New theories about the peopling of the Americas suggest that the process may have been more complex than previously suspected and may have involved people traveling by sea as well as trekking across a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. It is generally held that humans reached the Western Hemisphere through a series of migrations from Asia (see Chapter 1). Some scholars believe that the first migrations occurred as early as 35,000 to 25,000 b. c.e., but most accept a later date of 18,000 to 14,000 B. c.E. Thus, the peoples in the Western Hemisphere were virtually isolated from the rest of the world for at least fifteen thousand years.
Over thousands of years the population of the Americas grew and spread throughout the hemisphere, adapting to environments that included polar extremes, tropical rain forests, and high mountain ranges as well as deserts, woodlands, and prairies. Well before 1000 B. c.E. the domestication of new plant varieties, the introduction of new technologies, and a limited development of trade led to greater social stratification and the beginnings of urbanization in several regions. By 1000 B. c.E. a number of centers had begun to project their political and cultural power over broad territories. Two of the hemisphere's most impressive cultural traditions developed in Mesoamerica (Mexico and northern Central America) and in the mountainous Andean region of South America. The cultural legacies of the Olmec and Chavin would persist for more than a thousand years.
The Mesoamerican Olmec, 1200-400 b. c.e.
Mesoamerica is a region of great geographic and climatic diversity. It is extremely active geologically, experiencing both earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Mountain ranges break the region into microenvironments, including the temperate climates of the Valley of Mexico and the Guatemalan highlands, the tropical forests of the Peten and Gulf of Mexico coast, the rain forest of the southern Yucatan and Belize, and the drier scrub forest of the northern Yucatan (see Map 3.4).
Within these ecological niches, Amerindian peoples developed specialized technologies that exploited indigenous plants and animals, as well as minerals like obsidian, quartz, and jade. Early settlements depended on the region's rich plant diversity and on fishing. By 3500 B. c.E. the
_ Olmec and
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MAP 3.4
Chavfn Civilizations The
Regions of Mesoamerica (most of modern Mexico and Central America) and the Andean highlands of South America have hosted impressive civilizations since early times. The civilizations of the Olmec and Chavin were the originating civilizations of these two regions, providing the foundations of architecture, city planning, and religion.
Interactive Map
Origins of Olmec Civilization
Olmec The first Mesoameri-can civilization. Between ca. 1200 and 400 b. c.e., the Olmec people of central Mexico created a vibrant civilization that included intensive agriculture, wide-ranging trade, ceremonial centers, and monumental construction.
Staples of the Mesoamerican diet—corn (maize), beans, and squash—had been domesticated. Manioc, a calorie-rich root crop, was also grown in the floodplains. The ability of farmers to produce dependable surpluses of these products permitted the first stages of craft specialization and social stratification. Eventually, contacts across environmental boundaries led to trade and cultural exchange. Enhanced trade, increasing agricultural productivity, and rising population led, in turn, to urbanization and the gradual appearance of powerful political and religious elites. As religious and political elites emerged, they used their prestige and authority to organize the population to dig irrigation and drainage canals, develop raised fields in wetlands that could be farmed more intensively, and construct monumental religious and civic buildings.
The most influential early Mesoamerican civilization was the Olmec, flourishing between 1200 and 400 B. c.E. (see Map 3.4). The center of Olmec civilization was located near the tropical Atlantic coast of what are now the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. The earliest major center was located at San Lorenzo (1200-900 B. c.E.; the names of early American sites are modern, since, in the absence of written records, the ancient names are unknown). La Venta (LA BEN-tah), which developed at about the same time, became the most important Olmec center after 900 B. c.E., when San Lorenzo was abandoned or destroyed. Tres Zapotes (TRACE zah-POE-tace) was the last dominant center, rising to prominence after La Venta collapsed or was destroyed around 600 B. c.E. The relationship among these centers is unclear. Scholars have found little evidence to suggest that they were either rival city-states or dependent centers of a centralized political authority. It appears that each center developed independently to exploit and exchange specialized products like salt, cacao (chocolate beans), clay for ceramics, and
Limestone. Each major Olmec center was eventually abandoned, its monuments defaced and buried and its buildings destroyed. Archaeologists interpret these events differently; some see them as evidence of internal upheavals or military attacks by neighboring peoples, whereas others suggest that they were rituals associated with the death of a ruler.
