Class Notes 4/27

Migration
- the americas were the last continents to be peopled
- we're not sure when it was
- since they were peopled later, they developed agriculture later

Olmecs
- most made a living from farming maize, corn, squash, and beans
- rotation of crops allowed for farming in the same area
- mesoamerica: mexico to panama - middle america.
- mesoamerica has two major climate regions. on the central mexican plateau, it's comfortably cool. further down, it's very rainy and tropical, warm and wet.
- olmecs were the first mesoamerican culture to develop
- obsidian was what they wanted - a hard black stone used to make weapons and decorative objects
- they did not have metallurgy: they used metal for decorative items (gold), but their weapons were made of obsidian. it can be extremely sharp.
- obsidian had to be traded for though, because they didn't have it naturally, so they developed extensive trading networks
- jade was more valuable than gold
- again, culture is spread through trade, like with sumer - these guys are the mother culture, they did everything first. everyone else copied.
- they worshiped a google-eyed god, and the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl
- developed first calendar, writing system, ceremonial centers, ball games. the only thing people didn't copy was the giant heads
- mexican plateau provided obsidian, and honduras had jade
- since they were along the shore, they also had access to shells and feathers
- obsidian, jade, and quarts were used to make necklaces, carvings, ceremonial knives and axes
- the olmec were also the first to practice human sacrifice
- because they did not fight using metal, their wars had lower death toll, so human sacrifices were probably a form of population control
- the only domesticated animals they had were dogs and guinea pigs, and that didn't go everywhere
- the ball game may have been a way to determine who was sacrificed - the losers (or possibly the winners) got killed
- they built mosaics in the pavement, and then buried - they weren't for everyone to see. it was somehow related to religion.
- they painted practically everything
- all the giant heads are unique, and probably heads of rulers
- in order to have built all of these religious buildings, the government must have been closely related
- olmec heads had blemishes and uneven teeth, but all of them were wearing headdress-type things which may have been helmets for the ball game (the ball was made of hard rubber and could have caused concussions), they all had slightly baby-ish faces
- there is a lot of artwork about baby/jaguar creatures; this goes back to the myth that the a jaguar and a woman mated and had a child, and the child ate the mother while it was nursing, and then became the first olmec ruler
- then there is quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, and it goes throughout the other civilizations, including the maya