2

Mesoamerica Civilization

Title of the Lesson: The Maya, Aztec and Inca Civilization

Time Frame: 6 hours

INTRODUCTION

Civilization defines a complex way of life characterized by urban areas nowadays, in

terms of communication, infrastructure, and division of labor. These places of the
scientific and engineering communities have struggled to understand new framework
to describe ways which science and technology can respond to it that resulted to
propose a renewed and strengthened covenant between science, technology, and its
society.

This civilization that is rich in indigenous culture developed in parts of Mexico and
Central America prior to Spanish exploration and downfall in the 16th century. Towns
or villages occurs when individuals settle down together to work their fields, and they
develop particular cultural practices as they gather located close to lakes, where
planting, fishing and bird hunting became important ways to obtain food.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

1. Locate and identify in the map or globe of the ancient Mesoamerican civilizations.
2. Develop an awareness of each place and reasons why certain events occur in
Maya, Aztec and Inca civilizations.
3. Compare and contrast the three distinct civilizations in terms of architecture,
calendar, education and technology, and culture of its people.

DISCUSSION
The term Mesoamerica denotes the part of Mexico and Central America that was
civilized in pre-Spanish times. In many respects, the American Indians who inhabited
Mesoamerica were the most advanced native people in the Western Hemisphere.
The northern border of Mesoamerica runs west from a point on the Gulf coast of
Mexico above the modern port of Tampico, then dips south to exclude much of the
central desert of highland Mexico, meeting the Pacific coast opposite the tip of Baja
(Lower) California (Coe & Murra, 2019).

The historic region of Mesoamerica comprises the modern-day countries of northern

Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and central to
southern Mexico. For thousands of years, this area was populated by groups such as
the Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec people. Cultural traits that define the
region include the domestication of maize, beans, avocado, and vanilla, and a
common architectural style.

worldmap.harvard.edu/maps/APWorldMap/Map data © 2016 Google

(National Geographic, 2020)
Maya Civilization (1500 B.C.E to the sixteenth century arrival of the Spanish
conquistadors)

Mayans were the first major civilization in the Mesoamerica, they were simply the first
to develop a highly sophisticated society with art, science, architecture, and writing.
They were mostly nomadic, meaning they moved continuously rather than lived in
one place, or had small herds of animals and moved around occasionally (Muscato,
2014).

Location

Important Maya cities include Tikal in the east (in what is today Guatemala),
Palenque in the west (what is today Mexico), and Copán in the south (in what is
today Honduras). The collapse of Maya cities in the tenth century is not fully
understood but may have resulted from complex factors including climate change
(and resulting drought and crop failures), overpopulation, and political unrest.
Following this collapse, Maya civilization continued on the northern tip of the Yucatán
Peninsula, where Chichen Itza emerged as an important city of the Post-Classic
Period. Though the city was abandoned by the thirteenth century, it was the arrival of
Hernan Cortés and his Spanish fleet in the early 16th century that marked the end of
the Maya civilization (Jimenez, 2020).

Ma

p showing the extent of the Maya civilization (red), compared to all other Mesoamerica cultures (black).
Today, these sites are located in the countries of Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala (image: CC
BY-SA 3.0) https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-americas/early
cultures/maya/a/the-maya-an-introduction

Throughout the film Quest for the Lost Maya, a team of anthropologists led by Dr.
George Bey discovers the Maya may have been in the Yucatan as far back as 500
BCE. This new evidence indicates the Maya of the Yucatan had a very complex
social structure, distinctive religious practices, and unique technological innovations
that made civilization possible in the harsh jungle (Herrero, 2012).
Agriculture

