Inca

The English term Inca Empire is derived from the word Inca, which was the title of the
emperor. Today the word Inca still refers to the emperor, but can also refer to the people or
the civilization, and is used as an adjective when referring to the beliefs of the people or the
artifacts they left behind. The Inca Civilization was wealthy and well-organized, with
generally humane treatment of its people, including the vanquished. The empire was really a
federal system. It took the Spanish just eight years to all but destroy the richest culture in the
Americas, replacing it with a much less just system. Indeed, it has been argued that the
Inca's government allowed neither misery nor unemployment, as production, consumption,
and demographic distribution reached almost mathematical equilibrium. The main legacy of
the civilization lies in its power to inspire, including that of later resistance groups in the area
against Spanish rule.

Spanish conquest
In 1532, when Spanish explorers led by Francisco Pizarro arrived on the coast
of Peru, The empire stretched as far north as present-day Colombia and as far south
as Chile and Argentina. However, a war of succession and unrest among newly
conquered territories had already considerably weakened the empire.

Society
Political organization of the empire
The most powerful figure in the empire was the Sapa Inca (emperor), or simply Inca.
When a new ruler was chosen, his subjects would build his family a new royal
dwelling. The former royal dwelling would remain the dwelling of the former Inca's
family. Only descendants of the original Inca tribe ever ascended to the level of Inca.
Most young members of the Inca's family attended Yachayhuasis (houses of
knowledge) to obtain their education.
The Inca was a federation which consisted of a central government with the Inca at
its head and four provinces: The four corners of these provinces met at the center,
Cuzco. Each province had a governor who oversaw local officials, who in turn
supervised agriculturally productive river valleys, cities, and mines. There were
separate chains of command for both the military and religious institutions, which
created a system of partial checks and balances on power. The local officials were

responsible for settling disputes and keeping track of each family's contribution to the
Mita (mandatory public service). The Inca's system of leaving conquered rulers in
post as proxy rulers, and of treating their subject people well, was very different from
what was practiced elsewhere in South America.
The four provincial governors were called apos. The next rank down,
the t'oqrikoq (local leaders), numbered about 90 in total and typically managed a city
and its hinterlands.
To cope with the need for leadership at all levels the Inca established a civil service
system. Boys at the age of 13 and girls at the age of first menstruation had their
intelligence tested by the local Inca officials. If they failed, their ayllu (extended family
group) would teach them one of many trades, such as farming, gold working,
weaving, or military skills. If they passed the test, they were sent to Cuzco(central
city) to attend school to become administrators. There they learned to read the quipu
(knotted cord records) and were taught Inca iconography, leadership skills, religion,
and, most importantly, mathematics. The graduates of this school constituted the
nobility and were expected to marry within that nobility.
While some workers were held in great esteem, such as royal goldsmiths and
weavers, they could never themselves enter the ruling classes. The best they could
hope for was that their children might pass the exam as adolescents to enter the civil
service. Although workers were considered the lowest social class, they were entitled
to a modicum of what today we call due process, and all classes were equally
subject to the rule of law. For example, if a worker was accused of stealing and the
charges were proven false, the local official could be punished for not doing his job
properly. Work was obligatory and there was a strong preference for collective work.
One of the commandments was: "Do not be lazy"beggars did not exist.

Arts
The Inca were a conquering society, and their expansionist assimilation of other
cultures is evident in their artistic style. The artistic style of the Inca utilized the
vocabulary of many regions and cultures, but incorporated these themes into a
standardized imperial style that could easily be replicated and spread throughout the
empire. The simple abstract geometric forms and highly stylized animal
representation in ceramics, wood carvings, textiles, and metalwork were all part of

the Inca culture. The motifs were not as revivalist as previous empires. No motifs of
other societies were directly used with the exception of Huari and Tiwanaku arts.

