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America
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Ancient America

Even as other parts of the World the ancient history of America is
also still a more or less white spot in historical perspective.

8000 BC - 2000 BC

Hunters roam the landscape, subsisting on large mammals and
gathering plants and other natural resources. Incipient agriculture
begins about 5000 B.C., and over the next thousand years includes
low-intensity crops such as chili peppers, avocados, and beans.

Excavations in the Tehuacán valley in central Mexico have uncovered
small cobs of Zea mays--maize, or corn--dated to around 3000 B.C.
It probably has little nutritional value at this stage, but by 2000
B.C., corn is one of the staple crops of Mesoamerican society and
remains so for thousands of years.

Events

_o ca. 7000 B.C._ American Archaic cultures are those that occur
between Paleoindian hunters and the peoples who have realized some
combination of pottery making, burial mound construction, and
garden technology. The combination varies from area to area.

_o ca. 5000 B.C._ Settlements are established on the shores of the
resource-rich lakes in the Basin of Mexico, where early gardening
efforts are undertaken.

_o ca. 4000 B.C._ Shell-mound sites are occupied in the coastal
estuaries of the Soconusco region of the Pacific coastal plain of
Mexico and Guatemala.

_o ca. 3114 B.C_. Mythic base date (August 13, 3114) of the Maya
Long Count Calendar.

_o ca. 3000 B.C._ An early form of corn is identified in the Valley
of Tehuacán in southern Puebla/northern Oaxaca states, and
subsequently evolves into a highly productive plant food.

_o ca. 2800 B.C._ Ceramics of the Monagrillo complex are present in
small settlements around Parita Bay in central Panama, an area of
rich coastal resources. Technologically conservative, Monagrillo
ceramics are made for many hundreds of years.

_o ca. 2300 B.C._ Tlapacoya (also known as Zohapilco), a
significant island community on Lake Chalco in the Basin of Mexico,
yields the earliest yet identified ceramic figurine in Mesoamerica.

2000 BC - 1000 BC

The hunter-gatherer lifestyle gives way almost completely to sedentary
agriculture. Villages around the Basin of Mexico and the Soconusco
region of coastal Guatemala establish trade routes and social
organization becomes increasingly complex. Rapid development of the
Olmec site of San Lorenzo, Veracruz, after 1200 B.C., includes massive
basalt sculptures. An iconographic system with its roots in the Gulf
Coast spreads across Mesoamerica, as evidenced in the ceramics of
central Mexico and in monumental sculpture and carvings as far south
as Honduras and El Salvador.

Events

_o ca. 1800 B.C._ Sedentary village life is widespread and pottery
is abundant.

_o ca. 1600 B.C._ Villages along the Coatzacoalcos River drainage
on the Gulf of Mexico flourish based on abundant riverine resources
and fertile soils.

Established villages expand in the Soconusco region of the Pacific
coastal plain of Guatemala and Chiapas (Mexico).

_o ca. 1400 B.C._ Luxury goods such as ceramic figurines, stone
bowls, and greenstone beads are placed in burials in villages of
the Soconusco region.

The people of San Lorenzo modify the form of the natural plateau
upon which the center is built. Rising above the Coatzacoalcos
River drainage in southern Veracruz, the plateau becomes home to
the dominant city of the coastal lowlands, the impressive capital
of an innovative people now known as the Olmec.

Highland villages in central Mexico produce numerous sophisticated
works of ceramic, notably small, detailed female figurines. Certain
villages, such as Tlatilco and Tlapacoya in the Basin of Mexico and
Las Bocas in western Puebla, begin to establish precedence over
their neighbors.

A ground and polished greenstone celt--a tear-shaped ax or adze--is
placed as a dedicatory offering below a large residential mound at
Paso de la Amada, a major village in the highlands of Chiapas.
Ground stone celts are used as agricultural tools throughout much
of Mesoamerica. They take on a revered, symbolic role, thought to
be based on their primary function as tools.

_o ca. 1350 B.C._ The first public building in the Valley of Oaxaca
is constructed at the major regional center of San José Mogote. It
is a stuccoed wattle-and-daub structure built on a platformlike
foundation.

_o ca. 1250 B.C._ At San Lorenzo, ceramics of distinctive white,
gray, and black surfaces are produced, often the result of
specialized firing techniques. These colors come to be identified
with Olmec ceramics, as do certain design motifs, wherever they are
found.

_o ca. 1200 B.C._ The beginning of the period known
archaeologically as the Middle Formative, one of particularly
significant development in Mesoamerica.

Within the precincts of the Red Palace, a large earthen and wood
structure with red-stained sand floors and pigmented walls, the
Olmec of San Lorenzo control raw materials and the production of
stone sculpture. Volcanic stone, a rare commodity imported into the
floodplains of the Gulf Coast from the distant Tuxtla mountains, is
used and reused for large, unprecedented three-dimensional
sculpture, including multi-ton stone heads.

_o ca. 1050 B.C._ Olmec stylistic traits are present in ceramics
and greenstone figurine fragments in the Soconusco region of the
Pacific coast.
______________________________________________________________

Mexico

1000 BC - 1 AD

Fundamental cultural patterns--maize agriculture, precisely aligned
site plans, the construction of pyramids and plazas, and images
defining the ruler as the central figure connecting the natural and
supernatural realms--spread across the region. Gulf Coast and central
Mexican sites carry the Olmec tradition. By 400 B.C., the artistic and
cultural dominance of the Gulf Coast wanes. In Oaxaca, the earliest
known calendrical glyph occurs around 600 B.C. at the Zapotec site of
San José Mogote. The influential site of Teotihuacan in central Mexico
is established circa 150 B.C.

Events

_o ca. 950 B.C._ Olmec San Lorenzo loses political power and
population. Sixty miles to the southeast, another Olmec center on
the floodplain, the island site of La Venta, gains both.

_o ca. 900 B.C._ Chalcatzingo, in the central Mexican highlands,
remodels the natural landscape into a series of broad terraces, and
carves ritual scenes in low relief on living rock. At other central
highland centers such as Tlatilco and Las Bocas, ceramic vessels
and figures in Olmec style are present. Trade networks between
important regional centers are considered to be active. They are
thought to occasion numerous pan-Mesoamerican cultural
similarities.

