Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica: a Reader, M.Smith and M
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The Olmec, Toltec, and Aztec
Mesoamerican Ancient Civilizations The Olmec, Toltec, and Aztec Olmecs of Teotihuacán -“The People of the Land of Rubber…” -Large stone heads -Art found throughout Mesoamerica Olmec Civilization Origin and Impact n The Olmec civilization was thought to have originated around 1500 BCE. Within the next three centuries of their arrival, the people built their capital at Teotihuacán n This ancient civilization was believed by some historians to be the Mother-culture and base of Mesoamerica. “The city may well be the basic civilization out of which developed such high art centers as those of Maya, Zapotecs, Toltecs, and Totonacs.” – Stirling Cultural Practices n The Olmec people would bind wooden planks to the heads of infants to create longer and flatter skulls. n A game was played with a rubber ball where any part of the body could be used except for hands. Religion and Art n The Olmecs believed that celestial phenomena such as the phases of the moon affected daily life. n They worshipped jaguars, were-jaguars, and sometimes snakes. n Artistic figurines and toys were found, consisting of a jaguar with a tube joining its front and back feet, with clay disks forming an early model of the wheel. n Large carved heads were found that were made from the Olmecs. Olmec Advancements n The Olmecs were the first of the Mesoamerican societies, and the first to cultivate corn. n They built pyramid type structures n The Olmecs were the first of the Mesoamerican civilizations to create a form of the wheel, though it was only used for toys. -
Olmec Mirrors: an Example of Archaeological American Mirrors
1 Olmec mirrors: an example of archaeological American mirrors José J. Lunazzi Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Instituto de Física 13083-970 - Campinas - SP - Brazil [email protected] ABSTRACT Archaeological mirrors from the Olmec civilization are described according to bibliographic references and to personal observations and photographs. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. APPEARANCE OF THE MIRRORS 3. HOW TO FIND THEM 4. THEIR SIGNIFICANCE IN THE CULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE OLMECS 5. TYPES OF MIRRORS 6. ON THE QUALITY OF REFRACTIVE ELEMENTS 7. CONCLUSIONS 8. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 9. REFERENCES 2 1. INTRODUCTION This report was not intended to give all the available information on the subject, but just a simple description that may be valuable for improving the knowledge that the optical community may have on it. The author believes to have consulted most of the available scientific bibliography as it can be traced through cross-referencing from the most recent papers. Olmec mirrors are the most ancient archaeological mirrors from Mexico and constitute a very good example of ancient American mirrors. The oldest mirrors found in America are from the Incas, made about 800 years before the Olmecs, dated from findings in archaeological sites in Peru. How this technology would have been extended to the north, appearing within the Olmecs, later within the Teotihuacan civilization, a few centuries before the Spanish colonization, is an interesting matter. Mirrors are important also within the Aztec civilization, that appeared in the proximity of the Olmec and Teotihuacan domains at about the time of their extintion. The extension of the geographic area where these mirrors were employed seems to us not entirely well-known. -
PRODUCTION NOTES for Additional Publicity Materials and Artwork, Please Visit
PRODUCTION NOTES For additional publicity materials and artwork, please visit: http://lionsgatepublicity.com/theatrical/draggedacrossconcrete/ Rating: Rated R for strong violence, grisly images, language, and some sexuality/nudity Run Time: 158 minutes U.S. Release Date: March 22, 2019 (In Theaters and On Demand) For more information, please contact: Liz Berger Lionsgate 2700 Colorado Avenue Santa Monica, CA 90404 P: 310-255-3092 E: [email protected] DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT Publicity Materials: http://lionsgatepublicity.com/theatrical/draggedacrossconcrete/ Hashtag: #DraggedAcrossConcrete Genre: Action Thriller Rating: Rated R for strong violence, grisly