Architecture
Architecture was by far the most important of the Inca arts, with pottery and textiles
reflecting motifs that were at their height in architecture. The stone temples
constructed by the Inca used a mortarless construction process first used on a large
scale by the Tiwanaku. The Inca imported the stoneworkers of the Tiwanaku region
to Cuzco when they conquered the lands south of Lake Titicaca. The rocks used in
construction were sculpted to fit together exactly by repeatedly lowering a rock onto
another and carving away any sections on the lower rock where the dust was
compressed. The tight fit and the concavity on the lower rocks made them
extraordinarily stable in the frequent earthquakes that strike the area. The Inca used
straight walls except on important religious sites and constructed whole towns at
once.
The Inca also sculpted the natural surroundings themselves. One could easily think
that a rock along an Inca road or trail is completely natural, except if one sees it at
the right time of year when the sun casts a stunning shadow, betraying its synthetic
form. The Inca rope bridges were also used to transport messages and materials by
Chasqui, or running messengers, who operated a type of postal service, essential in
a mountain society. They lived in pairs and while one slept, the other waited for any
message that needed to be sent. They ran 200 meters per minute and never a
distance greater than 2 kilometers, relaying the message to the next team.
The Inca also adopted the terraced agriculture that the previous Huari civilization had
popularized. But they did not use the terraces solely for food production. At the
Inca tambo, or inn, at Ollantaytambo the terraces were planted with flowers,
extraordinary in this parched land.
The terraces of Moray were left unirrigated in a desert area and seem to have been
solely decorative. The Inca provincial thrones were often carved into natural
outcroppings, and there were over 360 natural springs in the areas surrounding
Cuzco, such as the one at Tambo Machay. At Tambo Machay the natural rock was
sculpted and stonework was added, creating alcoves and directing the water into

fountains. These pseudo-natural carvings functioned to show both the Inca's respect
for nature and their command over it.

Clothing
Inca officials wore stylized tunics that indicated their status. The tunic displayed here is the
highest status tunic known to exist today. It contains an amalgamation of motifs used in the
tunics of particular officeholders. For instance, the black and white checkerboard pattern
topped with a red triangle is believed to have been worn by soldiers of the Inca army. Some
of the motifs make reference to earlier cultures, such as the stepped diamonds of the Huari
and the three-step stairstep motif of the Moche. In this royal tunic, no two squares are exactly
the same.

Cloth was divided into three classes. Awaska was used for household use and had a
threadcount of about 120 threads per inch. Finer cloth was called qunpi and was
divided into two classes. The first, woven by male qunpikamayuq (keepers of fine
cloth), was collected as tribute from throughout the country and was used for trade,
to adorn rulers, and to be given as gifts to political allies and subjects to cement
loyalty. The other class of qunpi ranked highest. It was woven by aqlla (female virgins
of the sun god temple) and used solely for royal and religious use. These had
threadcounts of 600 or more per inch, unexcelled anywhere in the world until
the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century.
Aside from the tunic, a person of importance wore a llawt'u, a series of cords
wrapped around the head. To establish his importance, the Inca Atahualpa
commissioned a llawt'u woven from vampire bat hair. The leader of each ayllu, or
extended family, had its own headdress.
In conquered regions, traditional clothing continued to be worn, but the finest
weavers, such as those of Chan Chan, were transferred to Cusco and kept there to
weave qunpi. (The Chim had previously transferred these same weavers to Chan
Chan from Sican.)
The wearing of jewelry was not uniform throughout the empire. Chim artisans, for
example, continued to wear earrings after their integration into the empire, but in
many other regions, only local leaders wore them.

Ceramics and metalwork

Ceramics were for the most part utilitarian in nature, but also incorporated the
imperialist style that was prevalent in the Inca textiles and metalwork. In addition, the
Inca played drums and woodwind instruments including flutes, pan-pipes, and
trumpets made of shell and ceramics.
The Inca made beautiful objects of gold. But precious metals were in much shorter
supply than in earlier Peruvian cultures. The Inca metalworking style draws much of
its inspiration from Chim art and in fact the best metal workers of Chan Chan were
transferred to Cusco when the Kingdom of Chimor was incorporated into the empire.
Unlike the Chim, the Inca do not seem to have regarded metals to be as precious
as fine cloth. When the Spanish first encountered the Inca they were offered gifts
of qompi cloth.

Education
The Inca did not possess a written or recorded language as far as is known, but
scholars point out that because we do not fully understand the quipu (knotted cords)
we cannot rule out that they had recorded language. Like the Aztecs, they also
depended largely on oral transmission as a means of maintaining the preservation of
their culture. Inca education was divided into two distinct categories: vocational
education for common Inca and highly formalized training for the nobility. Haravicus,
or poets, enjoyed prestige.