Mayans converted wetlands to farmland, the sophistication of the civilization's

agricultural systems rivalled their pyramids (Mascarelli, 2010). Using new techniques
and extensive excavations, researchers have found that the Maya coped with tough
environmental conditions by developing ingenious methods to grow crops in wetland
areas. "The work shows that this intensive agriculture is more complicated and on a
par with these other areas of intellectual development," says Timothy Beach, a
physical geographer at Georgetown University in Washington DC, who presented his
findings at the Geological Society of America (GSA) meeting in Denver, Colorado last
2010. The Maya's home was a tough environment replete with recurring droughts and
rising sea levels, and the land that they farmed was rough, rocky terrain intermixed
with vast swamps, or wetlands. So, one of historians' biggest questions about the
Maya civilization is how they managed to feed their huge populations (Mascarelli,
2010). At the GSA meeting, Beach presented the results of two decades' work aimed
at answering these questions. During that time, he and his wife, Sheryl Luzzadder
Beach, a physical geographer specializing in water quality from George Mason
University in Fairfax, Virginia, and their colleagues, have performed more than 60
excavations to study and map the different earth layers, or strata, in field sites in
northern Belize. Fossilized plant remains at these sites show that the Maya were
growing crops such as:
1. avocados
2. grass species
3. corn or maize
Their research suggests that the Maya built canals between wetlands to divert water
 and create new farmland, says Beach. As the
Maya mucked out the ditches, they would have
tossed the soil onto the adjacent land, creating
elevated fields which would kept the root
systems of their crops above the waterlogged
soil, while allowing access to the irrigation
water. Beach says that surveys carried out
using Google Earth and remote sensing
techniques suggest that this wetland system
was probably around 100 kilometers across
(Mascarelli, 2010).

Maya irrigation canals at "Birds of Paradise" site in

northwest Belize. Credit: S. Luzzadder-Beach
https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.587#citeas

Astronomy

Mayan commoners mapped their cosmology and recorded their history, based on
using domestic ceramic with its color, placement, and association with other artifacts
at the minor center of Saturday Creek, Belize. Results show that hidden items served
to contextualize their place in the universe. Commoners may not have had the written
word, but they had the means to record their own history, one with which they
interacted daily — under their feet, within walls, and under their roof (Lucero, 2010).
Mayans incorporated their advanced understanding of astronomy into their temples
and other religious structures. This allows them to use their temples for astronomical
observation. For example, the pyramid El Castillo (“the Castle”) called by Spanish
conquistadors is located at Chichen Itza in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, is situated at
the location of the sun during spring and fall equinoxes. Mayan knowledge and
understanding about celestial bodies were advanced for their time, as evidenced by
their knowledge of predicting eclipses and using astrological cycles in planting and
harvesting. With its pleasing radial symmetry, tidy stepped platforms, and crowning
temple, El Castillo is one of the most recognizable Mesoamerican pyramids. It was
probably built by the Toltec-Maya between 1050 and 1300 CE when the rest of the
Maya population was dwindling. It is famous not only for the descent of Kukulcán
(Mesoamerican serpent deity) but also for its relationship to the Maya calendar. Each
of the pyramid’s four sides has a staircase of 91 steps. The total number of steps,
when combined with the temple at its summit, equals 365 — the number of days in
the Maya solar year. The temple on top was used exclusively by priests who
performed sacred rituals at a height that brought them closer to the gods in the sky
(Zelasko, 2020).
© diegograndi/iStock.com
https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-inside-the-pyramid-at-chichn-itz

The ancient Maya were accomplished observers of the sky. Maya animal
constellations are found in the Paris Codex. Using their knowledge of astronomy and
mathematics, the ancient Maya developed one of the most accurate calendar
systems in human history. The ancient Maya had a fascination with cycles of time.
The most commonly known Maya cyclical calendars are the Haab, the Tzolk’in, and
the Calendar Round. Aside from these, the Maya also developed the Long Count
calendar to chronologically date mythical and historical events. The 13 baktun cycle
of the Maya Long Count calendar measures 1,872,000 days or 5,125.366 tropical
years. This is one of the longest cycles found in the Maya calendar system. This
cycle ends on the winter solstice, December 21, 2012.
The following are brief description of each Maya cyclical calendars (Hawkins, 2020) :
1. Haab cycle - is 365 days, and approximates the solar
year. The Haab is a nineteen-month calendar. The
Haab is composed of 18 months made of 20 days,
and one month, made of 5 days. This 5-day month is
called "Wayeb." Thus, 18 x 20 + 5 = 365 days. This
image below shows the hieroglyphs corresponding
to the nineteen months of the Haab calendar. The
Maya represented some of these months using
more than one glyph. These glyphs are referred to
as "variants." Variants of the same glyph are framed
in a turquoise background.

