Quiz• List three early civilizations of Central and

South America.

• How did these early civilizations determine what day it was? Describe what it looked like.

Great Civilizations of Central & South America

Aztec, Maya, and Inca

Objectives:

• Identify North, Central and South America on a Map.

• Identify regions in Mesoamerica and South America inhabited by the Aztec, Maya and Inca.

• Discuss the arts and culture of the early civilizations of Central and South America

• Create artworks related to the cultures of Central and South American early civilizations.

Mesoamerica

• Mesoamerica – the region where North and South America meet.

• Mesoamerica has been home to many great civilizations, including the – Olmecs– Maya– Toltecs– Aztecs

Aztec Arts• Aztecs had many types of art and artists like

stone-workers, who carved statues; scribes, who painted pictograms; potters, who would make pots for various things; and feather-workers, who would create beautiful head dresses among other things.

• Music and dance were a significant part of Aztec life. Music and dance were closely linked to religion. The most common instruments were rattles, whistles, trumpets, flutes, copper bells, and shells. Everyone took part in dances performed especially for the gods, including peasants.

Calendars

• Calendars: Like the Maya and other American civilizations, the Aztecs had two cycles to their calendar, one a 365-day solar year and one a 260 ritual year. Combined, they made a 52-year 'Calendar Round'. The Aztecs believed bad things happened at the end of a Calendar Round.

Aztec Calendar

• The Aztecs believed that the world had already been created and destroyed four times and their Fifth World was doomed.

• The Aztec calendar was an adaptation of the Mayan calendar

Aztec Calendar

The 20 Aztec Day Signs

Names of Days

• These symbols were combined with a number give the date, such as Three Vulture.

• The days were named after familiar creatures or everyday things, such as lizard or water. Each day also had its own god.

• Children were often named after the day on which they were born, a custom that still continues in some parts of Mexico up to the present day.

Mayan Calendar

Ballgames• For some 3,000 years, the Maya played games with a

rubber ball. The best known took place in the ballcourt that was a feature of every city.

• This was usually an alley formed by two parallel structures, some remains of which have survived. Rules varied, but two teams – each consisting of two or three players – were usually involved, and points were scored by hitting the ball at a ring of markers.

• The game was both a sport to bet on and a metaphor for the cosmos, with the ball seen as the sun moving in and out of the underworld. Sometimes the game's winners would sacrifice the losers to the gods.

Ball-game players used only their hips and knees to hit a solid rubber ball through the ring.

Pyramid Temple 1 at Tikal was built in the 700s AD as a memorial to a Maya king. Nine stone platforms were built above the burial chamber, to create a tall pyramid shape reaching up to the sky.

Temple Tomb

Project: Create your own Aztec Calendar• Trace a circle onto a piece of

8.5x11 paper. Use a large lid, stencil or compass.

• Draw an image of a sun in the middle of the circle radiating outward towards the edges.

• Evenly draw out several smaller circles inside the large circle.

• Draw or trace at least 10 day signs around the smaller circles.

• Color your design with pencil colors or markers.

Project: Mayan Clay Vessel

Inca Art

• There were many Inca craftsmen in the Andes. They were expert architects who constructed stone walls. The artisans also made silver alpacas that show their great skills.

• The Inca craftsmen achieved a high degree of respect and honor because of their skills in arts and crafts. They sculpted pottery which featured geometric designs painted in black, red, brown, yellow, and white.

Inca Arts & Crafts

• Metalworkers make ornaments, tools, and weapons out silver, copper, gold, and bronze. They excelled at working metals like silver, copper, and gold. Female statues are found with Inca offerings to the gods. Because llamas were very protected in the Andean region, lots of stylized llama figures were made by metalworkers.

• Inca weavers wove beautiful textiles from alpaca, llama, and vicuña wool and from cotton

• The Inca were very famous for their ideas of handling and working materials they used for public buildings. The Inca used stones that weighed many tons in the building. The stones were brought by labors from quarries using rollers, wedges, ropes, and inclined planes.

• Another favorite of the Incas was music played on woodwinds (which include flutes and panpipes, and trumpets made of shell and ceramics) and drums. They played haunting melodies for ceremonies or just for fun.

Machu Picchu

Tumi KnifeCeremonial Knife

Jaguar Vessel

• http://library.thinkquest.org/27981/

• http://www.studystack.com/studytable-36108

• http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/theme/ancient05.htm