Bulacan State University

ENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

STS 101

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Mesoamerica Civilization

Title of the Lesson: The Maya, Aztec and Inca Civilization

Time Frame: 6 hours

INTRODUCTION

Civilization defines a complex way of life characterized by urban areas nowadays, in terms
of communication, infrastructure, and division of labor. These places of the scientific and
engineering communities have struggled to understand new framework to describe ways
which science and technology can respond to it that resulted to propose a renewed and
strengthened covenant between science, technology, and its society.

This civilization that is rich in indigenous culture developed in parts of Mexico and Central
America prior to Spanish exploration and downfall in the 16th century. Towns or villages
occurs when individuals settle down together to work their fields, and they develop
particular cultural practices as they gather located close to lakes, where planting, fishing
and bird hunting became important ways to obtain food.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:

1. Locate and identify in the map or globe of the ancient Mesoamerican civilizations.
2. Develop an awareness of each place and reasons why certain events occur in Maya,
Aztec and Inca civilizations.
3. Compare and contrast the three distinct civilizations in terms of architecture, calendar,
education and technology, and culture of its people.

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DISCUSSION

The term Mesoamerica denotes the part of Mexico and Central America that was civilized
in pre-Spanish times. In many respects, the American Indians who inhabited Mesoamerica
were the most advanced native people in the Western Hemisphere. The northern border
of Mesoamerica runs west from a point on the Gulf coast of Mexico above the modern port
of Tampico, then dips south to exclude much of the central desert of highland Mexico,
meeting the Pacific coast opposite the tip of Baja (Lower) California (Coe & Murra, 2019).

The historic region of Mesoamerica comprises the modern-day countries of northern

Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, and central to
southern Mexico. For thousands of years, this area was populated by groups such as the
Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Toltec, and Aztec people. Cultural traits that define the region
include the domestication of maize, beans, avocado, and vanilla, and a common
architectural style.

worldmap.harvard.edu/maps/APWorldMap/Map data © 2016 Google

(National Geographic, 2020)

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Maya Civilization (1500 B.C.E to the sixteenth century arrival of the Spanish
conquistadors)

Mayans were the first major civilization in the Mesoamerica, they were simply the first to
develop a highly sophisticated society with art, science, architecture, and writing. They
were mostly nomadic, meaning they moved continuously rather than lived in one place, or
had small herds of animals and moved around occasionally (Muscato, 2014).

Location

Important Maya cities include Tikal in the east (in what is today Guatemala), Palenque in
the west (what is today Mexico), and Copán in the south (in what is today Honduras). The
collapse of Maya cities in the tenth century is not fully understood but may have resulted
from complex factors including climate change (and resulting drought and crop failures),
overpopulation, and political unrest. Following this collapse, Maya civilization continued on
the northern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula, where Chichen Itza emerged as an important
city of the Post-Classic Period. Though the city was abandoned by the thirteenth century,
it was the arrival of Hernan Cortés and his Spanish fleet in the early 16th century that
marked the end of the Maya civilization (Jimenez, 2020).

Map showing the extent of the Maya civilization (red), compared to all other Mesoamerica cultures (black).
Today, these sites are located in the countries of Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala (image: CC BY-
SA 3.0) https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-americas/early-cultures/maya/a/the-maya-an-
introduction

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Throughout the film Quest for the Lost Maya, a team of anthropologists led by Dr. George
Bey discovers the Maya may have been in the Yucatan as far back as 500 BCE. This new
evidence indicates the Maya of the Yucatan had a very complex social structure,
distinctive religious practices, and unique technological innovations that made civilization
possible in the harsh jungle (Herrero, 2012).