Ceremonial Centers
Religion and Power
Large platforms and mounds of packed earth dominated Olmec urban centers. Because of the absence of dense housing precincts, scholars believe these centers primarily accommodated the collective ritual and political activities that brought the rural population to the cities at special times in the year. Some of the platforms also served as foundations for elite residences, in effect lifting the elite above the masses. Since these centers had small permanent populations, the Olmec elite evidently was able to require and direct the labor of thousands of people from surrounding settlements for low-skill tasks like moving dirt and stone construction materials. Skilled artisans who lived in or near the urban core decorated the buildings with carvings and sculptures. They also produced high-quality crafts, such as exquisite carved jade figurines, necklaces, and ceremonial knives and axes. There is also evidence for a class of merchants who traded with distant peoples for obsidian, jade, and pottery.
While the elite lived in houses decorated with finely crafted objects and wore elegant clothing and jewelry, the commoners lived in small structures constructed of sticks and mud. The organization of collective labor by the Olmec elites benefited the commoners by increasing food production and making it more reliable. People also enjoyed a more diverse diet. Utilitarian pots and small ceramic figurines as well as small stone carvings associated with religious belief have been found in commoner households. This suggests that at least some advantages gained from urbanization and growing elite prosperity were shared broadly in the society.
Little is known about Olmec political structure, but it seems likely that the rise of major urban centers coincided with the appearance of a form of kingship that combined religious and secular roles. The authority of the rulers and their kin groups is suggested by a series of colossal carved stone heads, some as large as 11 feet (3.4 meters) high. Since each head is unique, most archaeologists believe they were portraits carved to memorialize individual rulers. This theory is reinforced by the location of the heads close to the major urban centers, especially San Lorenzo. These remarkable stone sculptures are the best-known monuments of Olmec culture.
The Olmec elite used elaborate religious rituals to control this complex society. Thousands of commoners were drawn from the countryside to attend awe-inspiring ceremonies at the cen-
Olmec Head Giant heads sculpted from basalt are a widely recognized legacy of Olmec culture. Sixteen heads have been found, the largest approximately 11 feet (3.4 meters) tall. Experts in Olmec archaeology believe the heads are portraits of individual rulers, warriors, or ballplayers.
Ters. The elevated platforms and mounds with carved stone veneers served as potent backdrops for these rituals. Rulers and their close kin came to be associated with the gods through bloodletting and human sacrifice, evidence of which is found in all the urban centers.
The Olmec were polytheistic, and most of their deities had both male and female natures. Human and animal characteristics were also blended. The ability of humans to transform themselves into powerful animals, such as jaguars, crocodiles, snakes, and sharks, is a common decorative motif. Rulers were especially associated with the jaguar.
Shamans (individuals who claimed the ability to make direct contact with supernatural powers) attached to the elite organized religious life and provided practical advice about the periodic rains essential to agricultural life. From their close observation of the stars, they produced a calendar that was used to organize ritual life and agriculture, and they laid out the ceremonial centers in alignment with the paths of certain stars. They probably were responsible for developing a form of writing (as yet undeciphered) that may have influenced later innovations among the Maya (see Chapter 12). The Olmec were also the likely originators of a ritual ball game that became an enduring part of Mesoamerican ceremonial life.
Cultural Legacy
There is little evidence for an Olmec empire. Given the limited technological and agricultural capacity of the society, it is unlikely that the power of the Olmec could have been projected militarily over significant distances. However, the discovery of Olmec products and images, such as jade carvings decorated with the jaguar-god, as far away as the Pacific coast of Central America and the Central Plateau of Mexico shows that the Olmec exercised cultural influence over a wide area. This influence would endure for centuries. All subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations shared fundamental elements of material culture, technology, religious belief and ritual, political organization, art, architecture, and sports.
Early South American Civilization: Chavfn, 900-250 b. c.e.
Geography and environment played a critical role in the development of human society in the Andes. The region's diverse environments—a mountainous core, arid coastal plain, and dense interior jungles—challenged human populations, encouraging the development of specialized regional production as well as widespread social institutions and cultural values that facilitated interregional exchanges and shared labor responsibilities.
