Arky Exam 4

A swath of lush vegetation 
descending from the highlands of 
Ethiopia and standing in sharp contrast 
to the surrounding desert. 
• The annual flooding deposited rich 
alluvial silts across the valley floor. 
• Egypt is an extreme case of 
circumscription in which the limits of 
inhabitable land are clearly defined. Almost all human settlements were located 
along the river. 
• The richness of the annual flooding =
massive irrigation projects unnecessary. 

Upper Egypt: The southern Egyptian 
Nile Valley ending in a series of 
cataracts, or rapids, in the area 
around the modern border between 
Egypt and Sudan. 
• Lower Egypt: The northern part of 
the valley, including the Nile Delta. 

An artifact discovered at the 
site of Hierakonpolis. 
• Both sides show the 
unification of Upper and 
Lower Egypt under King 
Narmer 

• 2 crowns show the unification (white –upper, red-lower)  

Collapse meaning that the unification of upper and lower Egypt fell apart

three cycles of integration and 
collapse. 

his identification as a divinity. 
• The king was the human incarnation 
of the falcon god Horus, the 
paramount god in the Egyptian 
pantheon. 
• Upon his death, the king became the 
incarnation of Osiris, the god of the 
dead. 

The king’s power was linked to the 
concept of ma’at: it combines the 
virtues of balance and justice. 
• It was of central importance to 
Egyptian society. 
• The role of the king was to ensure the 
preservation of ma’at; to battle chaos 
and disorder. 

There is a clear sense that the 
extended family was an essential 
social unit in ancient Egypt. 
• Kingship was probably based on an 
extension of the household, and 
workers were organized by clans or 
extended families. 

Image: Tomb of Ty, Saqqara (Old Kingdom): bakery/brewing with depictions of scribes.

The king controlled the state through 
the agency of armies of scribes. 
• Scribes had tight control over the 
harvesting and processing of cereal, as 
well as transport and distribution 

Hieroglyphic writing: used primarily 
for inscribing monuments, it combines: 
• Logograms: signs that represent a 
whole word. 
• Phonograms: signs that represent 
sounds. 
• Determinatives: signs that indicate 
the exact meaning of a word. 
Government and Writing 
Hieratic and Demotic writing: used 
for administrative documents. 
• Generally written in ink with a reed 
pen on papyrus. 

The development of royal mortuary 
architecture has its roots in the 
Predynastic period. 
• By the Early Dynastic period, royal 
burial structures were built in 
Abydos. 
Tomb 100, Hierakonpolis: the 
earliest structure identified as a royal 
tomb, dated to the end of the 
Predynastic period (3000 BC). 
• It is a mud brick structure with wall 
paintings, with some depictions of 
boats 

During the first and second dynasties, the 
royal burial moved to Abydos. 
• The tombs are simple brick chambers 
built into pits dug into the ground. 
• Burial enclosures of King Aha, have been 
purposefully destroyed after construction. 
It comprises human and animal sacrifices 
and a fleet of buried boats 

By the Third Dynasty, the royal burial site 
moved to Saqqara. 
• Stepped pyramid, the earliest pyramid 
constructed in Egypt, for King Djoser. 
• The pyramid was built in a series of 
stages, originally conceived as a filled 
enclosure. 
• The fundamental characteristic of the 
Djoser complex is that it encloses and 
hides sacred space 

Pyramid building reached its apex 
with the Fourth Dynasty kings: 
Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus. 
• They are one element of a complex 
made up of four parts: 
1. The valley temple 
2. The causeway connecting the 
valley temple to the pyramids. 
3. The mortuary temple 
4. The pyramid itself. 

The monumental pyramids are an 
inescapable presence visible to all. 
• They show the kings’ and state’s 
power as a “natural” part of the 
landscape. 
• But not all is visible: the pyramids 
made visible the power of the king 
while cloaking his body in mystery 

The first and largest pyramid ever built at 
Giza (146 meters and 2,300,000 
blocks of stone). 
• This task appears to have been 
accomplished during a reign that 
lasted 32 years 

slightly smaller than Cheops (136.4 
metres). At Giza
• Chephren’s image is well preserved in 
powerful sculptures in his pyramid’s 
valley temple. 
• The Great Sphinx, the figure of a 
feline with a human head carved 
into the bedrock 

the last king to build a pyramid at Giza. 
Much more modest than his 
predecessors ( 
only 65.5 m). 
• Some of the most beautiful Old Kingdom 
sculptures are figures of Mycerinus. 