Agriculture

Mayans converted wetlands to farmland, the sophistication of the civilization's agricultural

systems rivalled their pyramids (Mascarelli, 2010). Using new techniques and extensive
excavations, researchers have found that the Maya coped with tough environmental
conditions by developing ingenious methods to grow crops in wetland areas. "The work
shows that this intensive agriculture is more complicated and on a par with these other
areas of intellectual development," says Timothy Beach, a physical geographer at
Georgetown University in Washington DC, who presented his findings at the Geological
Society of America (GSA) meeting in Denver, Colorado last 2010. The Maya's home was
a tough environment replete with recurring droughts and rising sea levels, and the land
that they farmed was rough, rocky terrain intermixed with vast swamps, or wetlands. So,
one of historians' biggest questions about the Maya civilization is how they managed to
feed their huge populations (Mascarelli, 2010). At the GSA meeting, Beach presented the
results of two decades' work aimed at answering these questions. During that time, he and
his wife, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, a physical geographer specializing in water quality from
George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and their colleagues, have performed more
than 60 excavations to study and map the different earth layers, or strata, in field sites in
northern Belize. Fossilized plant remains at these sites show that the Maya were growing
crops such as:
1. avocados
2. grass species
3. corn or maize
Their research suggests that the Maya built canals between wetlands to divert water and
create new farmland, says Beach. As the Maya mucked out the ditches, they would have
tossed the soil onto the adjacent land, creating elevated fields which would kept the root
systems of their crops above the waterlogged soil, while allowing access to the irrigation
water. Beach says that surveys carried out using Google Earth and remote sensing
techniques suggest that this wetland system was probably around 100 kilometers across
(Mascarelli, 2010).

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Maya irrigation canals at "Birds of Paradise" site in northwest Belize. Credit: S. Luzzadder-Beach

https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.587#citeas

Astronomy

Mayan commoners mapped their cosmology and recorded their history, based on using
domestic ceramic with its color, placement, and association with other artifacts at the
minor center of Saturday Creek, Belize. Results show that hidden items served to
contextualize their place in the universe. Commoners may not have had the written word,
but they had the means to record their own history, one with which they interacted daily —
under their feet, within walls, and under their roof (Lucero, 2010).

Mayans incorporated their advanced understanding of astronomy into their temples and
other religious structures. This allows them to use their temples for astronomical
observation. For example, the pyramid El Castillo (“the Castle”) called by Spanish
conquistadors is located at Chichen Itza in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, is situated at the
location of the sun during spring and fall equinoxes. Mayan knowledge and understanding
about celestial bodies were advanced for their time, as evidenced by their knowledge of
predicting eclipses and using astrological cycles in planting and harvesting. With its
pleasing radial symmetry, tidy stepped platforms, and crowning temple, El Castillo is one
of the most recognizable Mesoamerican pyramids. It was probably built by the Toltec-
Maya between 1050 and 1300 CE when the rest of the Maya population was dwindling. It
is famous not only for the descent of Kukulcán (Mesoamerican serpent deity) but also for
its relationship to the Maya calendar. Each of the pyramid’s four sides has a staircase of
91 steps. The total number of steps, when combined with the temple at its summit, equals
365 — the number of days in the Maya solar year. The temple on top was used
exclusively by priests who performed sacred rituals at a height that brought them closer to
the gods in the sky (Zelasko, 2020).

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© diegograndi/iStock.com
https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-inside-the-pyramid-at-chichn-itz

The ancient Maya were accomplished observers of the sky. Maya animal constellations
are found in the Paris Codex. Using their knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, the
ancient Maya developed one of the most accurate calendar systems in human history.
The ancient Maya had a fascination with cycles of time. The most commonly known Maya
cyclical calendars are the Haab, the Tzolk’in, and the Calendar Round. Aside from these,
the Maya also developed the Long Count calendar to chronologically date mythical and
historical events. The 13 baktun cycle of the Maya Long Count calendar measures
1,872,000 days or 5,125.366 tropical years. This is one of the longest cycles found in the
Maya calendar system. This cycle ends on the winter solstice, December 21, 2012.

The following are brief description of each Maya cyclical calendars (Hawkins, 2020) :
1. Haab cycle - is 365 days, and approximates the solar year. The Haab is a
nineteen-month calendar. The Haab is composed of 18 months made of 20 days,
and one month, made of 5 days. This 5-day month is called "Wayeb." Thus, 18 x 20
+ 5 = 365 days. This image below shows the hieroglyphs corresponding to the
nineteen months of the Haab calendar. The Maya represented some of these

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months using more than one glyph. These glyphs are referred to as "variants."
Variants of the same glyph are framed in a turquoise background.