The layout of the ceremonial heart of La Venta, a specially
oriented pattern of juxtaposed mounds and open plazas, is
established. Such layouts will be used--with regional and temporal
variations--in building sacred Mesoamerican centers for more than
2,000 years.

_o ca. 800 B.C._ A large earthen pyramid is constructed at La
Venta, possibly conceived of as a sacred mountain. Burials at La
Venta contain significant grave goods. Small carefully fashioned
figures, personal ornaments, and celts of green jadeite and other
greenstones are among the mortuary offerings.

_o ca. 600 B.C._ Major buildings at San José Mogote in the Valley
of Oaxaca are built of masonry. A carved relief is set in a
corridor floor that depicts a slain figure with a hieroglyph for "1
Earthquake" between its feet. It is the earliest recorded date in
Zapotec, the Oaxaca hieroglyphic system.

_o ca. 500 B.C._ Monte Albán is established on a defensible hill
above the Valley of Oaxaca, and grows rapidly into the major
regional center. The populations of valley-floor villages such as
San José Mogote are much diminished.

_o ca. 400 B.C._ Two calendars, a 365-day solar calendar and a
260-day ritual calendar, appear to be in use.

Many of the large carved stone sculptures and monuments at La Venta
are damaged; the city loses political power and population, and is
gradually deserted.

_o ca. 300 B.C._ Cuicuilco, now the largest center on the high
plateau of the Basin of Mexico, has substantial public
architecture, including a circular, stone-faced pyramid.

In western Mexico, deeply buried tombs at the bottom of shafts are
in use. Located in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and
Colima, the tombs contain ceramic figures and vessels in great
quantity. The stylistic names assigned to the ceramics correspond
to the names of the modern states.

_o ca. 200 B.C._ Defensive walls are constructed on the north and
west sides of Monte Albán. Low-relief carved stones with depictions
of slain victims are set into the walls of Building L; known as
Danzantes, from the contorted postures of the figures, they number
more than 300. Also incorporated into Building L are Stelae 12 and
13, with hieroglyphs carved in an apparent early Zapotec text.

_o ca. 150 B.C._ The Xitle volcano erupts in the southern Basin of
Mexico, overwhelming Cuicuilco and instigating resettlement of
peoples further north in the basin.

_o ca. 100 B.C._ The settlement of Teotihuacan in the northern
Basin of Mexico grows. Close to perpetual springs and obsidian
sources, it is well situated for irrigation agriculture and has
active obsidian workshops. Obsidian, a volcanic glass, is essential
in Mesoamerica for the making of tools--points, knives, and
scrapers.

_o 32 B.C._ The Long Count date 7.16.6.16.18 (September 3, 32 B.C.)
is carved on a stone monument, Stela C, at the Gulf Coast site of
Tres Zapotes, a major Epi-Olmec community.

1 AD - 500 AD

Teotihuacan becomes the dominant political and economic force of
Mesoamerica. Boasting the largest urban population in the region, it
controls the nearby and highly important obsidian mines. Teotihuacan
apparently sends a military force into the Maya region at the end of
the fourth century. The hilltop center of Monte Albán expands to
control the Valley of Oaxaca. Farther to the west, in Colima, Nayarit,
and Jalisco, lively and elegant ceramic sculptures are placed in shaft
tombs. On the Gulf Coast, inheritors of the Olmec tradition develop a
still poorly understood hieroglyphic writing distinct from the Maya
and Zapotec systems.

Events

_o ca. 1 A.D._ Teotihuacan in the Basin of Mexico grows rapidly as
rural populations move in, possibly coerced into doing so.

_o ca. 50 A.D._ The grid pattern of the city plan is established at
Teotihuacan and the focus of sacred building is on the so-called
Street of the Dead, where permanent construction of public
architecture (such as three-temple complexes) begins. The Pyramid
of the Sun, the largest structure ever raised in ancient
Mesoamerica, is initiated over a narrow, tunnel-like cave adjacent
to the street. Caves are associated with the origins or emergence
of life in Mesoamerican thought. The city becomes a pilgrimage
center.

Monte Albán grows quickly and dominates, apparently by force, the
Valley of Oaxaca. Much of the mountaintop on which it is built is
leveled to form the great Main Plaza; temples and palaces on its
perimeter are constructed or enlarged and surfaced with white lime
plaster. Tomb construction and burial contents become more
elaborate.

_o ca. 150 A.D._ The Pyramid of the Moon at the north end of
Teotihuacan's Street of the Dead is enlarged, and the axis of the
city center shifts south with the building of a large permanent
market structure, the Great Compound, and a religious/governing
center, the Ciudadela. Teotihuacan is a major marketplace, and
controls much of the essential trade in obsidian in central Mexico.

A relief-carved stela found at La Mojarra in the Papaloapan River
drainage of Veracruz depicts a grandly dressed personage and bears
a long inscription in what is thought to be an Epi-Olmec script.

_o ca. 200 A.D._ The talud-tablero, a particular architectural
profile used on sacred temple platforms, appears on the Temple of
the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan's Ciudadela. The talud-tablero
profile will be widely used in the city and elsewhere in
Mesoamerica. Teotihuacan controls the Basin of Mexico.

Building J at Monte Albán incorporates the "conquest" reliefs
believed to name the numerous Oaxaca locations claimed as subject
to the hilltop city. I-shaped ballcourts are present at Monte Albán
and the ballgame is thought to have had a role in resolving
disputes.

_o ca. 250 A.D._ Wall paintings, done in a fresco technique,
embellish temples near the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan;
eventually, frescoed walls appear throughout the city. Permanent
apartment compounds--walled, one-story building groups that become
the standard residential unit--are initiated. Many are occupied by
the city's hundreds of craftsmen. Future building efforts center on
residential construction; about 2,000 apartment compounds will make
up the city.

The shaft tombs of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima in the west of
Mexico are no longer made on the grand scale of previous centuries.

_o ca. 378 A.D._ In Guatemala's Petén, the ninth recorded ruler of
the Maya city of Tikal, Chak Toh Ich'ak I (Great Jaguar Claw), dies
on the day a foreign warrior named K'ak Sih (Fire-Born)--thought to
be from Teotihuacan--arrives. The following year, a new ruler is
invested at Tikal, Yax Ain I (First Crocodile), who has strong ties
to Teotihuacan, and there is much subsequent Teotihuacan presence
at Tikal.

