Mesoamerica

The cultural areas of Mesoamerica

The term Mesoamerica refers to a geographical region that extends roughly from the Tropic of Cancer in central Mexico south through Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, western Honduras, and the pacific lowlands of Nicaragua to northwestern Costa Rica. It is characterized by a particular cultural homogeneity exhibited by the indigenous cultures within it its limits. As such, it is considered a culture area, defined by interrelated cultural similarities, brought about by millenia of inter- and intra-regional interaction, that existed among the relatively disparate Mesoamerican cultures. Mesoamerica is also the name of a linguistic area, or sprachbund, comprising the languages native to roughly the same geographical area.

The Mesoamerican Culture Area contained some of the most complex and advanced cultures of the Americas, including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Maya, and the Aztec. These cultures developed complex socio-political societies, reached advanced technological, scientific, and mathematical levels, and participated in long-distance interaction networks that resulted in the transmission of interrelated ideas and ideology.

The name Mesoamerica was first used by the German ethnologist Paul Kirchhoff to refer to a region of different cultures sharing similar characteristics, including the practice of agriculture and a sedentary lifestyle. Mesoamerica is recognized as a near prototypical cultural area and the term is now fully integrated in the standard terminology of pre-Columbian anthropological studies. By contrast, the sister terms Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica have not entered into widespread usage.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Mesoamerica

Landscape of the Mesoamerican highlands

Mesoamerica is located between 10° and 22° northern latitude. It encompasses Central and Southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica up to the Gulf of Nicoya.

The region comprises a complex combination of ecological systems. Archaeologist and anthropologist Michael D. Coe groups these different niches into two broad categories: lowlands (those areas between sea level and 1000 meters) and altiplanos or highlands (those situated between 1000 and 2000 meters above sea level). In the low-lying regions, sub-tropical and tropical climates are most common, as is true for most of the coastline along the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The highlands show much more climatic diversity, ranging from dry tropical to cold mountainous climates, the dominant climate is temperate with warm temperatures and moderate rainfall. The rain fall varies, between the dry Oaxaca, and north Yucatan to the Humid southern pacific and Caribbean lowlands.

Topography

File:Guatemalahighlands.jpg

The Sierra Madre in Guatemala, showing the Atitlán and San Pedro volcanoes

There is extensive topographic variation in Mesoamerica, ranging from the high peaks circumscribing the Valley of Mexico and within the central Sierra Madre mountains to the low flatlands of the northern Yucatán Peninsula. The tallest mountain in Mesoamerica is Pico de Orizaba, a dormant volcano located one the border of Puebla and Veracruz. Its peak elevation is 5,636 m (18,490 ft).

The Sierra Madre mountains, which consist of a number of smaller ranges, run from northern Mesoamerican south through Costa Rica. The chain is historically volcanic. In central and southern Mexico, a portion of the Sierra Madre chain is known as the Eje Volcánico Transversal, or the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. There are 83 inactive and active volcanoes within the Sierra Madre range, including 11 in Mexico, 37 in Guatemala, 25 in Nicaragua, 7 in El Salvador, and 3 in northwestern Costa Rica. According to the Michigan Technological University[1], 16 of these are still active. The tallest active volcano is Popocatépetl at 5,452 m (17,883 ft). This volcano, which retains its Nahuatl name, is located 70 km southeast of Mexico City. Other volcanoes of note include Tacana on the Mexico-Guatemala border, Tajumulco and Santamaría in Guatemala, Izalco in El Salvador, Momotombo in Nicaragua, and Arenal in Costa Rica.

One important topographic feature is the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a low plateau that breaks up the Sierra Madre chain between the Sierra Madre del Sur to the north and the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south. At its highest point, the Isthmus is 224 meters (735 feet) above mean sea level. This area also represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The distance between the two coasts is roughly 200 kilometers (120 miles). Although the northern side of the Isthmus is swampy and covered with dense jungle, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, as the lowest and most level point within the Sierra Madre mountain chain, was nonetheless a main transportation, communication, and economic route within Mesoamerica.

Bodies of water

Outside of the northern Maya lowlands, rivers are common throughout Mesoamerica. A number of the more important ones served as loci of human occupation in the area. The longest river in Mesoamerica is the Usumacinta, which forms in Guatemala at the convergence of the Salinas and Pasion River and runs north for 970 km (480 km of which are navigable), eventually draining into the Gulf of Mexico. Other rivers of note include the Rio Grande de Santiago, the Grijalva River, the Motagua River, the Ulúa River, and the Hondo River. The northern Maya lowlands, especially the north portion of the Yucatán peninsula, are notable for its nearly complete lack of rivers (largely due to its absolute lack of topographic variation). Additionally, no lakes exist in the northern peninsula. The main source of water in this area, therefore, is sub-surface, and consists of water from aquifers that which is retained within cenotes.

With an area of 8264 km², Lake Nicaragua is the largest lake in Mesoamerica. Lake Chapala is Mexico’s largest freshwater lake, but Lake Texcoco is perhaps the most well-known as the location upon which Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, was founded. Lake Petén Itzá, in northern Guatemala, is notable as the location at which the last independent Maya city, Tayasal (or Noh Petén), held out until 1697. Other large lakes include Lake Atitlán, Lake Izabal, Lake Güija, Lemoa, and Lake Managua.

Biodiversity

File:El mirador tigre.jpg

The Maya Biosphere Reserve, showing the El Tigre Complex at El Mirador, Guatemala

There are almost all ecosystems in Mesoamerica, the more notorious are the Caribbean Coral Reef, the second largest in the world, and the Tropical Rain Forest in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, second in size to the Amazonas. The Highlands present mix and conifer forest. The biodiversity is among the richest in the world, although the number of species in the red list of the IUCN is growing every year.

Cultural sub-areas

There are a number of distinct sub-regions within Mesoamerica that are defined by a convergence of geographic and cultural attributes. These sub-regions are more conceptual than culturally meaningful, and the demarcation of their limits is not rigid. The Maya area, for example, can be divided into two general groups: the lowlands and highlands. The lowlands are further divided into the Southern and Northern Maya. The southern Maya lowlands are generally conceptualized as encompassing northern Guatemala, southern Campeche and Quintana Roo in Mexico, and Belize. The northern lowlands cover the remainder of the northern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. Other areas include Central Mexico, West Mexico, the Gulf Coast Lowlands, Oaxaca, the Southern Pacific Lowlands, and Southeast Mesoamerica (including northern Honduras).

