Mesoamerica Cultural Timeline

Mesoamerica Cultural Timeline This Mesoamerica timeline is built on the standard periodization used in Mesoamerican archaeology and upon which specialists generally agree. The term Mesoamerica literally means Middle America and it typically refers to the geographic region between the southern border of the United States to the Isthmus of Panama, including Mexico and Central America. However, Mesoamerica was and is dynamic, and never a single unified block of cultures and styles. Different regions had different chronologies, and regional terminologies exist and are touched upon in their specific areas below. Archaeological sites listed below are examples for each period, a handful of the many more that could be listed, and they often were inhabited across time periods. Hunter-Gatherer Periods Preclovis Period (?25,000–10,000 BCE). There are a handful of sites in Mesoamerica that are tentatively associated with the broad-scale hunter-gatherers known as Pre-Clovis, but they are all problematic and none appear to meet enough criteria to consider them unequivocally valid. Pre-Clovis lifeways are thought to have been based on broad-based hunter-forager-fisher strategies. Possible preclovis sites include Valsequillo, Tlapacoya, El Cedral, El Bosque, Loltun Cave. Paleoindian Period (ca 10,000–7000 BCE): The first fully-attested human inhabitants of Mesoamerica were hunter-gatherer groups belonging to the Clovis period. Clovis points and related points found throughout Mesoamerica are generally associated with big game hunting. A handful of sites also include fish-tail points such as Fells Cave points, a type found more commonly in South American Paleoindian sites. Paleoindian sites in Mesoamerica include El Fin del Mundo, Santa Isabel Iztapan, Guil Naquitz, Los Grifos, Cueva del Diablo. Archaic Period (7000–2500 BCE):. After the extinction of large-bodied mammals, many new technologies were invented, including maize domestication, developed by Archaic hunter-gatherers by 6000 BCE. Other innovative strategies included the construction of durable buildings such as pit houses, intensive techniques of cultivation and resource exploitation, new industries including ceramics, weaving, storage, and prismatic blades. The first sedentism appears about the same time as maize, and over time more and more people gave up mobile hunter-gatherer life for a village life and agriculture. People made smaller and more refined stone tools, and on the coasts, began to rely more on marine resources. Sites include Coxcatln, Guil Naquitz, Gheo Shih, Chantuto, Santa Marta cave, Pulltrouser Swamp. Pre-Classic / Formative Periods The Pre-Classic or Formative period is so named because it was originally thought to be when the basic characteristics of the classic civilizations such as the Maya began to form. The major innovation was the shift to permanent sedentism and village life based on horticulture and full-time agriculture. This period also saw the first theocratic village societies, fertility cults, economic specialization, long-distance exchange, ancestor worship, and social stratification. The period also saw the development of three distinct areas: central Mesoamerica where village farming arose in the coastal and highland areas; Aridamerica to the north, where traditional hunter-forager ways persisted; and the Intermediate area to the southeast, where Chibchan speakers kept loose ties to South American cultures. Early Preclassic/Early Formative Period (2500–900 BCE): The major innovations of the Early Formative period include the increase in pottery use, transition from village life to a more complex social and political organization, and elaborate architecture. Early Preclassic sites include those in Oaxaca (San Josà © Mogote; Chiapas: Paso de la Amada, Chiapa de Corzo), Central Mexico (Tlatilco, Chalcatzingo), Olmec area ( San Lorenzo), Western Mexico (El Opeà ±o), Maya area (Nakbà ©, Cerros), and Southeastern Mesoamerica (Usulutn). Middle Preclassic/Middle Formative Period (900–300 BCE): Increasing social inequalities is a hallmark of the Middle Formative, with elite groups having a closer connection to the wider distribution of luxury items, as well as the ability to finance public architecture and stone monuments such as ball courts, palaces, sweat baths, permanent irrigation systems, and tombs. Essential and recognizable pan-Mesoamerican elements began during this period, such as bird-serpents and controlled marketplaces; and murals, monuments, and portable art speak to political and social changes. Middle Preclassic sites include those in the Olmec area (La Venta, Tres Zapotes), Central Mexico (Tlatilco, Cuicuilco), Oaxaca (Monte Alban), Chiapas (Chiapa de Corzo, Izapa), Maya area (Nakbà ©, Mirador, Uaxactun, Kaminaljuyu, Copan), West Mexico (El Opeà ±o, Capacha), Southeastern Mesoamerica (Usulutn). Late Preclassic/Late Formative Period (300 BCE–200/250 CE): This period saw an enormous population increase along with the emergence of regional centers and the rise of regional state societies. In the Maya area, this period is marked by the construction of massive architecture decorated with giant stucco masks; the Olmec may have had three or more city-states at its maximum. The Late Preclassic also saw the first evidence of a particular pan-Mesoamerican view of the universe as a quadripartite, multi-layered cosmos, with shared creation myths and a pantheon of deities. Examples of Late Preclassic sites include those in Oaxaca (Monte Alban), Central Mexico (Cuicuilco, Teotihuacan), in the Maya area (Mirador, Abaj Takalik, Kaminaljuyà º, Calakmul, Tikal, Uaxactun, Lamanai, Cerros), in Chiapas (Chiapa de Corzo, Izapa), in Western Mexico (El Opeà ±o), and in Southeastern Mesoamerica (Usulutn). Classic Period During the Classic period in Mesoamerica, complex societies increased dramatically and split into a large number of polities that varied greatly in scale, population, and complexity; all of them