Ancient Native Americans
Time
Period
Location
Building or
other
Structures
Maya
Aztec
200 - 900 AD
AD 1300 - 1521
Guatemala, Yucatan
Penisula, Belize,El
Salvador, West
Honduras
Pyramids - Chichen Itza
Master builders - built
cities, roads, pyramids
and temples
Lake Texcoco - an island in
Mexico Tenochtitlan = Modern
day Mexico City (the capital)
Floating gardens Chinampas
Religious
Beliefs or
Cultural
Practices
religious beliefs tied to
celestial cycles.
Worshiped "nature
gods" Priests were in
charge
Worshipped many gods. Were
merchants, traded with others
raised cattle, fowl. Were
farmers - masters of land use
Cultural
Ways
raised crops - maize, beans
Believed in an afterlife. Buried
their dead under the floor in
their home to be close to them
& under their protection
Nomadic culture, savage warriors.
Had a class system. Used Porters no horses. Boys went to school,
women were subordinate. Wealthy
people educated their daughters a
little.
Artifacts
writing, very accurate
calendars, mathematics,
books, tatoos
Wrote books, caled codices (singular
- codex). Priests could read & write.
Used elaborate irrigation systems.
Not sure what caused decline
of this culture. Only men used
mirrors - believed it was an act
of courage to look into self
Although good warriors, had little
military strategy. Angry former
captives / slaves joined Cortes to
defeat the Aztecs with a relatively
small number of soldiers. Small pox
decimated the population - nearly
90% died.
Other
important
facts
found
Anasazi
Inuit
Ancient Ones
Inuktitut = People
Time
Period
100 BC - 1300 AD
1000 AD - present
Location
4 Corners Chaco Canyon NM Mesa
Verde CO Kayenta AZ
Canadian Arctic to Coastal
Greenland, Chukchi Peninsula,
Russia "North of Arctic tree line"
Building or
other
Structures
built pueblo structures in
naturally formed caves. Pit
buildings called kivas. Built
roads and watchtowers
iglu - in winters tents in summers
used skins, whale bone, drift wood,
dug into the earth and lined with sod
and roof
Religious
Beliefs or
Cultural
Practices
Shamanism based on animism /
respect for life Animals have souls
used mud, wood, stone. Used Mythology prevalent "Sedna" = Old
natural resources. Earthmother, Woman of the Sea Believed Norther
sun god, rain god. Believed in lites (aurora borealis) was a spiritual
contact
an orderly universe
Cultural
Ways
farmers - corn, beans & squash
Nomadic. Followed the
(the three sisters) used
migrations of animals on which
irrigation - built dams &
they depended - whale, harp
channels
seal, arctic fox, birds and other
Artifacts
fishers & hunter gatherers. Ate a low
carb / high protein diet. Had an oral
tradition - no written laws or history.
ruins of homes & houses
Often had violent / hostile contact
baskets, pottery, jewelry, tools with other family / village groups. Had
arranged marriages and very large
families
no writing - oral tradition
Other
Overfarming & drought caused
important
decline or forced to move.
facts
Climate change, overpopulation
found
or a social or religious crisis
Stone, ivory or bone tools and
weapons, carving
Olmec
Rubber People
Hopewell Culture
Middle Woodland
Time
Period
200 - 900 AD
200 BC - 500 AD
Location
Settled in very fertile lowlands of
coastal central Mexico
Northeastern & midwestern
USA into Southeastern Canada
Along rivers & waterways
Built all settlements around a raised
Moundbuilders - built mounds for
mound
used for religious ceremony.
Building or
uncertain purposes, possibly vurial or
other
Built palaces for rulers, large homes
Structures for wealthy, and huts for commoners. religious purposes. Shows they had
an organized labor system.
Built stepped pyramids
Religious
Beliefs or
Cultural
Practices
Lived in relative harmony. Had
Believed in many gods, most
a strong connection to the
powerful was the jaguar, and
Quetzoacoatyl, the feathered serpent natural world. Shamanism, and
priests dominant.
Cultural
Ways
Hunters/ fisherman / farmers. Had
Had a social class structure.
Rulers & priests were @ the system of interaction among different
cultures. grew sunflower, squash,
top, workers & farmers below, and other seed and grain products.
had slaves. Raised crops,
Cremated their dead - burial reserved
maize & beans
for only the most important in society
Artifacts
Made rubber from the sap of
Hopewell Exchange System rubber tree. Played a game with
necklaces, ornate carvings of bone &
the first hard rubber ball.
wood, pottery. xcotic materials from
Sacred game was symbolic.
other areas including bear teeth,
Losers were killed, Left jade
pearls, shells, shark teeth, copper &
sculptures and jewelry, 10 ton
silver, iron, mica, smoking pipes
massive carved heads
Other
important
facts
found
Were first major civilization in
Mexico. Olmec means rubber
people. Cities of Tenochtitlan,
San Lorenzo, LaVenta.
Probably victims of
environmental changes or
tectonic activity.
long distance traders and first
permanent farmers
Inca
Time
Period
Location
Building or
other
Structures
Religious
Beliefs or
Cultural
Practices
Cultural
Ways
Artifacts
Other
important
facts
found
Maya
Time
Period
Location
Building
or other
Structures
Religious
Beliefs or
Cultural
Practices
Cultural
Ways
Artifacts
Other
important
facts
found
Aztec