Chronology & Culture

Main article: Mesoamerican chronology

The history of human occupation in Mesoamerica is divided among a number of stages or periods. These are known, with slight variation depending on region, as the Paleo-Indian, the Archaic, the Preclassic (or Formative), the Classic, and the Postlassic. The last three periods, representing the core of Mesoamerican cultural fluorescence, are further divided into two or three sub-phases. Most of the time following the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century is lumped into the Colonial period.

The differentiation of early periods (i.e., up through the end of the Late Preclassic) generally reflects different configurations of socio-cultural organization that are characterized by increasing socio-political complexity, the adoption of new and different subsistence strategies, and changes in economic organization (including increased interregional interaction). The Classic period through the Postclassic are differentiated by the cyclical crystallization and fragmentation of the various political entities throughout Mesoamerica.

The Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian period precedes the advent of agriculture and is characterized by a nomadic hunting and gathering subsistence strategy. Big-game hunting, similar to that seen in contemporaneous North America, was a large component of the subsistence strategy of the Mesoamerican Paleo-Indian. Evidence for this time period in Mesoamerica is sparse and the documented sites scattered. These include Chivacabé, Los Tapiales, and Puerta Parada in the Guatemalan highlands of Guatemala, Orange Walk in Belize, and the El Gigante cave in Honduras. This latter site had a number of obsidian blades and Clovis style fluted projectile points. Fishtail points were recovered from Puerta Parada, as well as other sites including Los Grifos cave in Chiapas (ca. 8500 BC) and Iztapan (ca. 7700 – 7300 BC), a mammoth kill site located in the Valley of Mexico near Texcoco.

The Archaic period (8000-2000 BC) is characterized by the rise of incipient agriculture in Mesoamerica. The initial phases of the Archaic involved the cultivation of wild plants, transitioning into informal domestication and culminating with sedentism and agricultural production by the close of the period. Archaic sites include Sipacate in Escuintla, Guatemala, where maize pollen samples date to ca. 3500 BC. La Blanca and Ujuxte in the Pacific Lowlands of Guatemala yielded pottery dated to ca. 2500 BC. Finally, the well known Coxcatlan cave site in the Valley of Tehuacán, Puebla, which contains over 10,000 teosinte cobs (an antecedent to maize), and Guila Naquitz in Oaxaca represent some of the earliest examples of agriculture in Mesoamerica.

A Middle Preclassic palace structure at Nakbé, the Mirador Basin

The first complex civilization to develop in Mesoamerica were the Olmec, who inhabited the gulf coast region of Veracruz throughout the Preclassic period. The main sites of the Olmec include San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán, La Venta, and Tres Zapotes. Although specific dates vary, these sites were occupied from roughly 1200 to 400 BC. Remains of other early cultures, possibly related to the Olmec, have been found at Takalik Abaj, Izapa, and Teopantecuanitlan, and as far south as in Honduras. . Research in the Pacific Lowands of Chiapas and Guatemala suggest that the Monte Alto Culture may have preceded the Olmec. Radio-carbon samples associated with various sculptures found at the Late Formative site of Izapa suggest a date of between 1800 and 1500 BC. [[2]]. It is, however, unclear to what extent the Monte Alto culture had developed at this point, as the majority of archaeological information from the area pertains to the Middle and Late Formative.

The Preclassic in the Maya area is represented by a variety of sites, both in the highlands and the lowlands. The earliest Maya sites coalesced after 1000 BC, and include Nakbe, El Mirador, and Cerros. Middle to Late Preclassic Maya sites include Kaminaljuyú, Cival, Edzná, Cobá, Lamanai and San Bartolo.

The Classic Maya civilization reached its apogee at sites like Palenque, Tikal, Copán, and many others.

In Oaxaca, the Zapotec polity centered at Monte Albán in the Valley of Oaxaca, initially began developing after 800 BC. The extent of this polity, which would reach its maximum extent during the Late Formative and Early Classic, generally correlates to the extent of the modern day state of Oaxaca.

Later ca 50 AD the culture of Teotihuacan was founded and it became dominant during the Classic period lasting until ca 500 AD, influencing most of Mesoamerica, and even reaching into south and north America.

After the fall of the Classic Maya around 900 AD, Mesoamerica entered the Postclassic period and different centers emerged such as Xochicalco and Cholula and later Tula in central Mexico. The Totonac and Huastec cultures of the gulf coast. The Mixtec culture at Mitla. And late Mayan centers such as Chichén Itzá, Mayapan in the Yucatán peninsula, and Toniná in the Chiapas highlands. Kaminal Juyú in the central highlands, is the site that shows the longest continued occupation in Mesoamerica, from 800 BC to 1200 AD <7>,

The late postclassic or terminal period saw the flourishing of the Aztec culture in central Mexico, the K'iche' maya of Utatlán, Mam from Zaculeu, Poqomam from Mixco Viejo and Kaqchikel from Iximche in the Guatemalan highlands, the Pipil from El Salvador, Ch'orti' in eastern Guatemala and Honduras and the Tarascans (P'urhépecha)in the north west with their capital at Tzintzuntzan. The postclassic period ended at the arrival of the Spanish in 1517-23, although the last kingdoms, the Maya Itza and Ko'woj in Peten, lasted until its conquer in 1697 AD.

Some cultures of Mesoamerica never reached a dominant status nor left impressive archeological remains but should be remembered as noteworthy mesoamerican cultures nonetheless. For example the Otomian peoples, the Mixe-Zoquean peoples that may or may not have been related to the Olmecs, the northern Uto-aztecan like the Cora and Huichol peoples often referred to as Chichimecas, the Chontales, the Huaves, the Pipil, Xincan and Lencan peoples of Centroamerica and many others.

Mesoamerica remains today a region with an extremely rich cultural and linguistic diversity and the indigenous peoples of modern Mesoamerica carry on many of the traditions of their predecessors, in spite of 500 years of heavy pressure from the modern European civilization.