Hieroglyphs corresponding to the

nineteen months of the Haab
calendar.

The Maya farmers of the Yucatan conduct offerings and ceremonies on the
same months every year, following a 365-day Haab cycle. These ceremonies
 are called Sac Ha’, Cha’a Chac and Wajikol. The Maya in the highlands of
Guatemala perform special ceremonies and rituals during the Haab month of
Wayeb, the short month of five days.

2. Tzolk’in – is the Mayan’s sacred calendar in Yucatec Mayan and Chol Q’ij in
K’iche’ Mayan. This calendar is not divided into months. Instead, it is made
from a succession of 20-day glyphs in combination with the numbers 1 to 13,
and produces 260 unique days. Multiplying 20 x 13 equals 260 days. The
image below illustrates how the numbers 1 to 13, cycle through the 20 glyphs
to form dates in the Tzolk’in calendar. Any such combination, such as 1 Imix’,
repeats only after 260 days have passed. The length of the Tzolk’in matches
nine cycles of the Moon and the gestational period of humans. The Tzolk’in is
also related to the movements of the zenith Sun and the growing cycle of
corn.

Illustrates how the numbers 1 to 13, cycle through the 20 glyphs to form dates in the Tzolk’in
calendar. https://maya.nmai.si.edu/sites/all/themes/mayatime/img/calendar-system/4.jpg

Every 260 days, the Ajq’ijab’ in the highlands areas of Guatemala, celebrate a
new year ceremony called Wajxaqib’ B’atz’, and welcome another cycle in the
sacred Chol Q’ij or Tzolk’in Maya calendar. During this ceremony, new
calendar Day Keepers are initiated. This image shows Roberto Poz Pérez,
K’iche’, a calendar Day Keeper in a village near Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.
He has been a calendar Day Keeper for more than 30 years.

Roberto Poz Pérez, K’iche’, a calendar Day Keeper in a village near Quetzaltenango,
Guatemala https://maya.nmai.si.edu/sites/all/themes/mayatime/img/calendar-system/5.jpg

3. Calendar Round - is made from the interweaving of the Tzolk’in and Haab
calendars. In the Calendar Round, any given combination of a Tzolk’in day
with a Haab day will not repeat itself, until 52 periods of 365 days have
 passed. The Maya believe that when a person reaches 52 years of age, they
attain the special wisdom of an elder. The image shows a contemporary
representation of the Calendar Round, interlocking the Tzolk’in (left) with the
Haab (right).

Contemporary representation of the Calendar Round, interlocking the Tzolk’in (left) with the Haab
(right). https://maya.nmai.si.edu/sites/all/themes/mayatime/img/calendar-system/7.jpg

Any historical or mythical event spanning more than 52 years required the
ancient Maya to use an additional calendar, the Long Count. The Long Count
calendar is a system that counts 5 cycles of time. This is very similar to the
Gregorian calendar system that counts days, months, years, centuries and
millennia. The Maya system also does this, but the difference is in the name
and magnitude of the various cycles. Like Maya mathematics, the Long Count
calendar system counts by 20s. The exception is in the third cycle, because 18
x 20, which equals 360, more closely approximates a Haab cycle or solar cycle
of 365 days, rather than multiplying 20 x 20, which equals 400.

The calendar system of Mayan according to archaeological and historical evidence

clearly shows that the Lunar Series of mythical dates were calculated backward —
that is, they were often determined from the date on which the monument was
erected using a specific formula to calculate the age of the moon. There is a
relationship between rulers of specific sites and the lunar-month count at those sites
because many cases the month count changed after a new ruler came to throne.
Analysis of the month count shows a relationship between the month count and the
ruler who dedicated the monument. The Lunar Series are part of the calendar
calculations. The connection to changes in Maya rulers seems to suggest that rulers
initiated new calculation methods on their accession. It is known from Classic Maya
society that artists and scribes played an important role in the Classic-period royal
courts. The capture of scribes, with fingers broken to prevent their service to their
ruler, is recorded at Piedras Negras and Bonampak (Johnston, 2015). A similar
connection to the ruler can be assumed for other members of the court, who were
responsible for astronomical and calendrical calculations (Fuls, 2007).