_o ca. 400 A.D._ Architectural details and ceramic vessel forms at
Kaminaljuyú in the southwestern Maya highlands and in the Tiquisate
region of Guatemala's Pacific coast indicate a strong Teotihuacan
presence.

_o ca. 450 A.D._ Royal tombs at Monte Albán contain numerous large,
complex funerary urns of ceramic. The urns are thought to depict
deceased ancestors. A specific neighborhood, known as the Oaxaca
barrio, exists in Teotihuacan for people from Monte Albán.

500 AD - 1000 AD

The fall of Teotihuacan in the seventh century precipitates a period
of dislocation. Many peoples are uprooted to new territories, forming
new political and trade alliances, and creating eclectic art styles. A
number of smaller cities in central Mexico compete for control and
prestige. On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, El Tajín develops into
an extensive site and appears to have been the center for important
ceremonial games. In the Valley of Oaxaca, small regional centers
increase their power at the expense of Monte Albán, and the Mixtecs
have a growing presence. By 900 A.D., the Toltec culture is the new
centralizing force in Mesoamerica.

Events

_o ca. 500_ The city of Teotihuacan covers about eight square
miles, with an estimated population between 100,000 and 200,000.
Major construction activity in the city subsides, while production
of prestigious craft goods for local use and export flourishes.
Large quantities of ceramics--cylindrical tripods, figurines, and
multipiece incense burners--and greenstone, calcite, and obsidian
human figures and masks are manufactured in specialized workshops.

The Teuchitlán tradition of circular structures flourishes in the
highland valleys of west central Jalisco. Elite ceremonial and
administrative centers are constructed of circular, truncated
pyramids arranged in large circles often associated with
ballcourts.

Cholula in the fertile Puebla-Tlaxcala valley thrives. Its Great
Pyramid, Tlachihualtépetl ("man-made mountain"), is enlarged;
stairs on all four sides allow access to the summit. Subsequent
enlargements will make it the largest, continuously used structure
in ancient America.
__
_o ca. 550 _Elite tombs in regional centers in the Oaxaca valley
feature door jambs and panels of stone carved with scenes and
Zapotec hieroglyphs recounting the genealogies of the ruling lords.
__
_o ca. 600 _On the north central frontier of Mexico, the
Chalchihuites culture exploits the mineral resources along the
foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Mesoamerican culture
traits are transmitted into the United States Southwest.

Teotihuacan's influence over the rest of Mesoamerica ceases.

Cantona, located east of the central Mexico highlands and
Teotihuacan's main competitor for control of the obsidian trade,
builds fortifications.
__
_o ca. 650 _Principal temples and elite residences in central
Teotihuacan are burned, and carved cult objects smashed, perhaps
the result of an internal political and economic crisis. Many
apartment compounds are abandoned, but parts of the site remain
inhabited until about 900.

In central Veracruz, a number of regional centers produce vast
quantities of ceramic sculpture for ritual purposes, among them
Remojadas, Nopiloa, and El Zapotal.
__
_o ca. 700 _Xochicalco in western Morelos develops into an
important regional center. Its art and architecture combine
elements of traditional Teotihuacan style with aspects of
contemporary styles from the Oaxaca, Maya, and Gulf Coast regions.

El Tajín dominates on the Gulf Coast, where the ballgame is the
focus of ritual activity. The site has no fewer than seventeen
ballcourts; hundreds of portable sculptures associated with the
game, known as yokes, hachas, and palmas, have been found
throughout the north central Gulf lowlands.
__
_o ca. 750 _Tula Chico is founded in the present state of Hidalgo
in the northern Basin of Mexico. The city's population is composed
of many disparate ethnic groups.
__
_o ca. 800 _Major construction ceases at Monte Albán and its
population declines rapidly. Political power in the Oaxaca valley
shifts to smaller centers on the valley floor, among them Yagul,
Mitla, and Zaachila.
__
_o ca. 800 _Well-preserved mural paintings at Xochitécatl-Cacaxtla
in the Valley of Tlaxcala provide evidence of the presence of
powerful Maya groups in the heart of central Mexico.
Xochitécatl-Cacaxtla controls trade routes between the Gulf Coast
and the central highlands.

The city of Tula covers an area of about two-and-a-half square
miles. Like Teotihuacan, its plan is a uniform grid, oriented
north-south, with streets, terraces, plazas, and residential
compounds. New architectural elements include colonnaded halls,
atlantean sculptures, chacmools, skull racks, and warrior figures
on columns and murals. Toltec culture and religion, which includes
new gods, among them Quetzalcoátl and Tezcatlipoca, spread rapidly
throughout Mexico via trade and conquest.

Metallurgy is introduced into western Mexico, probably through
long-distance contact with much older South American traditions.
__
_o ca. 850 _Catastrophic destruction and rapid abandonment occur in
most flourishing central Mexican city-states, a result of local
revolt and/or military conquest, perhaps at the hands of the
Toltecs.
__
_o ca. 900 _Toltec Tula is the powerful capital of a state that
integrates the diverse peoples of Mexico into a new cultural
system. Its trade network stretches from Costa Rica to the United
States Southwest.

Metalworking is practiced and its popularity grows. Turquoise
becomes an important luxury material.

A new polychrome ceramic ware in the Cholula area combines bright
colors and designs.
__
_o ca. 925 _The Toltecs reach Yucatán, introducing new
architectural forms and imagery. Toltec influence is particularly
strong at the site of Chichén Itzá in northern Yucatán.

1000 AD - 1500 AD

Countless cities and small city-states exist in central Mexico;
populations increase substantially. The city-states engage in constant
warfare while trying to expand their political and economic base. Most
are unable to establish themselves in larger domains or empires.
Long-distance trade grows, and traveling merchants have an important
place in the social hierarchy, as do professional soldiers. Stylistic
features and symbols spread throughout large areas. About 1200,
numerous Nahuatl-speaking groups from northern Mexico migrate to
central Mexico, where the Aztec culture will coalesce. One of the
northern groups, the Mexica, rises to prominence in the fifteenth
century as rulers of the Aztec empire.