Religion
The Tahuantinsuyu, or Incan religion was pantheist (sun god, earth goddess, corn
god, etc.). Subjects of the empire were allowed to worship their ancestral gods as
long as they accepted the supremacy of Inti, the sun god, which was the most
important god worshiped by the Inca leadership. Consequently, ayllus (extended
families) and city-states integrated into the empire were able to continue to worship
their ancestral gods, though with reduced status. Much of the contact between the
upper and lower classes was religious in nature and consisted of intricate
ceremonies that sometimes lasted from sunrise to sunset. The main festival was the
annual sun-celebration, when thanksgiving for the crop was given and prayers for an
even better harvest next year. Before the festival, the people fasted and abstained

from sex. Mummies of distinguished dead were brought to observe the ceremonies.
Solemn hymns were sung and ritual kisses blown towards the sun-god. The king, as
son of the sun god, drank from a ceremonial goblet, then the elders also drank. A
llama was also sacrificed by the Willaq Uma, or High Priest, who pulled out the lungs
and other parts with which to predict the future. A sacred fire was lit by using the
sun's heat. Sanqhu, a type of holy bread was also offered.

Medicine
The Inca made many discoveries in medicine. They performed successful skull
surgery. Coca leaves were used to lessen hunger and pain. The Chasqui
(messengers) ate coca leaves for extra energy to carry on their tasks as runners
delivering messages throughout the empire. Recent research by Erasmus University
and Medical Center workers Sewbalak and Van Der Wijk showed that, contrary to
popular belief, the Inca people were not addicted to the coca substance. Another
remedy was to cover boiled bark from a pepper tree and place it over a wound while
still warm. The Inca also used guinea pigs for not only food but for a so-called wellworking medicine.

Burial practices
The Inca believed in reincarnation. Those who obeyed the Incan moral codeama
suwa, ama llulla, ama quella (do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy)went to live in
the sun's warmth. Others spent their eternal days in the cold earth.
The Inca also believed in mummifying prominent personages. The mummies would
be provided with an assortment of objects which were to be taken into
the pacarina. Upon reaching the pacarina, the mummies or mallqui would be able to
converse with the area's other ancient ancestors, the huacas. The mallquis were also
used in various rituals or celebrations. The deceased were generally buried in a
sitting position. One such example was the 500-year-old mummy Juanita the Ice
Maiden, a girl very well-preserved in ice that was discovered at 20,000 feet, near the
summit of Mt. Ampato in southern Peru. Her burial included many items left as
offerings to the Inca gods. Similarity with Egyptian funeral and after-death practices
has led some to speculate that if the ancient Phoenicians did travel to the Americas,
there may have been some cross-fertilization between the two cultures. The role of

the Sapa Inca has been compared to that of the Pharoahs; both were political and
religious figures.

Food and farming

It is estimated that the Inca cultivated around 70 crop species. The main crops
were potatoes (about 200 varieties), sweet potatoes,maize, chili peppers, cotton,
tomatoes, peanuts, an edible root called oca, and a grain known as quinoa. The
many important crops developed by the Inca and preceding cultures makes South
America one of the historic centers of crop diversity (along with the Middle
East, India, Mesoamerica, Ethiopia, and the Far East). Many of these crops were
widely distributed by the Spanish and are now important crops worldwide.
The Inca cultivated food crops on dry Pacific coastlines, high on the slopes of the
Andes, and in the lowland Amazon rainforest. In mountainous Andean environments,
they made extensive use of terraced fields which not only allowed them to put to use
the mineral-rich mountain soil that other peoples left fallow, but also took advantage
of micro-climates conducive to a variety of crops being cultivated throughout the year.
Agricultural tools consisted mostly of simple digging sticks. The Inca also raised
llamas and alpacas for their wool and meat and to use them as pack animals, and
captured wild vicuas for their fine hair.
The Inca road system was key to farming success as it allowed distribution of
foodstuffs over long distances. The Inca also constructed vast storehouses, which
allowed them to live through El Nio (less abundant) years in style while neighboring
civilizations suffered.
Inca leaders kept records of what each ayllu in the empire produced, but did not tax
them on their production. They instead used the mitafor the support of the empire.
The Inca diet consisted primarily of fish and vegetables, supplemented less
frequently with the meat of guinea pigs and camelids. In addition, they hunted
various animals for meat, skins, and feathers. Maize was used to make chicha, a
fermented beverage.