The Maya farmers of the Yucatan conduct offerings and ceremonies on the same
months every year, following a 365-day Haab cycle. These ceremonies are
called Sac Ha’, Cha’a Chac and Wajikol. The Maya in the highlands of Guatemala
perform special ceremonies and rituals during the Haab month of Wayeb, the short
month of five days.

2. Tzolk’in – is the Mayan’s sacred calendar in Yucatec Mayan and Chol Q’ij

in K’iche’ Mayan. This calendar is not divided into months. Instead, it is made from
a succession of 20-day glyphs in combination with the numbers 1 to 13, and
produces 260 unique days. Multiplying 20 x 13 equals 260 days. The image below
illustrates how the numbers 1 to 13, cycle through the 20 glyphs to form dates in
the Tzolk’in calendar. Any such combination, such as 1 Imix’, repeats only after 260
days have passed. The length of the Tzolk’in matches nine cycles of the Moon and
the gestational period of humans. The Tzolk’in is also related to the movements of
the zenith Sun and the growing cycle of corn.

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Illustrates how the numbers 1 to 13, cycle through the 20 glyphs to form dates in the Tzolk’in
calendar. https://maya.nmai.si.edu/sites/all/themes/mayatime/img/calendar-system/4.jpg

Every 260 days, the Ajq’ijab’ in the highlands areas of Guatemala, celebrate a new
year ceremony called Wajxaqib’ B’atz’, and welcome another cycle in the sacred
Chol Q’ij or Tzolk’in Maya calendar. During this ceremony, new calendar Day
Keepers are initiated. This image shows Roberto Poz Pérez, K’iche’, a calendar
Day Keeper in a village near Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. He has been a calendar
Day Keeper for more than 30 years.

Roberto Poz Pérez, K’iche’, a calendar Day Keeper in a village near Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
https://maya.nmai.si.edu/sites/all/themes/mayatime/img/calendar-system/5.jpg

3. Calendar Round - is made from the interweaving of the Tzolk’in and Haab
calendars. In the Calendar Round, any given combination of a Tzolk’in day with a
Haab day will not repeat itself, until 52 periods of 365 days have passed. The Maya
believe that when a person reaches 52 years of age, they attain the special wisdom
of an elder. The image shows a contemporary representation of the Calendar
Round, interlocking the Tzolk’in (left) with the Haab (right).

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Contemporary representation of the Calendar Round, interlocking the Tzolk’in (left) with the Haab (right).
https://maya.nmai.si.edu/sites/all/themes/mayatime/img/calendar-system/7.jpg

Any historical or mythical event spanning more than 52 years required the ancient
Maya to use an additional calendar, the Long Count. The Long Count calendar is a
system that counts 5 cycles of time. This is very similar to the Gregorian calendar
system that counts days, months, years, centuries and millennia. The Maya system
also does this, but the difference is in the name and magnitude of the various
cycles. Like Maya mathematics, the Long Count calendar system counts by 20s.
The exception is in the third cycle, because 18 x 20, which equals 360, more
closely approximates a Haab cycle or solar cycle of 365 days, rather than
multiplying 20 x 20, which equals 400.

The calendar system of Mayan according to archaeological and historical evidence

clearly shows that the Lunar Series of mythical dates were calculated backward — that is,
they were often determined from the date on which the monument was erected using a
specific formula to calculate the age of the moon. There is a relationship between rulers of
specific sites and the lunar-month count at those sites because many cases the month
count changed after a new ruler came to throne. Analysis of the month count shows a
relationship between the month count and the ruler who dedicated the monument. The
Lunar Series are part of the calendar calculations. The connection to changes in Maya
rulers seems to suggest that rulers initiated new calculation methods on their accession. It
is known from Classic Maya society that artists and scribes played an important role in the
Classic-period royal courts. The capture of scribes, with fingers broken to prevent their
service to their ruler, is recorded at Piedras Negras and Bonampak (Johnston, 2015). A
similar connection to the ruler can be assumed for other members of the court, who were
responsible for astronomical and calendrical calculations (Fuls, 2007).