The following inscriptions on those monuments form the most detailed sources for the
ancient history of the Maya:
 Lunar series from Palenque, Temple of the Sun Tablet. Drawing by the author, (Robertson M. G., 1991)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/article/calculation-of-the-lunar-series on-
classic-maya-monuments/E34DF56C86A1FA3D7A55C36521BC65C5/core-reader#

Coba, Stela 1 (A1–D17). Drawing: COB:St. 1 from Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, vol. 8, part
1:COBA, reproduced courtesy of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/article/calculation-of-the-lunar-series on-
classic-maya monuments/E34DF56C86A1FA3D7A55C36521BC65C5/core-reader#
 Note: TYR = related to the tropical year.
By Martin and Grube, 2000

Technology

The Mayans developed various tools for crops and building elaborate cities using
ordinary machineries and tools. The following were scientific ideas and tools they
developed to help them in everyday life (Serafica, Pawilen, Caslib, Jr., & Alata,
2018):
1. Hydraulics system with sophisticated waterways to supply water to different
communities.
2. Looms for weaving cloth and devised a rainbow of glittery paints made from a
mineral called mica.
3. One of the first people to produce rubber products 3,000 years before
Goodyear received its patent in 1844, before Charles Goodyear. 4. Mayans use
a writing system known as Mayan hieroglyphics. 5. They were skilled in
mathematics and created a number system based on the numeral 20.
6. Maya people developed different preparative strategies to obtain inorganic–
organic hybrid materials based on the discovery of a set of greenish pellets
from ancient plaster at the La Blanca archaeological site (Guatemala)
provides evidence that the Maya people used a material similar to Maya Blue
also outside of pottery, murals, sculptures or religious context.
7. Maya architecture is unlike any other style in the world. Maya engineers
developed structural mechanics for multi-story buildings.
8. Maya arts soared while Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages (O'Kon,
2012).
9. Invented the blast furnace 2,000 years before it was patented in England.
10. While the Maya did not develop minted currency, they used various objects, at
different times, as "money." These included greenstone beads, cacao beans
and copper bells.
Education and Culture
The Mayan literacy stands out from most other indigenous literacies of America. The
following are the reasons (Holbrock, 2016):
1. The average Mayan family size was about 5 to 7.
2. They used three different ways of recording: codices, collections of hieroglyphic
symbols written on paper and cloth or animal skin, some samples of these
have still survived.
3. Only noble families were allowed to go to school so commoner children got
taught at home.
4. Maya invented of one of the earliest known writing systems on Earth, and thus
have an ancient history of writing. Strategies and concerns for language
revival via literacy are found in the Guatemalan context.
5. Mayan literacy involves not just alphabetic reading and writing, but also visual
symbols.
6. Corn leaves are used to create crosses that adorn people’s homes on Catholic
holidays.
7. Ancient Maya numerals are used to number modern books.
8. Extraordinary degree of knowledge of astronomy and mathematics are
possessed by the Mayans.
9. Nowadays, the Maya hip hop scene that is currently growing around Lake
Atitlán, Guatemala seeks to educate Maya youth about their culture by way of
lyrics in Mayan languages as well as references to historical Maya texts such
as the Popol Wuj and the Chilam Balam. This musical genre combines
ancestral local knowledge, accessed by way of pre-Colombian texts and
sacred fire ceremonies, with popular music in a manner that attracts Maya
youth who may otherwise receive little formal education about their own Maya
culture (Bell, 2017).
10.Music was linked to religion and was created by rattles, whistles, trumpets,
drums, flutes, copper bells and shells.
11.Human sacrifice was not an everyday event but was essential to sanctify
certain rituals, such as the inauguration of a new ruler, the designation of a
new heir to the throne, or the dedication of an important new temple or ball
court. The victims were often prisoners of war (Jarus, 2017).
12.Mayan rulers (kings) who are served by attendants and advisers managed the
production and distribution of status goods which they used to enhance their
prestige and power. They also controlled some critical (non-local) commodities
that included critical everyday resources each family needed, like salt (Jarus,
2017).
13.Maya laborers were subject to a labor tax to build palaces, temples and public
works. A ruler successful in war could control more laborers and exact tribute
on defeated enemies, further increasing their economic (Jarus, 2017).