Currency
Inca society was based on a barter system. Workers got labor credit, which was work
paid for in goods or food. It was well used in their day. It was a very good system for
their needs

Legacy
The Spanish saw little or no reason to preserve anything they encountered in Inca
civilization. They plundered its wealth and left the civilization in ruin. The civilization's
sophisticated road and communication system and governance were no mean
accomplishments. Diverse tribes, many occupying isolated territories in the most
obscure of mountain hideaways, were simply remarkable. They were greedy for the
wealth, which existed in fabulous proportion, not the culture. Yet, through the survival
of the language and of a few residual traces of the culture, the civilization was not
wholly, although almost wholly, destroyed. The great and relatively humane
civilization of the Incas' main legacy is inspirational, residing in the human ability to
imagine that such a fabulously rich, well-ordered, and generally humane society
once existed, high up in the Andean hills.
Writers comment it was for God, gold, and glory that the conquest of the New World
took place. The Indians "were enslaved, tortured, and worked to death to provide the
Europeans with gold. They were infected by the newcomers with tuberculosis,
measles, and smallpox" (Hyams and Ordish, 262). Edward Hyams said it best with
his use of an analogy. He compared the Inca civilization to that of a dance where all
of the patterns are the same and it continues day to day without faltering or
interruption. He says, "The great dance had been their reality; they awoke into the
nightmare of chaos" (263). In the contemporary world, where Europeans and North
Americans often depict themselves as the bringers of peace, order, humaneness,
and good governance, it is germane to compare the governance of the Peruvians
before and after the Spanish conquest.

Mesoamerica
Background
The Mesoamerican civilizations consist of four main cultures, Olmec, Maya, Aztec,
and Inca. Each civilization experienced a time of cultural and intellectual achievement that
produced lasting contributions in art, literature, and science.
Olmecs
The Olmec Empire (1400 BCE - 500 BCE) was the first major Mesoamerican civilization.
The Olmecs inhabited the Gulf coast of Mexico, and produced a number of achievements that
would influence the later cultures. Among these, are ceremonial pyramid shaped
temples, a system of writing, and a devotion to religion that would define later
Mesoamerican civilizations.
Maya

The Mayan Civilization (300 - 900 CE) lived in various city-states along the
Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and in much of Central America. The Mayans built an
impressive agricultural society which contributed greatly to the cultural and intellectual life
of Mesoamerica.
Art & Architecture
Mayan architects built large, elaborate palaces and pyramid shaped temples. These
buildings were decorated with a variety of paintings, and carvings in wood and stone that
depicted Mayan history. Mayan step pyramids were the tallest man-made structures in the
Americas until 1903.
Agriculture
Mayan farmers developed irrigation systems that allowed them to produce the amount of
food necessary to support their large population. They also increased their amount
of arable land by clearing large tracts of rainforest. Mayan farmers produced crops such as,
corn, beans, and squash. Trade in agriculture products was the basis for the strong Mayan
economy.
Education & Science
Mayan civilization developed a writing system using hieroglyphics, that has only recently
been deciphered. They also produced books made from bark, of which few still exist. Mayan
scientists developed a fairly accurate 365 day a year calendar. They also used an
advanced numbering system that included the concept of zero.
Aztec
The Aztec Civilization flourished from the late 1200's until the time of European conquest.
The Aztecs established an empire that consisted of most of Mexico. They setup a strong,
central government, and received tribute payments from many of their subject peoples.
Similar to earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, the Aztecs were deeply religious. The practice
of their religion included the building of large temples where human sacrifice took place.
Achievements
Aztec scientists developed an accurate calendar similar to the Mayan. Physicians were able
to treat a variety of wounds and injuries, including setting broken bones and filling cavities
in teeth. The Aztec capital city, Tenochtitlan, was well designed and constructed. It
included a largepyramid temple, aqueducts for water, and causeways for travel. Aztec
art consisted of large stone carvings and colorful paintings. The Aztecs also setup schools
for learning, and kept accurate records of their history.
Inca
In the 1400's, the Inca conquered an empire that stretched along the Pacific coast of South
America. They instituted a strong central government, and controlled their empire through
the use of an elaborate road system. Incan wealth and stability enabled many intellectual
and cultural achievements.
Engineering
The Inca carved more than 12,000 miles of roads out of the South American rainforests.
These roads linked the empire together using a system of relay runners. Incan engineers
also designed the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco, the capital city. This complex structure was

strong enough to survive centuries of earthquakes and hard weather. Due to the lack of flat
land, Incan engineers developed improved methods of terrace farming. Terrace
farming cuts strips of flat land into hillsides and uses stone walls to support them. This
creates more land for farming, and allowed the Inca to produce the food necessary to support
their population.
Science & Education
Incan physicians performed surgery to treat various injuries. They also used herbal
remedies against different illnesses. Incan scholars developed a record keeping system that
used colored, knotted string called

