24.8 America: a.d. 901 to 1000  (Page 3/3)

Harold Gladwin, in his book History of the Ancient Southwest

At A.D. 1,000 the Mogollon farming period was coming to an end, but in the Mimbres River area of southern New Mexico, the pottery was decorated with very beautiful and complex triangles, scrolls and zigzag lines with life-like decorations of animals and men inside the bowls. No one knows what happened to these people. They may have been absorbed by others coming down from the northern plateaus. There is little question but what the modern Hopi and Zuni Indians, later considered as part of the pueblo builders, were influenced by the Mogollons. (Ref. 210 )

In southern California the desert tradition continued until the end of the century when present day Yuma and Shoshone Indians may have moved into the area. The Shoshone language is related to the later Aztec. (Ref. 8 )

Mexico, central america, and the caribbean

The present day concept is that the Toltecs originated as a blend of northern nomads and civilized Mexican groups in central Mexico, but they became Mexico's greatest militaristic power for two centuries. The Classic Period in the northern Lowlands ended with the invasion of these Toltecs, who established themselves at Chichen Itze in Yucatan about 1,000

An interesting side light to 10th century Mexico has been added by Jeffrey Wilkerson's excavations (Ref. 236 ) at El Tajin in Vera Cruz, where some ten ball courts have been found. The "game" was an important religious ceremonial, using a solid rubber ball about six inches in diameter and propelled from one end of the court to the other by use of hips and perhaps at times elbows, upper arms and knees. A player, perhaps pre-selected, and perhaps impersonating a god, was decapitated at the conclusion of the "game". El Tajin's rulers were named in the ancient Meso-American fashion according to their birth date in the 260 day Sacred Round religious calendar (composed of 20 rotating day names and 13 numerical prefixes). The chief ruler in this century, who may have been one of the last, was called 13 Rabbit and he was always represented in drawings by a rabbit on top of three dots and two bars, over his head. (See America: 0 to A.D. 100 , regarding this mathematical notation). After 13 Rabbit's time, El Tajin appears to have been destroyed, perhaps by the Totanacs who live there now. (Ref. 88 , 176 , 155 , 45 , 236 , 205 )

Ritual human sacrifices occurred throughout the Classic Period in Central America, even in the Classic Maya Society and the Late Post-classic Period (A.D. 900-1,400) showed this on an ever increasing scale. (Ref. 273 ) The history of the bow and arrow in this region is difficult to clarify. It appears that this weapon was introduced to the Early Post- classic Maya about A.D. 1,000 by mercenary Toltecs from the Valley of Mexico. The bow then replaced the atlatl, which had previously been introduced by the Teotihuacanos. Actual descriptions of the use of bows and arrows by Maya, however, did not appear until some centuries later. (Ref. 283 )

Costa Rica continued in the archeological Period V, with an increasing preference for level, fertile land suitable for agriculture. Active trade with other parts of Central America is revealed by the discovery of such objects as alabaster jars from Honduras and early varieties of Plumbate pottery, a ware with a metallic-type, vitrified surface made in Guatemala or El Salvador. (Ref. 265 )

South america

By about A.D. 900 the Aymaras Indians established a culture in Bolivia (known as "upper" Peru) and this existed for some 300 years until they were subjugated by the Incas. By the year 1,000, or even earlier, all coastal evidence of Tiahuanacoan influence was gone. The invaders, if they were actually such, had blended with the local coastal populations. According to radio-carbon datings, nothing of value was produced in any place about Lake Titicaca after A.D. 1,000 and the beautiful pottery and fabrics had been replaced by motifs of Collao. Actual archeological knowledge of the centuries just prior to the Spanish conquest, however, is very poor. Except for the presence of two large centers - Tiahuanaco in Bolivia and Huari in Peru - actual dates and duration unknown, there is little concrete information. (Ref. 62 )

Forward to America: A.D. 1001 to 1100

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