The Egyptian king ruled over the 
entire Nile Valley: It was a territorial 
state rather than a city-state. 
• The expression of the state was its 
unification, embodied in the king 
wearing both crowns. 
• Unlike Mesopotamia, the monumental 
core of the Early Egyptian state was 
not embedded in an urban center. 

• Excavations has provided a unique 
horizontal exposure of an Egyptian 
urban center during the New Kingdom. 
• Akhenaten put in place religious reforms 
and new art styles. 
• Amarna (Tell el-Amarna): A city built 
by the heretic king Akhenaten (1363- 
1347 BC) and abandoned after his 
reign. 

Excavated by the British archaeologist Arthur Evans. 1900 
• A large palace adorned with frescoes showing 
scenes of bull-leaping festivals. 
• They had discovered a previously unknown 
civilization: The Minoan culture of Crete.

The island of Crete: the homeland of 
the Minoan culture. 
• The Peloponnese Peninsula and 
Central Greece: where the Mycenaean 
societies developed. 
• The islands of the Cyclades. 
• Asia Minor, in western Turkey

The Peloponnese Peninsula and Crete: 
varied topography with high 
mountain peaks and small open 
plains. 

pottery played an important role in establishing this time line. Note the protopalatial and neo palatial - emergence of social complexity

Archaeology had painted a picture of 
Minoans and Myceneaens as opposites: 
• Minoans: peaceful societies. 
• Mycenaeans: Aggressive warriors. 
• Palaikastro, Crete: An open site. 
• Lion Gate, Mycenae: An iconic and 
important example of Mycenaean 
defensive architecture. 

The core of both Minoan and Mycenaean 
states was the palace. 
• Minoan palaces: Massive and elaborated 
constructions that might have inspired  the myth of Theseus, the 
Minotaur, and the labyrinth. 

(1986): 

• Early State Modules: Both societies 
consisted of autonomous political 
units. 
• Peer Polity Interaction: A term to 
describe the full range of exchanges 
taking place between autonomous 
sociopolitical units. 

 They fuel the development of 
social complexity. 

societies interacting constantly but always maintaining independence

Archeologists have questioned whether the 
hierarchical organization characteristic of 
state society existed in Minoan Crete. 

Def. The relation of elements to 
one another when they are not ranked. 
Minoan Crete: Complex societies organization 
may be developed without a clearly defined 
ranking of members of society.

Minoan. The center of the 
palace and the heart of its 
function is the central court. 
• Bull games, feasting, dancing, 
and other public events are 
thought to have occurred in 
those spaces. 
• Estimation of people 
partying: 
1,500 to 5,000. 

Pithoi: large storage vessels found in 
the storerooms of the place at Knossos. 
• Multiple storage facilities, show the amount of surplus in the hands of the  rulers. 

• Palaces also played an important role 
as workshops for the production of 
textiles. 

Mycenaean 

The most wholly preserved example of a 
Mycenean palace. 
• The center of the palace is a large 
hall known as a megaron, with a 
central hearth and four central pillars. 
• It also has an open court for public 
gatherings. 

• Jack Davis and Sharon Stocker 
excavated an impressively rich Bronze 
Age tomb dated 1450 BC in 2015. 
• More than 3,000 artifacts, including 
four solid gold engraved rings, silver 
cups, beads of precious stones, a 
bronze mirror, ivory combo weapons, 
pottery, and an ivory plaque engraved 
with a griffin. 

Similarities: 
• Large rooms in the center. 
• Both places were lavishly painted. 
The Palaces 
Differences: 
• The presence of elaborated funerary 
rituals on Mycenaean sites. 
• The absence of large tombs on 
Minoan sites. 