Mesoamerica is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending

approximately from central Mexico to Belize,Guatemala, El
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica, within which preColumbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in
the 15th and 16th centuries. It is one of six areas in the world where
ancient civilization arose independently.
The term was first used by the German ethnologist Paul Kirchhoff, who noted that
similarities existed among the various pre-Columbian cultures.
Some of the significant cultural traits defining the Mesoamerican cultural tradition
are:

sedentism based on maize agriculture

the construction of stepped pyramids

the use of two different calendars (a 260-day ritual calendar and a 365-day
calendar based on the solar year)
(base 20) number system
the use of locally developed pictographic and hieroglyphic (logosyllabic) writing systems

the use of rubber and the practice of the Mesoamerican ballgame

the use of bark paper for ritual purposes and as a medium for writing

the practice of various forms of sacrifice, including Human sacrifice

a religious complex based on a combination of shamanism and natural

deities, and a shared system of symbols

a linguistic area defined by a number of grammatical traits that have spread

through the area by diffusion

The history of human occupation in Mesoamerica is divided into stages or

periods. These are known, with slight variation depending on region, as
the Paleo-Indian, the Archaic, the Preclassic (or Formative), the Classic, and
the Postclassic.

The differentiation of early periods (i.e., up through the end of the Late
Preclassic) generally reflects different configurations of socio-cultural
organization that are characterized by increasing socio-political complexity,
the adoption of new and different subsistence strategies, and changes in
economic organization (including increased interregional interaction).
The Classic period through thePostclassic are differentiated by the cyclical
crystallization and fragmentation of the various political entities throughout
Mesoamerica.

Main Features
Subsistence

By roughly 6000 BC, hunter-gatherers living in the highlands and lowlands of

Mesoamerica began to develop agricultural practices with early cultivation of squash
and chilli. The earliest example of maize dates to c. 4000 BC and comes from Guil
Naquitz, a cave in Oaxaca. Earlier maize samples have been documented at the Los
Ladrones cave site in Panama, c. 5500 BC.[17] Slightly thereafter, other crops began
to be cultivated by the semi-agrarian communities throughout Mesoamerica.
[18]
Although maize is the most common domesticate, the common bean, tepary
bean, scarlet runner bean, jicama, tomato and squash all became common cultivates
by 3500 BC. At the same time, cotton, yucca and agavewere exploited for fibers
and textile materials.[19] By 2000 BC, corn was the staple crop in the region and
remained so through modern times. The Ramn or Breadnut tree (Brosimum
alicastrum) was an occasional substitute for maize in producing flour. Fruit was also

important in the daily diet of Mesoamerican cultures. Some of the main ones
consumed include avocado, papaya, guava, mamey, zapote, and annona.
Mesoamerica lacked animals suitable for domestication, most notably domesticated
large ungulates the lack of draft animals to assist in transportation is one notable
difference between Mesoamerica and the cultures of the South American Andes.
Other animals, including the duck,dogs, and turkey, were domesticated. Turkey was
the first, occurring around 3500 BC.[20] Dogs were the primary source of animal
protein in ancient Mesoamerica,[21] and dog bones are common in midden deposits
throughout the region.
Societies of this region did hunt certain wild species to complement their diet. These
animals included deer, rabbit, birds, and various types of insects. They also hunted
in order to gain luxury items such as feline fur and bird plumage. [22]
Mesoamerican cultures that lived in the lowlands and coastal plains settled down in
agrarian communities somewhat later than did highland cultures due to the fact that
there was a greater abundance of fruits and animals in these areas, which made a
hunter-gatherer lifestyle more attractive. [23] Fishing also was a major provider of food
to lowland and coastal Mesoamericans creating a further disincentive to settle down
in permanent communities.

