7.8 America: 1000 to 700 b.c.  (Page 2/2)

In the Cochise area of southwest United States a new and more vigorous strain of corn was imported from Mexico about 1,000 B.C. A new plant, the red kidney bean, also appeared as the Cochise began to build simple pit-houses and group themselves together in small villages. As agricultural activities made easier living, they had time to develop early pottery forms and soon figurines of people and animals. Findings in the refuse of the Ventana Cave, some 100 miles from Tucson, have revealed these gradual changes from hunter to farmer. (Ref. 210 )

Mexico, central america, and the caribbean

In previous chapters we have mentioned the early cultures in both Oaxaca and Tehuacan which are adjacent areas in southern Mexico. At Tehuacan the Ajalpan cultural phase ran from 1,500 to 850 B.C. and excavations have revealed that about 40% of their diet came from agricultural products, 31% from wild plants and 29% from meat. Various settlements were scattered along the waterways, with caves for summer occupation to escape the heat. Population increased rapidly, as agriculture was improved. The next phase, beginning in 850 B.C., was the Santa Maria, which saw the rise of templed villages, a figurine cult, and some irrigation. (Ref. 259 ) The Zapotecs of Monte Alban (Oaxaca) developed true civilizations with populations in the tens of thousands, a hierarchy of social classes, a civil service, priesthoods and specialists in commerce, administration and government.

The Olmecs at the base of the Yucatan peninsula had similar progress and a distinctive culture dominated by a powerful religion with sky or rain deities in the form of jaguar people with drooping or snarling feline mouths and deformed heads. They originated the bar and dot calendar which traditionally has been credited to the later Mayas and they had fine jade carvings. As their population increased they continued to live in villages scattered throughout the forest, but at intervals they built impressive centers for ceremonial, civic and perhaps commercial use. Each center was the focal point for the life and culture of some 10,000 people.

Four types of exotic maize found in Guatemala were entirely confined to the western coast area and all are of South American origin, giving further suggestion of maritime contact between Ecuador-Peru and Guatemala. Coe (Ref. 36 ) has shown that boats, even without the special Peruvian guaras (a system of center-boards acting as adjustable keels) could sail along the South American - Middle American coasts, going one direction at certain times of the year and reversing direction at other seasons, similar to the monsoon wind system of the Indian Ocean. (Ref. 45 , 155 , 19 , 36 ) Additional Notes

South america

About 800 B.C. one of the Peruvian states, the Chavin, underwent an expansion much like the Olmecs did in Central America. This civilization, with social classes, bureaucracies, and priests, soon spread throughout the northern half of Peru. Heyerdahl (Ref. 95 ) writes that this civilization appears to be a direct extension down the coast from the Olmec be- cause there were multiple closely related jungle civilizations in a narrow coastal line, apparently in contact one with the other by sea, while outside this narrow civilized strip there was nothing but barbarian jungle tribes of Amerindians throughout Venezuela, Guiana and all of Brazil. And yet there were many differences between the Chavin and the Olmec' Mesoamerica had writing, South America did not; Peru had metallurgy by 300 B.C., Mexico not until about A.D. 1000. Engel (Ref. 62 ) does not relate the South American culture to the Olmecs, but does agree that it apparently developed rapidly, perhaps in a single generation and occupied most of the area of present day Peru. Beneath the Chavin layer (archaeological speaking), occasionally complete "pre-ceramic" villages can be found. The Chavin traits included low-relief ornaments made on hammered gold leaf, cigars (but not from tobacco), carved and polished stone vessels and tools including notched axes and cylindrical maces - some of the stone pieces so perfect that they seem to be replicas of objects previously made in metal. The Chavins also used anthracite mirrors and constructed very large architectural units, some several hundred yards long. The decorative themes almost all derived from five basic subjects, as follows:

• African style mouth with thick lips. (See Heyerdahl's ideas under Central America )
• Snake-like bodies protruding from demoniacal or human figures.Some are reminiscent of a crocodile snout, considered sacred in Africa
• Fangs, shaped like curved swords
• Crenellations, staircases or geometric forms recalling models of buildings or fortresses
• Vessels representing human or demonic heads, animals and plants

The center of the Chavin society was the village of Chavin de Huantar, probably a temple at 10,000 feet altitude consisting of a massive building 500 feet long in an inter- Andean valley on the west bank of the Mosna River. Engel thinks that Chavin art may well be the product of foreign immigration, but from where? Some have said South Asia, some China and Meggers (Ref. 141 ) says the Jomon Culture of Japan. Engel is impressed with the resemblance to Oaxaca and Vera Cruz. Las Haldas became another great Chavin complex, measuring 1,220 feet long by 260 feet wide and covering 7 1/2 acres, with a platform overhanging the sea at a height of 130 feet. Chavin influence reached as far south as the Mantaro basin in central Peru, as indicated by pottery found there. (Ref. 255 )

Some would date the beginning of the Tiahuanaco Society to 800 B.C. (Ref. 255 ) but since this date remains very debatable and since the full development of this society was reached only later, we shall defer discussion of it until the 5th century B.C.

In the 2nd millennium and this part of the 1st millennium B.C. a drier climate reduced the Amazonian forests to scattered refuges and during this period migration of various tribes may have been relatively easy. The resulting spread may help to explain the multiplicity of languages spoken there since then. (Ref. 256 )

Forward to America: 700 to 601 B.C.

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