The following inscriptions on those monuments form the most detailed sources for the
ancient history of the Maya:

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Lunar series from Palenque, Temple of the Sun Tablet. Drawing by the author, (Robertson M. G., 1991)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/article/calculation-of-the-lunar-series-on-
classic-maya-monuments/E34DF56C86A1FA3D7A55C36521BC65C5/core-reader#

Coba, Stela 1 (A1–D17). Drawing: COB:St. 1 from Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, vol. 8, part
1:COBA, reproduced courtesy of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/article/calculation-of-the-lunar-series-on-
classic-maya monuments/E34DF56C86A1FA3D7A55C36521BC65C5/core-reader#

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Note: TYR = related to the tropical year.

By Martin and Grube, 2000

Technology

The Mayans developed various tools for crops and building elaborate cities using ordinary
machineries and tools. The following were scientific ideas and tools they developed to
help them in everyday life (Serafica, Pawilen, Caslib, Jr., & Alata, 2018):
1. Hydraulics system with sophisticated waterways to supply water to different
communities.
2. Looms for weaving cloth and devised a rainbow of glittery paints made from a
mineral called mica.
3. One of the first people to produce rubber products 3,000 years before Goodyear
received its patent in 1844, before Charles Goodyear.
4. Mayans use a writing system known as Mayan hieroglyphics.
5. They were skilled in mathematics and created a number system based on the
numeral 20.
6. Maya people developed different preparative strategies to obtain inorganic–organic
hybrid materials based on the discovery of a set of greenish pellets from ancient
plaster at the La Blanca archaeological site (Guatemala) provides evidence that the
Maya people used a material similar to Maya Blue also outside of pottery, murals,
sculptures or religious context.

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7. Maya architecture is unlike any other style in the world. Maya engineers developed
structural mechanics for multi-story buildings.
8. Maya arts soared while Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages (O'Kon, 2012).
9. Invented the blast furnace 2,000 years before it was patented in England.
10.  While the Maya did not develop minted currency, they used various objects, at
different times, as "money." These included greenstone beads, cacao beans and
copper bells.

Education and Culture

The Mayan literacy stands out from most other indigenous literacies of America. The
following are the reasons (Holbrock, 2016):
1. The average Mayan family size was about 5 to 7.
2. They used three different ways of recording: codices, collections of hieroglyphic
symbols written on paper and cloth or animal skin, some samples of these have still
survived.
3. Only noble families were allowed to go to school so commoner children got taught
at home.
4. Maya invented of one of the earliest known writing systems on Earth, and thus have
an ancient history of writing. Strategies and concerns for language revival via
literacy are found in the Guatemalan context.
5. Mayan literacy involves not just alphabetic reading and writing, but also visual
symbols.
6. Corn leaves are used to create crosses that adorn people’s homes on Catholic
holidays.
7. Ancient Maya numerals are used to number modern books.
8. Extraordinary degree of knowledge of astronomy and mathematics are possessed
by the Mayans.
9. Nowadays, the Maya hip hop scene that is currently growing around Lake Atitlán,
Guatemala seeks to educate Maya youth about their culture by way of lyrics in
Mayan languages as well as references to historical Maya texts such as the Popol
Wuj and the Chilam Balam. This musical genre combines ancestral local
knowledge, accessed by way of pre-Colombian texts and sacred fire ceremonies,
with popular music in a manner that attracts Maya youth who may otherwise
receive little formal education about their own Maya culture (Bell, 2017).
10. Music was linked to religion and was created by rattles, whistles, trumpets, drums,
flutes, copper bells and shells.
11. Human sacrifice was not an everyday event but was essential to sanctify certain
rituals, such as the inauguration of a new ruler, the designation of a new heir to the
throne, or the dedication of an important new temple or ball court. The victims were
often prisoners of war (Jarus, 2017).
12. Mayan rulers (kings) who are served by attendants and advisers managed the
production and distribution of status goods which they used to enhance their
prestige and power. They also controlled some critical (non-local) commodities that
included critical everyday resources each family needed, like salt (Jarus, 2017).