images, language, and some sexuality/nudity U.S. Release Date: March 22, 2019 (In Theaters and On Demand) Run Time: 158 minutes Cast: Mel Gibson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Michael Jai White, Jennifer Carpenter, Laurie Holden, Fred Melamed, with Thomas Kretschmann, and Don Johnson Written and Directed by: S. Craig Zahler Produced by: Keith Kjarval, p.g.a., Dallas Sonnier, p.g.a., Jack Heller, Tyler Jackson, Sefton Fincham SYNOPSIS: DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE follows two police detectives who find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics is leaked to the media. With little money and no options, the embittered policemen descend into the criminal underworld and find more than they wanted waiting in the shadows. Summit Entertainment presents, a Unified Pictures production, a Cinestate production, in association with Look to the Sky Films and The Fyzz Facility, in association with Realmbuilder Productions. Synopsis DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE follows two police detectives who find themselves suspended when a video of their strong-arm tactics is leaked to the media. -
The Diffusion of Maize to the Southwestern United States and Its Impact
PERSPECTIVE The diffusion of maize to the southwestern United States and its impact William L. Merrilla, Robert J. Hardb,1, Jonathan B. Mabryc, Gayle J. Fritzd, Karen R. Adamse, John R. Roneyf, and A. C. MacWilliamsg aDepartment of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37102, Washington, DC 20013-7012; bDepartment of Anthropology, One UTSA Circle, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249; cHistoric Preservation Office, City of Tucson, P.O. Box 27210, Tucson, AZ 85726; dDepartment of Anthropology, Campus Box 1114, One Brookings Drive, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130; eCrow Canyon Archaeological Center, 23390 Road K, Cortez, CO 81321; fColinas Cultural Resource Consulting, 6100 North 4th Street, Private Mailbox #300, Albuquerque, NM 87107; and gDepartment of Archaeology, 2500 University Drive Northwest, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4 Edited by Linda S. Cordell, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, and approved October 30, 2009 (received for review June 22, 2009) Our understanding of the initial period of agriculture in the southwestern United States has been transformed by recent discoveries that establish the presence of maize there by 2100 cal. B.C. (calibrated calendrical years before the Christian era) and document the processes by which it was integrated into local foraging economies. Here we review archaeological, paleoecological, linguistic, and genetic data to evaluate the hypothesis that Proto-Uto-Aztecan (PUA) farmers migrating from a homeland in Mesoamerica intro- duced maize agriculture to the region. We conclude that this hypothesis is untenable and that the available data indicate instead a Great Basin homeland for the PUA, the breakup of this speech community into northern and southern divisions Ϸ6900 cal. -
First Civilizations Cities, States, and Unequal Societies 3500 B.C.E.–500 B.C.E
c h a p t e r t h r e e First Civilizations Cities, States, and Unequal Societies 3500 B.C.E.–500 B.C.E. “Over 100 miles of wilderness, deep exploration into pristine lands, the solitude of backcountry camping, 4-4 trails, and ancient American Indian rock art and ruins. You can’t find a better way to escape civilization!”1 So goes an advertisement for a vacation in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park, one of thousands of similar attempts to lure apparently constrained, beleaguered, and “civilized” city-dwellers into the spacious freedom of the wild and the imagined simplicity of earlier times. This urge to “escape from civilization” has long been a central feature in modern life. It is a major theme in Mark Twain’s famous novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in which the restless and rebellious Huck resists all efforts to “civilize” him by fleeing to the freedom of life on the river. It is a large part of the “cowboy” image in American culture, and it permeates environmentalist efforts to protect the remaining wilderness areas of the country. Nor has this impulse been limited to modern societies and the Western world. The ancient Chinese teachers of Daoism likewise urged their followers to abandon the structured and demanding world of urban and civilized life and to immerse themselves in the eternal patterns of the natural order. It is a strange paradox that we count the creation of civilization among the major achievements of humankind and yet people within these civilizations have often sought to escape the constraints, artificiality, hierarchies, and other discontents of city living. -
Robert M. Rosenswig
FAMSI © 2004: Robert M. Rosenswig El Proyecto Formativo Soconusco Traducido del Inglés por Alex Lomónaco Año de Investigación: 2002 Cultura: Olmeca Cronología: Pre-Clásico Ubicación: Soconusco, Chiapas, México Sitio: Cuauhtémoc Tabla de Contenidos Introducción El Proyecto Formativo Soconusco 2002 Análisis en curso Conclusion Lista de Figuras Referencias Citadas Entregado el 6 de septiembre del 2002 por: Robert M. Rosenswig Department of Anthropology Yale University [email protected] Introducción El sitio de Cuauhtémoc está ubicado dentro de una zona del Soconusco que no ha sido documentada con anterioridad y que se encuentra entre las organizaciones estatales del Formativo Temprano de Mazatlán (Clark y Blake 1994), el centro del Formativo Medio de La Blanca (Love 1993) y el centro del Formativo Tardío de Izapa (Lowe et al. 1982) (Figura 1). Aprovechando la refinada cronología del Soconusco (Cuadro 1), el trabajo de campo que se describe a continuación aporta datos que permiten rastrear el desarrollo de Cuauhtémoc durante los primeros 900 años de vida de asentamiento en Mesoamérica. Este período de tiempo está dividido en siete fases cerámicas, y de esta forma, permite que se rastreen, prácticamente siglo por siglo, los cambios ocurridos en todas las clases de cultura material. Estos datos están siendo utilizados para documentar el surgimiento y el desarrollo de las complejidades sociopolíticas en el área. Además de los procesos locales, el objetivo de esta investigación es determinar la naturaleza de las relaciones cambiantes entre las élites de la Costa del Golfo de México y el Soconusco. El trabajo también apunta a ser significativo en lo que respecta a cruzamientos culturales, dado que Mesoamérica es sólo una entre un puñado de áreas del mundo donde la complejidad sociopolítica surgió independientemente, y el Soconusco contiene algunas de las sociedades más tempranas en las que esto ocurrió (Clark y Blake 1994; Rosenswig 2000). -
Cacao Use and the San Lorenzo Olmec
Cacao use and the San Lorenzo Olmec Terry G. Powisa,1, Ann Cyphersb, Nilesh W. Gaikwadc,d, Louis Grivettic, and Kong Cheonge aDepartment of Geography and Anthropology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144; bInstituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico 04510; cDepartment of Nutrition and dDepartment of Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; and eDepartment of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada K9J 7B8 Edited by Michael D. Coe, Yale University, New Haven, CT, and approved April 8, 2011 (received for review January 12, 2011) Mesoamerican peoples had a long history of cacao use—spanning Selection of San Lorenzo and Loma del Zapote Pottery Samples. The more than 34 centuries—as confirmed by previous identification present study included analysis of 156 pottery sherds and vessels of cacao residues on archaeological pottery from Paso de la Amada obtained from stratified deposits excavated under the aegis of on the Pacific Coast and the Olmec site of El Manatí on the Gulf the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán Archaeological Project (SLTAP). Coast. Until now, comparable evidence from San Lorenzo, the pre- Items selected represented Early Preclassic occupation contexts mier Olmec capital, was lacking. The present study of theobromine at two major Olmec sites, San Lorenzo (n = 154) and Loma del residues confirms the continuous presence and use of cacao prod- Zapote (n = 2), located in the lower Coatzacoalcos drainage ucts at San Lorenzo between 1800 and 1000 BCE, and documents basin of southern Veracruz State, Mexico (Fig. 1). Sample se- assorted vessels forms used in its preparation and consumption. -
Machc19-05.4
19th Meeting of the MesoAmerica – Caribbean Sea Hydrographic Commission Regional Capacity Building Update of Brazil on its Regional Project International Hydrographic Organization Organisation Hydrographique Internationale Capacity Building in the Caribbean, South America and Africa - Hydrography Courses Brazil/DHN has been expanding its Capacity Building Project towards other countries in the Amazon region and in the Atlantic Ocean basin. COURSE DESCRIPTION DURATION C-Esp-HN Technician in Hydrography and Navigation (Basic Training) 42 weeks C-Ap-HN Technician in Hydrography and Navigation (IHO Cat. “B”) 35 weeks CAHO Hydrographic Surveyors (IHO Cat. “A”) 50 weeks 2018 – 1 Bolivian Navy Officer (IHO Cat “A”). 2019 – Confirmed: 2 students from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (IHO Cat “A”). Confirmation in progress: Angola (6), Mozambique (4), Bolivia (1), Colombia (1) and Paraguay (1) (IHO Cat “A” and “B”). 2020 – In the near future, Fluminense Federal University (UFF) and other Brazilian universities and governmental institutions in cooperation with DHN will develop a Hydrography Program and a Nautical Cartography Program. International Hydrographic Organization Organisation Hydrographique Internationale 2 Capacity Building - IHO Sponsored Trainings/Courses Work Program Training/Course Date 2018 Maritime Safety Information (MSI) Training Course 16-18 October 18 participants from 12 different countries Argentina (2) Brazil (6) Bolivia (1) Colombia (1) Ecuador (1) El Salvador (1) Guyana (1) Liberia (1) Paraguay (1) Peru (1) Uruguay (1) -
Oxnard Course Outline
Course ID: ANTH R113 Curriculum Committee Approval Date: 09/27/2017 Catalog Start Date: Fall 2018 COURSE OUTLINE OXNARD COLLEGE I. Course Identification and Justification: A. Proposed course id: ANTH R113 Banner title: Ancient Civ of the Americas Full title: Ancient Civilizations of the Americas Previous course id: ANTH R113 Banner title: Ancient Civ of the Americas Full title: Ancient Civilizations of the Americas B. Reason(s) course is offered: This course introduces students to the ancient civilizations of the Americas. It fulfills lower division anthropology requirements at the UC and CSU campuses, is part of the anthropology AA-T, and is on the local, IGETC and CSU GE lists. It also satisfies the ethnic studies requirements at most schools and is accepted as part of the core curriculum for anthropology majors at most colleges and universities. C. Reason(s) for current outline revision: 5 Year Update and course description D. C-ID: 1. C-ID Descriptor: 2. C-ID Status: Not Applicable E. Co-listed as: Current: None Previous: II. Catalog Information: A. Units: Current: 3.00 Previous: 3.00 B. Course Hours: 1. In-Class Contact Hours: Lecture: 52.5 Activity: 0 Lab: 0 2. Total In-Class Contact Hours: 52.5 3. Total Outside-of-Class Hours: 105 4. Total Student Learning Hours: 157.5 C. Prerequisites, Corequisites, Advisories, and Limitations on Enrollment: 1. Prerequisites Current: Previous: 2. Corequisites Current: Previous: 3. Advisories: Current: Previous: 4. Limitations on Enrollment: Current: Previous: D. Catalog description: Current: This course introduces students to the early civilizations of North America, South America, and Mesoamerica. -
A Glance at Member Countries of the Mesoamerica Integration and Development Project, (LC/MEX/TS.2019/12), Mexico City, 2019
Thank you for your interest in this ECLAC publication ECLAC Publications Please register if you would like to receive information on our editorial products and activities. When you register, you may specify your particular areas of interest and you will gain access to our products in other formats. www.cepal.org/en/publications ublicaciones www.cepal.org/apps Alicia Bárcena Executive Secretary Mario Cimoli Deputy Executive Secretary Raúl García-Buchaca Deputy Executive Secretary for Administration and Analysis of Programmes Hugo Eduardo Beteta Director ECLAC Subregional Headquarters in Mexico This document was prepared by Leda Peralta Quesada, Associate Economic Affairs Officer, International Trade and Industry Unit, ECLAC Subregional Headquarters in Mexico, under the supervision of Jorge Mario Martínez Piva, and with contributions from Martha Cordero Sánchez, Olaf de Groot, Elsa Gutiérrez, José Manuel Iraheta, Lauren Juskelis, Julie Lennox, Debora Ley, Jaime Olivares, Juan Pérez Gabriel, Diana Ramírez Soto, Manuel Eugenio Rojas Navarrete, Eugenio Torijano Navarro, Víctor Hugo Ventura Ruiz, officials of ECLAC Mexico, as well as Gabriel Pérez and Ricardo Sánchez, officials of ECLAC Santiago. The comments of the Presidential Commissioners-designate and the Executive Directorate of the Mesoamerica Integration and Development Project are gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and may not be those of the Organization. This document is an unofficial translation of an original that did not undergo formal editorial review. The boundaries and names shown on the maps in this document do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. Explanatory notes: - The dot (.) is used to separate the decimals and the comma (,) to separate the thousands in the text. -
1. Presentación. 2.Fundamentación
1 UNIVERSIDAD VERACRUZANA INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES HISTORICO-SOCIALES INTRODUCCION A MESOMERICA Y NUEVOS DESCUBRIMIENTOS PROFR. DR. PEDRO JIMENEZ LARA I.I.H-S 1. Presentación. El presente curso pretende ofrecer una visión de los elementos y períodos culturales que identifican al México Antiguo. Las regiones son: oasisamérica, aridoamérica y mesoamérica Los horizontes que la componen son: arqueolítico, cenolítico inferior, cenolítico superior, protoneolítico, oasisamérica, aridoamérica, mesoamérica y los primeros contactos en el s. XVI: Planteamiento que se hace de esta manera para una mejor comprensión del curso y entender la evolución de los grupos asentados en territorio mexicano. 2.Fundamentación. Las área culturales del México Antiguo no solo se reduce a Mesoamérica como el período de máximo florecimiento que le antecedió a la conquista. En otros tiempos, antes de conocerse esta macroárea cultural, llegaron diversos grupos de cazadores-recolectores nómadas. El proceso evolutivo de estos grupos fue largo y lento, permitiendo avanzar e ir tocando diferentes niveles de desarrollo y los conocimientos necesarios para el cultivo y domesticación de las plantas como uno de los descubrimientos mas importantes durante esta fase que cambio el curso de la historia. Otra de las regiones es la llamada Oasisamérica localizada al sw de E.U. y norte de México, compuesta por grupos sedentarios agrícolas pero con una complejidad similar a la Mesoamericana. El área denominada mesoamérica, espacio donde interactuaron y se desarrollaron diversos grupos culturales, fue la “…sede de la mas alta civilización de la América precolombina. (Niederbeger, 11, 1996), se desarrollo en la mayor parte del territorio mexicano. Mesoamérica, definida así por Kirchhoff en 1943, es punto de referencia no solo para estudiosos del período prehispánico, en el convergen diversos especialistas amparados en diferentes corrientes ideológicas y enfoques: antropólogos, geógrafos prehistoriadores, historiadores, sociólogos, arquitectos, biólogos, sociólogos, por mencionar a algunos. -
The Americas and Oceania Ben06937.Ch21 538-563.Qxd 8/9/07 3:36 PM Page 539
ben06937.Ch21_538-563.qxd 8/9/07 3:36 PM Page 538 Worlds Apart: 21 The Americas and Oceania ben06937.Ch21_538-563.qxd 8/9/07 3:36 PM Page 539 States and Empires in Mesoamerica States and Empires in South America and North America The Coming of the Incas The Toltecs and the Mexica Inca Society and Religion Mexica Society Mexica Religion The Societies of Oceania Peoples and Societies of the North The Nomadic Foragers of Australia The Development of Pacific Island Societies In November 1519 a small Spanish army entered Tenochtitlan, capital city of the Aztec empire. The Spanish forces came in search of gold, and they had heard many reports about the wealth of the Aztec empire. Yet none of those reports prepared them adequately for what they saw. Years after the conquest of the Aztec empire, Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a soldier in the Span- ish army, described Tenochtitlan at its high point. The city itself sat in the water of Lake Tex- coco, connected to the surrounding land by three broad causeways, and as in Venice, canals allowed canoes to navigate to all parts of the city. The imperial palace included many large rooms and apartments. Its armory, well stocked with swords, lances, knives, bows, arrows, slings, armor, and shields, attracted Bernal Díaz’s professional attention. The aviary of Tenochti- tlan included eagles, hawks, parrots, and smaller birds in its collection, and jaguars, mountain lions, wolves, foxes, and rattlesnakes were noteworthy residents of the zoo. To Bernal Díaz the two most impressive sights were the markets and the temples of Te- nochtitlan.