-state. Bloodletting was an important part of Maya religion. The Maya developed a complex and intellectually sophisticated culture. Teotihuacán, located in central Mexico, grew into the most important Mesoamerican city-state of the Classic period. Teotihuacán maintained trade networks with its neighbors. The collapse of Teotihuacán paved the way for the rise of the Toltec. The Toltec built a militaristic empire stretching across Mexico, with its great capital at Tula.
Amerinds also built civilizations in the challenging environment of South America. In the Early Horizon period Chavín society emerged, centered on the ceremonial city of Chavín de Huantar. Two post-Chavín societies emerged in the Early Intermediate Period (200 B.C.E.–500 C.E.): Nazca and Moche. Little is know about Nazca society, but its artistic accomplishments are impressive. The Moche dominated northern Peru without creating a formal imperial structure. The Moche thrived for the first six centuries of the Common Era, finally collapsing under the pressure of natural disasters. The Moche were succeeded by three societies during the Middle Horizon Period (500–1000 C.E.): Tiahuanaco, Huari, and Chimor. Tiahuanaco society was centered on its impressive capital city. Like Tiahuanaco, the Huari engaged in regional trade. On the Pacific coast, the Moche were succeeded by Chimor, a major imperial power that dominated coastal Peru until the emergence of the Inca in the fifteenth century.
Goals:
Learning Objectives:
- Analyze the differences between ancient North American, Mesoamerican, and South American societies.
- Trace the development of native cultures through the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic periods.
- Explain how societies of the Americas managed natural and man-made challenges.