Summary of the Chronology and Cultures of Mesoamerica

Period	Timespan	Important cultures, cities
Paleo-Indian	10,000-3500 BC	Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, obsidian and Pyrite arrow heads, Iztapan, Mexico circa 7,500 BC
Archaic	3500-2000 BC	Agricultural settlements, Tehuacán
Preclassic (Formative)	B.C. 2000-250 AD	Unknown culture in La Blanca and Ujuxte, Monte Alto Culture
Early Preclassic	B.C. 2000-1000	Olmec area: San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, La Venta,Chalcatzingo. Valley of Oaxaca: San José Mogote. The Maya area: Nakbe, Cerros
Middle Preclassic	B.C. 1000-300	Olmec area: Tres Zapotes; Maya area: El Mirador, Izapa, Lamanai, Xunantunich, Naj Tunich, Takalik Abaj, Kaminaljuyú, Uaxactun; Valley of Oaxaca: Monte Albán
Late Preclassic	B.C.E.300-250 AD	Maya area: Uaxactun, Tikal, Edzná, Cival, San Bartolo, Altar de Sacrificios, Piedras Negras, Ceibal, Rio Azul. Central Mexico: Teotihuacan
Classic	250-900 AD	Classic Maya Centers, Teotihuacan, Zapotec
Early Classic	250-600 AD	Maya area: Calakmul, Caracol, Chunchucmil, Copán, Naranjo, Palenque, Quiriguá, Tikal, Uaxactun, Yaxha; Teotihuacan apogee; Zapotec apogee; Gulf Coast: El Tajín
Late Classic	600-900 AD	Maya area: Uxmal, Toniná, Cobá, Waka', Pusilhá, Xultún, Dos Pilas, Cancuen, Aguateca. Central Mexico: Xochicalco, Cacaxtla,
Terminal Classic	800-900/1000 AD	Maya area: Puuc site - Uxmal, Labna, Sayil, Kabah
Postclassic	900-1519 AD	Aztec, Tarascos, Mixtec, Totonac, Pipil, Itzá, Ko'woj, K'iche', Kaqchikel, Poqomam, Mam,
Early Postclassic	900-1200	Cholula, Tula, Mitla, El Tajín, Tulum, Topoxte, Kaminal Juyú, Ceren
Late Postclassic	1200- 1519 AD	Aztec, Tenochtitlan, Cempoala, Tzintzuntzan, Mayan K'iche' (Utatlán), Kaqchikel (Iximche) , poqomam (Mixco Viejo), Mam, (Zaculeu)
Last Conquered	1697 AD	Central Peten, Itza Maya , Tayasal, Naj Peten, Ko'woj Maya , Ixlu, Zacpeten, Yalnain

Subsistence

Main article: Agriculture in Mesoamerica

By roughly 6000 BC, hunter-gatherers living in the highlands and lowlands of Mesoamerica began to develop agricultural practices by beginning cultivation of squashes and chillies. By approximately 4000 BC the oldest example of Maize comes from Guila Naquitz, Cave in Oaxaca, (The Oldest Maize samples surprisingly come from Los Ladrones Cave in Panama, circa 5500 BC)[3], other plants from surrounding areas began making their way into these semi-agrarian communities for cultivation, which would become the dominant crop in the region. By 3500 BCE, corn, the common bean, the tepary bean, the scarlet runner bean, jicama, tomato and squash were all being cultivated for food and cotton, yucca and agave were being cultivated for fibers. By 2000 BCE corn had become the staple crop in the region where it would continue to be the most important crop until modern times. The Ramón or Breadnut tree, Brosimum Alicastrum, was used to make flour instead of Maize, it was named Maize tree, for this reason, in the Maya lowlands, as seen in the chultuns, found at a number of Maya sites. Fruits, were also important in the every day life, such as Avocado, Papaya, Guava, Mamey, Zapote, Anona, among others.

Mesoamerica was not home to any herd animals which are especially suited for domestication, so hunting remained important all the way until colonial times. However, some domestication of smaller, non-herd animals did take place as ducks, deer, dogs and turkeys were raised for their meat. These animals were introduced via trade with indigenous North American cultures. The turkey was the first of these three animals to undergo domestication, which occurred circa 3500 BCE. Also the dog, was a very common domestic animal, and was eaten, at around 1 year old, as findings in garbage pits prove. The lack of larger animals for domestication was likely the result of climate change, as certain species of horse and cattle had previously lived in the region before going extinct. As a result, Mesoamerican cultures lacked pack animals to assist in transportation which is a notable difference between them and the cultures of the South American Andes.

Mesoamerican cultures that lived in the lowlands and coastal plains settled down in agrarian communities somewhat later than did highland cultures due to the fact that there was a greater abundance of fruits and animals in these areas which made a hunter-gatherer lifestyle more attractive. Fishing also was a major provider of food to lowland and coastal Mesoamericans creating a further disincentive to settle down in permanent communities.

Societies of this region did hunt certain wild species to complement their diet. These animals included deer, rabbit, birds and various types of insects. They also hunted in order to gain luxury items such as cat fur and bird plumage.

Architecture

Main article: Mesoamerican architecture

Political organization

Ceremonial centers were the nucleii of Mesoamerican settlements. They gave rise to urban development, in that towns were literally planned around the temple, being nothing more than an extension of the holy center, which for its part constituted the heart of the sacred space. The temples provided spatial orientation, which was imparted to the surrounding town. The cities with their commercial and religious centers were always political entities, somewhat similar to the European city-state, and each person could identify themself with the city in which they lived.

The ceremonial centers were always built to be visible. The pyramids were meant to stand out from the rest of the city, to represent its gods and their powers. Another characteristic feature of the ceremonial centers is historic layers. All of the ceremonial edifices were built in various phases, one on top of the other, to the point that what we now see is usually the last stage of construction. Ultimately, the ceremonial centers were the architectural translation of the identity of each city, as represented by the veneration of their gods and masters.

Depiction of K'inich K'an B'alam II, a Classic-era ruler of a Maya polity based at Palenque, appearing on one of the stelae recovered from the site. This type of public monument was very common throughout Mesoamerica, the main purpose being to commemorate notable successes, events and dates associated with the rulers and nobility of the pre-Columbian state.

Economy

Given that Mesoamerica was broken into numerous and diverse ecological niches, none of the societies that inhabited the area in pre-Hispanic times were self-sufficient. For this reason, from the last centuries of the Archaic period onward, the peoples of the region specialized in the extraction of certain abundant natural resources and then established commercial trade networks that compensated for the environmental inadequacies of their particular region. The people of the west and south, for example, specialized in agricultural production and ceramics; the Pacific lowlands produced cotton and cochineal; coastal regions produced salt, dry fish, sea shells, and dyes; the Pacific lowlands of the Mayan Area and Gulf of Mexico produced cocoa, vanilla, jaguar furs, and valuable birds such as the Quetzal and macaw; the central Pachuca, Puebla and the southern Highland regions San Martin Jilotepeque, El Chayal, provided a good deal of obsidian and pyrite, that was used in the production of arms and tools. Jade, the most valuable rock in Mesoamerica, was produced exclusively in the Motagua River Valley, in Guatemala. Their currency during the Preclassic, were sea shells from both coastal areas, later substituted by cacao beans as standard currency used in diverse commercial transactions. At that time a well made cotton tunic or shirt in the main markets would sell for about 30-50 cacao beans. The Gold, was not used as valuable object until the Post Classic, but even then, 1 load of Jade was worth 4 loads of Gold.

