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| Mesoamerican civilizations | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mesoamerican civilizations |
| Region | Mesoamerica |
| Period | Preclassic to Postclassic |
Mesoamerican civilizations were a complex of interrelated indigenous cultures that developed in the region stretching from central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and parts of western Nicaragua before and during early contact with Spain. These societies produced monumental architecture, calendrical systems, and sophisticated iconography that shaped interactions among groups such as the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec (Triple Alliance). Archaeological, epigraphic, and ethnohistoric sources including the Popol Vuh, the Florentine Codex, and excavations at Teotihuacan inform modern reconstructions.
Mesoamerica encompassed diverse landscapes including the Yucatán Peninsula, the Valley of Mexico, the Oaxacan highlands, the Guatemalan Highlands, the Veracruz coastal plain, and the Pacific Coast; these zones intersected with features such as the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra Madre del Sur, and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. River systems like the Usumacinta River and the Grijalva River and lakes including Lake Texcoco and Lake Atitlán shaped settlement patterns and agricultural innovations such as chinampa cultivation, terracing at Monte Albán, and raised fields near Tikal. Volcanic activity from systems like Popocatépetl and Pico de Orizaba influenced soil fertility and settlement risk, while climate events recorded in speleothem records and dendrochronology affected drought cycles documented at sites like Copan and Palenque.
Scholars divide development into sequence markers including the Formative, Classic period, and Postclassic period with local variants such as the Preclassic and Epiclassic period. Key chronological markers include the emergence of monumental art at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán and later urbanization at Monte Albán, the florescence of polities at Teotihuacan and the Classic Maya collapse, and the rise of states like the Toltec and the Aztec Empire. Radiocarbon dating, stratigraphy at sites like La Venta, and epigraphic sequences from the Maya Long Count underpin periodization debates.
Major centers include the early complex at La Venta associated with the Olmec horizon, the Zapotec capital Monte Albán, the Classic Maya urban network at Tikal, Calakmul, and Palenque, the metropolis of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico, and Postclassic polities such as Tula and the Tenochtitlan. Other important groups include the Mixtec kingdoms of Oaxaca, the Totonac of El Tajín, the Tarascan State centered at Pátzcuaro, and coastal traders linked to Puerto Escondido and Cholula. Interaction spheres encompassed trade in obsidian from Cerro de las Navajas, cacao from Veracruz and the Petén Basin, and marine goods via ports like Chacmultun and Soconusco.
Social hierarchies visible in burial contexts and iconography at sites such as Copan and El Mirador indicate elites, priesthoods, and craft specialists. Rulers attested in inscriptions like the Maya stelae held titles comparable to the lordships recorded in Codex Mendoza accounts of Itzcoatl and Moctezuma II. Economies combined intensive agriculture, craft production (featherwork at Tenochtitlan; pottery in Teotihuacan), and long-distance exchange networks documented by exotic goods in caches at Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Political forms ranged from city-states exemplified by Maya city-states to imperial systems such as the Aztec Empire, with alliances and warfare evidenced in the Flower Wars and conflicts memorialized on monuments like the Hieroglyphic Stairway (Copan).
Religious systems incorporated deities and mythic narratives preserved in the Popol Vuh, iconography of gods like Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc, and ritual practices reconstructed from the Florentine Codex and archaeological features such as ballcourts at Chichen Itza and sacrificial platforms at Tenochtitlan. Cosmological models used layered heavens and underworlds depicted on murals at Bonampak and in Maya codices like the Dresden Codex; ritual calendars such as the Tzolk'in and the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar regulated ceremonies performed by priestly lineages from sites like Yaxchilan and Mitla.
Monumental architecture included pyramids at Teotihuacan (the Pyramid of the Sun), the stepped platforms at Monte Albán, and palaces at Palenque. Sculpture traditions ranged from colossal heads at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán to detailed codex-style murals at Bonampak. Ceramic assemblages from the Valley of Oaxaca and obsidian tool production from sources like Sacramento demonstrate craft specialization; luxury items such as turquoise mosaics, goldwork found in Tomb 7 (Monte Albán), and feathered regalia recorded in Codex Borbonicus signaled status and ideology.
Mesoamerican knowledge systems included calendrics and astronomy preserved in the Dresden Codex and observational alignments at Uaxactun and Chichen Itza. Writing systems ranged from logosyllabic inscriptions of the Maya script on stelae and ceramics, to pictorial manuscripts such as the Borgia Codex and administrative glyphs at Teotihuacan. Mathematical concepts using place-value and a vigesimal system enabled Long Count notation and calendar arithmetic found on monuments like the Stelae of Quirigua.
Contact with transatlantic actors culminated in encounters between figures such as Hernán Cortés and rulers including Montezuma II, documented in sources like the Florentine Codex and accounts by Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Processes of collapse involved environmental stress, inter-polity warfare, and sociopolitical upheaval observed in the Classic Maya collapse and the fall of Tenochtitlan during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Indigenous survivals persist in contemporary communities speaking Nahuatl, K'iche', Yucatec Maya, and Mixtec, and in cultural continuities seen in artisanal production, ritual calendars, and reinterpretations of sites such as Chichen Itza and Monte Albán in modern heritage practices.
Category:Pre-Columbian cultures