Trade and the Rise of Chavln
The earliest urban centers in the Andean region were villages of a few hundred people built along the coastal plain or in the foothills near the coast. The abundance of fish and mol-lusks along the coast of Peru provided a dependable food supply, while the introduction of corn (maize) cultivation from Mesoamerica increased the food supplies of the coast and interior foothills, allowing greater levels of urbanization. The coastal populations traded fish, shellfish, and decorative shells for corn, other foods, and eventually textiles produced in the foothills. The two regions also exchanged ceremonial practices, religious motifs, and aesthetic ideas.
Recent discoveries demonstrate that as early as 2600 B. c.E. the vast site called Caral in the Supe Valley had developed many of the characteristics now viewed as the hallmarks of later Andean civilization, including ceremonial plazas, pyramids, elevated platforms and mounds, and extensive irrigation works. The scale of the public works in Caral suggests a population of thousands and a political structure capable of organizing the production and distribution of maritime and agricultural products over a broad area.
Chavin The first major urban civilization in South America (900-250 B. C.E.).
Chavln (see Map 3.4) inherited many of the cultural and economic characteristics of Caral. Its capital, Chavln de Huantar (cha-BEAN day WAHN-tar), was located at 10,300 feet (3,139 meters) in the eastern range of the Andes north of the modern city of Lima. Between 900 and 250 B. c.E. Chavln dominated a densely populated region that included large areas of the Peruvian coastal plain and Andean foothills. Chavln de Huantar's location at the intersection of trade routes allowed the city's rulers to organize and prosper from trade among distinct ecological zones and gain an advantage over regional rivals. As Chavln grew, its trade linked the coastal economy with the inland producers of quinoa (a local grain), corn, and potatoes, with the herders of llamas in the high mountain valleys, and, to a lesser extent, with the producers of coca (the leaves were chewed, producing a mild narcotic effect) and fruits in the tropical lowlands on the eastern flank of the Andes.
The development of these trade networks led to reciprocal labor obligations that permitted the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, temples, palaces, and large irrigation and drainage projects as well as textile production. The exact nature of these reciprocal labor
Llama A hoofed animal indigenous to the Andes Mountains in South America. It was the only domesticated beast of burden in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans.
Society and Technology
SECTION REVIEW
Well before 1000 b. c.e. newly domesticated plants, new technologies, and trade led to greater social stratification and the beginnings of urbanization in Mesoamerica and the Andean region of South America.
The Olmec of Mesoamerica (1200-400 b. c.e.) and the Chavfn civilization (900-250 b. c.e.) in the Andes coordinated exchanges of goods between different ecological zones. Their styles were widely emulated and persisted long afterward.
Ruling elites residing in urban centers staged elaborate religious ceremonies designed to impress subjects and enhance their prestige.
Olmec societies were probably ruled by kings, who were depicted by giant stone heads. Olmec shamans communicated with the spirit world, supervised the calendar, and may have created a system of writing.
Chavfn depended on llamas, the only domesticated beasts of burden in the hemisphere, to transport goods between regions.
Metallurgy originated in the Andean region and later spread to Mesoamerica.
Decline
Obligations at Chavin is unknown. In later Andean civilizations groups of related families who held land communally and claimed descent from a common ancestor organized these labor obligations. Group members thought of themselves as brothers and sisters and were obligated to aid one another, providing a model for the organization of labor and the distribution of goods at every level of Andean society.
Llamas, first bred in the mountainous interior of Peru, were the only domesticated beasts of burden in the Americas, and they played an important role in the integration of the Andean region. Llamas provided meat and wool and decreased the labor needed to transport goods. A single driver could control ten to thirty animals, each carrying up to 70 pounds (32 kilograms); a human porter could carry only about 50 pounds (22.5 kilograms). By moving goods from one ecological zone to another, llamas promoted specialization of production and increased trade. Thus, they were crucial to Chavin's development, not unlike the camel in the evolution of transSaharan trade (see Chapter 8).
Class distinctions appear to have increased in this period. Modern scholars see evidence that both local chiefs and a more powerful chief or king dominated Chavin's politics. A class of priests directed religious life. The most common decorative motif in sculpture, pottery, and textiles was a jaguar-man similar in conception to the Olmec symbol. In both civilizations and in many other cultures in the Americas, this powerful predator provided an enduring image of religious authority.
Chavin housed a large complex of multilevel platforms made of packed earth or rubble and faced with cut stone or adobe (sun-dried brick made of clay and straw). Small buildings used for ritual purposes or as elite residences were built on these platforms. Nearly all the buildings were decorated with relief carvings of serpents, condors, jaguars, or human forms. The largest building at Chavin de Huantar measured 250 feet (76 meters) on each side and rose to a height of 50 feet (15 meters). Its hollow interior contained narrow galleries and small rooms that may have housed the remains of royal ancestors.