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13. Maya laborers were subject to a labor tax to build palaces, temples and public
works. A ruler successful in war could control more laborers and exact tribute on
defeated enemies, further increasing their economic (Jarus, 2017).

Aztec Civilization (Flourished between 13th CE to 1521 CE)

The name Aztec most commonly refers to Nahuatl-speaking people who dominated the
Basin of Mexico, and indeed much of central and southern Mexico, in the fifteenth and
early sixteenth centuries (Berdan, 2016). 

Location

Most Aztec towns were founded between AD 1100 and 1350 when the Aztec people
immigrated into the central Mexican highlands. They established new settlements and
dynasties leading to a system of autonomous city‐states. The construction of a royal
palace marked the official founding of a new city or town, most of them city‐state capitals.
In 1430, three Aztec peoples – the Mexica, Acolhua, and Tepanecs – formed a tributary
empire, known as the Triple Alliance or the Aztec Empire. Two of their capitals,
Tenochtitlan (Mexica) and Texcoco (Acolhua), became the preeminent cities of the
Valley of Mexico. By the time Spanish conquerors arrived in 1519 this empire had
conquered much of Mesoamerica, a nd Tenochtitlan had grown into a city of 200,000
(Smith, 2008).

This map shows the political boundaries of the Aztec Empire.

https://aztecprojectempire.wordpress.com/maps/

Agriculture

The Aztecs had modest beginnings, serving as mercenaries or warriors for other nations.
In time, their reputation as fierce warriors grew and they built a city-state. Since other
indigenous nations had already settled around the lakes on more desirable land, the only

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way for the Aztecs to accommodate a growing population was to develop around the small
island. The Aztecs expanded Mexico-Tenochtitlán by building chinampas, or artificial
islands.
Though the Aztecs did not invent chinampas (they were already being used by other
native nations when the Aztecs founded their city) they made the most of them. To build
the chinampas, the Aztecs first formed rectangles of varying sizes — usually 91 meters
long and from 4 to 9 meters wide — by staking out the area and fencing it with reeds. The
fenced-off area was then filled with mud, lake sediment and various organic materials,
until it rose above the water level of the lake. Then trees were planted to “anchor”
each chinampa. Most residents of Mexico-Tenochtitlán lived on chinampas, where they
also grew their crops. Lake channels surrounded all four sides of each chinampa and were
wide enough for a canoe to navigate. These channels provided crop irrigation and an easy
way to transport products to market (Medina, 2014).

https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/chinampas-floating-gardens-mexico-001537

According to Medina (2014), the following are other important scientific ideas they
developed for food sustainability:
1. Due to the abundance of water and sunlight, as well as a temperate climate,
the chinampas were highly productive, producing up to four crops a year, and about
two-thirds of the food consumed in the city.
2. They grew maize, beans, tomatoes, pumpkins, chilis, flowers and medicinal herbs.
3. Aztecs disposed of all kinds of organic wastes in the chinampas, such as food
leftovers and agricultural residues, which fertilized the crops, an intensive recycling
of nutrients.
4. The most valuable fertilizer used on the chinampas was human excrement or
feces.
5. Human urine was used as a mordant (fixative) in the dyeing of fabrics, and, thus
also considered a resource.

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6. Aztecs consumed animal protein from turkeys, ducks, deer, fish, and other wild
animals. 
7. They also raised a breed of dog they called itzcuintli for human consumption,
feeding them food leftovers.
8. They have invented the canoe, a light narrow boat used for travelling in water
systems.