Political organization

Ceremonial centers were the nuclei of Mesoamerican settlements. The temples

provided spatial orientation, which was imparted to the surrounding town. The cities
with their commercial and religious centers were always political entities, somewhat
similar to the European city-state, and each person could identify himself with the
city in which he lived.
The ceremonial centers were always built to be visible. The pyramids were meant to
stand out from the rest of the city, to represent its gods and their powers. Another
characteristic feature of the ceremonial centers is historic layers. All of the
ceremonial edifices were built in various phases, one on top of the other, to the point
that what we now see is usually the last stage of construction. Ultimately, the
ceremonial centers were the architectural translation of the identity of each city, as
represented by the veneration of their gods and masters. Stelae were common
public monuments throughout Mesoamerica, and served to commemorate notable
successes, events and dates associated with the rulers and nobility of the various
sites.

Economy
Given that Mesoamerica was broken into numerous and diverse ecological niches,
none of the societies that inhabited the area were self-sufficient . For this reason, from
the last centuries of the Archaic period onward, regions compensated for the
environmental inadequacies by specializing in the extraction of certain abundant
natural resources and then trading them for necessary unavailable resources
through established commercial trade networks.
The following is a list of some of the specialized resources traded from the various
Mesoamerican sub-regions and environmental contexts:

Pacific lowlands: cotton and cochineal

Maya lowlands and the Gulf Coast: cacao, vanilla, jaguar skins, birds and bird
feathers (especially quetzal and macaw)
Central Mexico: Obsidian (Pachuca)
Guatemalan highlands: Obsidian (San Martin Jilotepeque, El Chayal,
and Ixtepeque), pyrite, and jade from the Motagua River valley
Coastal areas: salt, dry fish, shell, and dyes

Agriculturally based people historically divide the year into four seasons. These
included the two solstices and the two equinoxes, which could be thought of as the
four "directional pillars" that support the year. These four times of the year were, and
still are, important as they indicate seasonal changes that directly impact the lives of
Mesoamerican agriculturalists.
The Maya closely observed and duly recorded the seasonal markers. They prepared
almanacs recording past and recent solar and lunar eclipses, the phases of
the moon, the periods of Venus and Mars, the movements of various other planets,
and conjunctions of celestial bodies. These almanacs also made future predictions
concerning celestial events. These tables are remarkably accurate, given the
technology available, and indicate a significant level of knowledge among
Maya astronomers.
Among the many types of calendars the Maya maintained, the most important
include a 260-day cycle, a 360-day cycle or 'year', a 365-day cycle or year, a lunar
cycle, and a Venus cycle, which tracked the synodic period of Venus. Maya of the
European contact period said that knowing the past aided in both understanding the

present and predicting the future (Diego de Landa). The 260-day cycle was a
calendar to govern agriculture, observe religious holidays, mark the movements of
celestial bodies and memorialize public officials. The 260-day cycle was also used
for divination, and (like the Catholic calendar of saints) to name newborns. [25]
The names given to the days, months, and years in the Mesoamerican calendar
came, for the most part, from animals, flowers, heavenly bodies, and cultural
concepts that held symbolic significance in Mesoamerican culture. This calendar was
used throughout the history of Mesoamerican by nearly every culture.

Writing systems

One of the earliest examples of theMesoamerican writing systems, the Epi-Olmec

scripton the La Mojarra Stela 1dated to around AD 150. Mesoamerica is one of the
five places in the world wherewriting has developed independently.
The Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are logosyllabic combining the use
of logograms with a syllabary, and they are often called hieroglyphic scripts. Five or
six different scripts have been documented in Mesoamerica, but archaeological
dating methods, and a certain degree of self-interest, create difficulties in
establishing priority and thus the forebear from which the others developed. The best
documented and deciphered Mesoamerican writing system, and therefore the most
widely known, is the classic Maya script. Others include the Olmec, Zapotec,
and Epi-Olmec/Isthmian writing systems. An extensive Mesoamerican literature has
been conserved partly in indigenous scripts and partly in the postinvasion
transcriptions into Latin script.
The other glyphic writing systems of Mesoamerica, and their interpretation, have
been subject to much debate. One important ongoing discussion regards whether
non-Maya Mesoamerican texts can be considered examples of true writing or
whether non-Maya Mesoamerican texts are best understood
as pictographic conventions used to express ideas, specifically religious ones, but
not representing the phonetics of the spoken language in which they were read.
Mesoamerican writing is found in several mediums, including large stone
monuments such as stelae, carved directly onto architecture, carved or painted over
stucco (e.g., murals), and on pottery. No Precolumbian Mesoamerican society is
known to have had widespread literacy, and literacy was probably restricted to
particular social classes, including scribes, painters, merchants, and the nobility.