Aztec Civilization (Flourished between 13th CE to 1521 CE)

The name Aztec most commonly refers to Nahuatl-speaking people who dominated
the Basin of Mexico, and indeed much of central and southern Mexico, in the fifteenth
and early sixteenth centuries (Berdan, 2016).
Location

Most Aztec towns were founded between AD 1100 and 1350 when the Aztec people
immigrated into the central Mexican highlands. They established new settlements
and dynasties leading to a system of autonomous city‐states. The construction of a
royal palace marked the official founding of a new city or town, most of them city‐
state capitals. In 1430, three Aztec peoples – the Mexica, Acolhua, and Tepanecs –
formed a tributary empire, known as the Triple Alliance or the Aztec Empire. Two of
their capitals, Tenochtitlan (Mexica) and Texcoco (Acolhua), became the
preeminent cities of the Valley of Mexico. By the time Spanish conquerors arrived in
1519 this empire had conquered much of Mesoamerica, and Tenochtitlan had grown
into a city of 200,000 (Smith, 2008).

This map shows the political boundaries of the Aztec Empire.

https://aztecprojectempire.wordpress.com/maps/

Agriculture

The Aztecs had modest beginnings, serving as mercenaries or warriors for other
nations. In time, their reputation as fierce warriors grew and they built a city-state.
Since other indigenous nations had already settled around the lakes on more
desirable land, the only way for the Aztecs to accommodate a growing population
was to develop around the small island. The Aztecs expanded Mexico-Tenochtitlán
by building chinampas, or artificial islands.
Though the Aztecs did not invent chinampas (they were already being used by other
native nations when the Aztecs founded their city) they made the most of them. To
build the chinampas, the Aztecs first formed rectangles of varying sizes — usually 91
meters long and from 4 to 9 meters wide — by staking out the area and fencing it with
reeds. The fenced-off area was then filled with mud, lake sediment and various
organic materials, until it rose above the water level of the lake. Then trees were
planted to “anchor” each chinampa. Most residents of Mexico-Tenochtitlán lived on
chinampas, where they also grew their crops. Lake channels surrounded all four
sides of each chinampa and were wide enough for a canoe to navigate. These
channels provided crop irrigation and an easy way to transport products to market
(Medina, 2014).
 https://

www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/chinampas-floating-gardens-mexico-001537

According to Medina (2014), the following are other important scientific ideas they
developed for food sustainability:
1. Due to the abundance of water and sunlight, as well as a temperate climate,
the chinampas were highly productive, producing up to four crops a year, and
about two-thirds of the food consumed in the city.
2. They grew maize, beans, tomatoes, pumpkins, chilis, flowers and medicinal
herbs.
3. Aztecs disposed of all kinds of organic wastes in the chinampas, such as food
leftovers and agricultural residues, which fertilized the crops, an intensive
recycling of nutrients.
4. The most valuable fertilizer used on the chinampas was human excrement or
feces.
5. Human urine was used as a mordant (fixative) in the dyeing of fabrics, and,
thus also considered a resource.
6. Aztecs consumed animal protein from turkeys, ducks, deer, fish, and other wild
animals.
7. They also raised a breed of dog they called itzcuintli for human consumption,
feeding them food leftovers.
8. They have invented the canoe, a light narrow boat used for travelling in water
systems.

