Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Pages 302-207
Please post at least three sentences here to demonstrate that you engaged with and thought about the reading. At least part of your post should talk about the Maya, but other parts of your post can ask questions more generally about the Americas as a whole (North, South and Central America).
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20 comments:
It said in the reading that a woman was buried with weapons. does this demonstrate power? it would be unusual for women to have power especially in the military. The USA itself hasn't allowed women in the military until the last century. Also it said that the Moche possibly died out because they over exploited their recourses. are we doing the same thing? are we Moche? we have more resources available to us because of world trade. What if we used up all of the resources on the planet. right now we have enough coal to last us for 40 years. If we don't get away from coal, which is the largest producer of power in the US, then what will we do after that 40 years. 83.2% of China's power alone comes from Coal. If we run out of coal in 40 years, then at China's current population approximately 1.08 billion people would be out of power.
Guano
It is a fertilizer and gunpowder. Made from fecal material of bats and seabirds. It has high amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen which makes it a good gunpowder and fertilizer. Bat guano is used in many things such as fertilization for marijuana. Bat guano is usually found in the caves where they live.
Blood letting was not expanded on in the reading, but it mentions royal rituals in the start. From what I know about mesoamerican cultures; the Mayans in particular, is that the kings' blood was thought to be the most potent of the people,so it was sacrificed to the gods. I also know that the Mayans sacrificed slaves and Prisoners Of War along with their own people to appease the gods. To me this seems hypocritical to me because if the kings blood was so special and appeased the gods; why did they even bother to sacrifice lesser blood to the gods, in other words the blood of commoners and POWs. It seems to me that they would think that this would anger the gods.
Some questions: 1. How did the priests explain changes in dynasty? Did they have an equivalent of the mandate of heaven?
2. Did the people outside of the elite accept the elite's view that the world was made to serve them?
3. Did the Maya have written laws, or how did they maintain order otherwise?
In the reading it mentioned King Pacal, a 7th century king of the Mayan Civilization. He was also known as Pacal the Great. This reminded me of Alexander the Great and other people in history who have had "great" put in there name. Why are these people referred to as "Great"? Pacal was King of the Maya Kingdom of Palenque. this is a map of what the area of Palenque might have looked like. And this is a picture of one of the ruins there. Pacal means "shield" in Mayan Culture. King Pacal started a building program that built some of the finest architectural buildings of the Mayan Civilization. His tomb was very elaborate and the lid of the tomb is often referred to as the "lid of Palenque." His tomb is located in here and this is a picture of his tomb.
I also found a map showing the extent of the Mayan Civilization.
And here is a map of some of the monuments and places, that were in the Mayan Civilization.
First I started by painting a picture in my mind of what was going on in this reading. I did this by finding maps. I searched on google to find a
map of Huari because I saw that mentioned in the reading and wanted to know where it was. When I did that, I also found some pictures of what the Huari people looked like along with some artwork and some pottery
Another city mentioned was Tiahuanaco which, aside from being hard to pronounce, was a city in Bolivia.
Then I found a map of the Yucatan because I didn’t know where that was either, but I had heard the name before.
I also looked up Lake Titicaca
Something from the reading I found interesting was the Maya Kings because I remember (if they were the same) reading it in the Well of Sacrifice in 7th grade. From this link called The people of the Jaguars I saw the responsibilities of a king mentioned, the same ones we saw in the reading(war, communication with dead, and monument building). They were also suppose to wear elaborate clothing and go through a series of rituals like bloodletting. It also mentions some important birds such as the Quetzal bird and Seven Macaw.
In the reading there was a small reading about the Dresden codex. It intrigued me because i had originally thought that there were many Mayan texts but i found out in 1521 the Spanish clergy burned most of the texts and the codex wasn't found until 1739 in Dresden. This codex is made of Amatl paper which comes from the native kopo tree mixed with lime paste. This lime paste was used for many things. One use for it was when the Mayans put it on corn to make Hominy. Anyway back to the codex it was painted in red black and the famous Mayan blue. Also found on this codex was the "end of the world" date 12/21/2012
I was interested in a lot of different aspects of the reading, so I'm just going to go through them one by one.
The reading says that the Rocky Mountains provided a nice habitat for the Bighorn Sheep. I was interested in learning a little more about these creatures. The Bighorn Sheep tend to live in areas where there is not very much human inhabitance, generally in desert-like areas in high altitudes. They don't have to drink water during the winter when green plants are available. For more information on this interesting animals, click here for a pretty interesting site.
