What is the pre-Columbian civilization?
The alternative terms precontact, precolonial, or prehistoric Americas are also used; in Latin America, the usual term is pre-Hispanic. Many pre-Columbian civilizations were marked by permanent settlements, cities, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, major earthworks, and complex societal hierarchies.
What were the pre-Columbian sedentary societies like?
Numerous pre-Columbian societies were sedentary, such as the Pueblo peoples, Mandan, Hidatsa and others, and some established large settlements, even cities, such as Cahokia, in what is now Illinois.
Was there a pre-Columbian presence of cultivated plants in Oceania?
A diffusion by human agents has been put forward to explain the pre-Columbian presence in Oceania of several cultivated plant species native to South America, such as the bottle gourd ( Lagenaria siceraria) or sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas ). Direct archaeological evidence for such pre-Columbian contacts and transport has not emerged.
How did historians interpret the pre-Columbian period?
Before the development of archaeology in the 19th century, historians of the pre-Columbian period mainly interpreted the records of the European conquerors and the accounts of early European travelers and antiquaries.
What is the new paradigm in agriculture?
A new paradigm has started to emerge where agriculture is seen as having the ca- pacity to help achieve several of the major dimen- sions of development, most particularly accelerating GDP growth at early stages of development, reduc- ing poverty and vulnerability, narrowing rural-urban income disparities, releasing …
When did agriculture develop in North America?
∼10,000 yearsAgriculture began independently in both North and South America ∼10,000 years before present (YBP), within a few thousand years of the arrival of humans in the Americas.
Did Native Americans plow?
Because Natives did not use plows, their soils were healthier, more biologically diverse. (Plowing causes soil degradation). Corn-farming Indians in the New York State region were more productive than their European wheat-farming counterparts.
How did farming change North American societies?
Farming meant that people did not need to travel to find food. Instead, they began to live in settled communities, and grew crops or raised animals on nearby land. They built stronger, more permanent homes and surrounded their settlements with walls to protect themselves.
What agriculture is native to North America?
Squash. As one of the “Three Sisters,” three main agricultural crops native to North America (along with beans and corn), squash varieties come in different shapes and sizes.
How did Native Americans develop farming?
Native Americans grew corn on mounds to keep the roots dry during wet springs in the Northeastern United States. About 300 years ago, the Iroquois Confederacy, a union of five (later six) tribes, lived in the area, and evidence for their farm productivity comes, ironically, from armies that sought to destroy them.
Which successful farming strategy did early Native American groups use?
Irrigation and several techniques of water harvesting and conservation were essential for successful agriculture. To take advantage of limited water, the southwestern Native Americans utilized irrigation canals, terraces (trincheras), rock mulches, and floodplain cultivation.
What were the agriculture practices in the Americas before European settlers arrived?
Using food scraps and wastes as fertilizers and organic materials, they rotated crops and farmland, used no-till practices and used intercropping methods such as the three sisters. Planting squash to shade out weeds, beans to fixate nitrogen, and corn for the beans to climb.
What is the Calpulli clan?
If these are descent lines, then the calpulli resembled quite closely a type of kin group called by anthropologists a ramage, or a conical clan. This is a group with a myth of common descent, divided into ranked senior and junior lineages based on the seniority of older versus younger brother in the group genealogy.
Why were tax collectors important?
The tax collectors, or calpixque, were especially important administrators because they acted as the rulers’ agents in collecting goods and services from the calpulli chiefs. Most of these positions were appointed and selected from two classes—the pipiltin (plural of pilli ), and the professional warriors.
What is the lowest level of organization in Aztec society?
Aztec social and political organization can be divided into a number of levels of increasing size and complexity of organization. The nuclear family —that is, a pair of cohabiting adults and their unmarried children—formed the lowest level of organization.
What was the role of the nuclear family in Aztec culture?
The nuclear family functioned in procreation, education of children, and as a unit of food preparation and consumption, with a well-defined division of labour between husband and wife. Among the Aztec, however, a number of nuclear families usually resided together in a single cooperating household, or extended family.
How was humidity solved?
The problem of humidity was solved by canal irrigation of both the floodwater and permanent type. Much of the irrigation was done just before planting in April and May in order to give crops a head start and hence avoid the autumn frosts. Terracing functioned also as a method of conserving moisture.
How was soil fertility maintained?
Soil fertility was maintained by plant and animal fertilizers, by short-cycle fallowing, and by irrigation. In gently sloping terrain, erosion was controlled by earth and maguey terraces, in steeper areas by stone terracing. The problem of humidity was solved by canal irrigation of both the floodwater and permanent type.
How much rain falls in the valley floor?
The annual rainfall varied from 20 to 35 inches (500 to 900 millimetres) in the valley floor to a maximum of 50 inches on the southern escarpment. Approximately 80 percent of the rain fell between May 1 and October 1.
What is the Woodland period?
The Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures lasted from roughly 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. The term was coined in the 1930s and refers to prehistoric sites between the Archaic period and the Mississippian cultures. The Adena culture and the ensuing Hopewell tradition during this period built monumental earthwork architecture and established continent-spanning trade and exchange networks.
What is the micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America?
The micro-satellite diversity and distributions of the Y lineage specific to South America indicates that certain Amerindian populations have been isolated since the initial colonization of the region.
What is the pattern of the Amerindians?
The pattern indicates Indigenous Amerindians experienced two very distinctive genetic episodes; first with the initial-peopling of the Americas, and secondly with European colonization of the Americas.
What is the Y-DNA?
See also: Y-DNA haplogroups in Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The haplogroup most commonly associated with Indigenous Amerindian genetics is Haplogroup Q1a3a (Y-DNA). Y-DNA, like mtDNA, differs from other nuclear chromosomes in that the majority of the Y chromosome is unique and does not recombine during meiosis.
How long ago did the first migrations occur?
The first is the short chronology theory with the first movement beyond Alaska into the Americas occurring no earlier than 14,000–17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants.
What did historians of the pre-Columbian period mainly interpreted?
Before the development of archaeology in the 19th century, historians of the pre-Columbian period mainly interpreted the records of the European conquerors and the accounts of early European travelers and antiquaries.
What was the impact of the decline of the Olmec on Mexico?
The decline of the Olmec resulted in a power vacuum in Mexico. Emerging from that vacuum was Teotihuacan, first settled in 300 BCE. By 150 CE, Teotihuacan had risen to become the first true metropolis of what is now called North America. Teotihuacan established a new economic and political order never before seen in Mexico. Its influence stretched across Mexico into Central America, founding new dynasties in the Maya cities of Tikal, Copan, and Kaminaljuyú. Teotihuacan’s influence over the Maya civilization cannot be overstated: it transformed political power, artistic depictions, and the nature of economics. Within the city of Teotihuacan was a diverse and cosmopolitan population. Most of the regional ethnicities of Mexico were represented in the city, such as Zapotecs from the Oaxaca region. They lived in apartment communities where they worked their trades and contributed to the city’s economic and cultural prowess. Teotihuacan’s economic pull impacted areas in northern Mexico as well. It was a city whose monumental architecture reflected a monumental new era in Mexican civilization, declining in political power about 650 CE—but lasting in cultural influence for the better part of a millennium, to around 950 CE.