Astronomy

A new study on one of the most important remaining artifacts from the Aztec Empire,
a 24-ton basalt calendar stone, interprets the stone’s central image as the death of
the sun god Tonatiuh during an eclipse, an event Aztecs believed would lead to a
global apocalypse accompanied by earthquakes. Many scientists believe the heart of
the stone to be the face of Tonatiuh (pronounced toe-NAH-tee-uh), atop which
Aztecs offered human sacrifices to stave off the end of the world. Researcher Susan
Milbrath, a Latin American art and archaeology curator at the Florida Museum of
Natural History, offers the new, ominous interpretation of this symbol in the February
print edition of the journal Mexicon. The Spanish buried the 12-foot-wide calendar
stone, also known as the Sun Stone, face down before it was uncovered in 1790.
Aztecs
and Mayas tracked the sun’s movements to predict future events, such as weather
patterns and astronomical cycles. The Aztecs sacrificed a prisoner on the calendar
stone on the date 4 Olin, the day they believed the world would end. The day repeats
every 260 days in their calendar cycle. With succession of the cycle, another prisoner
was sacrificed and the sun rose again the following day and Tonatiuh lived on
(Mavrakis, 2017).

Ev

idence suggests the sun god's face was unpainted or colored black, like the sun darkened during an
eclipse. Florida Museum graphic by James Young, with images from el commandant and
keepscases/ wikimedia commons / cc-by-sa-3.0.https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/ominous new-
interpretation-of-aztec-sun-stone/

Technology

According to experts, there are six large regions in the world that are the cradles of
civilization. In Mesoamerica, Aztec was one of the strong state due to its military
power, its religion, and its tribute system, the following were the skills and knowledge
of Aztecs used in their everyday living (Calvo, 2020):

1. They developed their own calendar of 18 months of 20 days each.

2. Built large cities and huge pyramids and temples.
3. Developed a farming system called chinampas that they used to grow crops
on shallow lake beds.
4. They used cacao to make chocolate as their currency.
5. Their weapons included blowguns, bows and arrows, spears flung with a
spear-thrower for greater distance, and slings made of braided yarn. 6.
Scholars believe that sleds, levers, or ropes must have been used to move
heavier loads
7. Wooden drawbridges could be raised to allow boats to pass.
8. The ball game, called ulama, was played with a rubber ball that could be
propelled only using the hips.
9. Aztec homes were built of adobe around a courtyard and religious shrine, and
furnished with reed mats and low tables.
10.The kitchen was equipped with a hearth fire and jars or bins for foods
preserved by salting or drying in the sun.
11.There were also grindstones for making corn flour.
12.The flour was then cooked into a porridge called atole or made into tortillas
that were cooked on a flat stone griddle. Tortillas are still central to the
cuisine of the region.
13.Aztec cloth was generally made of plant fibers, such as cotton or fiber from
the maguey cactus.
14.Incas and Aztecs were skilled at making highly decorated pottery and
ceramics.
15.As fishermen, Incas and Aztecs employed a variety of techniques including
 angling, nets and harpoons.
16.Aztec canoes, used for fishing and transportation, were made from hollowed
out tree trunks.

Education and Culture

All Aztec children attended school through mandatory education, though their
curricula varied by gender and social class, the following were stated in the Aztec
social structure (Aguilar & Moreno, 2018):
1. Each calpulli (large house) had a school for commoner children known as a
telpochcalli (house of youth).
2. The purpose of the telpochcalli
was to train young men to be
warriors, and boys generally
began their training at the age of
15.
3. Noble children and
exceptionally gifted commoner
children attended the
calmecac (schools, where they
received training to become
priests and government
officials).
4. While military training was
provided, the calmecac offered
more academic opportunities
than the telpochcalli.
5. Children typically began attending
the calmecac between the ages of 6 and 13.
6. The schools imposed harsh punishments on their students for misbehavior
and the calmecac were especially strict because noble children were held to a
higher standard than commoner children.

