Economical+Classical+Americas

Cameron Causey
 * Hunting was a major aspect of life in the Americas.
 * Spear points have been found all over N America showing movement of theses peoples.
 * Followed large game as they moved.
 * More specifically they followed mastodons and mammoths until they went extinct.
 * Disappearance of animals was due to over hunting, showing how much they relied on it.
 * Lived and traveled in small groups of 20-25 people.
 * Most groups relied on hunting but specifically the Hopewells in N. America.


 * Economy relied heavily on agriculture.
 * Agriculture was practiced all over the Americas including N. America, Mesoamerica, and S. America.
 * Cultivated more then 100 different crops including domesticated maize.
 * Maize was a part of an everyday diet for the people who lived there.
 * Peppers, squash, and beans were also important crops.
 * Most Mesoamerican and North American cultures used irrigation systems such as chinampas.
 * The Andeans and Mochica used terraces in the mountains to get water to there crops.


 * Modernity was present in the economy such as trade and urban centers with large populations.
 * Olmecs, who were jade workers would trade resources they had to acquire jade.
 * Tetihuacans had an enormous urban center that was near modern day Mexico City.
 * These large hunting based societies started small but grew very rapidly into huge population.
 * The Mayans had an estimated population near 5 million.
 * Anasazi were very economically advanced with a road system and trade with mesoamerican cultures.
 * The chavin and Mississippian cultures were known to have very large populations.

Potential ID's:
 * Chinampas,
 * terrace farming,
 * irrigation farming,
 * classical american trade,
 * modernity.

Questions??? Compare and contrast the trading systems in Classical America to those developed in Asia.