Astronomy

A new study on one of the most important remaining artifacts from the Aztec Empire, a 24-
ton basalt calendar stone, interprets the stone’s central image as the death of the sun god
Tonatiuh during an eclipse, an event Aztecs believed would lead to a global apocalypse
accompanied by earthquakes. Many scientists believe the heart of the stone to be the face
of Tonatiuh (pronounced toe-NAH-tee-uh), atop which Aztecs offered human sacrifices to
stave off the end of the world. Researcher Susan Milbrath, a Latin American art and
archaeology curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History, offers the new, ominous
interpretation of this symbol in the February print edition of the journal Mexicon. The
Spanish buried the 12-foot-wide calendar stone, also known as the Sun Stone, face down
before it was uncovered in 1790. Aztecs and Mayas tracked the sun’s movements to
predict future events, such as weather patterns and astronomical cycles. The Aztecs
sacrificed a prisoner on the calendar stone on the date 4 Olin, the day they believed the
world would end. The day repeats every 260 days in their calendar cycle. With succession
of the cycle, another prisoner was sacrificed and the sun rose again the following day and
Tonatiuh lived on (Mavrakis, 2017).

Evidence suggests the sun god's face was unpainted or colored black, like the sun darkened during an
eclipse. Florida Museum graphic by James Young, with images from el commandant and keepscases/
wikimedia commons / cc-by-sa-3.0.https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/ominous-new-interpretation-
of-aztec-sun-stone/

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Technology

According to experts, there are six large regions in the world that are the cradles of
civilization. In Mesoamerica, Aztec was one of the strong state due to its military power, its
religion, and its tribute system, the following were the skills and knowledge of Aztecs used
in their everyday living (Calvo, 2020):

1. They developed their own calendar of 18 months of 20 days each.

2. Built large cities and huge pyramids and temples.
3. Developed a farming system called chinampas that they used to grow crops on
shallow lake beds.
4. They used cacao to make chocolate as their currency.
5. Their weapons included blowguns, bows and arrows, spears flung with a spear-
thrower for greater distance, and slings made of braided yarn.
6. Scholars believe that sleds, levers, or ropes must have been used to move heavier
loads
7. Wooden drawbridges could be raised to allow boats to pass.
8. The ball game, called ulama, was played with a rubber ball that could be propelled
only using the hips.
9. Aztec homes were built of adobe around a courtyard and religious shrine, and
furnished with reed mats and low tables. 
10. The kitchen was equipped with a hearth fire and jars or bins for foods preserved by
salting or drying in the sun.
11. There were also grindstones for making corn flour. 
12. The flour was then cooked into a porridge called atole or made into tortillas that
were cooked on a flat stone griddle. Tortillas are still central to the cuisine of the
region.
13. Aztec cloth was generally made of plant fibers, such as cotton or fiber from the
maguey cactus. 
14. Incas and Aztecs were skilled at making highly decorated pottery and ceramics. 
15. As fishermen, Incas and Aztecs employed a variety of techniques including angling,
nets and harpoons.
16. Aztec canoes, used for fishing and transportation, were made from hollowed-out
tree trunks. 

Education and Culture

All Aztec children attended school through mandatory education, though their curricula
varied by gender and social class, the following were stated in the Aztec social structure
(Aguilar & Moreno, 2018):
1. Each calpulli (large house) had a school for commoner children known as a
telpochcalli (house of youth).
2. The purpose of the telpochcalli was to train young men to be warriors, and boys
generally began their training at the age of 15.
3. Noble children and exceptionally gifted commoner children attended the calmecac
(schools, where they received training to become priests and government officials).

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4. While military training was provided, the calmecac offered more academic
opportunities than the telpochcalli.
5. Children typically began attending the calmecac between the ages of 6 and 13.
6. The schools imposed harsh punishments on their students for misbehavior and the
calmecac were especially strict because noble children were held to a higher
standard than commoner children.

Aztec students being disciplined by their

teachers at school (Codex Mendoza).
https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/aztec-and-maya-law/
aztec- social-structure

Aztec society was hierarchical and divided into clearly defined classes. The following are
some of their cultures (Cartwright, 2015):
1. The nobility dominated the key positions in the military, state administration,
judiciary, and priesthood.
2. Traders could become extremely wealthy and powerful, even their prosperity was
based on their class, and most citizens remained simple farmers. There was a
limited opportunity for individuals to better their social position, especially in the
military and religious spheres.
3. Nepotism prevailed but, at the same time, promotions could be obtained on merit
as well as demotions from incompetence.
4. In practice, though, the vast majority of the Aztec population would have remained
in the social group of their immediate family throughout their lives.
5. Rank and reputation were by far the most important considerations for those who
wished to rise in society and, above all, ownership of land continued to be the
greatest indicator of a person's status.
6. Aztec society was clearly stratified and had many levels, but the common bonds of
perpetual warfare and an ever-present religion ensured a sophisticated and
functional social apparatus was created which was both cohesive and inclusive.
Whether this society, already evolving as the trading class became more influential
in areas traditionally reserved for the aristocracy, could have developed and
prospered had it not collapsed following the invasion from the Old World.