 The palaces were more than the 
setting for spectacle. 
• There were seats for 
administration. 
• Peer Polity Interaction: 
• Competition 
• Emulation 
• Symbolic entertainment 
• Exchange 

For the Bronze Age Aegean, there is 
evidence of both military conflicts and 
ritualized contests, such as boxing matches 
and bullfights 

• Controlled the production of basic 
commodities. 
• Housed the manufacture of goods. 
• Hosted large-scale spectacles and 
feasts. 
Palaces were part of a broader cultural 
landscape. 

Until the Neopalatial period, the only 
documents that survive from Crete 
are in scripts, Linear A and Cretan 
hieroglyphics. 
• Neither has been deciphered 

Linear B: A script used to write the 
Mycenaean language. 
• Texts in Linear B are a major source 
of information about the organization 
of Aegean society. 
• It is possible that it was first 
developed by Mycenaeans living in 
Crete 

Alice Kober 
Michael Ventris 

The title of the ruler 
(leader, chief) in Linear B texts. 
• Although little is known about the 
power of this position, tablets show 
that the wanax controlled a vast 
number of resources (wheat, wool). 
The Mask of Agamemnon, Mycenae, 1500 BC 

• Akrotiri: A Bronze Age town on the 
Cycladic island of Thera (Santorini) 
that was buried by a catastrophic 
volcanic eruption. 
• Radiocarbon dating indicates c.1600 
BC for the eruption. 

• Excavations provide a unique picture of a Bronze Age Cycladic town and 
important evidence about the Minoan expansion into the Cycladic Islands. 

• Thera has sparked a large debate: archaeologists differ on its impact on the sites of Crete. 
• For some, the eruption was merely a 
distant loud noise. 
• For others, the eruption had political 
consequences: the rapid decline in 
the power of Minoan elites. 

(Town in Crete, Greece)

Geoarchaeological 
research shows that the eruption 
of Thera might have caused a 
massive tsunami. 
1. The eruption led to the 
destruction of Minoan naval forces, 
leaving them vulnerable to attack 
by Mycenaeans. 
2. The eruption shook the source of 
authority of the rulers: people lost 
their faith in them. 

• The Harappan Civilization: It developed along the Indus Valley in modern-day Pakistan 

• It developed at the same time the Great Pyramids were built in Egypt.--> around 3000BC 

• Presence of well-planned cities: Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.--->two cities of Harrapan culture  

• No monumental architecture or intricate mortuary rituals. Rulers remain nameless. 

• Harappan script remains undeciphered.----> hard to know about the story based on documents  

 An area extending along the course of the Indus River, covering parts of modern Pakistan and the Kutch and Gujarat Provinces of India. 

Identified as the land of Meluhha, mentioned in Mesopotamian texts as a trading partner

Twice the annual flow of the Nile and three times the combined flow of the Tigris and the Euphrates 

• Also, very unpredictable! 

• Rich agricultural lands bounded by mountains, the Thar Desert, and the Arabian Sea.

 An early site (Neolithic) with plants and animals domesticated first in the Middle East.--->wheat, barely, cattle, pigs  

• Square cells, possibly used as silos for storing surplus crops (5500 BC). 

Dates : 3300 BC - 2600 BC

Indus Valley

Large towns surrounded by fortification walls (defensive? river floods?)

increase in the uniformity of material culture

Dates: 2600 BC - 1900BC

Indus Valley

major urban centers

material culture is extremely uniform

• Houses and structures are laid along a regular grid of streets  

• Sense of order 

• Emphasis on hygiene --> elaborate drains from houses to covered channels  

• Water supplied by wells ( well over 700) 

• Structures were built of fired bricks of a uniform size  

  Most settlements were small villages. Only a few cities greater than 80 hectares are known: 

  • Harappa 

  • Mohenjo-Daro 

  • Both sites were built on walled mounds: the elite lived on a high mound, and non-elite members lived in a lower town.--> social inequality  

An impressive structure built around a rectangular basin at Mohenjo-Daro.

It is one of the few monumental structures on a Harappan site.

At the center is a brick-lined basin, 3 meters deep, sealed with gypsum mortar and asphalt. It is surrounded by a pillared gallery.

A site for sacred rituals of cleanliness or a nice place to cool off?---> not knowing if it’s a ritual or everyday life thing is a significant challenge for archeologists

Monumental architecture but different? Not places, or mortuary architecture, but this is a place for community

Town covering 50 hectares surrounded by fortification walls, and divided into a Lower, Middle, and Upper area.---> inequality again  

•  Excavations have uncovered open areas (public gatherings?) and large water tanks.----> collective practices  

• The Upper Town: access is controlled by massive gates. 

