My Civiliztion of South meric - Essay Example

My civiliztion of South meric ncient My civiliztion of South meric hs remrkble ppel to the generl public, prtly becuse of the exotic contrst of their world with our industrilized society. lso, the populr press usully cn be counted on to chrcterize My civiliztion of South meric civiliztion s mysterious, unknowble, unique, s well s bizrre, weird, nd we-inspiring. The exotic, tropicl setting of most ncient My civiliztion of South meric ruins dds to the ppel for those who do not hve to live there. The older concept stted tht the My civiliztion of South meric originted in the Peten bout 100 B.C.; their cities collpsed round .D. 800; this is lbeled the Old Empire (Hmmond, 1982:126). The remining My civiliztion of South meric migrted to the Yuctn; this is lbeled the New Empire. There were few cities left when the Spnish cme. Belize is not mentioned t ll, nd present-dy My civiliztion of South meric re usully dismissed s unimportnt nd insignificnt in numbers. Bsed on new reserch nd synthesis, the currently ccepted concept of My civiliztion of South meric origins differs rdiclly from tht formerly held. First, the new concept suggests tht the rise of My civiliztion of South meric civiliztion followed developmentl pttern common to the rise of ll civiliztions, with the usul regionl vritions. The new concept postultes tht the My civiliztion of South meric reched the threshold of civiliztion perhps s erly s 2000 B.C., in Belize, following severl thousnd yers of griculturl nd socil development similr to tht of ncient Mesopotmi nd Egypt (Schele, 1987:38). Extensive trde ptterns spred their culture over wide re of the estern mesomericn lowlnds. For time, city sttes in Belize nd in the Peten section of Guteml fought for supremcy. The Peten cities eventully collpsed. Mentime, My civiliztion of South meric living in the Yuctn were developing t slower pce, probbly becuse of less fvorble environment, which reched its ndir fter the collpse of the Peten. Torn by invsions of the Toltecs nd lter ztecs, they were declining, or t lest chnging, when the Spnish rrived. Never did the My civiliztion of South meric dispper, however. In fct, they still live nd spek vried dilects of their old lnguge in Belize, Guteml, nd Mexico (Hmmond, 1982:126). long culturl evolution from villge society to civiliztion ws spurred by severl fctors. First, popultion growth led to intensive forms of griculture nd more people ment the need for more stored wter to crry them through the nnul drought or dry seson. This, in turn, led to the cretion of reservoirs which clled for mngement. Stored wter lso becme mens of socil control, nd the kin group leders becme politicl leders s well. Religious ffirs re lwys importnt for kinship-oriented societies, nd the new elite probbly used this lever to rgue tht they nd their fmilies were socilly superior s result of genelogies which they linked to the gods of cretion. Rivlries mong the new elites led to wrfre, which ppers to hve ccelerted the move to more complex culturl forms. Skills lredy developed in building stone temples were dpted to the construction of defenses nd fortresses. Socil structure becme clss/cste society, nd politicl structures were trnsformed into stte-level orgniztions. Nerly ll mjor culturl institutions becme hierrchiclly orgnized s well. These chnges were ccomplished by 300. Therefter, My civiliztion of South meric prehistory ssumed fmilir historicl forms with the rise nd fll of dynsties, internl politicl intrigue, wrs between sttes, nd trde nd diplomtic connections with distnt powers. My civiliztion of South meric cities were sustined by lrge rurl popultions. Bsed on intensive ground surveys (mine nd others), there were s mny s 450 people per squre mile. This stounding density is similr to tht found tody in crowded rurl zones such s northern Nigeri. One current fllcy is tht ntive mericn popultions lived in hrmony with nture with reltively little deleterious effect. It is simply not true for the My civiliztion of South meric or mny other Mesomericn groups, nor probbly for the New World s whole. Thirteen hundred yers fter their entry into the lowlnds round 750 nerly every squre meter of lnd hd been modified. This ws done first by slsh-nd-burn frming nd lter by intensive griculturl systems such s swmp dringe, hillside terrcing, nd field rottion systems. The vst tropicl forests of recent times re result of 1100 yers of recovery fter the ctstrophic My civiliztion of South meric collpse bout 840. My civiliztion of South meric cities therefore did not exist in the midst of dense tropicl forests nd could not hve functioned if they hd (Schele, 1987:140). Lrge-scle wter collecting, trnsmission nd storge systems clled for cres of pvement top ridges connected by stone-lined cnls to lrge nd well- designed reservoirs. The recent reserch of Vernon Scrborough of the University of Cincinnti hs reveled fetures such s sluice gte points nd bffle wlls t the entries of reservoirs. Lrge surfce storge fcilities were needed becuse of the peculir climtic conditions of the lowlnds. nnul droughts of bout 120 dys lternte with periods of tropicl downpours tht my yield s much s 100 inches in 150 dys. My civiliztion of South meric technology ws unble to tp the deep quifers of the peninsul by wells, mking lrge scle surfce wter storge vitl (Schele, 1987:40) From bout 650 to 850 My civiliztion of South meric frmers spred over the countryside with houses of the nobility scttered mong modest commoner houses. Smll dministrtive centers took over mny mngeril functions from the lrger cities. The implictions re tht generlized feudl reltionships developed between commoners nd ristocrtic fmilies t the expense of centrlized government nd their dynsties of royl fmilies. During the lst stges of the Romn empire similr decentrliztion eventully