Some Characteristics of Mesoamerica most important are their agricultural economy, human sacrifices, the use of calendars, polytheistic religion or dual thinking.
Mesoamerica is a cultural area that is located in the middle of the American continent and covers the southern half of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, and western Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
It is believed that this culture was born along with the practice of pottery, although there are those who claim that its history began between the fifteenth and twelfth centuries BC. C.
10 Features of Mesoamerica
Agricultural economy
Due to the diversity and richness of the lands that make up this area, agriculture was the main engine of its development.
A very distinctive feature of this agriculture was the creation (domestication), the cultivation and the commercialization of corn.
In fact, maize was the basis of the food of the inhabitants of this territory during the pre-Hispanic time.
The discovery that maize originated in Mesoamerica is due to the investigative work of Richard MacNeish.
The cultivation of this cereal brought with it the development of technologies related to the techniques of sowing and the process of nixtamalización.
It was also related to the religious beliefs of these peoples and their mythology. In Mesoamerican legends, humans were made of corn. There were also corn gods.
Cassava is another protagonist of the food of these cultures. Especially of the Mayan groups and the inhabitants of the south of Mesoamerica in localities of high concentration of people like Tikal, Copán and Calakmul, for example.
Cacao also fed these people, along with pumpkin, chili, and beans.
The intensification of agriculture allowed them to produce food surpluses that helped them to survive the drought periods and also motivated their sedentary lifestyle.
Same sedentarism that allowed them to reduce their energy expenditure and accumulate material goods, thanks to the commercialization of foods that they started.
Science
The sciences also found a particular development in Mesoamerica.
Medicine, for example, was developed in two ways: magic (shamanic) and pragmatic (naturalist).
The Shaman was the priest and healer of the communities. Their treatments included tobacco or beans, and incantations or offerings, to attend to the"diseases of the soul."
While other healers who did not have the shaman's hierarchy, they also healed but with more practical methods to treat wounds, fractures and even births. They used plants for the preparation of the"medicines"they applied.
Mathematics was another science applied by Mesoamerican civilization, which based its numbering system on the number twenty (20), and represented the numbers with points and bars.
For them, numbers had a symbolic value and could influence the fate of people. Thus, 2 meant origin; 3, domestic fire; 4, referred to the four corners of the universe, etc.
But it is said that his greatest contribution was an abacus (nepohualtzintzin), which came to be known as the Aztec computer and allowed them to streamline their arithmetic operations.
Human sacrifices
Another characteristic feature of the peoples of Mesoamerica was the act of sacrificing people as an offering to the gods.
This was an act with religious significance, but also political, because with it the divine cosmic energy renews itself and at the same time the established divine order is maintained.
The vital power that they attributed to the blood, made them believe that spilling it revitalized the gods, the earth, the flora and fauna.
In the archaeological discoveries there are examples of this belief as the images of eagles and jaguars devouring human hearts.
Writing
Writing also flourished in these civilizations and was studied in 1566 by a Spanish bishop, Diego de Landa, who described the Mayan calendar with drawings included.
In fact, scholars consider dates to be the easiest glyphs to identify in stone inscriptions, for the"bars and dots"used as numerical symbols.
At the beginning of these studies it was believed that glyphs that did not reference dates were simply literal descriptions of the gods, or animals, for example.
But this gave such mystical nuances to these writings that made it difficult to study until in 1960 a professor at Harvard University, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, discovered the biographical nature of inscriptions at the Mayan site of Piedras Negras.
Later, the incorporation of new scientists and new findings gave rise to a strong movement to decipher the Mayan hieroglyphs that later was described as ideographic.
That qualification meant that they drew symbols to represent ideas. Later they also discovered the Zapotec script, which turned out to be older than the Maya, for at least three centuries.
Also, an Olmec writing system with glyphs dating to 650 BC was found.
The characteristics common to these writing systems in Mesoamerica were:
- Combination of pictography and phonetic elements
- Using a 260-day calendar
- Connection writing, calendar and reigns.
Using Calendars
In Mesoamerica, two calendars were used:
- A 365-day solar calendar
- A ritual or prophecy calendar of 260 days
These calendars were used to decipher and indicate divine prophecies and to record historical dates. They were also used to commemorate births, marriages, deaths and anniversaries.
The 260-day calendar began to be used in 1200 BC. and also indicated the best dates for cultivating.
Social division
The prevailing social division in Mesoamerica put the priests and the warriors at the top of the social pyramid.
The craftsmen and peasants were in a lower stratum.
Fixed settlements became more complex and recorded the prevailing social division:
- Priests
- Warriors
- Nobles
- Craftsmen
- Merchants
- Peasants
Polytheistic religion
The Mesoamericans had many gods, all associated with the nature around them and who knew them.
Its first gods were related to the natural elements: fire, earth, water and animals. Then they incorporated astral divinities: sun, moon, constellations and other planets.
The qualities of these gods changed with the time and cultural influence of other groups. The hallmark of their religion was the dualism between the divinities.
Dual thinking
Thought in opposites characterizes all aspects of the life of the inhabitants of Mesoamerica: religion, politics, society, etc.
Architecture
In Mesoamerica, the development of medicine and agriculture favored an increase in population and this made the need to take advantage of water urgently, so they began to construct ingenious ways of doing so.
Religion also led them to build huge and complex buildings in honor of their gods.
The cities were also shaped in ways comparable to other great civilizations of the world.
Nahualismo
Nahualism was a common practice in these towns and was to be covered with an animal aspect.
This act represented the capacity of animal incarnation of man, and vice versa. But they also wanted to express their belief that one can be man and animal at the same time.
There are many samples of nahualism in pre-Hispanic art, but in all of them a sample of the man-animal relationship predominates.
References
- Mexican archeology. Mesoamerica. Recovered from: archeologiamexicana.mx
- Encyclopedia British (s / f). Mesoamerican civilization. Recovered from: britannica.com
- Gascoigne, Bamber. History of Mesoamerica. HistoryWorld from 2001, ongoing. Recovered from: net
- Pohl, John (s / f). Art and writing in ancient Mesoamerica.Foundation for the advancement of Mesoamerican studies Inc. Recovered from: famsi.org
- Autonomous University of Mexico. Cultural areas: Mesoamerica. Recovered from: portalacademico.cch.unam.mx
- Webster, David and others (s / f). Mesoamerican. Retrieved from: anth.la.psu.edu.