•  The division of space is characteristic of Harappan sites. 

Known from carved stone sealings used to mark vessels and bundles. 

• Script has not been deciphered, and the significance of the scenes shown remains an enigma.--> no one really knows what's going on   - -Over 400 different signs identified: 

•  Logographic (signs representing words). 

• Ideographic (signs representing concepts).---> peace sign, hazard signs  

Depictions of animals and fantastic creatures--> which is important, something we hadn't seen before  

Are the inscriptions the names of the owners of the seals? 

• Or the names of deities with whom the owners were identified? 

• Depictions of animals, but also fantastic creatures! 

• Pashupati Seal: A three-headed deity? 

highly organized cities with a bureaucracy using a writing system. 

• Standardization of seals, weights, and bricks. 

• The vitality of cities is evident, but the government structure is obscure... 

• Elite identity, their power, and their relations remain mostly unknown.---> rulers kept anonymous which is interesting  

The Harappan elite appear not to have lived very differently from other members of society. 

• A few sculptures possibly depict royalty: The Priest King is the most impressive and well-preserved. (see image) Carnelian jewelry? Clothes made of silk? 

• The Harappan cities show a high degree of planning, unparalleled in the ancient
world.
• Leaders remain invisible, and burials and palaces are noticeably absent.
• Little evidence of monumental architecture, with one exception: baths!
• The Harappan civilization developed along the Indus River Valley. The material
culture is essentially uniform across the region.
• The two largest cities are Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro: regular grid of roadways,
and an impressive sewage system.
• Scripts are found mainly in seals, and it has not yet been deciphered.

A highly developed cultural history, and a cultural continuity going back in time as the Neolithic. 

In 221 BC, Ying Zheng, the First Emperor of Qin, began to assemble an army unlike the world had ever seen. 

• A terracotta army for the afterlife: 7000 soldiers, 130 chariots, and 700 horses. 

• It is said that the First Emperor also searched in vain for the secret source of immortality.---> Gilgamesh was also trying to do this

The Three Dynasties emerged in northern China between 2000 BC and 500 BC: the Xia, the Shang, and the Zhou dynasties. 

• The Three Dynasties mark the transition to urban state societies. 

note the timeline in the image

 However, during this period, China cannot be regarded as a single unified political entity.--> unlike greece where you have one ruler, you have dynasties, that keep their own independence,

Yi-Luo Valley, northern China: Identified as the political center of the Xia and Early Shang Dynasties. 

• Erlitou: A large site (city), possibly the capital of the Xia Dynasty. 

•  400 hectares. 

•  Inhabited between 1800 BC and 1600 BC. 

•  Two large palace enclosures with elite goods such as bronze (the earliest ritual vessels) and jade.---->bronze is very important, a fun clue for later, this site has the earliest evidence of bronze objects?? 

Yanshi: Only 10 km northeast of Erlitou. 

• The development of the city seem to correlate with the downfall of Erlitou. 

•  Probably linked to the Shang conquest of the Xia, recorded in historical documents. 

•  Cities stood at the apex of a complex regional settlement organization 

An immense city, the capital of the Late Shang Dynasty (1200 BC-1045 BC). 

•  The palace-temple area consists of large structures with diverse functions: residentials, temples, and ceremonial areas. 

•  Elites lived in houses built on platforms, and people outside this zone lived in small houses dug into the ground.----> inequality 

 Excavations at Anyang have uncovered a massive burial ground: 

•  1000 simple burials and 11 deep burial pits reached by ramps. Presence of sacrificial victims. 

 The Tomb of Fu Hao: 440 bronzes and almost 600 jades

200 horses and 220 dogs buried in several pits. ... and objects! Evidence of impressive offerings. - - -Elites and Authority  

Oracle bones: Bones with inscriptions, first discovered in antiquities market. 

•  Bones were used beginning in the Shang period to predict the outcomes of events ranging from battles to the weather.----> the ability to predict the future. Different than Mesopotamia, Egypt, who look primarily at preserving the past, Asia is looking to predict the future.  