Next, the reading mentioned El Ninos quite a bit, and I remembered doing a presentation on them last year in science. Here are a few facts in case anyone's interested:
El Ninos are due to
a difference in atmosphere pressure in the west and east areas of the Pacific Ocean.
Wind pushes warm water eastward, and the warm water becomes surface water. Air gets hotter and moister due to the warm surface water, and storm clouds form in the central to eastern part of the Pacific Ocean.
El Ninos usually every two to seven years near the beginning of the year.
Fish die from lack of nutrients and water. The number of birds that feed on fish decrease, and therefore the guano (bird waste industry) decreases.
The next thing I was interested in was in learning more about Nazca artwork. I found this website that explains about Nazca art and the lines that were used in the art. One of the most interesting facts I found was that the Nazca artwork was so extraordinary that some believed that people from another planet created the art. Click on the links in the text because some of them have really interesting and beautiful pictures.
Then, I was interested in learning a little bit more Mayan art. First I found this website about
Mayan art. Then I wanted to know a little bit more about how the Mayan's sacrifices were portrayed in art, so I found
this other website that explains the cross between sacrifice and art.
Lastly, being a huge chocolate fan, I was naturally inclined to learn more about the Mayans and chocolate, a highly prized food and beverage among the Mayan culture. I found this article from National Geographic (2002) that explains how a discovered Mayan teapot may suggest that the Mayans were not the first to eat and drink chocolate, that this tradition goes back about 1,000 years farther than previously thought. Thearticle also has a lot more interesting facts about the Mayan teapot discovery and the history of chocolate.
I researched about weapons because of the woman who was buried with weapons and other valuables. First off what does this show of the woman?
Right now Im experiencing some difficulties with the blog. It wont let me paste anything in. So I can save the stuff I have researched in onenote. Anyway I just thought their weapons were so modern (I guess thats the word you would use) and precise.
Since I just saw the new Indiana Jones movie last night, the thing that really caught my attention was the Nazca lines, the huge drawings that can only be seen from above (by the gods, was the assumed belief at the time).
I looked them up on Wikipedia and found that they were actually intended to point to places on the horizon where the Sun and other celestial bodies set/rose. This further suggests a religious reason for making the "geoglyphs", as they are called.
There are a bunch of different shapes, such as a spider, a bird of some sort, and a hummingbird.
I also this, that I don't recognize as any kind of animal. Maybe a bird?
When doing the reading I was interested in learning more about El Nino. I googled it and here is some information I found about it...
El Ninos were first discovered by fisherman off the cost of South America, it was unusually warm water. El Nino means "The Little One" in spanish. They usually occur every two to seven years, although; every one is different in magnitude and duration. They're a disruption of climate in the south Pacific basin.
Next I found a website with pictures of San Jose de Moro, which was where the woman was buried "with her limbs encased in plates of precious metals." This
is the site.
Later, it talked about the city of Huari, the Ayacucho valley of Peru, and the city of Tiahuanaco so I found those links. The link for Tiahuanaco has pictures of the location, and how the ruins are set up.
This is Huari/Tiahuanaco
When I was reading the Andes were mentioned and I wasn't really sure what that was, so I decided to research them.
Andes
The Andes is a mountain range in South America. They make up the "worlds longest exposed mountain range", which means that it is the longest mountain range above sea-level. The Andes cross many countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The mountain range is more that 4,400 miles long, 300 miles wide, and about 13,000 feet high. The "Andean range" is make up of two great ranges: the Cordillera Oriental (meaning Eastern range) and the Cordillera Occidental (meaning Western range). The Andes is made up of three regions: central, northern, and southern. The climate of the Andes varies depending on where in the range it is. The northern region is hotter because it is closer to the equator. The Incas evolved in the northern Andes in the 1400s. The Incas worked very hard in agriculture in the Andes. They were very efficient in carving up the mountains and making them into terraced farmlands ("a leveled section of a hilly cultivated area, designed as a method of soil conservation to slow or prevent the rapid surface runoff of irrigation water"). The Incas were very successful in making the mountainside into terraced farmland. In fact, "in 1500 there was more land in cultivation in the Andean highlands then there is today." The Incas grew potatoes and corn for food, and raised llamas and alpacas for labor. The Incas spoke Quechua and forced the people they conquered to speak it, and because of that Quechua is still spoken in the Andes by a large number of Native Americans. There was no writing system at all, but records were kept on quipu (colored, knotted cords). The Spanish gained control of the Inca empire in the 1560s.