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Inca Civilization (Flourished in South America between 1425 CE - 1532 CE)

The Inca Empire was the last native state to develop in South America before sixteenth
century European invasions introduced foreign culture, religion, and disease (Covey,
2008).

Location

The Inca Empire was located on the western side of South America (spreading from
north to south) more specifically in the Andes Mountains. The Coastal Deserts and the
Amazon Jungle of Peru.  The main city where the Incas began to build their empire was
Cuzco (located 10,000 feet above sea level) in Peru and from there they extended their
empire along many neighboring countries to what today we know as Colombia, Ecuador,
Argentina and Chile (Camilla, 2020).

Geographic location of the Inca civilization. At its peak, it managed to stretch from Colombia to Chile,
although its center was always Cuzco in Peru. It covered the Pacific Coast, the Andes Mountains and the
Amazon Jungle of the region. https://www.sutori.com/story/inca-empire--YhYJNUQ98ECxTnbyG2LfoWCS

Agriculture

The flat grounds made in the mountains along with the terraces for agriculture are still
used in the production of crops in the Andes mountains of Peru today and copied in similar
locations around the world.  The following are their agricultural practices (Camilla, 2020):
1. Their complex irrigation systems still work to perfection and help these crops, to
still be produced and consumed today with the same processes used by the Incas.
2. Incas developed a freeze and dry system that until today helps the world maintain
a constant fresh source of food supply even when it is not the season to grow
certain crops.  With the invention on this process, many of the crops initially only

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cultivated by the Incas, like potatoes and tomatoes were later taken to other parts
of the world like Europe and are now everyday products worldwide.

Astronomy

The Incas possessed considerable celestial knowledge and, as solar worshippers, they
chose to incorporate and display orientations and features of the Sun, their god, in their
many temples and shrines throughout the empire. The huacas (shrine) of this study point
to a society that was both infatuated with the Sun and possessed the technical ability to
use their celestial knowledge with any structure or carving they so desired. They marked
solar events such as sunrise and sunset at June and December solstices with orientations
in shrines and temples, and also by constructing solar pillars on the horizon. Pillars such
as these enabled them to manage crops and festivals throughout the year with a precise
calendar. These examples and more point to a society that had mastered an
astronomically related system of time management that very well suited their needs
(Gullberg, 2019).

Inca developed two calendars, the night time calendar and the day time calendar. The
daytime calendar counted approximately 365 days and was very important for them
because it helped them keep track of their mining and agricultural activities. The night time
calendar was based on the moon’s cycles, so it only had 328 days. This calendar was
used to mark the days in which the festivals were celebrated (Camilla, 2020).

With their calendar, the Inca’s tracked the movement of the sun, the moon and the stars. Solstice, equinox
and another celestial phenomenon were recorded, registered and predicted using it.
https://www.sutori.com/story/inca-empire--YhYJNUQ98ECxTnbyG2LfoWCS

Technology

The Inca Civilization managed to surpass modern expectations in many ways, with the
limited knowledge and resources that they had, they managed to excel in many different
areas.  Among many important achievements were (Camilla, 2020):