Aztec students being disciplined by their teachers at school (Codex Mendoza).

https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/aztec-and-maya
law/aztec-social-structure

Aztec society was hierarchical and divided into clearly defined classes. The following
are some of their cultures (Cartwright, 2015):
1. The nobility dominated the key positions in the military, state administration,
judiciary, and priesthood.
2. Traders could become extremely wealthy and powerful, even their prosperity
 was based on their class, and most citizens remained simple farmers. There
was a limited opportunity for individuals to better their social position,
especially in the military and religious spheres.
3. Nepotism prevailed but, at the same time, promotions could be obtained on
merit as well as demotions from incompetence.
4. In practice, though, the vast majority of the Aztec population would have
remained in the social group of their immediate family throughout their lives. 5.
Rank and reputation were by far the most important considerations for those
who wished to rise in society and, above all, ownership of land continued to be
the greatest indicator of a person's status.
6. Aztec society was clearly stratified and had many levels, but the common
bonds of perpetual warfare and an ever-present religion ensured a
sophisticated and functional social apparatus was created which was both
cohesive and inclusive. Whether this society, already evolving as the trading
class became more influential in areas traditionally reserved for the
aristocracy, could have developed and prospered had it not collapsed
following the invasion from the Old World.

Inca Civilization (Flourished in South America between 1425 CE - 1532 CE)

The Inca Empire was the last native state to develop in South America before
sixteenth century European invasions introduced foreign culture, religion, and
disease (Covey, 2008).

Location

The Inca Empire was located on the western side of South America (spreading from
north to south) more specifically in the Andes Mountains. The Coastal Deserts and
the Amazon Jungle of Peru. The main city where the Incas began to build their
empire was Cuzco (located 10,000 feet above sea level) in Peru and from there they
extended their empire along many neighboring countries to what today we know as
Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Chile (Camilla, 2020).

Geographic location of the Inca civilization. At its peak, it managed to stretch from Colombia to Chile,
although its center was always Cuzco in Peru. It covered the Pacific Coast, the Andes Mountains and the
Amazon Jungle of the region. https://www.sutori.com/story/inca-empire--YhYJNUQ98ECxTnbyG2LfoWCS
Agriculture
The flat grounds made in the mountains along with the terraces for agriculture are still
used in the production of crops in the Andes mountains of Peru today and copied in
similar locations around the world. The following are their agricultural practices
(Camilla, 2020):
1. Their complex irrigation systems still work to perfection and help these crops,
to still be produced and consumed today with the same processes used by the
Incas.
2. Incas developed a freeze and dry system that until today helps the world
maintain a constant fresh source of food supply even when it is not the season
to grow certain crops. With the invention on this process, many of the crops
initially only cultivated by the Incas, like potatoes and tomatoes were later
taken to other parts of the world like Europe and are now everyday products
worldwide.

Astronomy

The Incas possessed considerable celestial knowledge and, as solar worshippers,

they chose to incorporate and display orientations and features of the Sun, their god,
in their many temples and shrines throughout the empire. The huacas (shrine) of this
study point to a society that was both infatuated with the Sun and possessed the
technical ability to use their celestial knowledge with any structure or carving they so
desired. They marked solar events such as sunrise and sunset at June and
December solstices with orientations in shrines and temples, and also by
constructing solar pillars on the horizon. Pillars such as these enabled them to
manage crops and festivals throughout the year with a precise calendar. These
examples and more point to a society that had mastered an astronomically related
system of time management that very well suited their needs (Gullberg, 2019).

Inca developed two calendars, the night time calendar and the day time calendar.
The daytime calendar counted approximately 365 days and was very important for
them because it helped them keep track of their mining and agricultural activities.
The night time calendar was based on the moon’s cycles, so it only had 328 days.
This calendar was used to mark the days in which the festivals were celebrated
(Camilla, 2020).

With their calendar, the Inca’s tracked the movement of the sun, the moon and the stars. Solstice, equinox
and another celestial phenomenon were recorded, registered and predicted using it.
https://www.sutori.com/story/inca-empire--YhYJNUQ98ECxTnbyG2LfoWCS
Technology