were agrarian, and tied into the regional exchange networks. The simplest were located in the Maya lowlands, where city-states were organized on a feudal basis, with political control involving a complex system of interrelationships between royal families. Monte Alban was at the center of a conquest state that dominated most of the southern highlands of Mexico, organized around an emerging and vital craft production and distribution system. The Gulf Coast region was organized in about the same fashion, based on the long-distance exchange of obsidian. Teotihuacan was the largest and most complex of the regional powers, with a population of between 125,000 to 150,000, dominating the central region, and maintaining a palace-centric social structure. Early Classic Period (200/250–600 CE): The early Classic saw the apogee of Teotihuacan in the valley of Mexico, one of the largest metropolis of the ancient world. Regional centers began to diffuse outward, along with widespread Teotihuacan-Maya political and economic connections, and a centralized authority. In the Maya area, this period saw the erection of stone monuments (called stelae) with inscriptions about kings lives and events. Early Classic sites are in Central Mexico (Teotihuacan, Cholula), the Maya area (Tikal, Uaxactun, Calakmul, Copan, Kaminaljuyu, Naranjo, Palenque, Caracol), Zapotec region (Monte Alban), and western Mexico (Teuchitln). Late Classic (600–800/900 CE): The beginning of this period is characterized by the ca. 700 CE collapse of Teotihuacan in Central Mexico and the political fragmentation and high competition among many Maya sites. The end of this period saw the disintegration of political networks and a sharp decline in population levels in the southern Maya lowlands by about 900 CE. Far from a total collapse, however, many centers in the northern Maya lowlands and other areas of Mesoamerica continued to flourish afterward. Late Classic sites include the Gulf Coast (El Tajin), the Maya area (Tikal, Palenque, Tonin, Dos Pilas, Uxmal, Yaxchiln, Piedras Negras, Quirigu, Copan), Oaxaca (Monte Alban), Central Mexico (Cholula). Terminal Classic (as it is called in the Maya area) or Epiclassic (in central Mexico) (650/700–1000 CE): This period attested a political reorganization in the Maya lowlands with a new prominence of the Northern Lowland of northern Yucatan. New architectural styles show evidence of strong economic and ideological connection between central Mexico and northern Maya Lowlands. Important Terminal Classic sites are in Central Mexico (Cacaxtla, Xochicalco, Tula), the Maya area (Seibal, Lamanai, Uxmal, Chichen Itz, Sayil), the Gulf Coast (El Tajin). Postclassic The Postclassic Period is that period roughly between the fall of the Classic period cultures and the Spanish conquest. The Classic period saw larger states and empires replaced by small polities of a central town or city and its hinterland, ruled by kings and a small hereditary elite based at palaces, a marketplace and one or more temples. Early Postclassic (900/1000–1250): The Early Postclassic saw an intensification of trade and strong cultural connections between the northern Maya area and Central Mexico. There was also a flourishing of a constellation of small competing kingdoms, that competition expressed by warfare-related themes in arts. Some scholars refer to the Early Postclassic as the Toltec period, because one likely dominant kingdom was based at Tula. Sites are located in Central Mexico (Tula, Cholula), Maya area (Tulum, Chichen Itz, Mayapan, Ek Balam), Oaxaca (Tilantongo, Tututepec, Zaachila), and the Gulf Coast (El Tajin). Late Postclassic (1250–1521): The Late Postclassic period is traditionally bracketed by the emergence of the Aztec/Mexica empire and its destruction by the Spanish conquest. The period saw increased militarization of competing empires across Mesoamerica, most of which fell to and became tributary states of the Aztecs, with the exception of the Tarascans/Purà ©pecha of Western Mexico. Sites in Central Mexico are (Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Cholula, Tepoztlan), in the Gulf Coast (Cempoala), in Oaxaca (Yagul, Mitla), in the Maya region (Mayapan, Tayasal, Utatlan, Mixco Viejo), and in West Mexico (Tzintzuntzan). Colonial Period 15211821 The Colonial period began with the fall of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and the surrender of Cuauhtemoc to Hernan Cortes in 1521; and the fall of central America including the Kiche Maya to Pedro de Alvardo in 1524. Mesoamerica was now administered as a Spanish colony. The pre-European Mesoamerican cultures sustained a huge blow with the invasion and conquest of Mesoamerica by Spaniards in the early 16th century. The conquistadors and their religious community of friars brought new political, economic, and religious institutions and new technologies including the introduction of European plants and animals. Diseases were also introduced, diseases which decimated some populations and transformed all of the societies. But in Hispania, some pre-Columbian cultural traits were retained and others modified, many introduced traits were adopted and adapted to fit into existing and sustained native cultures. The Colonial period ended when after more than 10 years of armed struggle, the Creoles (Spaniards born in the Americas) declared independence from Spain. Edited and updated by K. Kris Hirst Sources Carmack, Robert M., Janine L. Gasco, and Gary H. Gossen. The Legacy of Mesoamerica: History and Culture of a Native American Civilization. Routledge, 2016. Print.Carrasco, David, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.Evans, Susan Toby, and David L. Webster, eds. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 2001. Print.Manzanilla, Linda R., and Leonardo Lopez Lujan, eds. Historia Antigua De Mexico. Mexico City: Miguel Angel Porrà ºa, 2001. Print.Nichols, Deborah L., and Christopher A. Pool, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.