The Mesoamerican book was typically written with brush and colored inks on a paper
prepared from the inner bark of the ficus amacus. The book consisted of a long strip
of the prepared bark, which was folded like a screenfold to define individual pages.
The pages were often covered and protected by elaborately carved book boards.
Some books were composed of square pages while others were composed of
rectangular pages.
Arithmetic
Mesoamerican arithmetic treated numbers as having both literal and symbolic value,
the result of the dualistic nature that characterized Mesoamerican ideology. As
mentioned, the Mesoamerican numbering system was vigesimal (i.e., based on the
number 20).
In representing numbers, a series of bars and dots were employed. Dots had a value
of one, and bars had a value of five. This type of arithmetic was combined with a
symbolic numerology: '2' was related to origins, as all origins can be thought of as
doubling; '3' was related to household fire; '4' was linked to the four corners of the
universe; '5' expressed instability; '9' pertained to the underworld and the night; '13'
was the number for light, '20' for abundance, and '400' for infinity. The concept of
zero was also used, and its representation at the Late Preclassic occupation of Tres
Zapotes is one of the earliest uses of zero in human history.

Food, medicine, and science

Mesoamerica would deserve its place in the human pantheon if its inha
them in Mesoamerica. Having secured their food supply, the Mesoame

Mythology and worldview

The shared traits in Mesoamerican mythology are characterized by their common

basis as a religion that, although in many Mesoamerican groups developed into
complex polytheistic religious systems, retained some shamanistic elements. The
great breadth of the Mesoamerican pantheon of deities is due to the incorporation of
ideological and religious elements from the first primitive religion of Fire, Earth, Water
and Nature. Astral divinities (the sun, stars, constellations, and Venus) were adopted
and represented in anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and anthropozomorphic

sculptures, and in day-to-day objects. The qualities of these gods and their attributes
changed with the passage of time and with cultural influences from other
Mesoamerican groups. The gods are at once three: creator, preserver, and
destroyer, and at the same time just one. An important characteristic of
Mesoamerican religion was the dualism among the divine entities. The gods
represented the confrontation between opposite poles: the positive, exemplified by
light, the masculine, force, war, the sun, etc.; and the negative, exemplified by
darkness, the feminine, repose, peace, the moon, etc
The typical Mesoamerican cosmology sees the world as separated into a day world
watched by the sun and a night world watched by the moon.

Sacrifice

Ritual human sacrifice portrayed in Codex Laud

Generally, sacrifice can be divided into two types: autosacrifice and human sacrifice.
The different forms of sacrifice are reflected in the imagery used to evoke ideological
structure and sociocultural organization in Mesoamerica. In the Maya area, for
example, stele depict bloodletting rituals performed by ruling elites, eagles and
jaguars devouring human hearts, jade circles or necklaces that represented hearts,
and plants and flowers that symbolized both nature and the blood that provided
life Imagery also showed pleas for rain or pleas for blood, with the same intention to
replenish the divine energy.
Autosacrifice

Autosacrifice, also called bloodletting, is the ritualized practice of drawing blood from
oneself. It is commonly seen or represented through iconography as performed by
ruling elites in highly ritualized ceremonies, but it was easily practiced in mundane

socio-cultural contexts (i.e., non-elites could perform autosacrifice). The act was
typically performed with obsidian prismatic blades or stingray spines, and blood was
drawn from piercing or cutting the tongue, earlobes, and/or genitals (among other
locations). Another form of autosacrifice was conducted by pulling a rope with
attached thorns through the tongue or earlobes. The blood produced was then
collected on paper held in a bowl.
Autosacrifice was not limited to male rulers, as their female counterparts often
performed these ritualized activities. A recently discovered queen's tomb in the
Classic Maya site of Waka (also known as El Per) had a ceremonial stingray spine
placed in her genital area, suggesting that women also performed bloodletting in
their genitalia

Human sacrifice
Sacrifice had great importance in the social and religious aspects of Mesoamerican
culture. First, it showed death transformed into the divine. Death is the consequence
of a human sacrifice, but it is not the end; it is but the continuation of the cosmic
cycle. Death creates life divine energy is liberated through death and returns to the
gods, who are then able to create more life. Secondly, it justifies war, since the most
valuable sacrifices are obtained through conflict. The death of the warrior is the
greatest sacrifice and gives the gods the energy to go about their daily activities,
such as the bringing of rain. Warfare and capturing prisoners became a method of
social advancement and a religious cause. Finally, it justifies the control of power by
the two ruling classes, the priests and the warriors. The priests controlled the
religious ideology, and the warriors supplied the sacrifices.

