Week 11: The Olmecs and the Chavin Culture
Ancient History Resources for Homeschool and Personal Study. This weeks topics: The Chavin Culture, The Olmecs, The Red Ocher Culture and the Anasazi.
Ancient History is studied through the collection of archeological evidence, written records and oral stories or myths. Just because evidence shows a particular belief or custom was common at a particular time does not mean that everyone in that civilization shared that belief. When you study the topics for this week, you can either go deep on one topic for the week and skip the others or you can do a new topic each day. This outline is just a suggested pace, you can go slower or faster as needed. This outline is intended to provide you with a place to start. You will still need to do your own research.
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| Olmec Figures in the Anthropology Museum, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico |
Homeschool Topics for Week 11
Peru: The Chavin Culture
MesoAmerica: The Olmecs
Red Ocher Culture
The Anasazi
Discussion Questions
Peru: The Chavin Culture
The Chavin culture began in the Northern Andes mountains. The city Chavin de Huantar is at the headwaters of the Marañón River. See the Google Earth photos of this archeological site here. The indigenous people say that Chavin is from a Quechua word meaning "Center." The site is nestled into the valley of the Andes mountains and was designed in recognition of the mountains. A Jaguar-Dragon is carved into the Tello obelisk. Stone-lined galleries like labyrinths are juxtaposed with open air plazas for sacred rituals and some face-down skeletons were found in the labyrinths.
The Paracas Culture
The Paracas Culture was a sophisticated society with knowledge of irrigation. They created geoglyphs, mega sized pictures on the ground that can be seen from the sky. Mummies found associated with the Paracas Culture are wrapped in finely woven and embroidered cloth.
The Atacama Giant is the largest geoglyph in the world located in Chile. It's features are oriented to the moon making it the world's largest calendar as well.
MesoAmerica: The Olmecs
The Olmecs are a civilization known for their big stone heads and baby figures. They left few written records and all their cities were rebuilt by later civilizations. Recent scholarship has compared their statues to African art and the origins of the Olmec people. The evidence is there but not an overwhelming amount of evidence to fully understand the civilization.
The Long Count Calendar
The Calendar used by multiple civilizations is called the Long Count Calendar and may have been an Olmec idea. The calendar is based on 20 days rotated with 13 numbers. The Calendar is symbolic of birth, death and resurrection. Each of the twenty days represent a soul's progression towards perfection. You can learn more about the Long Count Calendar or "Sacred Round" here. The free book listed below "Mexican and Central American Mythology" gives more detail on the progression.
The Red Ocher Culture
The Red Ocher culture and the Glacial Kame Culture represent the only man made evidence of an extensive group of people who lived from Canada down to the middle of the Eastern United States. This culture built artificial mounds for burying their dead and included some artifacts, mostly arrow heads, in the burials. This culture seems to have continued into what is known as the Adena and Hopewell cultures. None of these names represent the real name of the civilization as no written records have been found. Instead these names are based on the person, place or thing associated with the site when it was discovered. Wikipedia article
What is so great about Red Ochre? In the arid environment of southern Ethiopia, for example, the Hamar people use ochre to clean their hair. In South Africa, it is used as sunscreen. Red Ochre mixed with another substance might have been used as an adhesive to hook an arrow head to a shaft. It might also be helpful in leather working. It might have even been the first prenatal vitamin. Source
The Anasazi
The Anasazi are the ancient people who emerged as a civilization in the Midwest region of the United States. Current terrain and resources don't explain how the civilization grew to the size it's ruins suggest. One ruin, Chaco Canyon, shows alignments to the solar equinoxes similar to other prehistoric cultures. Other ruins were built into cliffs. The cliff dwellings are speculated to be strategic for defense but no adversary has been identified. Several roads lead experts to speculate on trade routes for exotic items that have been found in the ruins. According to Wikipedia, "Puebloan tradition holds that the ancestors had achieved great spiritual power and control over natural forces. They used their power in ways that caused nature to change, and caused changes that were never meant to occur." Check out a Google Earth Project showing many of the Chaco sites.
Books (all links go to Goodreads)
Mexico: From the Olmec to the AztecsAmerica BC: Ancient Settlers in the New World
The Gospel of the Redman (focuses on the virtues of the indigenous in the Americas)
The Origin of the Mound Builders
Mexican and Central American Mythology (Explains the Calendar on pages 49-52)
Videos
The Olmec Legacy
Historical Hairstyles: Ancient South American Hairstyles