Metallurgy in the Western Hemisphere was first developed in the Andean region ca. 500 B. c.E. The later introduction of metallurgy in Mesoamer-ica, like the appearance of maize agriculture in the Andes, suggests sustained trade and cultural contacts between the two regions. Archaeological investigations of Chavin de Huantar and smaller centers have uncovered remarkable silver, gold, and gold alloy ornaments that represent a clear advance over earlier technologies. Improvements in both the manufacture and decoration of textiles are also associated with the rise of Chavin. Excavations of graves reveal that superior-quality textiles as well as gold crowns, breastplates, and jewelry distinguished rulers from commoners. These rich objects, the quality and abundance of pottery, and the monumental architecture of the major centers all suggest the presence of highly skilled artisans as well. The sheer quality of Chavin's products contributed to the reputation and prestige of the culture.
The enormous scale of the capital and the dispersal of Chavin's pottery styles, religious motifs, and architectural forms over a wide area have led some scholars to claim that Chavin imposed some form of political and economic control over its neighbors by military force. Most scholars believe, however, that, as in the case of the Olmec civilization, Chavin's influence depended more on the development of an attractive religious belief system and related rituals. Chavin's most potent religious symbol, a jaguar deity, was dispersed over a broad area, and archaeological evidence suggests that Chavin de Huantar served as a pilgrimage site.
There is no convincing evidence, like defaced buildings or broken images, that the eclipse of Chavin (unlike the Olmec centers) was associated with conquest or rebellion. However, recent
Investigations have suggested that increased warfare throughout the region around 200 B. c.E. disrupted Chavin's trade and undermined the authority of the governing elite. Regardless of what caused the collapse of this powerful culture, the technologies, material culture, statecraft, architecture, and urban planning associated with Chavin influenced the Andean region for centuries.
Environment and Organization
The civilizations of early China, Nubia, the Celts, the Olmec, and Chavin emerged in very different ecological contexts in widely separated parts of the globe, and the patterns of organization, technology, behavior, and belief that they developed were, in large part, responses to the challenges and opportunities of those environments.
In the North China Plain, as in the river-valley civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the presence of great, flood-prone rivers and the lack of dependable rainfall led to the formation of powerful institutions capable of organizing large numbers of people to dig and maintain irrigation channels and build dikes. An authoritarian central government has been a recurring feature of Chinese history from at least as early as the Shang monarchy.
In Nubia, the initial impetus for the formation of a strong state was the need for protection from desert nomads and from the Egyptian rulers who coveted Nubian gold and other resources. Control of these resources and of the trade route between sub-Saharan Africa and the north, as well as the agricultural surplus to feed administrators and specialists in the urban centers, made the rulers of Kerma, Napata, and Meroe wealthy and powerful.
The Celtic peoples of continental Europe never developed a strong state. They occupied fertile lands with adequate rainfall for agriculture, grazing territory for flocks, and timber for fuel and construction. Kinship groups dominated by warrior elites and controlling compact territories were the usual form of organization. The Celtic elites of Central Europe initially traded for luxury goods with the Mediterranean, and when they began to expand into lands to the west and south after 500 B. c.E. they came into even closer contact with Mediterranean peoples. Eventually many Celtic groups were incorporated into the Roman Empire.
Although the ecological zones in Mesoamerica and South America in which the Olmec and Chavin cultures emerged were quite different, both societies created networks that brought together the resources and products of disparate regions. Little is known about the political and social organization of these societies, but archaeological evidence makes clear the existence of ruling elites that gathered wealth and organized labor for the construction of monumental centers.