Ballgame
.
The Mesoamerican ballgame was a sport with ritual associations played for over
3000 years by nearly all pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica. The sport had
different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modern version of
the game, ulama, continues to be played in a few places.
Over 1300 ballcourts have been found throughout Mesoamerica. They vary
considerably in size, but they all feature long narrow alleys with side-walls to bounce
the balls against.

The rules of the ballgame are not known, but it was probably similar to volleyball,
where the object is to keep the ball in play. In the most well-known version of the
game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions used
forearms or employed rackets, bats, or handstones. The ball was made of solid
rubber, and weighed up to 4 kg or more, with sizes that differed greatly over time or
according to the version played.
While the game was played casually for simple recreation, including by children and
perhaps even women, the game also had important ritual aspects, and major formal
ballgames were held as ritual events, often featuring human sacrifice.
Astronomy
Mesoamerican astronomy included a broad understanding of the cycles of planets
and other celestial bodies. Special importance was given to the sun, moon,
and Venus as the morning and evening star. Observatories were built at some sites.
Often, the architectural organization of Mesoamerican sites was based on precise
calculations derived from astronomical observations.
Symbolism of space and time

It has been argued that among Mesoamerican societies the concepts

of space and time are associated with the four cardinal compass points and linked
together by the calendar.[33] Dates or events were always tied to a compass direction,
and the calendar specified the symbolic geographical characteristic peculiar to that
period. Resulting from the significance held by the cardinal directions, many
Mesoamerican architectural features, if not entire settlements, were planned and
oriented with respect to directionality.
In Maya cosmology, each cardinal point was assigned a specific color and a specific
jaguar deity (Bacab).
Later cultures such as the Kaqchikel and K'iche' maintain the association of cardinal
directions with each color, but utilized different names.
Among the Aztec, the name of each day was associated with a cardinal point (thus
conferring symbolic significance), and each cardinal direction was associated with a
group of symbols. Below are the symbols and concepts associated with each
direction:

East: crocodile, the serpent, water, cane, and movement. The East was
linked to the world priests and associated with vegetative fertility, or, in other
words, tropical exuberance.

North: wind, death, the dog, the jaguar, and flint (or chert). The north
contrasts with the east in that it is conceptualized as dry, cold, and oppressive. It
is considered to be the nocturnal part of the universe and includes the dwellings
of the dead. The dog (xoloitzcuintle) has a very specific meaning, as it
accompanies the deceased during the trip to the lands of the dead and helps
them cross the river of death that leads into nothingness. (See also Dogs in
Mesoamerican folklore and myth).

West: the house, the deer, the monkey, the eagle, and rain. The west was
associated with the cycles of vegetation, specifically the temperate high plains
that experience light rains and the change of seasons.

South: rabbit, the lizard, dried herbs, the buzzard, and flowers. It is related on
the one hand to the luminous Sun and the noon heat, and on the other with rain
filled with alcoholic drink. The rabbit, the principal symbol of the west, was
associated with farmers and with pulque.

Political and religious art

Mesoamerican artistic expression was conditioned by ideology and generally

focused on themes of religion and/or socio-political power. This is largely based on
the fact that most works that survived the Spanish conquest were public monuments.
These monuments were typically erected by rulers who sought to visually legitimize
their socio-cultural and political position; by doing so, they intertwined their lineage,
personal attributes and achievements, and legacy with religious concepts. As such,
these monuments were specifically designed for public display and took many forms,
including stele, sculpture, architectural reliefs, and other types of architectural
elements (e.g., roofcombs). Other themes expressed include tracking time, glorifying
the city, and veneration of the gods all of which were tied to explicitly aggrandizing
the abilities and the reign of the ruler who commissioned the artwork.