• More than 150,000 oracle bones have been recovered: the earliest record of systematic writing from China. 

1. The king posed a question to his ancestors in a special ceremony. 

2. They apply heat to specially prepared hollows at the back of the bone to produce cracks on the front. 

3. The king interprets these cracks. 

4. The question, the divination, and the eventual outcome are inscribed on the bone. 

 In later periods, historical records and economic transactions were recorded on silk and bamboo slips, but none have survived from the Shang period. 

Excavations uncovered spectacular artifacts, unique in style and contemporary with Anyang. 

•  The wealth of the finds shows that this site was a major urban center. 

• Gilded bronze head 

Cities everywhere, and all cities showed wealth 

Elites and Authority  

1. Military strength was critical to the power of the Shang kings. 

2.  Legitimacy also rested on their role in performing rituals: the power of divination. 

 Bronze Vessels were part of the exclusive domain of royalty and nobility and tools of political authority.---> look its back !! 

Large sites have evidence of human and animal sacrifices: dogs, pigs, cattle, horses, and elephants were found in pits. 

These show power of kings to predict future. Divination  

 Anyang: 200 horses and 220 dogs buried in several pits. ... and objects! Evidence of impressive offerings.

• (1046 BC- 256 BC):

  Conflicts and military power of local states during the Zhou Dynasty are evident, for example, at: 

 Xiadu, Yan State: a city enclosed by walls: palaces, neighborhoods, cemeteries, and workshops. 

 The royal cemetery of the state of Qi at Linzi, where 600 sacrificial horses were found. 

 Chenzhuang: burials of horses and chariots. 

The unification of China in 221 BC under Ying Zheng, the First Emperor of Qin, marks a turning point in Chinese history: 

 The Great Wall: The emperor linked preexisting fortifications and established the northern border of his empire. 

• Anyang was the capital of the Shang Dynasty (1200-500 BC): Excavations have
recovered oracle bones, burials, and the remains of a large city.
• The legitimacy of Shang rulers rested on the role they played in performing
rituals.
• The Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, Zhou) emerged in northern China between
2000 BC and 500 BC.
• Erlitou and Yanshi, dated to the Xia and Early Shang Dynasties, were the main
and most important cities in a region peopled by settlement and villages.
• Excavations at Sanxingdui have uncovered artifacts contemporary with Anyang,
demonstrating the regional influence of major empire cities.

More than a geographically 
defined region, it is a cultural 
region defined by specific 
traits: 
• Social Complexity. 
• Urbanism. 
• Complex calendar and 
writing systems. 
• Public and collective 
gatherings (e.g. ball game). 
• Sacrifices and bloodletting. 

Exclusionary: a single ruler with a 
monopoly of power (Egypt, Mesopotamia). 
• Corporate: power is shared across 
different actors (Indus Valley, 
Mesoamerica). 

The earliest complex society in 
Mesoamerica. Olmec sites are located 
along the Gulf Coast of Mexico. 
• Between 1200 BC and 300 BC., the Olmec 
built major ceremonial centers. 

Evidence of highly 
sophisticated artistic tradition, including 
monumental sculptures of human heads. 

one of the oldest cities in 
Mesoamerica, located in the Oaxaca Valley.

• It was an enormous city with a 
population of over 80,000, located in the 
Valley of Mexico, and established 
between 1 AD and 200 AD. 
• The city was laid out along a road known 
as the Avenue of the Dead (5 km). 

• The growth of the city was fueled by 
the depopulation of the surrounding 
countryside. 
The great monuments along the Avenue: 
• The Pyramid of the Sun 
• The Ciudadela 
• The Temple of the Feathered Serpent 
• The Pyramid of the Moon 

Teotihuacán.

the largest 
monument (64 meters), with a cave 
running below it for about 100 meters. 
Most of its content was looted in antiquity

Teotihuacán.

A large compound, 
possibly a palace. At the back of it is the 
Temple of the Feathered Serpent 
(TFS). 
• Burials of sacrificial victims are distributed 
symmetrically along the four corners of 
the temple (military high-status). 

