Mesoamerican Preclassic Period
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The Mesoamerican Preclassic period began in about 2500 B. C. It dates from the probable date of the first Mesoamerican ceramics and lasted until around 200 A. D, the date of the fall of
Cuicuilco Cuicuilco is an important archaeological site located on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico, in what is today the borough of Tlalpan in Mexico City. Construction of the Cuicuilco pyramid began a few centuri ...
, located south of
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
, where the circular pyramid built by this culture remains. Attributing its disappearance to the eruption of the volcano Xitle, located a few kilometers south of the pyramid. The eruption covered a radius of approximately 20 kilometers, in some cases up to 30 meters thick. It indicates the moment in which the Maya civilization found their own distinctive culture which differentiated them from other Mesoamerican groups. These societies were sedentary agricultural villages, in which ceramics first occurred. On the Pacific coast, this period started around the year 1800 B. C., but in the rest of the Maya area it started between 1000 and 1200 B. C. It was at the beginning of the Middle Preclassic period, around 800 B.C., when the first complex societies appeared in the Maya Area, in the form of chiefdoms.


Early Preclassic

The early Preclassic is the cultural point that marks the transition between the Upper Cenolithic period and the start of Mesoamerican civilization and its development. Ceramics are an attribute that points to purely sedentary societies. In the case of Mesoamerica, it is estimated that the production of ceramics must have started between the twenty-sixth and twenty-fifth centuries B. C. The oldest evidence of ceramic manufacturing are the shards in
Puerto Marqués Puerto Marqués is a bay located on the Pacific Coast in the Mexican State of Guerrero. Approximately 10 kilometers (6.5 miles) south of the city of Acapulco, it is the second closest Pacific port to Mexico City, approximately three hundred kilomet ...
, in the southern area of
Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...
. Archeologists have dated them to the year 2440 B. C. The early stage of the Preclassic consists of the 1300 years from 2500 B. C. to 1200 B. C. In this era, Mesoamerican societies had become completely sedentary, as would be the case throughout the history of the region. The absence of works of great size, characteristic of great states that would dominate later centuries, indicates that preclassical societies must have been somewhat egalitarian. This is not to say that all individuals were equal. These societies were organized based on kinship, sexual division of labor, and age. Throughout the Early Preclassic, there a process of cultural diversification. In the various regions that make up the area, different cultural traditions emerged that were dominant in the specialization of economic activities. However, no group could produce all the resources for their subsistence. For this reason, they formed trade routes, related to those pre-existing in the Upper Cenolithic, which allowed the societies involved in them to have access to resources from distant regions. Trade took, since then, a central role in the formation of Mesoamerican civilization. Commerce was the vehicle that facilitated cultural exchange between Mesoamerican societies. In the early Preclassic, however, regional styles prevailed (at least as observed in archeological remains from this period), though it is possible to speak of an incipient civilizing process (as
Darcy Ribeiro Darcy Ribeiro (October 26, 1922 – February 17, 1997) was a Brazilian anthropologist, historian, sociologist, author and politician. His ideas have influenced several scholars of Brazilian and Latin American studies. As Minister of Educati ...
called it), which allowed all the cultures of the area to be based on maize agriculture, and had also laid the foundations of the Mesoamerican belief system, expressed in the cult of the elements. During this period, the characteristic type of human settle must have been a village. Some of these grew in population and became dominant, like El Opeño in the west;
Tlatilco Tlatilco was a large pre-Columbian village in the Valley of Mexico situated near the modern-day town of the same name in the Mexican Federal District. It was one of the first chiefdom centers to arise in the Valley, flourishing on the western sho ...
, Coapexco and
Chalcatzingo Chalcatzingo is a Mesoamerican archaeology, archaeological site in the Valley of Morelos (municipality of Jantetelco) dating from the Formative Period of Mesoamerican chronology. The site is well known for its extensive array of Olmec-style monum ...
in the center; and
San José Mogote San José Mogote is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Zapotec civilization, Zapotec, a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in the region of what is now the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Oaxaca. A forerunner to the better- ...
in
Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
.