Common characteristics of Mesoamerican culture

Realizing that there were many similarities between the various cultures of the Mesoamerican geographical region Paul Kirchhoff proposed to define Mesoamerica as a cultural area based on a set of shared cultural characteristics common to the various peoples of that region. Some traits were based on material culture such as the cultivation of corn, the use of cotton, but also intellectual and social aspects of culture were used to define the area. Among these common cultural features of the Pre-Columbian peoples of geographic Mesoamerica are the use of two different calendars, a religious calendar of 260 days, and another calendar of 365 days, a base twenty number system, a pictographic written language, the practice of human sacrifice, and a complex of shared mythological and religious concepts. Mesoamerica subsequently has also been established as a linguistic area defined by a number of grammatical traits that have spread by diffusion throughout out the mesoamerican cultural area. This and other traits are used today to define the Mesoamerican cultural area.

Diverse species of native maize. The state, and all of Mesoamerican civilization, is linked to the cultivation of this grain, whose great variety of species is found throughout Mesoamerica.

Material culture

Cacao

Cultivation, cultural elaboration and use of cacao were more extensive in Mesoamerica, but it remains unclear which geographical location was the center for domestication. The cacao tree belongs to the Theobroma genus, in the Sterculiaceae family, that contains 22 species. Today, the most common of the cultivated species is Theobroma cacao, with two subspecies and three forms. Origins of domesticated cacao are still in doubt, with the wild cacaos falling into two groups. The South American subspecies spaerocarpum, has a fairly smooth melon-like fruit. In contrast, the Mesoamerican subspecies cacao has ridged, elongated fruits. At some unknown date, the subspecies T. cacao cacao reached the southern lowlands of Mesoamerica and was later domesticated by the Maya and other groups.

The Maya believed that the Kakaw (Cacao) was discovered by the gods in a mountain that also contained other delectable foods to be used by the Maya. The god Sovereign Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created from maize by divine grandmother goddess Xmucane (Bogin 1997, Coe 1996, Montejo 1999, Tedlock 1985). The Maya celebrated an annual festival in April to honor their cacao god, Ek Chuah, an event that included the sacrifice of a dog with cacao colored markings; additional animal sacrifices; offerings of cacao, feathers and incense; and an exchange of gifts.

Cacao seed in the fruit or Pocha

In a similar creation story, the Mexica (Aztec) god Quetzalcoatl discovered cacao (Cacahuatl) meaning bitter water, in a mountain filled with other plant foods (Coe 1996, Townsend 1992). Cacao was offered regularly to a pantheon of Mexica deities and the Madrid Codex depicts priests lancing their ear lobes and covering the cacao with blood as a suitable sacrifice to the gods. The Cacao Beverage as Ritual were used only by men, due to the thinking that it was "Toxic" for women and children. There are several mixtures of cacao described in ancient text, both for ceremonial and medicinal uses, some had Maize, Chili, Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), and Honey. Archaeological evidence for use of cacao, while relatively sparse, has come from the recovery of whole cacao beans at Uaxactun, Guatemala (Kidder 1947) and from the preservation of wood fragments of the cacao tree at Belize sites including Cuello and the Pulltrouser area (Hammond and Miksicek 1981; Turner and Miksicek 1984). In addition, analysis of residues from the interiors of four ceramic vessels from an Early Classic period (ca. AD 460-480) tomb at Rio Azul in northeastern Guatemala has revealed the presence of theobromine and caffeine. As cacao is the only known commodity from Mesoamerica containing both of these alkali compounds, it seems likely that these vessels were used as containers for cacao drinks. In addition, cacao is named in a hieroglyphic text on one of the vessels, a stirrup-handled pot with an intricately locking lid. While the Maya drank it Hot, the Aztec preferred cold.

The first Europeans to encounter cacao were Columbus and his crew in 1502, when they captured a canoe at Guanaja that contained a quantity of mysterious-looking “almonds,” later identified as a source of currency in Mesoamerica. These “almonds” were cacao beans, and Columbus remained unaware of their preparation as a beverage and of their importance in Mesoamerica (Coe and Coe 1996).Chocolate, prepared as a beverage, was introduced to the Spanish court in 1544 by Kekchi Maya nobles brought from the New World to Spain by Dominican friars to meet Prince Philip (Coe and Coe 1996). Within a century, the culinary and medical uses of chocolate had spread to France, England and elsewhere in Western Europe. Demand for this beverage led the French to establish cacao plantations in the Caribbean, while Spain subsequently developed their cacao plantations in their Philippine colony (Bloom 1998, Coe 1996). The Mayan word cacao entered scientific nomenclature in 1753 after the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus published his taxonomic binomial system and coined the genus and species Theobroma cacao (food of the gods), a combination that blended Greek with Mayan etymology.

The Calendar

For agriculturally-based people, historically the year has been divided into four seasons. These included the two solstices and the two equinoxes which could be thought of as the four "directional pillars" that support the year. These four times of the year were, and still are, considered important as they indicate seasonal changes which obviously had a direct impact on the lives of an agricultural society. In the case of the Maya, an agricultural people, the seasonal markers were avidly watched and duly recorded. They prepared almanacs recording past and recent solar and lunar eclipses, the phases of the moon, the periods of Venus and Mars, the movements of various other planets, and conjunctions of celestial bodies. These tables have proven to be highly accurate. This alone is proof of the detailed knowledge that the ancient skywatchers of Mesoamerica had concerning astronomy. But the fact that these tables also made future predictions concerning the aforementioned celestial events is even more astounding.[4]

The Maya believed in recurring cycles of creation and destruction and thought in terms of eras lasting about 5,200 modern years. The current (Fifth) cycle is believed by the Maya to have begun in August 13, 3114 B.C. of our calendar, and is expected to end in December 22, 2012 AD.