Andes Wikipedia Article
View from the Inca Trail of the Andes
The Andes Mountain Range
Another View of the Andes
Incas
The reading had a little picture and caption of what are called Nazca lines... I looked them up and found a little bit of information on them.
According to Wikipedia, the Nazca lines are thought to have been made by the Nazca people, but nobody is sure. Small pebbles cover the surface of the Nazca desert, where these are located, and when they are removed or pushed out of the way, the lines contrast with the pebbles. That's why the lines are so visible, even from far away.
Due to the fact that there is no wind, almost no rain, and a very stable climate in the Nazca desert, the lines haven't been re-covered or washed away. I think that's really cool, seeing as how they were being made as early as 200 BCE. However, people are concerned because there is a lot of climate change going on, and they may be damaged by rain or wind in the future.
Next, I found some pictures of the Nazca lines:
A Spider
A Monkey
Some other random lines
While reading, I came across the word Andes. I did not know what it is, so I looked it up. I learned that the Andes formed the longest mountain range along the western coast of South America. I also thought that the Nazca Lines were very interesting so I decided to find out a little bit more about them. I found that the Nazca lines stretch over 53 miles or 80 kilometers. The Nazca lines are located in present day Peru. I found that the lines were made by removing iron oxide coated pebbles which cover the surface of the Nazca desert.
Teotihuacan
It was the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas in the 1st millennium. It had a total area of 82km squared and located northeast of Mexico City. It influenced many other cities and such around it. In the city it is thought that there were many people who lived there including the Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, and Nahua. The city is famous for its temple of the sun and avenue of the dead.
While reading i wanted to learn a bit more about the Moche Tribe. While going through the wiki page i did find interest in the mochican pottery ...
from the wiki, "Moche pottery is some of the most varied in the world. The use of mould technology is evident which would have enabled the mass production of certain forms. But despite this, they had a large variation in shape and theme with most important social activities documented in pottery including war, sex, metal work, and weaving..... The portrait vases also seem to show the personality of the subject: some are shown laughing, others in deep thought,some with bad acne, others angry, etc. Moche erotic pottery is fascinating, not only due to the vast number of sexual activities represented, but also because procreative coitus was only depicted in a limited number of circumstances when the male involved wore ceremonial garb, the female had two braids which ended in snake's heads, and the copulation occurred under an elaborate roof of a ceremonial building."
I thought it was really cool that they mass produced their works of art, and pottery. They also included a lot of detail in their artwork.
I wanted to know what exactly is the Dresden Codex, because it wasn’t explained very well. I found that it was one of three existing mayan codices that survived the book burnings by the Spanish clergy in 1521. It is often considered the most important one of the codices to have survived. I also learned that "It is made from Amatl paper( "kopó", tree bark that has been flattened and covered with a lime paste) , folded accordion-style and written and painted on both sides. It totals 74 pages in length." The Mayans made this paper during the 5th century, which was when the Romans did. This paper was stronger than the Roman's papyrus though. The Dresden Codex has "astronomical calculations of exceptional accuracy. There are almanacs and day counts for worship and prophecies; two astronomical and astrological tables...It contains references and predictions for time and agriculture, favorable days for predictions, as well as texts about sickness, medicine, and seemingly, conjunctions of constellations, planets and the Moon. It also contains a page about a flood, a prophecy or maybe a reference to the rainy seasons so vital to the Maya." This was a good site)
During the reading the El Nino interested me. I found a cool skit about how El Nino works: http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/education/el-nino-skit.html
Also, I found this information out about it-
What is an El Niño?
El Niño is an oscillation of the ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific having important consequences for weather around the globe.In normal, non-El Niño conditions (top panel of schematic diagram), the trade winds blow towards the west across the tropical Pacific. These winds pile up warm surface water in the west Pacific, so that the sea surface is about 1/2 meter higher at Indonesia than at Ecuador.
I also found a cool site for animations of el nino:
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/tao/elnino/el-nino-story.html
Ok, sorry this is so late, but I didn't realize that I needed to post!
For my post, I was interested in why the Christian missionaries destroyed ancient Mayan texts. While the reasons for this seems fairly obvious (i.e.- They didn't want the Mayans to maintain their pagan ties)
However, the Mayans didn't have all their texts as religious materials and by destroying them, the missionaries destroyed a lot of history, fortunately some of the texts survive to this day.
As for Questions-
1)Why were the Andes attractive? What made civilization possible there?
2)Could the Mayans be considered a religious civilization? It was based around their religion, right?
That's all I have...
This is a good site for Mayan geography and landscape
http://www.indians.org/welker/maya.htm
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