Events

_____o ca. 1000 _Tula, at the height of its cultural and political
influence, is the largest city in central Mexico, covering some
five square miles with a population of about 60,000 persons. At its
center, the sacred precinct features two large ballcourts and two
stepped pyramids. One, known as Pyramid B, is decorated with carved
relief panels showing feathered serpents, prowling jaguars and
coyotes, and eagles with human hearts in their talons.
__
_o ca. 1070_ A small Mixtec city-state in the Mixteca Alta of
highland Oaxaca--the Tilantongo kingdom--expands under the
rulership of Lord 8 Deer Jaguar Claw. A warrior, he conquers
several towns and forges alliances through marriage. His
spectacular exploits are subsequently recorded in pictorial
manuscripts. Three survive today: the Codex Bodley, the Codex
Zouche-Nuttall, and the Codex Colombino-Becker.
__
_o ca. 1100 _Nahuatl-speaking peoples begin migrating toward
central Mexico. They are led by their tribal god Huitzilopochtli
("Hummingbird on the Left"), his image borne on a priest's
shoulders. Aztlán ("Place of the Herons"), an island in a lake in
west or northwest Mexico, is said to be their point of origin.
__
_o ca. 1150 _In the far north, the city of Casas Grandes (also
known as Paquimé) is an important exchange center for luxury
materials from both the north and the south. Casas Grandes' own
distinctive ceramic wares are traded throughout the region.
__
_o ca. 1175 _The violent destruction of the central Mexican city of
Tula coincides approximately with the arrival of Nahuatl-speaking
peoples from northern Mexico.
__
_o ca. 1200 _The Huastec people of the northern Gulf Coast,
linguistically related to the Maya, create highly individual forms
of stone sculpture and ceramics.
__
_o ca. 1250 _Cholula to the east of the Basin of Mexico is
conquered by the northern Tolteca Chichimeca people and a new
ceremonial precinct is built around the Pyramid of Quetzalcoátl.
Cholula's Great Pyramid was the focal point of religious activity
for over a thousand years.
__
_o ca. 1300_ A new geometric, vividly colored painting
style--possibly originating in Cholula--appears, primarily used on
ceramic vessels and in pictorial manuscripts. Named Mixteca-Puebla
for the regions of its greatest concentration, depictions include
gods, religious rituals and symbols, as well as events relating to
dynastic histories. It is widely disseminated throughout central
Mexico.

In the west, the Tarascan people of the Pátzcuaro Basin assume
control of some northern trade routes. Talented craftsmen, they
produce fine ornaments of gold, silver, and paper-thin obsidian (a
volcanic glass).
__
_o ca. 1325 _The Mexica people settle on a marshy island in the
Basin of Mexico's Lake Texcoco after almost 200 years of wandering.
Naming their city Tenochtitlan, they build a sanctuary dedicated to
their tribal/war god Huitzilopochtli and to the ancient rain god
Tlaloc.
__
_o ca. 1350 _In the Oaxaca Valley, Mixtecs marry into Zapotec
royalty, increasing their local power. Mixtec metalsmiths produce
exquisite gold ornaments valued throughout Mexico.
__
_o ca. 1371 _In the Basin of Mexico, Tezozomoc becomes king at
Atzcapotzalco, then the most powerful city-state in the region. He
assumes control of neighboring Tenochtitlan and names Acamapichtli
its king.
__
_o ca. 1372 _Acamapichtli enlarges Tenochtitlan's main sanctuary,
building two temple pyramids side by side. He forges political
alliances through strategic marriages.
__
_o ca. 1391 _Huitzilihuitl, son and successor of Acamapichtli in
Tenochtitlan, expands the economic and political power of the
Mexica in the Basin of Mexico.
__
_o ca. 1400 _The Tarascan state expands rapidly, stretching between
two of Mexico's great rivers, the Lerma-Santiago in the north and
the Balsas in the south. The region is rich in resources, including
copper, gold, silver, obsidian, and onyx marble. The capital,
Tzintzuntzan, has a population of approximately 35,000 persons.
______________________________________________________________

Maya

1000 BC - 1 AD

Ceremonial centers along the Pacific coast of Guatemala, including
Abaj Takalik, Izapa, and Kaminaljuyú, grow in size and stature.
Pyramids and monumental stone sculpture at different sites provide
evidence for connections with the ancestral Olmec style. In the
tropical lowlands of the Petén, the villages of Nak'be and El Mirador
emerge as major centers. Hieroglyphic writing appears by the dawn of
the first millennium, and the Maya establish the architectural,
sculptural, and iconographic systems that dominate their artistic
production.

Events

_o ca. 900 B.C._ The beginning of the era known archaeologically as
the Middle Preclassic period in the Maya area.

Public structures, including a large earthen mound, are built at La
Blanca, a village in the Soconusco region on the Pacific coast. The
mound groups are not centrally organized.

_o ca. 800 B.C._ Public architecture is present in the Pacific
piedmont community of Abaj Takalik together with stone sculpture in
Olmec style.

Numerous villages exist in the tropical lowlands of the Petén
region of Guatemala, among them, Nak'be, El Mirador, and Tikal.

_o ca. 600 B.C._ The community of Nak'be prospers. Public
architectural projects are undertaken.

Ballcourts of an open-ended type are present at three centers on
the Grijalva River in Chiapas.

_o ca. 400 B.C._ Located in the fertile Valley of Guatemala in the
Maya highlands, the center of Kaminaljuyú becomes important for
trade.

A great building effort is undertaken at Nak'be with the
construction of large stone-faced platforms and pyramids. A
limestone slab, or stela, with a low-relief sculpture of two
dignitaries is apparently placed in association with a stone altar,
an early example of an important Maya practice.

_o ca. 300 B.C._ Although Nak'be loses prominence to neighboring El
Mirador--to which it is joined by a limestone causeway--it
continues to expand its sacred buildings. Enormous stucco-surfaced
limestone masks embellish a major temple, the first occurrence of a
longlived Maya religious pattern.

_o ca. 200 B.C._ Monumentally scaled public buildings are raised at
El Mirador. These include a three-temple complex on a common
platform, a much used architectural arrangement in subsequent
times.

