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| 224622838 | early agriculture in Mesoamerica | By 8000 to 7000 bce the ppl of Mesoamerica- the region from the central portion of modern Mexico to Honduras and El Salvador- had begun to experiment with the cultivation of beans, chili peppers, avocados, squashes, and gourds. By 4000bce they had discovered the agricultural potential of maize, which soon became the staple food of the region. Agricultural villages appeared soon after 3000bce and by 2000bce agriculture had spread throughout Mesoamerica. Early mesoamericans ppl had a diet rich in cultivated foods, but they did not keep as many animals as their counterparts in the eastern hemisphere. | 0 | |
| 224622839 | ceremonial centers | by the end of the second millennium bce the tempo of Mesoamerican life quickened as elaborate ceremonial centers with monumental pyramids, temples, and palaces arose alongside the agricultural villages. Permanent residents of the ceremonial centers included members of the ruling elites, priests, and a few artisans and craftmen who tended to the needs of the ruling and priestly classes. They gather on special occasions to observe ritual or on market days to exchange goods and then return to their homes. | 1 | |
| 224622840 | Olmecs: The "Rubber People" | The earliest known ceremonial centers of the ancient Americas appeared on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the Olmecs. Historians and archaeologists had studied Olmec since 1940s but we still dont know much. Even their proper name is unknown: the term Olmec means Rubber People. It did not come from the ancient people but derives instead from the rubber trees that flourish in the region they inhabited. The first olmec ceremonial center arose about 1200bce on the site of the modern town of San Lorenzo and it served as their capital for some four hundred years. | 2 | |
| 224622841 | Olmec Society | Olmec society was probably authoritarian in nature. each of the principle sites featured an elaborate complex of temples, pyramids, altars, stone sculptures, tombs for rulers. Common subjects delivered a portion of their harvests for the maintenance of the elite classes living in the ceremonial centers and provided labor for the various large scale construction projects. | 3 | |
| 224622842 | Trade in Jade and Obsidian | The Olmecs spread their influence partly by military force, but trade was a prominent between the Olmec heartland and the other regions of Mesoamerica.The Olmecs produced large numbers of decorative objects from jade, which they had to import. Without technology, they also made extensive use of obsidian from which they fashioned knives and axes with wickedly sharp cutting edges. Like jade, obsidian came to the gulf coast from distant regions in the interior of Mesoamerica. In exchange for the imports, the Olmecs traded small works of art fashioned from jade, basalt or ceramics and perhaps also local products such as animal skin. | 4 | |
| 224622843 | The Maya | The earliest heirs of the Olmecs were the Maya, who created a remarkable society in the region now occupied by southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El salvador. The highlands of Guatemala offer fertile soil and excellent conditions for agriculture. Permanent villages began to appear there during the third century bce. The most prominent of them was Kaminaljuyu. Like the other capitals, Kamina was a ceremonial center rather than a true city but it dominated the life of other communities in the region. By fourth century bce, Kamina fell under the economic and perhaps also the political dominance of the much larger city of Teotihuacan. | 5 | |
| 224622844 | Tikal | The most important Maya political center between the fourth and ninth centuries ce. At its height, roughly 600 to 800ce, Tikal was a wealthy and bustling city with a population approaching forty thousands. It boasted enormous paved plazas and scores of temples, pyramids, palaces, and public buildings. The Temple os the Giant Jaguar, a stepped pyramid rising sharply to a height of 47 meters(154 feet) dominated the skyline and represented Tikal's control over the surrounding region, which had a population of about five hundred thousand. | 6 | |
| 224622845 | Maya Warfare | The Maya kingdoms fought constantly with each other. Victors generally destroyed the ppl they defeated and took over their ceremonial centers but the purpose of Maya warfare was not so much to kill enemies as to capture them in hand-to-hand combat on the battlefield. Warriors won enormous prestige when they brought back important captives from neighboring kingdoms.They stripped captives of their fine dress and symbols of rank and sometimes they kept high ranking captives alive for years, displaying them as trophies. Most captives ended their lives either as slaves or as sacrificial victims to Maya gods. | 7 |