Around 400 AD, the façade of the TFS 
was smashed and burnt and then 
recovered with a new layer of 
construction. 
• Conflicts between new elite lineages 
and the military. 

Teotihuacán.

A temple with 
human sacrifice and debris from obsidian 
workshops, a critical component of 
military prowess. 
• Symbolic function, and also used for 
the production of military supplies. 

• The scale, the extensive urban planning, and monumental 
construction indicate a centralized state. 
• The monuments were built by rulers seeking to advance their power: the Pyramid of the Sun, the Cuidadela, the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, and the Pyramid  of the Moon. 
• A corporate political structure emerged; a shared power between the military and the religious. 
• It is possible that Teotihuacán’s stability was due to a rejection of submission to 
overawing deities and overpowering rulers. 
• The city of Teotihuacán developed between 1 AD and 200 AD. 

A state society (2,000 years ago) with 
a complex writing system and large 
urban centers in modern-day southern 
Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, 
and El Salvador. 

 The Setting 

• Slash-and-burn and Milpa 
system: the main agricultural 
methods used in the region. The 
forest is cleared by burning. 
• Development of raised fields for 
intensive agriculture needed to 
support large population. 

Copán, Honduras: two large 
pyramids and a ball court. 

Rosalila temple, buried inside the 
southern pyramid at Copán. (see flipside image)
• Eccentric Flints: Chipped stones in 
the shapes of deities (see image)
• Hieroglyphic Stairway: An 
inscription recounting the dynastic 
history. Characteristic of Copan. History as a way to legitimize power

• An effort to connect the rulers 
of the late period with the 
achievements of their ancestors. 
• Pyramids sit in the central area of the 
city, with royal residences, ball courts, 
and open plazas.

The Maya pyramids were built over 
centuries: new rulers tore down and 
built over the temples of their 
predecessors. 

Cities were ruled by dynasties of 
kings. 
• In Tikal, the earliest king 
documented was Yax Ehb’ Xook, 
who lived around 100 AD. 
• In Copán, the foundations of the 
royal dynasty date to 426 AD, with 
the first king named Yax K’uk’ Mo’. 

The foundation of cities was 
possibly linked with the arrival of 
elites connected to Teotihuacán. 
• Elites maintained their power for 
hundreds of years by building 
monuments. 
• Without claiming to be gods, rulers 
were closely identified with the 
temples at the core of the city.

Burials of Maya royalty do not contain 
large quantities of goods. 
• Tomb of Yax K’uk’ Mo’: jade, shell 
ornaments, headdresses made of shells, 
pottery vessels, and eccentric flints. 
• Objects could not have been 
preserved (textiles, feathers). 
• Objects were possibly looted. 
• Household Archaeology: Study the 
lives of ordinary people. 
• Evidence of locally produced objects, 
but also high-status trade items.  

A complex combination of pictographic (similar to Mesopotamia) and 
syllabic script that was initially 
developed to record major ritual 
events in the lives of rulers. 
• The same sign could represent 
either a concept or a syllable. 

Maya script was fully established during 
the Classic period, with traditions 
dating back to the Olmec period. 
• The use of a segment of an image to 
represent the whole. 

 

The recording of a complex calendar. 
• Stela C, Tres Zapotes, Olmec: 
The earliest-recorded calendar, dated 
300 BC. 

A complex system of multiple overlapping 
systems: The Long Count records time from a 
zero date (August 13, 3114 BC). 
• A series of five units: 1 day, 20 days, 360 days, 
7,200 days, 144,000 days. 
• 260-day ritual calendar (23 numbers and 20 
days). 
• 365-day solar calendar. 
Tatiana Proskouriakoff - deciphered the symbols

Bloodletting and sacrifices: 
important elements in Maya rituals to 
connect with the deities. 
• Ball Game: A ritual practice that 
revives Popol Vuh’s epic battle. 
• Popol Vuh: A myth that tells the epic 
tale of twins and their battle with the 
lords of the underworld. 

myth plays a critical role in the legitimacy of power

Around 870 AD, the cities collapsed: Construction 
ended, and cities were abandoned. 
Why? 
• Increase in conflicts, warfare and violence. 
• Severe droughts occurred during this period: 
intensive agriculture was not flexible enough 
to adapt to new conditions. 
• Evidence of terraces system and basins 
used for irrigation after the collapse. 

