The Aztec worshiped Gods represented natural forces that were vital to their agricultural economy. (1). Although Aztec society had strict classes, a person’s status could change based on his or her contribution to society. The society was divided into different classes like for example the leader, the nobility, local rulers, military, priestly, artisans, and commoners. The ancient Maya, a diverse group of indigenous people who lived in parts of present-day Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, had one of the most sophisticated and complex civilizations in the Western Hemisphere.
2) Stated in document 2, the Aztecs centered there cites around an eagle perched on a cactus. 3) Shown in document 3, the Aztec king wanted the Aztecs to appear strong in the view of other eyes, so they burned documents that would tarnish that reputation. III. Support Paragraph #2: Economy A) Aztecs were well organized and creative with their foods and goods. B) Three supporting details and document numbers 1) As shown in document 10, the Aztecs had a steady flow of goods from conquered city/states.
Greenwood Press, 1996 Strayer, Robert W. The Maya: Writing and Warfare, Boston: Bedford/St. Martin, 2011 Strayer, Robert W. Visual Source 7.2 The Presentation of Captives, Cambridge: Peabody Museum, Harvard University Brian Parham GPS 120-7 Benjamin Fowler October 30, 2012 The Mayan Civilization The Mayan civilization was a very unique civilization that centered in Mesoamerica (Strayer, 294). This civilization was very different than most other civilizations of that time. The Mayan civilization was unique to other civilizations in its religious practices, intellectual contributions, building styles, and family life. Archeologists
The Mission San Xavier Del Bac is a centuries old Spanish Mission located just outside of Tucson on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. I learned from Wikipedia that the original Mission was actually located two miles away, and founded by a Jesuit missionary named Eusebio Francisco Kino in 1692. Unfortunately, the Mission at this time was very vulnerable to attacks, and was eventually destroyed by Apaches in 1770. According to a pamphlet that I picked up at the Mission itself, in 1783, Juan Bautista Velderrain borrowed 7,000 pesos from a rancher and began the church that we see today. He utilized lime mortar and kiln fired brick, along with masonry vaults and detail that would rival any church in what is today Mexico.
Beginning in 2100-2050 BCE with the Nanna Ziggurat the flat head pyramid was seen in usage in Iraq. Keeping similar architecture style with the Khafre’s Pyramids built in 2520-2494 BCE located in Egypt present the structure of a three dimensional triangle. Both structures found in the Middle East can be compared similarly in the sense of shape, base, and structure while being built in different time periods with different resources and with distinct specific purposes. The Nanna Ziggurat is one of the most remarkable surviving archaeological remains. Ziggurats built above flat plains publically made known the wealth, and stability of city ruler’s and glorified its gods (Cothern and Stokstad 2011, 28).
Fash was a very interesting book that catalogued the history of the Maya from the Preclassic Period (2000 B.C.E to 250 AD) to the Postclassic Period (900 AD- 1200 AD) including the collapse of the Classic Period centers in the southern lowlands, to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores in 1519 AD. The first section of the book talks about Copan as being the classic Maya center describing Copan as “the Athens of the New World” and also explains the importance of archeological studies at the site. Copan has more hieroglyphic inscriptions and other sculpted monuments than any other Maya ruin, or any other site in the New World. The principal group of ruins, or site core, consists of a series of large buildings constructed around open courtyards which frequently contained stelae and alters. The principal groups contained two basic parts; the north included many low-lying plazas and to the south, the upraised courtyards and constituent structures were built upon the Acropolis .
The cenotes facilitated tapping the underground waters of the area. The dates for this settlement vary according to subsequent local accounts: one manuscript gives 415-35 A.D., while others mention 455 A.D. The town that grew up around the sector known as Chichen Viejo already boasted important monuments of great interest: the Nunnery, the Church, Akab Dzib, Chichan Chob, the Temple of the Panels and the Temple of the Deer. They were constructed between the 6th and the 10th centuries in the characteristic Maya style then popular both in the northern and southern areas of the Puuc hills.The second settlement of Chichen-Itza, and the most important for historians, corresponded to the migration of Toltec warriors from the Mexican plateau towards the south during the 10th century. According to the most common version, the King of Tula, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl, or Kukulkan as the Maya translated the name, reportedly took the city between 967 A.D. and 987 A.D.Following the conquest of Yucatán a new style blending the Maya and Toltec traditions developed, symbolizing the phenomenon of acculturation.
1. The Inca society was one of the largest in the Americas Andes region during the sixteenth century, they produced some exciting stone work and masonry, and used cloth as a source of wealth, payment for taxes, decorating gold ornaments and payment for goods. The type of cloth they produced had bright colors and intricate patterns, some patterns indicated the ethnic identity of an individual with the appropriate ranking within the Incan society. The cloth that was produced with checkerboards was usually reserved for officers of the military and the escorts of the royal court. Other cloth patterns like the four-part motifs could have been a representation for the land of the four Quarters, which in modern times would have encompassed the countries
Cities were built in cultivation land near the Nile River so the natural flooding would water their crops, and bring with it natural minerals needed by the crops. Incan architecture is the most significant pre-Columbian architecture in South America. Inca buildings were made out of fieldstones or semi-worked stone blocks set in mortar; adobe walls were also quite common, usually laid over stone foundations. The material used in Inca buildings depended on the region, for instance, in the coast they used large rectangular adobe blocks while in the Andes they used local stones. The most common shape in Inca architecture was the rectangular building without any internal walls and roofed with wooden beams and thatch.
This type of construction and the labor-intensive methods of chinampa agriculture help overcome the main limits to agriculture in the Basin of Mexico: variable rainfall, frosts, and soil fertility Aztec Religion (Polytheistic) A part of the religious Aztec legends is the belief in a hierarchy of gods. According to Aztec mythology, the top three gods were Huitzilopochtili (or “hummingbird wizard), Tezcatlipoca (“smoking mirror”) and Quetzalcoatl (“sovereign plumed serpent”). Below these three gods, those who practiced the Aztec religion believed there were four sub-gods and an infinite number of gods were below these four. Among them were the god of rain and the god of growth. Aztec Sacrifices Aztec sacrifices were an important aspect of the Aztec religion.