"Head Variant" or "Patron Gods" glyphs for Maya days

A common trait for most Mesoamerican cultures is the use of a 260 day Ritual calendar called Tzolk'in in Maya. The Maya Calendar Created in early Pre Classic most likely according to the Maize crop, and used later by almost all Post Classic cultures as the Aztec (Tonalpohualli], K'iche's, (Ajilabal q’ij) etc., with different names and signs, the Tzolk'in calendar together with a 365 day Solar calendar, Haab' (divided into 13 months of 20 days with 5 unlucky and nameless days, a period called |Wayeb'), form the Calendar Round, that only reproduced a date each 52 years. Each day was named in reference to the two calendars, as in this example: 13 Ahau, (Ritual), 0 Pop (Solar)

Since Calendar Round dates can only distinguish within 18980 days, equivalent to around 52 solar years, the cycle repeats roughly once each lifetime, and thus, a much more refined method of dating was needed if their history was to be recorded accurately.

The Long Count employs the use of number series, roughly base 20 and is constructed by counting whole number of days alone. They does not used the 5 Wayeb' days in this calculations. The Mayan name for a day was k'in; twenty of these k'ins are known as a winal, (month) ; eighteen winals make one tun (a year); 20 tuns are known as a k'atun, 20 k'atuns make a b'ak'tun. Four rarely-used higher-order cycles always multiplied for 20 known as Piktun (20 b'ak'tuns], Kalab'tun, K'inchil'tun, and Alau'tun.

Among the many types of Maya calendars which were maintained, the most important included a 260-day cycle, a 365-day cycle which approximated the solar year, a cycle which recorded lunation periods of the Moon, and a cycle which tracked the synodic period of Venus. Philosophically, the Maya believed that knowing the past meant knowing the cyclical influences that create the present, and by knowing the influences of the present one can see the cyclical influences of the future.

The 260 cycle was used as a tool to govern agriculture, observe religious holidays, and mark the position of the stars, but was mainly used for divinatory purposes, and to give names to newborns.

The names given to the days, months, and years in the Mesoamerican calendar came, for the most part, from animals, flowers, heavenly bodies and cultural concepts that held symbolic significance in Mesoamerican culture. This calendar was used throughout the development of Mesoamerican culture —from the Olmec in Veracruz, and the Pre Classic Maya, to the Classic Maya, and the Post Classic Ch'orti', Aztec, Pipil, K'iche', and Mixtec cultures. Up untill today Mayan people in Guatemala including the K'iche', Q'eqchi' and Kaqchikel, and the Mixe people of Oaxaca continue using modernized forms of the Mesoamerican calendar.

Glyphic writing

Page 9 of the Dresden Codex (from the 1880 Förstermann edition)

Mistakenly Named Hieroglyphs by the early archaeologist, due to the resemblance with the Egyptian Glyphs, that is Ideographic, the Maya Script, is the only truly and well developed writing system in the Western Hemisphere, Maya writing is structured around glyphs and glyph groups. The glyphs are pictures. Main signs u multunob are larger and more central in a group. Affixes u ceilob are joined to the main sign and may be prefixes u sak ceilob, (left), superfixes u kaan ceilob, (above), subfixes uy ek ceilob, (below), and postfixes u kan ceilob (right) depending upon their position, the Emblem Glyph, that always consisted of a standard set of affixes combined with variable main signs, is a good example.

Tikal(Mutal) Emblem Glyph, Mut is represented by the central symbol that means Knot (referring to the Ruler Hair view from the back), the prefix has two symbols Ku' and Ajaw, read as Ku'hul Ajaw, or Supreme Lord

. The other glyphic writing systems of Mesoamerica, and their usage, have been the subject of much scholarly debate. The ongoing discussion is whether or not the non-Mayan Mesoamerican writing systems can be considered examples of true written language or whether it is best understood as a pictographic convention used to express ideas, specifically religious ones, but not representing the phonetic reality of the language in which they might be read. In the Post Classic the Quichés, Mams, Tzutuhils and Cakchiquels in Guatemala Highlands, had all the Maya Script characteristics in their writings, as seen correspondingly in the Popol Vuh and the Memorial de Sololá. Whether other cultures such as the Aztec and Mixtec, developed degrees of phonetics in their writing is debated but at least the aztecs seem to have written making use of basic rebus principles.

Saturno, Stuart, and Beltrán raise the question of the relationship of Maya writing to early writing elsewhere in Mesoamerica, given the early date of the San Bartolo glyphs, circa 300 BC, and El Porton in Alta Verapaz, c 350 BC. Noting that Preclassic writing systems were clearly established by about 400 BC in Oaxaca and possibly the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, they conclude: "It now appears that the Maya also participated in the Pre-classic cultures of literacy, and at a significantly earlier date than previously believed".

Recently it was suggested that Classic texts were written not in Ch'olan and/or Yukatekan Mayan, as long assumed, but in a "prestige" or "high" language called Classic Ch'olti'an, related to the now extinct Ch'olti' language of the Eastern Ch'olan Maya language family (Houston, Robertson, and Stuart 2000). This language, is thought to have originated in western and south-central Peten, and would have been used in the inscriptions and perhaps also spoken by elites and priests

Mesoamerican writing was practiced on colossal monuments such as stelae and murals, on pottery and on Codex in amate paper produced from bark. No Mesoamerican society has had widespread literacy, but literacy and use of writing systems have been restricted to the classes of scribes and painters, and the nobility. The Ceramics being the exception, because in this polychrome pottery the Maya painters literally let their minds go.

The writing systems of Mesoamerica have had many of the same functions as writing in most other societies: recording of information, administrative purposes, recounting stories and myths, manipulation of the masses by the upper classes etc.

The ballgame

Main article: Mesoamerican ballgame

The ballgame is one of the more important cultural characteristics of Mesoamérica. Although its name may lead some to believe it was a sport, it was actually more of a ritual, and the field where it was played was always located between ceremonial centers. This game had a cosmic essence, related to the movement of the sun and the universe; this movement was imagined with the aid of the ball, which was made of hardened rubber that was removed from the sap of a fig tree; they used mainly this material because of its capacity to bounce. The oldest accurately dated Ball Court is that of Nakbe in Peten's Mirador Basin, at circa 500 BC.

