Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Culture History (Second Edition) [2 ed.] 0500287147, 9780500287149

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SUSAN TOBY EVANS

ANCIENT M EXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA Archaeology and Culture History

Thames & Hudson

ANCIENT MEXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA

SUSAN TOBY EVANS

ANCIENT MEXICO & CENTRAL AMERICA ARCHAEOLOGY AND CULTURE HIS" SECOND EDITION

with 462 illustrations, 80 in color

Thames & Hudson

CONTENTS

To my husband, David Webster, with many thanks

PREFACE

A PART I

,{

MESOAMERICA, MIDDLE AiV .RICA, AND ITS PEOPLES

CHAPTER 1 ANCIENT MESO

,5

RICA,

THE CIVILIZATION AND ITS AN : CE DENTS 17 ANCIENT M EXICO A ND CE NTRAL AM ERI CULTURAL, A ND G LOBAL CO NTEXT 19

Frontispiece: At the Maya site of Tikal, the pyramids of the North Acropolis loom above the tropical forest. c

IN GEOGRAPHICAL,

Mesoamerica and Middle America ulture and Geography 19 How Societal Co 1 exity Develops 21 SPECIAL FEATU RE Cultural Evoluti aid Types of Societies 23 Culture History anci : ronology 28

2004, 2008 Thames & Hudson Ltd, London

MIDDLE AMERICAN A ND M ESOAMERICA. •; CULTURE H ISTORY 31 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. First published in 2004 in hardcover in the United States of America by Thames & Hudson Inc.

Middle America: Hunter-Foragers :he Paleoindian and Archaic Periods 31 Mesoam; ;a: Villagers and Urbanites of t he Formative, Classic, and Postclassic Periods 33 SPECIAL FEATURE Re ligion and Creation 34 New Spain: The Colonial Period 2 Mexico and Central America: The Republican Period and the Rise of M odern Archaeology 43

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thamesandhudsonusa.com Second edition 2008

2L rn^CllaiC

8000

ouuu

Northern Arid Zone ** s„n

SE: Sierra Madre Oriental SE: Tamaulipas

Diablo

Di guit0, Big Bend,

Lerraa

2„„ ,c)

Oe=S, Coahui]a

| ,nflemillo

Diablo Lerma Cave sites

?nnn 200 °

Initial Formative

complex, Cochise

1200BC

J»

Qampo

\i > Nogales

Flacco/Guerra/Mesa de Guaje Almagre

La Perra

Northwestern Frontier West Mexico

El Calon shell mound Matanchen, El Openo Capacha complex Machalilla phase

Miehoaean Guerrero

' 0sa°nes Ph /S* C"riC ***** complen ^ 2 400 BC. P uerto Marques, Pox"pottery, earliest in Mesoamerica

Morelos

I Santa Isabel Iztapan Mammoth Kill Site

Basin of Mexico

Playa, Zohapilco phases 2300 BC: earliest figurine

Tula region Toluca

Amate phase Ixtapaluca phase Coapexco, Ayotla subphase Tlatilco, Cuicuilco

Puebla Tlaxeala

Tzompantepec Tzompantepec

Gulf Lowlands, north

j

Gulf Lowlands, north-central Gulf Lowlands, south-central Tehuacan Valley Mixteca Alta

.

! 5anta Luisa, La Conchita]

Palo Hueco phase

Ajuereado, El Riego Coxcatlan

Abejas

Purron

Ajalpan

Oaxaca

Naquitz phase Guild Naquitz Cave Tehuantepec

™/!Lgr

G WsC S Mani"eZ- E8PiridWn' De Gheo-Shih site; 4250 sc.- maize at Guild Naquitz

Gulf Lowlands, south

Lagunita

Chiapas Interior Plateau

Santa Marta

Chiapas and

Chantuto A, B phases

Guatemala Coast

Chantuto sites Guatemala Highlands Maya Lowlands, north

Loltun Cave

Qjochf, Bajfo 1

r3 r Cotorra Barra, Locona, Ocos Mokaya culture, Paso de la Amada Arevalo

Belize Sand Hill Orange Walk Melinda Progreso Betz Landing

Maya Lowlands, south Southeastern Mesoamerica Intermediate Area

San JoseMogot

Period I

Period II j Monagrillo shell mound, 2500 BC: earliest pottery i in Middle America

Selected phase names; sites and events are in italic type

Period III

ANCIENT MESOAMERICA, THE CIVILIZATION AND ITS ANTECEDENTS

1.1 Tenochtitlan, view of the Great Temple precinct, looking to the southeast, with the mountains Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl in the distance.

IN NOVEMBER 1519, the Aztec king Motecuzoma (Montezuma) met his honored Spanish guest, Hernan Cortes, in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that would later become Mexico City. The city, with its huge pyramids, plazas, and palaces, was arrayed around them [1.1]. Vast and busy, it was thickly settled with twice as many people as lived in any of the great cities of Spain at that time. And in contrast to the dusty dryness of s o many Spanish towns, Tenochtitlan, surrounded by a lake, was a verdant green island crosscut by glittering canals and plastered roads. Thick stands of tall, willowy trees framed handsome mansions adorned with flowers and fra­ grant garlands. The city's center was dominated by the pyramids of the Great Temple precinct, and, just to the south, the city's main plaza, an expansive open square. Motecuzoma's grand palace filled another

1 8 M E S O A M E R I C A , MI D D L E A M E R I C A . A ND I T S PE O P L E S

1 -2 Part of the Western world in with emphasis on Middle America and Spain. The limits of the geographical subcontinent. Middle America, are shown with a dashed line. The limits of the culture area, Mesoamerica, are shown with a colored line. The Aztec empire, a political construct, covers the area that is shaded. AD 1519,

covered another""btolTjLTwes^offteGrafTem^' A- SeC°nd P""^6 Cortes and his company were quartered ^P* P™' and there baby "larger than Zll coS77 ^ *ato' WhicI> ™ -"stanSpaniSh kingdoms f1-2!This situation would persist foranoU,^ T conquer and annex this Mexican domain Th T ° - 1°' ^ Spai" WOuld situation was unusual if not nnin • k & panish-Mexican geopolitical there been such a colLon of ^ hiSt0ry: DeVer before had other. Here were two comDlex snr" ' comPIetely unknown to each American, each with kings and nea* 1