Chapter 6: Early Societies in the americas and oceania

Thank You

Chapter 6: Early Societies in the Americas and Oceania

Early Societies of Mesoamerica

The Olmecs

The earliest population of people came to the Americas before 13,000 B.C.E. After that point, migrants lived in large numbers and quickly populated the entire western hemisphere. By 8,000 B.C.E. they couldn't survive off of foraging any longer and were forced to turn to agriculture. Some communities survived off of fish, while others relied solely on plants. They had nearly sent multiple species of large animals onto the brink of extinction.

Heirs of the Olmecs: Teotihuacan

• The name "rubber people" did not come from the tribe, so much as it came from the countless amounts of them surrounding the area they inhabited

• They figured out a way to tunnel water to their fields and create a more efficient system of agriculture.

• between 8000 and 2000 B.C.E Mesoamericans cultivated squashes manioc, beans, chili peppers, avocados, gourds and corn; domesticated turkeys and dogs; and had all of the people doing the heavy labor

• At it's high point from about 400 to 600 C.E. it housed nearly 200,000 inhabitants.

• There had to be some kind of leader, but all records perished along side the city.

• Their merchants were famous for their obsidian tools and orange clay products.

• Ceremonial centers housed priests and artisans, and was the place where people gathered for rituals and the occasional market day

• They didn't have a military until 500 C.E. when they had an issue with people trying to steal from their obsidian deposits.

• Because their documents were all destroyed, scholars only know for sure that they adopted many of the rituals from the Olmecs. Its also believed that they believed in a rain god and an earth god.

• Olmecs often paid with labor for building temples and monuments. They often made sculptures of what are thought to be rulers, out of basalt rock as well

Early Societies of South America

• Around 500 C.E. art mainly contained eagles, jaguars, and coyotes- animals that they associated with war.

• In the middle of the eighth century, invaders sacked and burned the city, destroying all of the books and monuments along with it.

• They made huge contributions to trade with their abundance of obsidian and jade. They also made human sacrifices.

Heirs of the Olmec: The Maya

Maya Society and Religion

They had gotten to south America by about 12000 B.C.E. People mostly hunted deer, llama, alpaca, and other large species. The damp, cool climate allowed them to have a natural harvest of squashes gourds and wild potatoes. When the climate changed to warm and dry, however, they were forced to experiment with agriculture. Of course, this caused a growth in population and by 1000 B.C.E. they had made societies as complex as those in Mesoamerica.

• Traded mostly for rare animal skins, cacao beans, and art. They also made an elaborate system of writing.

• They made a calendar that was 365 days long, as well as one that was 260 days long. And thought that each day would determine a general fortune for the days' activities.

• They occupied what is now Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador.
• They came up with a river trap that produced more agricultural produce.
• Tikal, the largest city at the time, was the most important political center between 600 and 800 B.C.E
• Chichen Itza was the first society to integrate criminals into their society
• By about 800 C.E. most people deserted their Maya cities
• Long distance trade with Mexico came to a halt

• They wrote about poetry and art and religion. Scholars continue to try to decipher the characters that were their language to learn more about the religion.

Early Andean States: Mochica

• Religion reflected agriculture: they worshiped a God that made their flesh from water and corn.

Early Andean Society and Chavín Cult

• States emerged when conquerors unified individual parts of valleys and organized them into societies, and each region contributed to the higher economy of the valley.

• They made sacrifices of bloodshed in order to prompt the gods into giving them plentiful amounts of rainfall for their crops.

• Geography kept Andean Societies from communicating more with Mesoamerica, the Andes Mountains were in the way as well as the valleys.

• They inherited a game from the Olmecs that is almost like a variation of soccer.

• These states did not come easily, art from the time clearly suggest that arms were often used to maintain order.

• The earliest cultivated items were beans, peanuts, cotton, and sweet potatoes while they domesticated llamas and alpacas.

ex. Chan Bahlum

• By 1800 B.C.E., Andeans were constructing canals and irrigation systems to support cultivation on the dry lands.

• The Mochica painting conveys how it was to live back in that time.

• Mochica dominated the coasts and northern Peru during 300 to 700 C.E.