Uaxactun, small ceremonial Ball Court, Early Preclassic

The game had many rules, which changed from region to region. There was one version that could be played only with the hands, another one which used the hips and the elbows, and a version in which only a bat was used. For each type different playing fields were used: one with sidewalks so that the ball bounced to the height of the hip, and another with the ground dug up. In general all the fields had the form of a letter "I" and on the ends one could find heads of birds, as in Copán, or in the Post Classic a large ring which the ball had to pass through, as in Xochicalco. Occasionally the ceremonial ballgame may have concluded with a human sacrifice; it is not known if the one sacrificed was the captain of the winning team or of the losers; in most of the cases the players were prisoners of war.

Human sacrifice

It must be noted that human sacrifice had a great religious and political significance. The sacrifice symbolized the renewal of the divine cosmic energy. The gods had given life to mankind by sacrificing parts of their own bodies, and the Mesoamericans believed that humans should give their lives in order to maintain order in the universe.

Blood signified life in Mesoamerican belief. Human blood was the liquid that satisfied the thirst of the gods (in this case the Sun god), because human blood was partially made up of the blood of the gods to whom it was being returned. The blood would not only revitalize the gods, but also the earth, the plants (in particular the maize harvest), and the animals (for example the jaguar and the eagle). Blood was viewed as as necessary for life as water, both in the terrestrial world and the world of the gods.

The Maya didn't use the Human Sacrifice as a routine sacrifice , instead the rulers performed Bloodletting ceremonies using obsidian knives or stingray spines to cut their penis, allowing the blood to fall onto paper held in a bowl. Kings' wives also took part in this ritual by pulling a rope with thorns attached through their tongues, or ear lobes. Interestingly, a recent discovered Queen's tomb in the Classic Maya site of Waka, formerly known as El Peru had a Ceremonial Stingray spine placed in her genital area, suggesting that women also perform bloodletting in their genitalia.

This obligation to revitalize the cosmic order is seen reflected in Mesoamerican culture through the images used to evoke the sacrifice: in the Maya area, Stelas showing the bloodletting both by Kings and Queens, eagles and jaguars devouring human hearts; jade circles or necklaces that represented hearts; images which showed pleas for rain or pleas for blood, with the same intention—to replenish the divine energy; plants and flowers that symbolized both nature and blood that gushed forth life.

What importance did the sacrifice have in the social and religious aspects of Mesoamerican Culture? First, it showed death transformed into the divine. Death is the consequence of a human sacrifice, but it is not the end; it is but the continuation of the cosmic cycle. Death creates life—divine energy is liberated through death and returns to the gods, who are then able to create more life. Secondly, it justifies war, since the most valuable sacrifices are obtained thereby: the death of the warrior is the greatest sacrifice, and gives the gods the energy to go about their daily activities, such as the bringing of rain. Warfare and the capturing of prisoners became a method of social advancement, and a religious cause. Finally, it justifies the control of power by the two ruling classes, the priests and the warriors. The priests control the religious ideology, and the warriors supply the sacrifices through war and the conquest of new territory (with its corresponding tribute), making both of these classes crucial to the functioning of the Mesoamerican way of life.

A statue depicting Tlaloc, Aztec god of rain and lightning, common to the central Mexico region. This specimen was found in Coatlinchan, Mexico, and is now located in the Museo Nacional de Antropología de México in Mexico City. When it was transported to the city a rainstorm of memorable proportions began.

Mythology

The Maya believed that the universe was flat and square, but infinite in area. They also worshipped the circle, which symbolised perfection or the balancing of forces. also believed in a cyclical nature of time. The rituals and ceremonies were closely associated with celestial and terrestrial cycles. Much of the Maya religious tradition is still not understood by scholars, but it is known that the Maya, like most pre-modern societies, believed that the cosmos has three major planes, the underworld with 9 levels, the sky with 13 levels, and the earth, united by the Ceiba (Yaxché) tree. The Maya Underworld is reached through caves and ball courts. It was thought to be dominated by the aged Maya gods of death and putrefaction. The Sun and Itzamna, both aged gods, dominated the Maya idea of the sky. The night sky was considered a window showing all supernatural doings. The Maya configured constellations of gods and places, saw the unfolding of narratives in their seasonal movements, and believed that the intersection of all possible worlds was in the night sky. Maya gods were not discrete, separate entities like Greek gods. The gods had affinities and aspects that caused them to merge with one another in ways that seem unbounded. There is a massive array of supernatural characters in the Maya religious tradition, only some of which recur with regularity. Good and evil traits are not permanent characteristics of Maya gods, nor is only "good" admirable. What is inappropriate during one season might come to pass in another since much of the Mayan religious tradition is based on cycles and not permanence. The life-cycle of maize lies at the heart of Maya belief. This philosophy is demonstrated on the Maya belief in the Maize God as a central religious figure. The Maya bodily ideal is also based on the form of the young Maize God, which is demonstrated in their artwork. The Maize God was also a model of courtly life for the Classic Maya. The Popol Vuh, is the best reference for the Maya Mythology, that was incorporated by Post Classic cultures.

The shared traits in mesoamerican mythology are found characterized by their common basis as a shamanistic religion that although in many mesoamerican groups developed into complex polytheistic religious systems, maintained a basic affinity to shamanistic principles.

The great breadth of the Mesoamerican pantheon of deities is due to the incorporation of ideological and religious elements from the first primitive religion of Fire, Earth, Water and Nature. Astral divinities (the sun, stars, constellations, and Venus) were adopted, and represented in anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and anthropozoomorphic sculptures, and in day-to-day objects.

The qualities of these gods and their attributes changed with the passage of time and with cultural influences from other Mesoamerican groups. The gods are at once three different cosmic entities, and at the same time just one. An important characteristic of Mesoamerican religion was the dualism among the divine entities. The gods represented the confrontation between opposite poles: the positive, exemplified by light, the masculine, force, war, the sun, etc.; and the negative, exemplified by darkness, the feminine, repose, peace, the moon, etc.

The xoloitzcuintle is one of the naguales of the god Quetzalcóatl. In this form, it helps the dead cross the Chicnahuapan, a river that separates the world of the livng from the dead.

Medicine and Science

Medicine

Mesoamerican science and learning can be thought of as existing along two principal axes: those of the magical mind and the logical mind, which, despite being distinct, managed to coexist. In the field of medicine there were two schools: one was the shamanist tradition, where shaman is understood as being a priestly healer who dealt with certain ailments, the most common of which was the loss of the soul. In order to cure his patients, the shaman turned to psychotropic drugs (peyote, tobacco, red beans mixed with mescaline) and magical manipulations (incantations, offerings).