produced the specific brnd of Europen feudlism tht is so historiclly fmilir. My civiliztion of South meric society hd erly developed vriety of mixed cste nd clss fetures with closed group of nobility t the top who were regrded s divine. bout 250, they constituted bout 5 percent of the popultion, but by 750 they my hve mde up n oppressive 25 percent (Schele, 1987:41). dministrtion, religious ledership, mngement of mjor public works, nd wr occupied their time. They lived luxuriously in plces built of stone nd were served by multitudes of retiners. The rulers nd their fmilies were buried in monumentl tombs tht we cll temples but which re relly gret monuments to the ncestors. Below them in the socil scle ws the gret mss of the popultion whose sttus ws lrgely defined by their occuptions: frmers, construction workers, sculptors, nd the like. These people lived in smll houses grouped into fmily compounds; mny of the structures were mde of stone wlls with thtched roofs. nyone who reds the erlier publictions regrding the My civiliztion of South meric is told tht ech site ws ceremonil center rther thn city. The ruins re depicted s crefully rrnged plzs surrounded by temples, ccommodtions for priests, nd plces for rulers nd nobility, ll stone structures. lthough it is possible tht specil rtisns such s jewelers, musicins, or fether workers lived ner their ptrons, no one of clss lower thn these ws resident, insmuch s none of their houses hd been found. This concept ws further bsed on the lck of evidence for sufficient food supply to support n urbn popultion. It ws ssumed tht ll food cme from slsh-nd-burn methods of griculture, from gthering rmon nuts, nd from hunting nd fishing. Certinly, such griculturl prctices could not hve supported true cities. The clssic book rguing this point is J. Hrdoy , 1964 , Pre-Columbin Cities (Hmmond, 1982:136). Current reserch suggests tht the second new concept should stte tht mny My civiliztion of South meric sites were gret urbn centers with sizble popultions, complex socil nd power structures, nd extensive trde nd commerce. These sites were comprble, t lest, to mny importnt Europen cities of the sme time period. Recent scholrs hve found evidences both of middle-clss housing nd of more efficient griculturl methods. s result, popultion estimtes hve sored nd My civiliztion of South meric sites re now frequently reclssified s urbn centers rther thn ceremonil sites. Excvtions of smller houses nd prtments t Lmni, Xunntunich, Syil, Tikl, Copn, Snt Rit Corozl, nd Crcol demonstrte the presence of middle clss. Rised fields in swmpy res of Belize incresed food production; trde routes, when trced, show the welth nd prestige of urbnized res (Hmmond, 1982:141). True urbniztion of the My civiliztion of South meric with the ttendnt rise of socil strtifiction nd speciliztion is now conceded. Musicins were depicted in murls nd relief, lthough only recently hs cche of musicl instruments been found. Becuse erly scholrs could not trnslte the glyphs, they disvowed the existence of body of literture nd lso denied ny history or historicl records other thn the dtes of the succession of rulers nd the erection of monuments. The conquistdores, in their zel to erdicte ll things pgn, destroyed My civiliztion of South meric books nd used budding stones from temples nd plces to construct churches. The interprettion of scientific nd rtistic chievements ws the problem. Engulfed by the tides of belief in white supremcy nd Western superiority tht begn ner the end of the nineteenth century, Europens nd their New World descendnts were unwilling to believe tht the indigenous peoples of the merics could hve chieved the levels of civiliztion tht they obviously hd done. Rther thn evluting My civiliztion of South meric rt on its own merits, they judged it ginst clssicl Greek nd Romn styles. Willing to grnt them the discovery of corn, sqush, coco, turkeys, nd pottoes, for instnce, they refused to credit them with the independent invention of the pyrmid. The My civiliztion of South meric hs lwys been n intellectully interesting people nd culture. Studies of their remins rewrd one with exmples of gret rchitecture nd rt s well s gret crftsmnship. They lso my provide prcticl informtion on mtters such s long-term, "sustinble" intensive tropicl griculture. They re not s unusul s once thought, nor s ttrctive. No longer cn we visulize them s ". . . high church nglicns singing evensong in their temples . . ." s one romntic suggested (Hmmond, 1982:128). Neither were they the md, blood-obsessed, ritul- nd drug-crzed people tht nother group seems to believe. We cn visit the descendnts of the My civiliztion of South meric tody in their villges, where they live cheerfully, for the most prt, deling with the legcy of both their prehistoric pst nd tht of the 500 yers of dissters nd chnges visited upon them by Europen contct nd conquest. They re survivors in every sense of the word. In science s in generl life, it is necessry to discrd illusions for success nd even survivl. The rcheologicl pursuit of the My civiliztion of South meric will lwys provide intellectul stisfction nd, with cre, cn led to greter insights into the nture of culturl evolution. For the thoughtful, it cn provide vluble insights into contemporry events nd recent history. Bibliogrphy: 1. Hmmond, N. 1982 . Unerthing the oldest known My civiliztion of South meric. Ntionl Geogrphic (162, No. 4), pp. 126-140. 2. Brunhouse, R. L. 1975 . Pursuit of the ncient My civiliztion of South meric: Some rcheologists of yesterdy. lbuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press. 3. Schele, L. 1987 . "Reding My civiliztion of South mericn imges." merics (Mrch/pril), pp. 38-43. 4. Schele, L., nd M. E. Miller. 1986 . The blood of kings: Dynsty nd ritul in My civiliztion of South meric rt. New York: G. Brziller. Read More