The Inca Civilization managed to surpass modern expectations in many ways, with
the limited knowledge and resources that they had, they managed to excel in many
different areas. Among many important achievements were (Camilla, 2020):
1. Architecture - One of the major contributions of the Inca Empire was
architecture. Machu Picchu, as all the other constructions made by Incas
(with materials such as stone, clay and mud layers) was a perfectly
designed structure built by combining natural landscapes with stones. The
Incas cut stone with such precision that each block fit exactly with its
neighboring stone.
2. Metallurgy - Incas had the capacity to mine and work with different minerals
such as gold, silver, iron, copper and emeralds. These natural resources
were used to build temples, make jewelry, drinking cups, statues of their gods,
weapons and other tools needed in their daily life.
3. Quipus - The Inca civilization didn’t develop a writing system but they created
the quipus, an element made by knotting different colored strings allowing
them to keep track of important events that needed to be remembered or
passed on.
4. Bridges and Roads - The Incas developed an advanced transportation system
that allowed them to communicate different areas of the empire giving them
the chance to move goods and people from side to side. The same bridges
that made transportation and communication easy for them worked as a
defense mechanism against intruders because by burning the bridges down
they eliminated the possibility of an invasion.
5. Aqueducts - Due to water scarcity in the dry season, the Incas built an
advanced water system that provided them with drinkable water and that
proved that they had advanced engineering capacities.

Some of their standout engineering achievements in Machu Picchu.

https://www.tcsworldtravel.com/article/inca-ancient-masters-of-stonework-and-civil-engineering

Education and Culture

The Incas did not have any type of writing. That is why all the information about their
form of education comes from the chronicles written by the Spaniards during the
conquest and the colony. Likewise, the information was transmitted orally, the
following are some of key aspects (Ticket, 2019):
1. The youth school was called ‘Yachaywasi ‘ (House of Knowledge). There were
several in the Inca Empire although the main one was in the current city of
Cusco.
2. The children of the nobles received Quechua language instruction in the first
year of education.
3. The third year they received education on the interpretation of the quipus. The
quipu was the only tool with which it was possible to keep an accurate record
 of the population and of the products that were produced and stored.
4. The education in the Incan lasted 4 years and began at approximately 12. 5. As
there was no written system, education was based on hearing and memorizing.
6. The teachers who taught were called ‘Amautas’. They taught with practice,
repetition and experience.
7. Inca education had high developments in various sciences such as astronomy,
medicine, mathematics and surgery.
8. In mathematics, the Incas made their constructions based on physical
geometric calculations. Thus, the walls of Machu Picchu, Tipón,
Sacsayhuaman, Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Choquequirao, remain untouched until
today.

SUMMARY

Mesoamerican civilization was developed in parts of Mexico and Central America

before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century with a great culture. Some areas
shifted from hunting and gathering to agriculture, this happened as the climate
warmed with the end of the Ice Age. Late Formative and Classic periods lasted until
c. AD 900
which include the Maya and the civilization centered at Teotihuacán; later societies
include the Toltec, Aztec and Inca. People from Mesoamerica have each their own
education and culture, religion, calendar and even technology that was primarily used
in agriculture.

SUGGESTED READINGS AND WEBSITES

● https://www.jstor.org/stable/26309234
● https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/the-aztecs-of-mexico-a-zero-waste-society
● https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/technology-rainwater-survival
maya
● https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.01160/full
●https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343338937_Traditional_Herbal_Medicine
_in_Mesoamerica_Toward_Its_Evidence_Base_for_Improving_Universal_Health_Co
verage
● https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874115301549
GLOSSARY
Terms Definition

Agriculture Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil,

growing crops and raising livestock. It includes the
preparation of plant and animal products for people to
use and their distribution to markets. Agriculture
provides most of the world's food and fabrics (National
Geographic Society, 2022).

Astronomy Science that encompasses the study of all

extraterrestrial objects and phenomena. Until the
invention of the telescope and the discovery of the laws
of motion and gravity in the 17th century, astronomy
was primarily concerned with noting and predicting the
positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets, originally for
calendrical and astrological purposes and later for
navigational uses and scientific interest (Friedlander,
2022).

Civilization A civilization is a complex human society, usually made

up of different cities, with certain characteristics of
cultural and technological development. In many parts
of the world, early civilizations formed when people
began coming together in urban settlements (National
Geographic Society, 2022).

Culture The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits

of a racial, religious, or social group (Merriam-Webster,
2022).

Education the knowledge and development resulting from the

process of being educated (Merriam-Webster,
2022).

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