San José Mogote, Oaxaca

A manifestation of monumental architecture in Mesoamerica is the ceremonial center of
San José Mogote San José Mogote is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Zapotec civilization, Zapotec, a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in the region of what is now the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Oaxaca. A forerunner to the better- ...
. It concerns a village located in the valley of Etla, one of the central valleys of
Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
. the village of Mogote (whose original name is unknown) was the most important of all settlements in the region, and had its peak at the end of the early Preclassic. Its decline is associated with the construction of
Monte Albán Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain i ...
, the classical capital of the Zapotecs, towards the end of the mid-Preclassic. Mogote was a farming village, which controlled the central region of Oaxaca (occupied until then by Zapotecs) and maintained relations with the OImec.


La Mixteca

La Mixteca is a region shared by the current states of
Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
,
Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...
and
Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...
. It is a zone the presents evidence of ancient settlements. During the early Preclassic, the principle site of the region was Yucuita (from
Mixtec The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are Indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica of Guerrero, Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerre ...
''yuku'' 'hill' and ''ita'' 'flower', together meaning 'hill of the flowers'), a town with a few hundred inhabitants, founded around 1400 B. C. The settlement consisted of a central stone platform, around which huts were constructed. Monte Negro was later established.


Mid-Preclassic

The second part of the preclassic is termed the mid-Preclassic, and comprises the period between 1200 and 400 B. C. It was a period of intense technological changes, especially in respect to agriculture. In some regions, the first systems of irrigation and water control were constructed. In his book about Mesoamerican agriculture, considered that the movement of large amounts of workers for the construction of hydraulic systems is an indication of segmented society, with a stronge centralized state.


Social transformation

In agreement with Palerm, López Austin and López Luján say that social stratification is one of the main characteristics of Middle Preclassic societies. Associated with these hydraulic systems, there appear ceremonial complexes of permanent monumental architecture. Irrigation systems first appeared in the valley of
Tehuacán Tehuacán () is the second largest city in the Mexican state of Puebla, nestled in the southeast of the valley of Tehuacán, bordering the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz. The 2010 census reported a population of 248,716 in the city and 274,906 i ...
,
Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...
, around 700 B.C.; a hundred years later, in the lake basin of Mexico; and around 400 B.C., in the central valleys of Oaxaca. Parallel to the technological modernization of agriculture, the cultivable species associated with this period increased in variation. The mid-Preclassic was a period of specialization in productive processes. This phenomenon can be observed at the internal level of the different societies, however, more important is the regional specialization. The Mesoamerican peoples, as had been the case for a long time, had exploited the resources of their ecological niche, and had set up incipient exchange networks. But in the mid-Preclassic, the surpluses produced by agriculture allowed part of the population to engage in activities other than cultivation.


Social change

All this had certain repercussions on the social structure, that is, on the system of social relations. New groups appeared, such as artisans, and merchants became more important. In addition, as noted above, society as a whole became more stratified, and the ruling class (composed of the nobility and priests) became more clearly defined as a group separate from the common people. This can be seen from the remains found in the burials, the relative richness of the funerary offerings, the iconographic representations, and, above all, the appearance of sumptuary items of foreign origin. In fact, in this era, it is possible to observe that the regional elites maintained relationships between themselves. The base of this was commercial, but there was also a military basis to this. Currently, the role of the military in preclassical societies is not neatly defined. However, monuments in Monte Albán show that, at the least, the Zapotecs, Maya, and Olmecs were expanding. On the other hand, the
urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...
process in which some Mesoamerican villages were immersed at the end of the Early Preclassic period, takes on its clearest characteristics in this phase. The villages become cities, which clearly repeat the segmentation of social life in the types of constructions (those of the elite tend to be more elaborate and durable than the popular dwellings). The Mesoamerican cities were built based on a conscientious plan, which turned the ceremonial centers of this stage into true astronomical observatories. The main axes are related to notable points of astronomical observation that allowed the priests to predict and keep track of the time. The cities of
La Venta La Venta is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Olmec civilization located in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. Some of the artifacts have been moved to the museum "Parque - Museo de La Venta", which is in nearby Villaherm ...
in
Tabasco Tabasco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tabasco, 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It i ...
and
San José Mogote San José Mogote is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Zapotec civilization, Zapotec, a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in the region of what is now the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Oaxaca. A forerunner to the better- ...
in
Oaxaca Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
stand out as urban models of the time.