Religion and Power
In all these societies the elites used religion to bolster their position. The Shang rulers of China were indispensable intermediaries between their kingdom and powerful and protective ancestors and gods. Bronze vessels were used to make offerings to ancestral spirits, and divination by means of oracle bones delivered information of value to the ruler and kingdom. Their Zhou successors developed the concept of the ruler as divine Son of Heaven who ruled in accord with the Mandate of Heaven. In its religious practices, as in other spheres, the civilization that developed in Nubia was powerfully influenced by its interactions with the more complex and technologically advanced neighboring society in Egypt. Nubian rulers built temples and pyramid tombs on the Egyptian model, but they also synthesized Egyptian and indigenous gods, beliefs, and rituals. Olmec and Chavin urban centers were the sites of dazzling ritual displays that reinforced the authority of the elites who resided in them. Olmec shamans attached to the elite made contact with supernatural powers, organized religious life, and directed the planning of the ceremonial centers to be aligned with the stars. Among the Celtic peoples of Gaul and Britain, the Druids constituted an elite class of priests who performed vital religious, legal, and educational functions. However, unlike the other civilizations surveyed in this chapter, the Celts did not construct temples and ceremonial centers, and instead worshiped hundreds of gods and goddesses in natural surroundings, where they felt the presence of divinity.
A Tale of Two Hemispheres
Scholars have debated why powerful civilizations appeared many centuries later in the Western Hemisphere than in the Eastern Hemisphere. Recent theories have focused on environmental differences. The Eastern Hemisphere was home to a far larger number of wild plant and animal species that were particularly well suited to domestication. In addition, the natural east-west axis of the huge landmass of Europe and Asia allowed for the relatively rapid spread of domesticated plants and animals to climatically similar zones along the same latitudes. Settled agriculture led to population growth, more complex political and social organization, and increased technological sophistication. In the Americas, by contrast, there were fewer wild plant and animal species that could be domesticated, and the north-south axis of the continents made it more difficult for domesticated species to spread because of variations in climate at different latitudes. As a result, the processes that foster the development of complex societies evolved somewhat more slowly.
KEY TERMS
Loess p. 54 Shang p. 56 Zhou p. 58
Confucius p. 61 Daoism p. 61 yin/yang p. 64
Mandate ofHeaven p. 59 Kush p. 66
Meroe p. 67 Celts p. 69 Druids p. 70 Olmec p. 73
Chavfn p. 75 llama p. 76
EBOOK AND WEBSITE RESOURCES
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The Book of Documents
® Interactive Maps
Map 3.1 China in the Shang and Zhou Periods, 1750-221 B. c.E.
Map 3.2 Ancient Nubia
Map 3.3 The Celtic Peoples
Map 3.4 Olmec and Chavin Civilizations
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SUGGESTED READING
Blunden, Caroline, and Mark Elvin. Cultural Atlas of China. 1983. Contains general geographic, ethnographic, and historical information about China through the ages, as well as many maps and illustrations.
Burger, Richard L. Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization. 1992. The most useful summary of recent research on Chavin.
Coe, Michael. The Olmec World. 1996. In-depth treatment of the earliest complex society in Mesoamerica.
Coe, Michael, Elizabeth P. Benson, and Dean R. Snow. Atlas of Ancient America. 1986. A compendium of maps and information on early societies in the Western Hemisphere.
De Bary, Wm Theodore, and Irene Bloom. Sources of Chinese Tradition, vol. 1 (2nd ed.). 1999. A superb collection of translated excerpts from a wide range of sources, accompanied by perceptive introductions.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. 1997. Tackles the difficult question of why technological development occurred at different times and took different paths in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
Di Cosmo, Nicola. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. 2002. Sets the development of Chinese civilization in the broader context of interactions with nomadic neighbors.
Fiedel, Stuart. Prehistory of the Americas. 1987. Provides an excellent summary of the early history of the Western Hemisphere.
Green, Miranda J. The Celtic World. 1995. A large and comprehensive collection of articles on many aspects of Celtic civilization.
Hansen, Valerie. The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600. 2000. Devotes substantial attention to ancient China and emphasizes China's connections with other cultures.
James, Simon. The World of the Celts. 1993. A concise, well-illustrated introduction to ancient Celtic civilization.
O'Connor, David. Ancient Nubia: Egypt's Rival in Africa. 1993. Informative, well-illustrated text based on a major exhibition of Nubian antiquities.
Schwartz, Benjamin I. The World of Thought in Ancient China. 1985. A broad introduction to early Chinese ethical and spiritual concepts.
Taylor, John H. Egypt and Nubia. 1991. Emphasizes the fruitful interaction of the Egyptian and Nubian cultures.
Temple, Robert. The Genius of China: 3,000 Years of Science, Discovery, and Invention. 1986. Explores many aspects of Chinese technology, using a division into general topics such as agriculture, engineering, and medicine.
World History