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1. Architecture - One of the major contributions of the Inca Empire was architecture.
Machu Picchu, as all the other constructions made by Incas (with materials such
as stone, clay and mud layers) was a perfectly designed structure built by
combining natural landscapes with stones.  The Incas cut stone with such
precision that each block fit exactly with its neighboring stone.
2. Metallurgy - The Incas had the capacity to mine and work with different minerals
such as gold, silver, iron, copper and emeralds. These natural resources were
used to build temples, make jewelry, drinking cups, statues of their gods, weapons
and other tools needed in their daily life.
3. Quipus - The Inca civilization didn’t develop a writing system but they created the
quipus, an element made by knotting different colored strings allowing them to keep
track of important events that needed to be remembered or passed on.
4. Bridges and Roads - The Incas developed an advanced transportation system
that allowed them to communicate different areas of the empire giving them the
chance to move goods and people from side to side. The same bridges that made
transportation and communication easy for them worked as a defense mechanism
agains t intruders because by burning the bridges down they eliminated the
possibility of an invasion.
5. Aqueducts - Due to water scarcity in the dry season, the Incas built an advanced
water system that provided them with drinkable water and that proved that they had
advanced engineering capacities.

Some of their standout engineering achievements in Machu Picchu.

https://www.tcsworldtravel.com/article/inca-ancient-masters-of-stonework-and-civil-engineering

Education and Culture

The Incas did not have any type of writing. That is why all the information about their form
of education comes from the chronicles written by the Spaniards during the conquest and
the colony. Likewise, the information was transmitted orally, the following are some of key
aspects (Ticket, 2019):

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1. The youth school was called ‘Yachaywasi ‘ (House of Knowledge). There were
several in the Inca Empire although the main one was in the current city of Cusco.
2. The children of the nobles received Quechua language instruction in the first year
of education.
3. The third year they received education on the interpretation of the quipus. The
quipu was the only tool with which it was possible to keep an accurate record of
the population and of the products that were produced and stored.
4. The education in the Incan lasted 4 years and began at approximately 12.
5. As there was no written system, education was based on hearing and memorizing.
6. The teachers who taught were called ‘Amautas’. They taught with practice,
repetition and experience.
7. Inca education had high developments in various sciences such as astronomy,
medicine, mathematics and surgery.
8. In mathematics, the Incas made their constructions based on physical geometric
calculations. Thus, the walls of Machu Picchu, Tipón, Sacsayhuaman, Pisac,
Ollantaytambo, Choquequirao, remain untouched until today.

SUMMARY

Mesoamerican civilization was developed in parts of Mexico and Central America before
the Spanish conquest in the 16th century with a great culture. Some areas shifted from
hunting and gathering to agriculture, this happened as the climate warmed with the end of
the Ice Age. Late Formative and Classic periods lasted until c. AD 900 which include the
Maya and the civilization centered at Teotihuacán; later societies include the Toltec, Aztec
and Inca. People from Mesoamerica have each their own education and culture, religion,
calendar and even technology that was primarily used in agriculture.

SUGGESTED READINGS AND WEBSITES

● https://www.jstor.org/stable/26309234

● https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/the-aztecs-of-mexico-a-zero-waste-society

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● https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/technology-rainwater-survival-maya

● https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.01160/full

●https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
343338937_Traditional_Herbal_Medicine_in_Mesoamerica_Toward_Its_Evidence_Base_f
or_Improving_Universal_Health_Coverage

● https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874115301549

GLOSSARY

Terms Definition

Agriculture Agriculture is the art and science of cultivating the soil,

growing crops and raising livestock. It includes the
preparation of plant and animal products for people to
use and their distribution to markets. Agriculture provides
most of the world's food and fabrics (National Geographic
Society, 2022).

Astronomy Science that encompasses the study of all extraterrestrial

objects and phenomena. Until the invention of the
telescope and the discovery of the laws of motion and
gravity in the 17th century, astronomy was primarily
concerned with noting and predicting the positions of the
Sun, Moon, and planets, originally for calendrical and
astrological purposes and later for navigational uses and
scientific interest (Friedlander, 2022).

Civilization A civilization is a complex human society, usually made

up of different cities, with certain characteristics of
cultural and technological development. In many parts of
the world, early civilizations formed when people began
coming together in urban settlements (National
Geographic Society, 2022).

Culture The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of

a racial, religious, or social group (Merriam-Webster,

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2022).

Education the knowledge and development resulting from the

process of being educated (Merriam-Webster, 2022).

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