• Chavin cult is a religious group that showed its significance of belief through the obvious hard work put into the temple. It flourished from 900 to 800 B.C.E

• Everyone would try to take over the territory, but no one could hold on to it for very long.

• specialization was advancing, all people were creating more intricate versions of their job.

• There is no evidence that the cult could have lead to the establishment of a political order.

• Climate change brought droughts to the area, causing Mochica, as well as multiple other Andean societies, had disappeared.

LEGEND: LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Human migration across the globe

N

Why?

-overpopulation

-social tensions

- thirst for adventure

Significance

-knowledge of stars, weather, and survival

-meant that large range of tools were created to adapt to environment

Themes

Creation, Expansion and Interaction of Economic Systems:

• Olmecs produced jade and art for trade

Early Societies of Oceania

• In Teotihuacan there were apartments for many, busy markets, and workshops
• Andean highlands and coast contribute to economy of the region
• Lapita peoples traded potter, shell jewelry, and stone tools

2. Effects of agriculture and pastoralism on human societies

Development and Transformations of Social Structures:

Vocab

Significance

-more reliable and abundant food supplies

-carefully crafted complex tools

-social status

• Olmecs had common subjects labor for elite
• Merchants came from ruling and noble classes in Maya society
• Mayans built pyramids, palaces, and temples with laborers
• Austronesians had chiefs as leaders

W

E

By at least 60,000 years ago, humans began to migrate to Australia and New Guinea. The water level was probably low, so they more than likely went on rafts or canoes fitted with sails. Beginning about 5,000 years ago southeast Asians began to go to New Guinea to trade. They then began to manufacture boats that could travel through the pacific basin. Then they had inhabited all of the habitable islands of the Pacific Ocean.

Olmec- the first major civilization

in Mexico

Peopling of the Pacific Islands

Early Societies in Australia and New Guinea

• Because the low tide, it was easy for people to migrate to islands on rafts.

Chavín Cult- Religion that promoted

abundant harvest and fertility

• Australia maintained hunting and gathering societies until Europeans settled with them.

• Austronesians made settlements on islands in the Pacific Ocean. They found uninhabited, agricultural land along with domesticated animals, and they took advantage of it.

• New Guinea peoples immediately turned to agriculture by 3000 B.C.E. They cultivated yams and taro and kept pigs and chickens.

Interaction Between Humans and the Environment:

• 8000 BCE large animals scarce
• Olmecs had abundant rain
• Olmecs constructed drainage systems
• Mayans trapped silt
• Andean peoples cultivated cotton for fishnets and textiles
• 60,000 years ago humans migrated ---> Australia+New Guinea
• Austronesian peoples used axes, spears, clubs, nets, lassos, snares, and boomerangs to bring down prey

• Between 1500 and the late centuries B.C.E. they inhabited Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, Tahiti, and Marquesas.

• Australians' diets mainly consisted of plants. They used every kind of plant for different things.

• Between 300 and 700 C.E. they reached Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand.

• People from the Philippines traveled to the region of Micronesia.

• They used axes, spears, clubs, nets, lassos, snares, and boomerangs to bring animals down

• The earliest Austronesian migrants to sail out into the Pacific ocean and establish settlements in pacific islands are known as the Lapita peoples.

• Austronesian people had great seafaring skills.

• They paid attention to the wind and stars to determine if the weather would be good enough to sail in.

• Between about 1500 and 500 B.C.E., Lapita peoples maintained communication as far as 4,500km

• When they settled in New Guinea they introduced yams, taro, pigs, and chicken.

• Wherever they settled, they established agricultural villages that farmed yams, taro, breadfruit, and bananas; they also raised pigs and chickens, and kept the system for about a thousand years.

• By the first millennium B.C.E Austronesian peoples hereditary hierarchical chiefdoms

• Contests for power frequently caused issues in the society as well as the hierarchy, especially in large populations.

• Chiefs led public ritual observances, and oversaw irrigation systems that watered the taro plants and were crucial to the survival of Hawaiian society.

• Eventually, they thought themselves better than that of a normal human and forbade others from even gazing directly at them

S