Tikal grows larger and construction begins on a great masonry
platform located on its highest hill. Base to a number of pyramid
temples, the platform and temples will be enlarged many times.
Known today as the North Acropolis, it will be the sacred heart of
Tikal for centuries.

Relief sculpture or stelae (as they are known in the Americas) are
carved and erected at Izapa in the highlands. They are positioned
in association with altars and major architectural features. Rulers
and mythic beings are depicted in the sculptures.

_o ca. 100 B.C._ Tombs very rich in sumptuary offerings--including
objects of jade, obsidian, mica, pyrite, and quartz crystal--are
placed in the interior of temple platforms at Kaminaljuyú. The
burials of powerful persons, they include sacrificial attendants.

_o ca. 36 B.C._ A fragment of stela found reused in the Guatemalan
highlands at Chiapa de Corzo has the earliest yet identified Long
Count date, 7.16.3.2.13 (December 8, 36 B.C.). The Long Count
Calendar has a mythic start date that correlates to 3114 B.C. in
the Christian calendar.

1 AD - 500 AD

The building of large pyramids with broad stairways flanked by
enormous stucco masks wanes by 250 A.D. In its place, the use of
stelae carved with lengthy hieroglyphic texts emerges. These stelae
combined historical narratives with mythological time, and join the
carved script with images of rulers wearing elaborate headdresses and
holding ceremonial bars. Placed in front of temples, these shafts
makde transient rituals forever visible. At the end of the fourth
century, texts at Tikal and Copán suggest that the central Mexican
city of Teotihuacan controls the foundation of specific dynasties in
the Maya region.

Events

_o ca. 1 A.D. _In the Petén lowlands, a member of Tikal's royal
family is buried in a well-provisioned vaulted tomb dug into the
sacred north-south axis of the North Acropolis, the location of
numerous subsequent kingly burials. A greenstone mask with inlaid
eyes and teeth, possibly forming a head for the burial wrappings,
is among the tomb's contents.

_o ca. 37 A.D. _Stela 1, bearing an eroded Long Count date of
7.19.15.7.12 (March 4, 37 A.D.), depicts a profile figure with an
elaborate headdress at the highland site of El Baúl.

_o ca. 100 A.D. _Ceramic vessels, many used as mortuary offerings,
are very well made and enjoy a long period of formal
experimentation and surface elaboration.

_o ca. 200 A.D. _The legendary founder of Tikal's most powerful
dynasty, Yax Ch'aktel Xok (First Scaffold Shark), dies. Thirty-one
rulers succeed him.

_o ca. 250 A.D. _The Long Count Calendar and hieroglyphic writing
are in use in the lowlands, where the exploits of the ruling
classes begin to be recorded permanently on stone.

_o ca. 260 A.D. _The eruption of the Ilopango volcano in the
southwestern highlands disrupts the major centers, displaces
populations, and upsets trade networks. The region begins a slow
decline; Kaminaljuyú gradually loses status and authority. Large
stone sculpture is no longer made.

_o ca. 292 A.D. _Stela 29 at Tikal bears a date of 8.12.14.8.15
(July 8, 292 A.D.)--the first Long Count date in the lowlands--and
an ornately accoutered profile figure that may represent the sixth
or seventh dynastic ruler Foliated Jaguar.

_o ca. 350 A.D. _Peoples in the Copán valley in the southeast Maya
area (now in Honduras) build plastered masonry structures in a
regional Maya style and trade with the southern highlands.

_o ca. 378 A.D. _The ninth recorded ruler of Tikal, Chak Toh Ich'ak
I (Great Jaguar Claw), dies on the day a foreign warrior named K'ak
Sih (Fire-Born)--thought to be from Teotihuacan--arrives. The
subsequent Tikal ruler, Yax Ain I (First Crocodile), has strong
ties to Teotihuacan and there is much Teotihuacan presence at
Tikal.

_o ca. 400 A.D. _At Kaminaljuyú, Teotihuacan presence is noted in
the talud-tablero architectural profile and in cylindrical tripod
vessels. The tripods are among the sumptuary goods in major tombs
that also include materials such as jade earflares, pendants, and
strings of beads. Cylindrical tripod vessels and other Teotihuacan
ceramic forms are produced in the Tiquisate region of coastal
Guatemala.

_o ca. 431 A.D. _The first dynastic ruler of Palenque in the hills
of southern Mexico, K'uk' Balam I (Jaguar Quetzal), accedes to
power on 8.19.15.3.4 (March 11, 431 A.D.). The dynasty retains
control until sometime after 799 A.D.

_o ca. 435 A.D. _An important period of 400 years of approximately
360 Long Count days, known as baktun, ends at 9.0.0.0.0 (December
11, 435 A.D.). At Copán, the dynasty of Yax K'uk Mo' begins, an
event marked by the erection of major buildings in the city's
Principal Group. Fifteen recorded rulers succeed Yax K'uk Mo'.

_o ca. 445 A.D. _Tikal ruler Siyaj Chan K'awiil (Stormy Sky) erects
a monument, Stela 31, which shows him in abundant ritual
paraphernalia. A finely carved hieroglyphic text with the early
history of Tikal's royal lineage is on the back.

_o ca. 475 A.D. _Powerful and belligerent, the cities of Tikal,
Caracol, and Calakmul dominate the Petén. Naranjo, a smaller
neighbor, begins to produce fine ceramic vessels.

_o ca. 484 A.D. _An extensive network of raised causeways emanates
from Caracol. The causeways will be used for many hundreds of
years.

500 AD - 1000 AD

In the seventh century, the central and northern Maya lowlands
experience substantial population growth. Hundreds of settlements,
large and small, fill a region stretching from Palenque in the west to
Altun Há in the east, and from Uxmal in the north to Copán in the
south. More than sixty kingdoms, each ruled by a k'uhul ajaw ("divine
lord"), compete for control of land, raw materials, and trade routes.
Their intense political and economic rivalry is also apparent in the
unprecedented profusion of artistic production and diversity of
styles. Early in the ninth century, the dynasties of the central
region begin to collapse, population levels decline sharply, and most
centers are abandoned by about 900 A.D., never to be substantially
reoccupied. The northern centers are unaffected by these events and
continue to flourish.