The other school of medicine consisted of pragmatic knowledge. In Mesoemerica there were healers who knew how to deal with fractures, treat and dress wounds, and were even able to perform certain obstetric procedures. They also knew how to treat using plants, and successfully used the active ingredient in aspirin, which at that time was already known, and extracted from willow bark. Medicine was practiced by priests who inherited their position and received extensive education. The Mayas sutured wounds with human hair, reduced fractures, and used casts. They were skillful dental surgeons and made prostheses from jade and turquoise and filled teeth with iron pyrite. Three clinical diseases, pinta, leishmaniasis, and yellow fever, and several psychiatric syndromes were described. Tuberculosis, altough wide spread both in North and South America, has not been documented in Mesoamerica, with the exception of 3 skeletons near today's Mexico City, it can be due to a wide spread of Iron deficiency common among the Mesoamericans, according to a recent (2006) study by AK Wilbur, JE Buikstra, from Arizona State University. The ceramic figurines depicting dwarfs, and other diseased people are common, as well as maternal brest feeding and pregnancy.

File:Mayannumbersystem.png

Mayan arithmetic. The counting systems of Mesoamerica were based on the number 20. Each number in the sequence had magical significance, which influenced the destiny of human beings.

Arithmetics

Arithmetic did not just deal with ordinary numbers, rather, numbers were held to have both a literal and a symbolic value, a consequence of the dualistic way of thinking. The Mesoamerican system was vigesimal, that is, it used the number 20 as a base; numbers were represented by dots that had a value of one, and bars that had a value of five. This type of arithmetic was combined with a symbolic numerology: '2' was related to origins, as all origins can be thought of as doubling; '3' was related to household fire; '4' was linked to the four corners of the universe; '5' expressed instablity; '9' pertained to the underworld and the night; '13' was the number for light, '20' for abundance, and '400' for infinity. This was also the first culture to have a concept of, and a symbolic representation for, the number zero.

One of the great contributions to arithmetic, above all that of the Mexica, was the invention of the Nepohualtzitzin, an abacus used to quickly carry out arithmetical operations. The device, made of wood, string, and grains of maize, is also known as the "Aztec computer".

Worldview

A typical mesoamerican cosmovision, sees the world as separated into a day world governed by the sun and an underworld to which the dying sun goes at night to be reborn again the following morning, and united by a Ceiba tree or Yaxche' in Maya. The geographic vision is also tied to these concepts and the cardinal points as well as certain geographical features in nature are linked to different parts of this cosmovision. For example caves are extremely important geographical features as are mountains and cenotes (natural wells), because they are seen as connecting the upper and the nether worlds. The influence of this cosmovision on most mesoamerican societies was so strong as to be crucial in cityplanning and architecture. The Popol Vuh believed to be a Post Classic Quiché Mythology book, based in the Bible, but later proven to be the Maya Myth of the Creation, as seen in the Pre Classic murals in San Bartolo, describes very well how they see the world.

Astronomy

Mesoamerican Astronomy was advanced and cycles of planets and other celestial bodies acquired precise calculations and often astronomy was incorporated into architecture. The archaeologyst use the lack of "Group E" feature of a Maya site, to classify the importance of a site, (Group E, after Uaxactun's astronomic group, named Group E, the earliest found in the Maya area). Other famous examples of this are the first Maya round observatory during the Classic in Ceibal, Peten, the pyramid called El Castillo in the postclassic Maya city of Chichén Itza and the "observatorio" in Xochicalco that are constructed to achieve specific effects of light on the equinoxes.

Special importance was given to the celestial bodies of the sun, the moon, and Venus as morning and evening star, but others were also observed and described. Perhaps the earliest observatory documented in mesoamerica, is tha of Monte Alto Culture, comprise by 3 plain Stelas and a temple, and related to the Pleiades's Eta Draconnis

The symbolism of space and time

It has been argued (Duverger) that in mesoamerican societies the concepts of space, and time are associated with the four cardinal compass points, and linked together by the calendar. In Mesoamérica a date or an event was always tied to a compass direction, and the calendar specified the symbolic geographical characteristic peculiar to that period. The Maya use specific color and an specific Jaguar deity, (Ba'kab) for the Cardinal points:

• Hobnil - ba'kab of the East, is assigned the color red and the Kan years.
• Can Tzicnal - ba'kab of the North is assigned the color white, and the Muluc years,
• Zac Cimi - ba'kab of the West, is assigned the color black and the Ix years.
• Hozanek - ba'kab of the South, is assigned the color yellow and the Cauac years.

Later cultures such as the Kaqchikel and Quiché, preserve up to date, this symbolism with other names, but the same colors. For the Post classic Aztecs the name of each day was associated with a cardinal point, which conferred a magical significance to it. Below are the symbols and concepts associated with each direction:

• The symbols associated with the East were: the crocodile, the serpent, water, cane, and movement. The East was associated with vegetative fertility, or, in other words, tropical exuberance, and was also linked to the world of the priests.
• The symbols associated with the North were: wind, death, the dog, the jaguar, Flint (a mineral similar to obsidian, in composition and in uses). This direction contrasts with the East because symbolically the North is dry, cold, and oppressive. It is considered to be the nocturnal part of the universe, and includes the dwellings of the dead. The dog (xoloitzcuintle) has a very specific meaning, as it is the one who accompanies the deceased during the trip to the lands of the dead and helps them cross the river of death that leads into nothingness.
• The symbols associated with the West were: the house, the deer, the monkey, the eagle, and rain. The west was associated with the cycles of vegetation, specifically the temperate high plains that experience light rains, and the change of seasons.
• The symbols associated with the South were: the rabbit, the lizard, dried herbs, the buzzard, and the flower. It is related on the one hand to the luminous Sun and the noon heat, and on the other with rain filled with alcoholic drink. The rabbit, the principal symbol of the West, was associated with farmers and with pulque.

The Micaohtli, in Teotihuacan. Mesoamerican cities are orientated with respect to important concepts in mesoamerican cosmovision.

Offerings to the Earth

The burying of rich offerings in the earth at the ceremonial centers is a tradition from the beginning of Mesoamerican society when the nomadic peoples began to settle. Ceremonial and secular spaces were distinguished, to establish a cosmic order in the world, created to justify the position of the rulers over the ruled and to pay tribute to the earth, which was deified by the Mesoamericans, to maintain this order.

An offering to the original gods, the old fire from the volcano and the Earth Mother, was typical. Offerings from all the individuals of a community would consist of a mound of earth, and, later, the construction of pyramids, and these structures would be used in the future for the giving of the offering and various other religious activities.

The offerings were an important part of the ceremonial center, giving it ideological and religious power. Looting the offerings would eradicate the religious power of the temple. The exact significance of the objects is not known with certainty, but they have always been thought to have magical powers, and this power was independent of the age of the objects in question.

Depiction of a tzompantli or skull-rack from the 16th C. Codex Tovar. Known generally by their Nahuatl name, these wooden structures on which human skulls were impaled are found in several regions from Early Classic times including Oaxaca, Central Mexico and the Puuc hills of the northern Yucatán Maya.

Political and religious art

Mesoamerican artistic expression was conditioned by ideology, a mix of both religion and power; most of the works that survived the Spanish conquest were public monuments. This type of art was made principally for public display, and played a key role in the keeping of time, affirming the greatness of the city, and in the veneration of the gods. There existed another type of pre-Hispanic art that was produced for its inner, rather than outward, meaning. It is differentiated from the first type in that its value is not so much in what is observed, but rather in what it represents. The earthenware containers, for example, that were used in burial rituals, or in the invisible faces of statues, are both examples of this second type of art. The Maya were the only culture in America, to sign its work, and even made self-portraits. This was true mainly in the paintings in ceramic and caves, where literally they let their minds go. There is a large corpus of Graffiti in sites such as Tikal and Nakum.[5], There were cities well known for its artist, both Sculptures and Ceramics, that received commissions from other places, such as the elusive "Ik" site for the signature in its works, now known to be Motul de San José, on the lake Peten Itzá shores.

Art outside that of the Maya, remained anonymous, and to this day no signature has ever been found associated with any work. Furthermore, it is said that Mesoamerican art was abstract, though not in the figurative sense, but in the manner in which it is disconnected from any natural references.

There were very well known Musical instruments, such as Drums, clay Whistles or Ocarinas, bone and woodden Flutes and wooden Trumpets, among others, used both in public events and ceremonies such as the Mesoamerican Ball Game, as in the every day life, proven by the kid size whistles and flutes found in Mayan children tombs.

The pre-Hispanic art is also considered extremely intellectual, capable of liberating itself from all realist obligation. Following this idea, two observations emerge: the first refers to the austere image that archaeology has presented: generally it prefers noble things and museum pieces, while disdaining perishable artifacts, even if it is certain that these were essential for Mesoamerican ceremonial centers.

The second observation refers to the problem of counterfeiting that still persists today. The inspiration of these forgeries plays an important role in that new designs have been invented in order to sell artifacts to collectors, obviously attracted by their novelty. This has been a consequence of the poor understanding of Mesoamerican art.

The only mesoamerican theatrical play named as a World Heritage Monument by the UNESCO, is The Rabinal Achí", of the Kekchí's in Alta Verapaz, in Guatemala.

References

• Carmack, Robert M. (1996). Legacy of Mesoamerica, The: History and Culture of a Native American Civilization. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-337445-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Coe, Michael D. (1994) [1962]. Mexico: from the Olmecs to the Aztecs (4th edition, Revised and Enlarged ed.). New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27722-2. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Diamond, Jared (1999). Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W W Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-31755-2. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Duverger, Christian (1999). Mesoamérica, arte y antropología.. Paris.: CONACULTA, Landucci Editores. ISBN 970-18-3751-7. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• Fernández, Tomás (2003). La escultura prehispánica de mesoamérica. Barcelona: Lunwerg Editores. ISBN 84-9785-012-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 5 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• Fuente, Beatrice de la (2001). De Mesoamérica a la Nueva España. Oviedo, Spain: Consejo de Comunidades Asturianas. ISBN 84-505-9611-4. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• Gamio, Manuel (1922). La Población del Valle de Teotihuacán: Representativa de las que Habitan las Regiones Rurales del Distrito Federal y de los Estados de Hidalgo, Puebla, México y Tlaxcala (2 vols. in 3 ed.). Mexico City: Talleres Gráficos de la Secretaría de Educación Pública. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• Kirchhoff, Paul (1943). "Mesoamérica. Sus Límites Geográficos, Composición Étnica y Caracteres Culturales". Acta Americana. 1 (1): pp.92–107. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• Kuehne Heyder, Nicola (2001). Mesoamérica: acercamiento a una historia. Granada, Spain.: Diputación Provincial de Granada. ISBN 84-7807-008-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 5 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• López Asutin, Alfredo (1996). El pasado indígena. Mexico City: El Colegio de México. ISBN 968-16-4890-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 5 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• Miller, Mary Ellen (2001). El arte de mesoamérica. "Colecciones El mundo del arte". Barcelona.: Ediciones Destino. ISBN ISBN 84-233-3095-8.. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• O'Brien, Patrick (General Editor) (=2005). Oxford Atlas of World History. New York: Oxford University Press. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); Check date values in: |year= (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Palerm, Ángel (1972). Agricultura y civilización en Mesoamérica. Mexico: Secretaría de Educación Pública. ISBN 968-13-0994-4. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• Sahagún, Bernardino de (1950–82). Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (eds.) (ed.). Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain (13 vols. in 12 ed.). Santa Fe: School of American Research. ISBN 0-87480-082-X. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: date format (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Weaver, Muriel Porter (1993). The Aztecs, Maya, and Their Predecessors: Archaeology of Mesoamerica (3rd ed. ed.). San Diego: Academic Press. ISBN 0-01-263999-0. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• West, Robert C. (1989). Middle America: Its Lands and Peoples (3rd ed. ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-582271-8. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help); templatestyles stripmarker in |coauthors= at position 5 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

• Wolf, Eric Robert (1967). Pueblos y culturas de Mesoamérica. Biblioteca Era. {{cite book}}: templatestyles stripmarker in |author= at position 1 (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Template:Es icon

• several authors (1999). Historia General de Guatemala. ISBN 84-88522-07-4.

• This article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of 29 May 2006.

External links

• Mesoweb.com - an comprehensive site for Mesoamerican civilizations
• Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.
• Mesoamerican Peace Project
• Mesoamericas Ancient Mesoamerica Explored
• Template:Es icon Selected bibliography concerning war in Mesoamerica
• WAYEB - European Association of Mayanists
• Template:Es icon National Museum of Anthropology and History (Mexico)
• Template:Es icon Museum of the Templo Mayor (Mexico)
• Maya Culture