Central & South America Lecture 16 3_3

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Anthropology

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Oct 30, 2023

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● The Maya (central) ○ Quiche people ● The Inca (south) The Maya ● Civilization emerged around 8000 bce ● Cities emerged around 2000-250 BCE ● Agriculture emerged in the America independently slightly behind the fertile crescent ● Essentially the yucatan peninsula is Mayan ● Mayan language has 6 million native speakers today ● Writing system developed in 200 bce ○ Logograms and syllabic glyphs ● Independent city states, not a unified country ● 800 ce there was a collapse of many of the city states ● Abandoned a lot of cities and moved to a few more northern cities ● Patriarchal and patrilineal ● Quiche kingdom invaded by spain in 1525 and 70-90% of pop died of smallpox ● Extremely accurate calendar ● Astrology art and architecture ● Each city state has its own mythology and religions ● Syncretism of traditional mayan religion with roman catholicism ● Sacrifice: blood, human (pow), animal, food (precise and regulatory because otherwise the earth would cease to exist) ● Cave systems and sinkholes and mountains very important to mayans ● Sacrifice at high places to reach the gods easier ● Pyramids as temples to the gods, shrines too ● Chichen itza is most famous pyramid dedicated to kukuclan ● Divination through numerology, astrology, throwing seeds and beans, crystals, augury (looking at patterns of birds) ● Several souls within a human The Popol Vuh ● Book ● Translates from quiche mayan (guatemalan present day) to “the council book” ● Mostly a history book ● Many other books of mythology and oral traditions besides this one ● Oral tradition written down 1550 CE ● Translated into spanish in the 1700’s early first ● English translation by dennis tedlock in 1986 ● Contains myths about creation, flood, hero twins & underworld and many more Quiche Creation ● Nothing but sky and sea (primordial- before the world) ● 2 binatural primordial deities

● Think and speak things into existence ● Supreme Being (1st) ○ Male ○ MAKER MODELER BEARER BEGETTER sovereign plumed serpent (name) ○ Kukucan ○ Wears blue and green quetzal feathers ● Sky god ○ Heart of sky ○ Huracan ○ Storm god ○ Fire creator ○ Splits into 3; thunderbolt hurricane, newborn thunderbolt & raw thunderbolt ● Create earth by speaking earth and it rises from primordial waters ● Wanted to be worshipped so they created bunch of stuff to get worship ● First make animals: Deer birds serpents jaguars ○ Made them not able to speak ● Animals are left on the earth but they are lowly so their flesh will be eaten by what's next ● Decided to make humans next ● First attempt of humans are made of mud but they keep falling apart, cant turn and spoke only senselessly ● Consulted Xpiyacoc the grandfather and xmucane the grandmother who perform divination and make manikans ● Second attempt manikans are made of wood ● MUltiplied quickly, no blood to sacrafice to gods and arms and legs were not fully developed ● Also did not praise gods but had thoughts ● Divine council discuss the manikans and decides they all must be killed in a flood ● The flood isnt water its a flood of sap because they are made of wood ● The animals were also sent to rip apart the manikans ● The tools they made also attacked the manikans ● Their dogs also attacked ● Monkeys were the only sign left of the manikans and gods left them be as a remembrance of the flood ● Third and final attempt is by mainly xmucane but also Xpiyacoc ● They created humans from ground up corn(flesh) and water(blood) and her hand grease to act like the fat ● Made 4 men and 4 women who reproduce and make the quiche people ● At first they are too similar to the gods by being too powerful ● Later the gods make them dummer and less strong and that is present humans The Inca ● Empire of Quecha people ● Centered in peru ● Started conquering other people and created the empire w lots of cultures

● Empire created from 1200s to 1533 ● Had a capital which was traditional homeland ● Encompassed most of western s america ● Still thriving ● Major trading power at the time ● 8-10 million speakers today speak quechua which was official language of empire ● The four regions (concentric circles) ● Territory is called tawantinsuyu aka the four corners ● Inka= ruler/lord ● Sapa inka= incan emperor, divine, son of inti (sun god) ● patriarchal and patrilineal ● Forst made contact w spain in 1520s ● Small pox killed large portion which created a war of succession ● Athaupa overthwe his older brother and was conquered by francisco pizzaro (spanish) ● Polytheistic ● Divination is a big thing ● Own form of mummification ○ Leave a body at mountain top it will dry out and be preserved ● Syncretism w roman catholicism ● Inti- sun god is the representation of sapa inla ● Inti raymi festival in june around the solstice and is still celebrated today ● Supreme creator deity- viracocha; most powerful deity The viracocha cosmogeny ● ‘The birth of the universe’ under the god viracocha ● Translation is from the perspective of a spanish conquistador (very prejudiced and derogatory) ● Viracocha- supreme deity (creator and storm god) ● In the beginning all there is is darkness and viracocha ● Makes giants first but they are dumb and destroy everything or worship him ● Kills the giants with a flood called pachacuti and lasts 60 days and 60 nights ● Remaining people turned to stone as a reminder said to be the andes mountains (etiology) ● Next creates 3 servant gods who will help him rule the domain and eventually make humans ● Then calls light by the sun, moon then stars ● They emerge from lake titicaca ● Viracocha throws dirt at the mood to dim it and explains craters on the moon ● Taguapaca was disobedient and wanted to rule on his own making viracocha banish him by rowing him to the middle of lake titicaca ● Creation of second generation is also from stones ● This generation worships him and farm ● Viracocha goes around giving places and peoples names and separates the culture ● Taguapaca escapes bound of lake titicaca and he goes around calling himself viracocha

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● The real viracocha tells them not to trust the prophet coming in my wake ● The humans remember this and taguapaca disappears ● HUmans are tired of viracocha and worshiping him so they plan to overthrow him ● He punishes them by volcanic fire and the culture is killed ● Threatens other human communities ● After he travels around to teach society everything (culture hero) ● Machu picchu was a summer estate for the sapa inka