Events

_o ca. 504 _A major expansion of Copán's ceremonial center, the
Acropolis complex, is undertaken by Waterlily Jaguar, the seventh
dynastic ruler of the southeastern Maya city.
__
_o ca. 562 _Tikal ruler Wak Chan K'awiil (Double Bird) is taken
captive, apparently by the ruler of Calakmul. His capture begins a
period of decline at Tikal that lasts more than a hundred years,
during which no major construction is carried out nor dated
monuments erected. Calakmul is the most powerful kingdom in the
central area.
__
_o ca. 600 _On the Yucatán Peninsula, three distinct architectural
and ceramic traditions are established and flourish for the next
300 years: Río Bec, Chenes, and Puuk. Hieroglyphic inscriptions and
dates are rare in Yucatán.

At Cotzumalhuapa on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, a Mexicanized
culture produces many finely carved stone monuments featuring
ballgame rituals played by humans and supernatural beings.
__
_o ca. 615 _At Palenque in the west, K'inich Janaab' Pakal I (Sun
Shield) becomes ruler on 9.9.2.4.8 (July 26, 615 A.D.) at the age
of twelve. Ruling for sixty-eight years, he aggrandizes the site
with impressively planned and elegantly decorated buildings such as
the Palace and the Temple of the Inscriptions.
__
_o ca. 636 _The fifty-year reign of Yuknoom Ch'een II (Yuknoom the
Great) at Calakmul brings new construction of palace compounds, and
the dedication of eighteen stone monuments, or stelae.
__
_o ca. 692_ At Palenque, three related temples known as the Cross
Group are dedicated. Carved limestone panels with a unified imagery
are placed on the inner walls of the shrines. Images and
hieroglyphic texts include mythic and historic subjects.
__
_o ca. 695 _Artistic and literary traditions are revived at Tikal
after Jasaw Chan K'awiil (Ruler A) defeats the king of Calakmul.
Later in his reign, Great Temples 1 and 2 are built on the east and
west sides of the Great Plaza in front of the North Acropolis.

Waxaklajuun Ub'aah K'awiil (18 Rabbit) of Copán becomes ruler on
9.13.3.6.8 (July 6, 695 A.D.). A prolific builder, he commissions
the initial Hieroglyphic Stairway, remodels the Ballcourt, and has
seven stelae erected between 711 and 731. Carved almost in the
round, they depict him as the all-powerful k'uhul ajaw ("divine
lord") covered with a proliferation of royal and supernatural
insignia.
__
_o ca. 700 _Jaina, a small island off the coast of Campeche, is
used as a necropolis. The burials contain hundreds of small ceramic
figures. Both hand-modeled and mold-made, the small sculptures are
produced in a variety of colorful images.
__
_o ca. 734 _Jasaw Chan K'awiil (Ruler A) dies at Tikal and is
buried beneath Temple 1 on the Great Plaza. He is laid out on
jaguar skin, arrayed in much fine jade jewelry, and accompanied by
objects of shell, pearl, and bone. Numerous painted ceramic vessels
are present.
__
_o ca. 738 _Copán's ruler, 18 Rabbit, is taken captive on
9.15.6.4.16 (May 3, 738 A.D.) and decapitated by ruler K'ak' Tiliw
Chan Yoaat (Fire-burning Sky Lightning God) of Quiriguá in the
Motagua valley. The victor will erect three of the tallest
stelae--approximately twenty-four feet--ever put up by the Maya.
__
_o ca. 750 _Several Puuk-style buildings are begun at Chichén Itzá
in northern Yucatán. The Sacred Well, a large natural sink-hole
some eighty feet deep, is used as a repository for offerings.
__
_o ca. 790 _Well-preserved unfinished polychrome wall paintings at
Bonampak in the central lowlands depict a battle scene, the
dispatching of prisoners witnessed by Chan Muwan, king of Bonampak,
and victory celebrations.
__
_o ca. 800 _Conflict between neighboring cities in the central area
increases, trade declines, and long-standing alliances break up,
leading to the abandonment of many cities. Some larger centers
persevere for a time.

Coba, in northeastern Yucatán, sprawls across more than twelve
square miles, its architecture designed and built using southern
Petén-style methods. The central urban core includes several temple
pyramids, two ballcourts, over thirty carved stelae, and a network
of sixteen elevated causeways (sakbe), some of which extend
outwards as much as forty miles.
__
_o ca. 849 _Five stelae are erected at Seibal on the Pasión River
recording the katun--ending 10.1.0.0.0 (December 1, 849 A.D.).
Details of the imagery and the calendric glyphs on the stelae are
carved in a foreign, non-Maya style.
__
_o ca. 850 _Uxmal becomes the capital of a large state in the Puuk
hills region of northern Yucatán which lasts about a hundred years.
Uxmal is connected by causeways (sakbe) to other important Puuk
sites, such as K'abah, Sayil, and Labna.
__
_o ca. 869 _The last stela is erected in Tikal by Jasaw Chan
K'awiil II in the Great Plaza. Subsequently the city is deserted
and taken over by squatters.
__
_o ca. 900 _The construction of the House of the Governor and the
Nunnery Quadrangle are commissioned by Lord Chak at Uxmal.

Dedicated by an unidentified ruler on 10.4.0.0.0 (January 15, 909
A.D.), Monument 101 at Toniná is the last monument inscribed with a
Long Count date in the entire Maya area. Toniná is located south of
Palenque in the hills of central Chiapas.
__
_o ca. 1000 _Chichén Itzá rules over most of northern and western
Yucatán.

1000 AD - 1500 AD

The collapse of the dynastic Maya city-states in the central region
during the tenth century creates a political vacuum. The northern and
southern regions remain more viable, but they are strongly influenced
by central Mexican peoples. In Yucatan, Chichén Itzá falls, to be
replaced by Mayapan as the dominant center. In the Guatemalan
highlands in the south, the K'iche', a warrior people from the Mexican
Gulf Coast, establish a modest empire. Art is produced primarily for
deity worship and religious ritual rather than for use by divine
rulers. Warriors and gods, both local and Mexican, are frequent
themes. Only a few dated monuments are erected.