• Maya kings ruled over large urban centers. 
• The power of the kings was based on the prestige of the royal lineage and 
reinforced by the king’s critical ceremonial role. 
• The prestige was literally built in the form of monumental inscriptions and 
pyramids. 
• The hieroglyphic writing system was developed as a tool for recording the timing 
of ritual events. 
• The collapse, around 870 AD, was caused by multiple factors: warfare, ecological 
degradation, and external climatic events. 

An empire based in the capital city 
of Tenochtitlán, in the Valley of 
Mexico. 
• In 1519, it was one of the largest 
cities in the world and the largest 
city ever built in Mesoamerica. 
• Built on an island in Lake Texcoco, 
it has at the center the great twin 
pyramids of the Templo Mayor, 
the spiritual center of the empire. 

Florentine Codex: A document 
that is a major source of 
information on Aztec history and 
culture, compiled by the friar 
Bernardo de Sahagún soon after 
the Spanish conquest. 
• The end of the Aztec Empire came 
on August 13, 1521, when 
Cuauhtémoc was captured by 
Hernán Cortés. 

The Aztecs drew explicit connections to the 
Olmec and Teotihuacán (Nahuatl language): The place where gods are made. 
• Aztec kings traced their genealogy back to 
the rulers of the Toltec Empire (950 – 1150 AD): 
• Tula: The largest city of the Toltec Empire. 
• Aztlán: The homeland, possibly mythical, of the Aztecs. 

Increase in population and centralization 
of power. 
• An intensification of agriculture 
(chinampas, artificial lands between 
drainage canals). 
• A system for exacting tribute (Codex 
Mendoza). 
• Political alliances: The Triple Alliance 
of Tenochtitlán, Texcoco, and Tlapocán. 

Coyolxauhqui: A goddess killed by the 
Aztec patron god Huitzilopochtli in a 
central event in Aztec mythology. 
Coyolxauhqui Sculpture (image)
• The discovery in the pyramid at Templo 
Mayor showed that they had been built 
in stages: 
• Each pyramid with more than 100 
ceremonial caches. 

Excavations also showed the critical 
role of human sacrifices in Aztec rituals. 
• Skull Masks: Worked human skulls, 
with eye sockets filled with white shell 
discs. In some cases, flaked flint knives 
are inserted between the teeth or into 
the nasal cavities. 
• Who was the audience for the rituals 
enacted at the Templo Mayor? 

• The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán was built on an island in Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. 
• Tenochtitlán fell to the Spanish in 1521. Texts such as the Florentine Codex 
provide extensive documentation of Aztec history, religion, and society. 
• The Aztec traced their genealogy to the Toltec Empire, developed after the fall of 
Teotihuacán. 
• The economy relied on intensified agriculture, including the farming of raised 
fields (chinampas). 
• The Templo Mayor was the site of rituals involving human sacrifice, critical to 
Aztec cosmology. 

• The coast. 
• Quechua zone: 2,300-3,500 
meters. 
• Suni zone: 3,500-4,000 
meters. 
• Puna zone: 4,000-4,800 
meters. 
• Cordillera zone: highest peaks. 

The origins of social complexity in the Andean region. Caral and Aspero (5,500 – 3,500 years ago). 

The major turning point in the development of Andean social complexity. 
• A major ceremonial center in the Andean highlands, built around 1000 BC and abandoned c. 300 BC. 

• Located at 3,150 meters above sea level. 
• Valleys in the highlands are fertile but too narrow to support large populations. 
• The old temple consists of a sunken plaza and interior galleries. 

An engraved monolith at the core of Chavín de Huántar (see image) 

• There is limited evidence of feasting at the site: pottery vessels associated with drinking maize beer. 
• The courtyard size is inconsistent with the use of the temple for massive public gatherings. 
• The temple could have been an oracle, where people sought prophecies or cures. 

• A “maze” in the Andes... not a theater to watch rituals, but to participate in a sensory experience. 
• Psychoactive drugs. 
• Sound effects (“pututus”, giant conch  shell). 
• Pouring water through drainage canals creates loud noises, like applauses or the roar of a jaguar

The widespread influence has made this site central to the  study of social complexity. 
• ... It was not an empire. 
• ... It was not strictly political power. 
• The use of imagery of Amazonia suggests a movement of charismatic or shamanistic leaders to the highlands. 
• ... It was not a large urban center. 

