, settlers and clergymen as well as the indigenous chroniclers of the immediate post-conquest period.
Human presence in the Mexican region was once thought to date back 40,000 years based upon what were believed to be ancient human footprints discovered in the Valley of Mexico, but after further investigation using
plants around 8000 BC. Evidence shows a marked increase in pottery working by 2300 BC and the beginning of intensive corn farming between 1800 and 1500 BC.
Between 1800 and 300 BC, complex cultures began to form. Many matured into advanced
Aztec
, which flourished for nearly 4,000 years before the first contact with Europeans.
Accomplishments
These civilizations are credited with many inventions and advancements including pyramid-temples, mathematics (such as the development of the concept of zero as early as 36 BC and working with sums of hundreds of millions), astronomy (measuring the length of the solar year to a high degree of accuracy), medicine, and theology.[citation needed]
Archaic inscriptions on rocks and rock walls all over northern Mexico (especially in the state of Nuevo León) demonstrate an early propensity for counting in Mexico. These very early and ancient count-markings were associated with astronomical events and underscore the influence that astronomical activities had upon Mexican natives, even before they possessed urbanization.
In fact, many of the later Mexican-based civilizations would carefully build their cities and ceremonial centers according to specific astronomical events. Astronomy and the notion of human observation of celestial events would become central factors in the development of religious systems, writing systems, fine arts, and architecture.
Prehistoric Mexican astronomers began a tradition of precise observing, recording, and commemorating astronomical events that later become a hallmark of Mexican civilized achievements.[
Cities
would be founded and built on astronomical principles, leaders would be appointed on celestial events, wars would be fought according to solar-calendars, and a complex theology using astronomical metaphors would organize the daily lives of millions of people.
At some different points in time, three Mexican cities (Teotihuacan,[3]Tenochtitlan,[4][5] and Cholula)[6] were among the largest cities in the world. These cities and several others blossomed as centers of commerce, ideas, ceremonies, and theology. In turn, they radiated influence outward into neighboring cultures in central Mexico.
Aridoamerica and Oasisamerica
At its height,
Paquimé, a site connected to the Mogollon culture, there have been found ceremonial structures related to Mesoamerican religion, similar to the juego de pelota
.
Mesoamerica
While many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige, Mexico can be said to have had seven major civilizations: The
Aztec, Zapotec, Mixtec, and the Maya. These civilizations (with the exception of the politically fragmented Maya) extended their reach across Mexico, and beyond, like no others. They consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and theology. Other regional power players made economic and political alliances with these seven civilizations over the span of 3,000 years. Many made war with them. But almost all found themselves within these seven spheres of influence.[8]
Olmec civilization
Main article:
Olmec
The Olmec were an ancient Pre-Columbian people living in the tropical lowlands of south-central Mexico, roughly in what are the modern-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Their immediate cultural influence, however, extends far beyond this region. The Olmec flourished during the Formative (or Preclassic) period, dating from 1400 BC to about 400 BC, and are believed to have been the progenitor civilization of later Mesoamerican civilizations.[9]
The decline of the Olmec resulted in a power vacuum in Mexico. Emerging from that vacuum was Teotihuacan, first settled in 300 BC. By AD 150, it had grown to become the first true metropolis of what is now called North America. Teotihuacan established a new economic and political order never before seen in Mexico. Its influence stretched across Mexico into Central America, such as Monte Albán, Cerro de las Mesas, Matacapan, Tikal, and Kaminaljuyú. Teotihuacan's influence over the Maya civilization cannot be overstated; it transformed political power, artistic depictions, and the nature of economics. Within the city of Teotihuacan was a diverse and cosmopolitan population.[10]
Most of the regional ethnicities of Mexico were represented in the city. They lived in rural apartment communities where they worked their trades and contributed to the city's economic and cultural prowess. By AD 500, Teotihuacan had become one of the largest cities in the world with a population of 100,000 people. Teotihuacan's economic pull impacted areas in northern Mexico as well. It was a city whose monumental architecture reflected a new era in Mexican civilization, declining in political power about AD 650, but lasting in cultural influence for the better part of a millennium, to around AD 950.
Contemporary with Teotihuacan's greatness was the greatness of the
Mayan civilization. The period between AD 250 and AD 650 saw an intense flourishing of Maya civilized accomplishments. While the many Maya city-states never achieved political unity on the order of the central Mexican civilizations, they exerted a tremendous intellectual influence upon Mexico. The Maya built some of the most elaborate cities on the continent, and made innovations in mathematics, astronomy, and writing that became the pinnacle of Mexico's scientific achievements.[11]
Just as Teotihuacan had emerged from a power vacuum, so too did the
Anasazi corn culture in the Southwestern United States. The Toltec established a prosperous turquoise trade route with the northern civilization of Pueblo Bonito, in modern-day New Mexico. The Mayan city of Chichen Itza was also in contact with the Toltec civilization were powerfully influenced by central Mexicans as noted by the use of the Chac Mool, Atlantean figures, feathered serpents, and skull platforms. The Toltecs were about to melt and work precious metals such as gold and silver, they cultivated maguey and produced both pulque and clothes from the plant, and they were the employed cocoa beans in trade. The Toltec political system was so influential, that many future Mesoamerican dynasties would later claim to be of Toltec descent.[12]Désiré Charnay theorized Toltec migrations originated from Asia due to similarities to Japanese architecture, Chinese decoration, Malaysian language, and Cambodian dress.[13]
Aztec civilization
Main article:
Aztec
With the decline of the
Aztec. Newcomers to the Valley of Mexico, they were seen as crude and unrefined in the eyes of the existing Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the fallen Toltec empire.[citation needed