Teotihuacan, the Maya, and the Moche (Mesoamerica and the Andes) [individual assignment]
Teotihuacan, the Maya, and the Moche (Mesoamerica and the Andes)
In Mesoamerica, many societies emerged from the religious and cultural foundations left by the Olmecs, who faded around 400 B.C.E. These city-states shared a common culture and interacted economically, but remained disunited and frequently warred with each other. Kings and priests ruled in hierarchical fashion. Women were subject to rigidly defined gender roles, although upper-class women gained status as priestesses or by exerting influence over noble husbands, and at least two Mayan kingdoms allowed women to rule.
Like the Olmecs before them, many Mesoamericans practiced human sacrifice. They built pyramids that symbolized sacred mountains with roots in the underworld, but reaching to the heavens as well. One of these societies arose near present-day Mexico City, centered on Teotihuacan (ca. 100 B.C.E.–750 C.E.)—which, with a population of 200,000, ranked as one of the world’s largest cities at that time. Politically unusual, in that they governed by means of oligarchy rather than monarchy, the Teotihuacan people practiced human sacrifice and built pyramid temples to the sun and moon, as well as to the god Quetzalcoatl, a bird-serpent worshipped by other Mesoamericans, including the Mayans. Teotihuacan peasants engaged in intensive farming, making the most of limited space by draining swamps, elaborately irrigating their fields, and terracing hillsides. In shallow lakes, they built “floating islands” (chinampas), which created more space for crops—the most important of which was corn. They produced pottery and obsidian carvings and traded widely, including with the Maya. They entered into decline around 650 C.E. Their downfall used to be blamed on war, but it is now thought that elite overspending caused social tension that led to violent and crippling revolts.
Teotihuacan’s period of prominence overlapped with the rise of the Maya (ca. 250–900 C.E.), whose culture emerged in present-day Guatemala and spread as far north as southern Mexico. The Mayan lands were governed by approximately 40 city-states and kingdoms. The Maya founded the city of Chichén Itzá around 250 C.E. It remains a treasure trove of archaeological evidence of how the Maya lived.
In total, the Mayan population reached three million. Staple crops included corn, squash, beans, cacao (from which chocolate is made), and cotton. Mayan kings served both as politicians and as priests. The Maya built pyramids and satisfied their polytheistic gods—which included jaguar deities and the winged serpent Quetzalcoatl—by means of human sacrifice. Slavery was common, with most slaves taken as captives during wartime. The Maya devised an elaborate hieroglyphic script, the most advanced system of writing in the pre-Columbian Americas. Superb astronomers and mathematicians, they understood the concept of zero and invented an intricate and accurate calendar. The reasons for their collapse, indicated by the abandonment of most Mayan cities between 800 and 900 C.E., remain a mystery. Theories include nearby volcanic activity, intercity warfare, disease, and environmental degradation caused by overpopulation or overuse of the land. Farther to the south, in the Andes Mountains, many advanced cultures arose during this era. The most powerful were the Moche, who lived in present-day Peru between 200 and 700 C.E. Like other societies in the region, the Moche used the quipu, or knot-tying, system of recordkeeping, and they lived in clans called ayllu, which owned land communally. As did other political elites in the Andes, the warrior-priests who governed the Moche compelled ayllu to perform labor according to the mit’a system, which combined elements of serfdom and corvée labor. Members of an ayllu would typically farm land owned by the elite, tend llama and alpaca herds, or build roads, bridges, and hillside terraces. Those living in the valleys grew quinoa, corn, and potatoes, while coastal settlers fished. Trade with the Amazon river basin provided fruit.
The Moche produced excellent ceramics and textiles. Their society was highly stratified, but not politically united under a single state. With no written script available, historians theorize that the Moche culture ended because of a combination of environmental factors (shifting of the Moche River by an earthquake, plus natural erosion caused by heavy rains) and interference with its trade routes by a military rival.
Questions for experts
1. What were the main points of the civilization?
2. What factors influenced the civilization?
Questions for the mixed groups
1. What was similar between the civilizations?
2. What was different between the civilizations?
3. What factors brought civilizations to contact each other?