• Moche societies on the northern coast of Peru built impressive mounds.  "sacrifces and sex" 

• Nazca societies developed on the southern coast of Peru. 
• A big problem to understand both societies: large scale looting. 
•Both developed 2,000 years ago and persisted for over 1,000 years. 

An intact elite burial gives a sense of the wealth and violence of Moche 
society: 
• Body adorned with gold. 
• Objects can be identified in paintings on pottery vessels. 
• Paintings are a representation of warrior elites. 
• Military power was essential to the social hierarchy. 

Moche 
site where a mural shows a line of naked prisoners and sacrificial scenes

Moche 

A massive mud brick mound where remains of sacrificial victims were uncovered and found in various states of dismemberment. 
• Evidence of a highly developed religious system

Moche sites were large, densely occupied settlements, with a population estimated at least 5,000 people. 
• State urban centers. 
• Moche society was possibly kinship base, without state bureaucracy, but an ayllu system: 
• Kin-based farming communities at the base of the Andean organization. 
 

Large-scale patterns created on the desert floor in southern Peru. 
• The Nazca Lines (geoglyphs) include depictions of humans and animals and many straight lines that stretch for miles. 
• To create the lines, people cleared rocks, leaving the lighter-colored surface exposed. 

The lines served as astronomical observatories. 
• They were paths walked along in ritual processions related to ceremonies. 
• The Ancient Nazca people were unable to view most of their creations, but they were able to experience them. 

 
The largest known Nazca site that appears to have served as a center for pilgrimage and ritual feasting. 
• Forty mounds, interspersed with large enclosures. It contains mostly ceremonial objects: 
• Panpipes 
• Engraved gourds 
• Textiles 
• Llama burials 

The Inca name for their empire, “the four parts together”. 
• At the peak, the Inca ruled over 12 million people from Colombia to central Chile. 
• The empire disintegrated in 1533 when Francisco Pizarro captured and executed the last Inca ruler Atahuallpa. 

Inca history is connected to the myth of the god Wiraqocha, who created the ancestors. They journeyed until they reached Cuzco, where they built the capital. 
• After death, the emperor was mummified in a collective ritual, but he continued to exert power by communicating with the living through ceremonies. 
 

The political history is a succession of  wars and conflicts over the throne. 

The collective descendants of the Inca emperor who received his properties. 
• The new ruler did not belong to the panaqa: he was forced to build his own fortune... hence, territorial expansion! 
 
• Panaqas controlled the royal states of former rulers (agricultural fields, forests, pastures, mines). 

The most famous of these royal states, built by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui between 1450 and 1470 AD. 
• A walled “town,” including aristocratic complexes and shrines. 

• Reciprocity 
• Redistribution 
• The Inca elite spent much time hosting feasts of corn beer, coca leaves, meat, and music. 
• In every site, the feast setting was large open plazas and halls built alongside them. 

Military power: army, fortresses. 
• Efficient administration. 
• Infrastructure: roads, bridges. 

The Inca did not have a formal writing system. 

• Khipu: A system of knotted strings the Inca used to record information. 
• Three interpretations for their function: 
• Personal memory devices: khipu kamayoq are individuals charged with keeping collective memory. 
• A coding system for language. 
• Recording device used for accounting and economic purposes. 

a network linking 40,000 km of roads across six countries (UNESCO World Heritage Site). 
Tampu or Tambos: “Lodges” and storage areas built along the road, also serving as administrative centers. 

A unique perspective about the past, shedding light on aspects not recorded in written history. 
• The study of the development of the modern world: 
• Colonialism and the European expansion 500 years ago. 
• The emergence of Capitalism. 
• Industrialization. 
• The study of sites and artifacts with texts, maps, paintings, and oral histories 

1. Classical Archaeology 
2. Medieval Archaeology 
3. Historical Archaeology in the Americas 
4. Industrial Archaeology 
5. Disaster Archaeology 
6. Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past

• Ancient Rome 
• Ancient Greece 
• Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations