Classic-Era Culture and Society in Mesoamerica, 200-900 The Postclassic Period in Mesoamerica, 900-1500 Northern Peoples Andean Civilizations, 200-1500 Comparative Perspectives
Diversity and Dominance: Burials as Historical Texts Environment and Technology: Inca Roads
The ancient Mesoamerican civilization of the Maya° developed a complex written language that enabled scribes like the one in this illustration to record the important actions of rulers and military events. Recent translations give us a glimpse into the life of a Maya princess. In late August 682 c. e. the Maya princess Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau° walked down the steep steps from her family’s residence and mounted a litter decorated with rich textiles and animal skins. As the procession exited from the urban center of Dos Pilas°, her military escort spread out through the fields and woods along its path to prevent ambush by enemies. Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau’s
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Maya (MY-ah) Wac-Chanil-Ahau (wac-cha-NEEL-ah-HOW) Dos Pilas (dohs PEE-las)
Destination was the Maya city of Naranjo", where she was to marry a powerful nobleman. Her marriage had been arranged to reestablish the royal dynasty that had been eliminated when Caracol, the region’s major military power, had defeated Naranjo. Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau’s passage to Naranjo symbolized her father’s desire to forge a military alliance that could resist Caracol. For us, the story of Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau illustrates the importance of marriage and lineage in the politics of the classic-period Maya.
K’ak Tiliw Chan Chaak", the son of Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau, ascended the throne of Naranjo as a five-year-old in 693 c. e. During his long reign he proved to be a careful diplomat and formidable warrior. He was also a prodigious builder, leaving behind an expanded and beautified capital as part of his legacy. Mindful of the importance of his mother and her lineage from Dos Pilas, he erected numerous stelae (carved stone monuments) that celebrated her lifE1
When population increased and competition for resources grew more violent, warfare and dynastic crisis convulsed the world of Wac-Chanil-Ahau. The defeat of the city-states of Tikal and Naranjo by Caracol undermined long-standing commercial and political relations in much of southern Mesoamerica and led to more than a century of conflict. Caracol, in turn, was challenged by the dynasty created at Dos Pilas by the heirs of Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau. Despite a shared culture and religion, the great Maya cities remained divided by the dynastic ambitions of their rulers and by the competition for resources.
As the story of Lady Wac-Chanil-Ahau’s marriage and her role in the development of a Maya dynasty suggests, the peoples of the Americas were in constant competition for resources. Members of hereditary elites organized their societies to meet these challenges, even as their ambition for greater power predictably ignited new conflicts. No single set of political institutions or technologies worked in every environment, and enormous cultural diversity existed in the ancient Americas. In Mesoamerica (Mexico and northern Central America) and in the Andean region of South America, Amerindian peoples developed an extraordinarily productive and diversified agriculture. They also built great cities that rivaled the capitals of the Chinese and Roman Empires in size and beauty. The Olmecs of Mesoamerica and the Chavin" of the Andes were among the earliest civilizations of the Americas (see Chapter 3). In the rest of the hemisphere, indigenous peoples adapted combinations of hunting and agriculture to maintain a wide variety of settlement patterns, political forms, and cultural traditions. All the cultures and civilizations of the Americas experienced cycles of expansion and contraction as they struggled with the challenges of environmental changes, population growth, social conflict, and war.
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