ANCIENT AMERICANS

Centennial Middle School

When I call a place civilized, what does that mean to you?

CIVILIZATION:

An advanced culture

Builds other cities

Has a well-organized government

A system of social classes

Specialized jobs

A complex religion

A method of record keeping

NORTH AMERICAN ANCIENTS

HOHOKAMS

MOUND BUILDERS

ANASAZIS

- Brought water in hand dug canals more than 6 miles

-Ten feet deep, fifty feet wide

Agriculture- corn, beans, squash, agave, cotton and tobacco

Pottery – technical advancement - Copper bells in wax molds

Sometime between 1100 to 1200 they stopped functioning as a village.

About 1300 they melted into the culture of the Salado.

HOHOKAMS – PRESENT DAY PHOENIX

MOUND BUILDERS - GULF OF MEXICO TO THE OHIO

AND MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEYS

Earliest mounds in the United States at Watson Brake near Monroe, LA.

The purpose of these mounds is unclear.

It is believed the are mainly for religious structures used as burial mounds.

Many tribes contributed to this culture stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys over many years, some back as far as 2500 BCE.

The Great Serpent Mound- 1348 feet long, three-foot

high prehistoric effigy mound in Ohio. Believed to have been built

Around 1070.

ANASAZIS- SOUTHWEST (NEW MEXICO)

Lived in large multistoried houses

Sun-dried stones –adobe

Cliff-dwellers

Farmers, but traded with other tribes

By late 1200 Anasazis abandoned their homes- drought?

MAYANS

3,000 years ago

Lived in Mexico and in Guatemala

3 GREAT CITIES

Tikal

Copan

Palenque

The Mayans settled in a swampland that bred mosquitoes and diseases.

TEMPLES

http://www.crystalinks.com/mayanarch.html

PRIESTS

The highest members of society

Only ones allowed to perform religious ceremonies

Good harvests

Victorious in battle

SOCIAL CLASS

Priest

Nobles, Government officials, and Warriors

Peasant Farmers

Slaves

AN ACADEMIC CIVILIZATION

Studied math and astronomy

Created an accurate calendar with 365 daysCalendar included 19 months

RECORD KEEPING

Wrote in HIEROGLYPHICSuse pictures to represent words and ideas

wrote on stone tablets or paper made from bark

Misc. Information

Physical BeautySloping forehead

Crossed eyes

Sport

Religion

WHAT HAPPENED?

In 850 A.D. the Mayans left their cities

The Mayan language is proof that some of them did survive

AZTECS

Finding a Home

TENOCHTITLAN

Capital of the Aztec empire

Built on an island of Lake Texcoco

City grew from wars

Currently Mexico City

SUN GOD

Sun battled every morning to rise

“Warriors of the sun”

Worshipped the Sun God through human sacrifice

INCAS

Incan Social Structure

Inca

Royal Family

Tribal Heads

Common People

BUILDERS

Built stone temples and forts

No machinesManual labor

Ropes

Wooden rollers

Great builders of Roads

Incan Roads

A FAMILIAR GOD

Who was the main god that the Aztecs worshipped?

Sun God

Incas worshipped the Sun God also

Believed the emperor was related to the Sun God

GOLD

Honored the Sun God

“Sweat of the Sun”

Decorated palaces, temples

Nobles and priests wore it

Advancements / Lifestyles

Medicine

Surgery

Writing

Punishment

THE END OF THE INCAS

1531 Spain comes

Francisco Pizarro

Kidnapped the emperor

Spain is in control in by the 1560s.

REVIEWWhat civilizations emerged in present-day Mexico?

Mayan and Aztec

Where did the Incas build their civilization?Andes MountainsWest coast of South America

What was the god worshipped by two of the civilizations that we talked about today?

Sun God

Which two civilizations were they?Aztec and Incan

How did the Aztecs worship the Sun God?Human sacrifice

Which country’s flag represents the story of how the Aztecs found their home?

Mexico

Name the three symbols found on the flag.EagleCactusSnake

Name one of the two reasons why the Mayan priests would perform ceremonies.

Good harvestBattle Victory