Events

_o ca. 1000 _In the formerly dynamic central region of the southern
lowlands, dramatically diminished populations are clustered in
small settlements largely in riverine, coastal, and lake-side areas
maintaining close trade relations with sites to the north.
__
_o ca. 1100 _Construction activity at Chichén Itzá ceases, the
population decreases, and the city falls into decline. Mayapan is
founded.
__
_o ca. 1150 _At Chichén Itzá, a treasure in gold, jadeite, wood,
shell, and bone objects is cast into the Sacred Well.
__
_o ca. 1200 _At Lamanai in northern Belize, elite burials contain
gold and copper objects from Oaxaca, West Mexico, and the Veraguas
region of Panama in addition to quantities of local and Yucatec
ceramics.
__
_o ca. 1250 _Mayapan is the political capital of a confederation of
provinces in northwestern Yucatan. With about 12,000 inhabitants,
the city covers some two square miles and is surrounded by a
defensive wall over five miles long. Its architecture features
pyramids, temples, and palaces showing strong central Mexican ties.

Chichén Itzá is largely abandoned. Pilgrims continue to come to the
site to worship Maya deities. They offer large quantities of
ceramics, copal incense, and occasionally jade ornaments to the
Sacred Well.
__
_o ca. 1300 _Numerous small, mostly coastal communities and
city-states with modest, crudely built pyramids, temples, shrines,
and residential structures exist in northern Yucatan and eastern
Quintana Roo. Among the larger regional centers are San Fernando,
El Meco, and Chetumal.
__
_o ca. 1350 _Polychrome frescoes on the walls of two buildings at
the fortified city of Tulum on the Caribbean coast of Yucatan are
painted in hybrid Maya-Puebla-Mixteca style.
__
_o ca. 1400 _Screenfold books (manuscripts called codices) are
painted by a priestly elite on fig-bark paper. They portray deities
of the Maya pantheon and include tablets of astronomical or
calendrical information. While many such books were made, only four
survive today.
______________________________________________________________

Central America

8000 BC - 1 AD

Cultures in Central America develop a system of social organization in
many respects distinct from the pattern seen in Mesoamerica.
Geographic diversity in this area encourages broader cultural
heterogeneity, most visible in varied ceramic traditions.
Greenstones--including high-quality jadeite--become status markers in
some areas, particularly the Greater Nicoya region of Costa Rica,
after 500 B.C. Evidence in the form of reworked Olmec jades suggests
some contact with cultures to the north.

Events

_o ca. 800 B.C. _The village of La Mula-Sarigua on Parita Bay in
central Panama becomes a regional center. The greater presence of
metates (grinding tables) and manos (grinding stones) indicates the
increased availability of corn as a food crop.

_o ca. 500 B.C. _Budares (flat griddles), used in the processing of
bitter manioc for food, are present at the site of La Montana in
the Turrialba valley of Costa Rica.

A jadeite pendant in the form of a celt with a bird-head top is
placed in a bundle burial on the shores of the Gulf of Nicoya in
Costa Rica. The bird-headed celt form will be used for pendants in
northern and central Costa Rica for many centuries.

_o ca. 300 B.C. _An identifiable ceramic type, known for its
distinctive, incised surface patterning, is placed in burials in
Greater Nicoya, a region that encompasses southern Nicaragua and
northwestern Costa Rica.

_o ca. 200 B.C. _Small villages are present in Greater Chiriquí, a
region including southern Costa Rica and northern Panama.

_o ca. 100 B.C. _Semiprecious green-colored stones, frequently
jadeite, are worked into personal ornaments in northern and central
Costa Rica. Primarily pendants to be worn suspended about the neck,
the jades are much revered and many are used as funerary offerings.

The population of Costa Rica's Central Highlands and Atlantic
Watershed increases. Mortuary offerings include carefully sculpted
stone objects.

1 AD - 500 AD

Cultural development continues along patterns laid down in prior
centuries. Jade and greenstone production increases considerably.
Intricately carved metates, grinding tables for the processing of
maize, are included in elite burials and perhaps used as thrones.
Other forms of monumental sculpture occur at the Panamanian site of
Barriles, a sculptural tradition that influences southern Costa Rica.
Metallurgy, focusing on the use of gold and copper, is introduced from
northern Colombia perhaps as early as the third century, and it moves
steadily northward thereafter.

Events

_o ca. 1 A.D. _Well-made sculptural ceramics with incised details,
known as Zoned Bichrome, are present throughout much of Greater
Nicoya (southwestern Nicaragua/northwestern Costa Rica).

_o ca. 100 A.D. _Many objects of jade are placed as offerings in
burials at the large cemetery of La Huacas on the Nicoya Peninsula
of Costa Rica.

Elaborate three-legged metates (grinding tables), carved from
single blocks of stone, are used as ceremonial/funerary objects.
Formal variation exists between the metates of Greater Nicoya and
those of the Atlantic Watershed of eastern Costa Rica. In burials,
the metates are often placed together with carved stone mace heads
and pendants of jade.

_o ca. 250 A.D. _An important personage in Costa Rica's central
highlands at Talamanca de Tibás dies and is laid to rest stretched
out along the tops of three carved stone metates. The mortuary
offerings include three mace heads and two large jade pendants, one
an heirloom of Mexican manufacture of Olmec date.

_o ca. 300 A.D. _Mortuary offerings in burials in the Tonosí Valley
of Panama's Azuero Peninsula begin to include ceramic vessels with
bright polychrome surfaces and personal ornaments of carved shell
and bone.

Rectangular houses with foundations of river cobbles are used at
the site of Severo Ledesma in the eastern lowlands of Costa Rica.
Burials and caches are placed beneath the floors.

_o ca. 400 A.D. _The Diquís region of southern Costa Rica's Greater
Chiriquí increases in population, and stone sculpture in the form
of human figures is made.

Barriles, a regional center in the Greater Chiriquí region of
Panama, begins to flourish. Human images appear in stone sculpture.

_o ca. 450 A.D. _Pendants and other ornaments of gold--the
technology of goldworking is considered to have come from Colombia
to the south--are among the mortuary goods present at the community
of El Indio on the Azuero Peninsula of central Panama.