Calendar and writing

Related to the complex processes of social life and technology, writing and the
calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...
appeared in Mesoamerica. The first, from its beginnings, transmitted political information, and linked to it, chronological records are found. The oldest Mesoamerican writing systems correspond to the Mayan culture. The oldest inscriptions come from Monument 3 in San José Mogote, and from the tombstones of the Dancers Building in
Monte Albán Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain i ...
, as well as in Stelae 12 and 13 of the same site. They indicate events dated in the year 600 B.C. Some of these inscriptions are registered on the basis of the ritual calendar of 260 days; others contain chargers and signs of years, and possibly also already include nominative symbols of the scores in which the Mesoamericans divided the solar calendar of 365 days. It used to be thought that Mesoamerican writing and the Mesoamerican calendar were cultural developments of the ancient Maya. however, it is now known that the Maya received it from the Olmecs, who in turn may have taken it from the Zapotecs. Even the famous Maya Long Count of time and its positional numbering based on twenty, first appeared among the Olmecs of the
Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...
jungles.


Late Preclassic

The decline of the Olmec culture gave rise to the Late Preclassic period (400 B.C.-200 A.D.). This was a period of cultural diversification and assimilation of Olmec elements into the cultural systems of each people. On that basis, several of the most important traditions of Mesoamerica began. However,
Cuicuilco Cuicuilco is an important archaeological site located on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico, in what is today the borough of Tlalpan in Mexico City. Construction of the Cuicuilco pyramid began a few centuri ...
, in the south of the Valley of Mexico, and Chupícuaro, in
Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...
, would be the most important. The first became the largest city in Mesoamerica and the main ceremonial center of the Valley of Mexico, and maintained relations with Chupícuaro. The decline of Cuicuilco is parallel to the emergence of Teotihuacan, and is consummated with the eruption of the Xitle volcano (circa 150 A.D.), which motivated the migration of its inhabitants to the north of the Valley of Mexico. The Chupícuaro culture is known above all for its pottery production, traces of which have been detected over a wide area located between the
Bajío The Bajío (the ''lowland'') is a cultural and geographical region within the Mexican Plateau, central Mexican plateau which roughly spans from northwest of Greater Mexico City, Mexico City to the main silver mines in the northern-central part ...
and the lake basin. By the end of the Preclassic period, planning had begun for the cities that would become emblematic of Mesoamerica, such as
Monte Albán Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain i ...
and
Teotihuacán Teotihuacan (; Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'', ; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as ...
.


See also

*
Mesoamerican chronology Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian, prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BC ...
*
Olmecs The Olmecs () or Olmec were an early known major Mesoamerican civilization, flourishing in the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco from roughly 1200 to 400 Before the Common Era, BCE during Mesoamerica's Mesoamerican chronolog ...
*
Cuicuilco Cuicuilco is an important archaeological site located on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco in the southeastern Valley of Mexico, in what is today the borough of Tlalpan in Mexico City. Construction of the Cuicuilco pyramid began a few centuri ...
* Los Naranjos *
Teotihuacán Teotihuacan (; Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'', ; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as ...
*
Monte Albán Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain i ...
*
Zapotec civilization The Zapotec civilization ( "The People"; 700 BC–1521 AD) is an Indigenous peoples, indigenous Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows that their cultu ...


References


Bibliography

* Ramírez, Felipe (1996). ''Temamatla: Una visión del horizonte Formativo desde la Cuenca de México''. Bachelor's Thesis/National School of Anthropology and History/INAH-SEP/Mexico. * Ramírez, Felipe, Lorena Gámez y Fernán González (2000). ''La cerámica de Temamatla''. IIA-UNAM/México. * Serra Puche, Mari Carmen y Felipe Ramírez (2001). «Temamatla, un sitio del horizonte formativo en el sureste de la Cuenca de México.» ''Revista Expresión Antropológica'', No. 12/May–August/Mexican Cultural Center/Toluca, Edu. of Mex./Mexico. {{Authority control Mesoamerica Mesoamerican cultures Mesoamerican archaeology