The Fall of Rome

The Fall of Rome From its early days as a monarchy, through the Republic and the Roman Empire, Rome lasted a millennium ... or two. Those who opt for two millennia date the Fall of Rome to 1453 when the Ottoman Turks took Byzantium (Constantinople). Those who opt for one millennium, agree with Roman historian Edward Gibbon. Edward Gibbon dated the Fall to September 4, A.D. 476 when a so-called barbarian named Odoacer (a Germanic leader in the Roman army), deposed the last western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, who was probably partly of Germanic ancestry. Odoacer considered Romulus so paltry a threat he didnt even bother to assassinate him, but sent him into retirement.* The Roman Empire Lasted Beyond the Fall The Byzantine Emperor vs. the Western Emperor:  At the time of the coup and for the two preceding centuries, there had been two emperors of Rome. One lived in the east, usually in Constantinople (Byzantium). The other lived in the west, usually somewhere in Italy, although not necessarily the city of Rome. The emperor whom Odoacer deposed had lived in Ravenna, Italy. Afterwards, there was still one Roman emperor, Zeno, who lived in Constantinople. Odoacer became the first barbarian king of the western empire.The Roman People Lived On:  While this bloodless coup in 476 is a frequently accepted date for the Fall of Rome and the beginning of the Middle Ages, it was not, at the time, a major turning point. Many events and tendencies led up to it and there were many people who continued to think of themselves and who continue to be thought of as Romans.Europes Kingdoms (From the Ashes of the Roman Empire): The following resources relate to the end of the Roman Empire and the Fall of R ome. This includes theories about the Fall of Rome (including lead) and several of the Roman emperors whose actions hastened the end of the Roman Empire in the West. There is a section with information on important men whose origins were far from the city of Rome. Causes of the Fall of Rome Theories on the Fall of Rome Non-Romans Who Impacted the Fall of Rome GothsGoths Origins?Michael Kulikowsky explains why Jordanes, our main source on the Goths, who is himself considered a Goth, should not be trusted.AttilaProfile of Attila, who is known as the Scourge of God.The HunsIn the revised edition of The Huns, E. A. Thompson raises questions about the military genius of Attila the Hun.IllyriaDescendants of the early settlers of the Balkans came into conflict with the Roman Empire.JordanesJordanes, himself a Goth, abridged a lost history of the Goths by Cassiodorus.OdoacerThe barbarian who deposed the emperor of Rome.Sons of NubelSons of Nubel and the Gildonic WarIf the sons of Nubel hadnt been so eager to do away with one another, Africa might have become independent of Rome.StilichoBecause of personal ambition, Praetorian Prefect Rufinus prevented Stilicho from destroying Alaric and the Goths when they had a chance.AlaricAlaric TimelineAlaric didnt want to sack Rome, but he did want a place for his Goths to stay and a suitable title within th e Roman Empire. Although he didnt live to see it, the Goths received the first autonomous kingdom within the Roman Empire. Rome and Romans Fall of Rome Books:  Recommended reading for a modern perspective on the reasons for the fall of Rome.End of the Republic:  Content related to the men and events from the Gracchi and Marius through the turbulent years between Julius Caesars assassination and the start of the principate under Augustus.Why Rome Fell:  476 CE, the date Gibbon used for the fall of Rome based on the fact that it was then that Odoacer deposed the emperor of Rome, is controversial- as are the reasons for the fall.Roman Emperors Leading to the Fall:  You could say Rome was on the verge of falling from the time of its first emperor or you could say Rome fell in 476 CE or 1453, or even that it hasnt yet fallen.   End of the Republic *I think its relevant to point out that the last king of Rome was also not assassinated, but merely expelled. Although ex-king Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud) and his Etruscan allies tried to get the throne back by warlike means, Tarquins actual deposition was bloodless, according to the legends the Romans told about themselves.