In the Diquís region of southern Costa Rica, stone spheres, some
measuring up to seven feet in diameter, are carved and set on
platforms of cobbles. Some are grouped in alignments, perhaps of
astronomical significance, and/or placed in the vicinity of
cemeteries. Their meaning is unknown.

500 AD - 1000 AD

Permanent settlements increase in number and size, probably the result
of greater contact with peoples from the north--Mesoamerica--and the
south--Colombia in northern South America. Trade and communication
networks appear to be well established. Impressive quantities of
luxury goods in elite burials indicate growing distinctions of social
class, with a concentration of valued objects in fewer hands. Several
new polychrome ceramic styles appear. Jade and greenstone carvings,
important status markers for over a thousand years in north-central
Costa Rica, cease to be made, and gold, abundant in alluvial deposits
in the region's rivers, becomes the preferred material for the
manufacture of prestige items.

Events

_____o ca. 500 _Goldworking is fully established in the region and
gold objects remain locally significant until the coming of
Europeans in the mid-sixteenth century.

Polychrome ceramic traditions begin to blossom in many regions of
both Costa Rica and Panama. Bowls, jars, ollas, and figurines are
colored in vivid yellows, reds, oranges, maroons, and blacks.
__
_o ca. 550 A.D. _The populations of the islands of the Greater
Antilles--Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba--are
increasing. The islands have been inhabited by people who
centuries, perhaps millennia, earlier migrated from various
mainland locations in Mexico and northern South America.
__
_o ca. 600 _Improved stone carving techniques lead to extraordinary
detail on Costa Rican effigy metates (grinding tables). Complex
human, animal, and composite beings, often part of multifigure
scenes, embellish the stone "tables." The metates go out of favor
by about 900 A.D.

The boldly drawn Conte polychrome ceramics of central Panama
feature creatures that may relate to myths, shamanism, or
cosmology.

Worked jade from the Maya area is traded to Costa Rica, where it is
recarved.
__
_o ca. 700_ A shift in house shape away from the preferred
rectangular plan to circular dwellings, as seen in the site of La
Fábrica in the central highlands of Costa Rica, is thought to be
evidence of contact with Colombia to the south.

Along Panama's Parita River, an important cemetery comes into use
at a center today known as El Hatillo. Many spectacular gold
objects--embossed plaques, flange-footed frogs, bat- and
saurian-human figure pendants--come from its burials.
__
_o ca. 750 _A powerful chief dies and is buried at Sitio Conte on
the banks of Río Grande de Coclé in central Panama. The chief is
laid to rest with twenty-two sacrificed companions and a wealth of
gold finery, including large pectoral plaques embossed with sacred
images. It is the richest Precolumbian tomb documented for Central
America.
__
_o ca. 800 _In central and eastern Costa Rica, freestanding stone
sculptures of warriors, some reaching five feet in height, and
masked human figures are placed around ceremonial spaces at
important sites such as Las Mercedes and Guayabo de Turrialba in
the Atlantic Watershed.

In Greater Nicoya, a shift of population toward the coast takes
place, possibly for greater exploitation of marine resources.

Regionally distinct ceramic traditions begin to take shape in the
Greater Antilles.
__
_o ca. 900 _Polychrome ceramics continue in popularity. Some styles
in northern Costa Rica have Maya-type images.
__
_o ca. 950 _In the Atlantic Watershed of Costa Rica, several
centers flourish that share similar architectural features, among
them Guayabo de Turrialba and Las Mercedes. At Guayabo, there are
over forty circular mounds as well as three aqueducts, two plazas,
and one causeway. The circular plans of house mounds and
foundations indicate relationships to some Colombian sites.
__
_o ca. 1000 _Metalworkers in the Chiriquí region of southern Costa
Rica and adjacent western Panama produce large numbers of
spectacular gold ornaments, primarily pendants, among them frog and
turtle depictions, as well as bat- and crocodile-headed figures.

1000 AD - 1500 AD

Settlements in the region remain small; certain strong leaders or
chiefs organize alliances that bring several centers together for
brief periods. The architecture continues to consist largely of
buildings with river cobble foundations and retaining walls. Lashed
cane covered with adobe make up the rest of the structures. In Costa
Rica, stone sculpture takes on three-dimensional human form, gaining
prominence over functional forms such as metates, probably the result
of changes in ritual activity. While the quality and quantity of
ceramic manufacture generally diminish except for some elite wares,
production of fine gold objects is at a peak. The Taino people, one of
the groups inhabiting the islands of the Greater Antilles, create
works of great individuality in a variety of mediums.

Events

___o ca. 1000 _Figurative motifs that decorate earlier polychrome
ceramics in Panama are replaced by increasingly abstract and
geometric designs.
__
_o ca. 1050 _Ornately carved ceremonial metates, important
ritual/funerary objects in northern and central Costa Rica for at
least the past thousand years, are produced only in limited
numbers. Those made in the Atlantic Watershed are often round and
feature atlantean figures.
__
_o ca. 1100 _Sitio Conte, a major burial ground in central Panama
for about 700 years, is no longer used as an elite cemetery.
__
_o ca. 1150 _A new, technically accomplished ceramic ware, known as
Tarragó Biscuit, is made in the Diquís region of southern Costa
Rica. The thin-walled, buff-colored vessels of simple yet elegant
shape or various animal forms have smooth, unpolished surfaces.
__
_o ca. 1200 _Ceramic vessels of the Guanacaste-Nicoya region that
earlier had Maya-style images now have white-slipped surfaces with
Mexican design elements outlined in black.
__
_o ca. 1250 _Highly stylized, almost two-dimensional stone figures
from the Diquís area show strong affinities to Colombian forms in
South America.
__
_o ca. 1300 _The Taino of the Greater Antilles islands in the
Caribbean make ritual objects of wood, stone, and shell for use in
ceremonies that include the taking of hallucinogenic snuff, or
cohoba. Plazas and ballcourts are built and used in communal ritual
activities.
__
_o ca. 1350 _At Palmar Sur in the Diquís region, an important chief
is entombed with eighty-eight gold ornaments; some appear to have
been specifically made for burial.
__
_o ca. 1400 _In central and eastern Costa Rica, thousands of small,
seated human figures, known as sukias, are produced. Typically
holding tubes, perhaps flutes, to their mouths, they may have been
used in domestic contexts.
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