Art,+Architecture,+Technology+Classical+Americas

By: Krista Viksnins

The Ancient Hunters
 * No wheel, bronze, the plow, or iron --> isolation
 * Domesticated dogs, turkeys, and guinea pigs
 * Made baskets and used stone grinding tools to prepare roots
 * Agriculture was domesticated
 * Items like cotton which were from the Old World have been found there
 * Possibly had contacts with Asians or Africans

Olmec
 * Pottery took place in 2000 B.C.E.
 * Irrigation & agriculture
 * Large sculptures (Olmec heads)
 * Temples were large too
 * Started calendars and a writing system
 * Liked jade and traded around to get it
 * In art, showed humans with feline qualities

Teotihuacan
 * Temple pyramids
 * Art was religious-gods and goddesses
 * Made pottery and used obsidian
 * Made murals
 * Created palaces later in time --> power went from religious to civil
 * No pictures of war scenes on walls --> suggested a peaceful people

ID's
 * Maize
 * Olmecs
 * Teotihuacan
 * Inventions/What they did not have
 * Rocks like jade and obsidian

By: Lexi Taylor

Maya
 * Used agriculture systems such as irrigation, swamp drainage, and created ridged fields at river mouths
 * Built Stelae (memorial monuments) to commemorate triumphs and events in the lives of their rulers
 * Built large pyramids that served administrative and religious purposes
 * Builders, Potters, Scribes, Sculptors, and Painters worked for the glory of the gods and rulers
 * As the Maya declined the Stelae cult ceased, and the quality of ceramics and architectural accomplishments declined too.
 * Women were responsible for the production of the fine cloth on small looms

Mound Builders
 * Built large earthen constructions and mounds for defense and for burials
 * Burials contained pottery, pipes, jewelry, and copper objects
 * They also contained personal items, weapons, and religious items such as quartz, galena, and mica
 * Hopewell artists worked in the stone and clay to make luxury items for the cult of dead
 * Mississippians built temple complexes and pyramid mounds
 * Desert people built stone structures

Andean World
 * Built roads, bridges, and agricultural terraces
 * Made ceramics and weaved
 * Built ceremonial centers and large stone buildings
 * Temples, Adobe, and Stone Buildings
 * Textiles and Gold were worked on by artisans
 * Animals were used as decorations

ID's
 * Mayans
 * Hopewell
 * Andean
 * Stelae
 * Chavin

Compare and contrast questions:

1. Compare the Americas innovations to the rest of the classical world. What did they have that others didn't and what they didn't have that the others did? How did they benefit from it? 2. Compare the different forms of agriculture within the Americas. What civilizations were similar and what civilizations were different? Why do you think there were similarities?