Moche-Mochicas: A South American Ancient Civilization Essay

Throughout the humanities course, I have been intrigued by a vast amount of information on different cultures. However, there was a particular section that truly caught my attention, and has piqued an interest in me that has caused me to do my own research aside from this paper. The culture of the Mayas, and the Aztecs has been extremely fundamental in understanding my ancestry, being that I am Mexican American. I took an interest in their beautiful architecture, their ritualistic and sacrificial religious practices, as well as their history and how they began. Throughout this paper I will outline the similarities and differences of these two cultures, as well as articulate an understanding of the humanity disciplines outlined above.

The Aztec and Maya were both American Indian people. The Aztec were ruled by a mighty empire in Mexico during the 1400's and early 1500's. The Maya however, developed a magnificent civilization in Central America and Southern Mexico. Both civilizations contributed a great deal to the modern world and invented items that are still used today.

Long before any white man ever set foot in this hemisphere, there were fully functional and highly developed societies here. These civilizations were sophisticated, could even be considered more advanced than the European nations at the time. While the rest of the Eastern world was in the dark Middle Ages, the people here were flourishing.

“The engineers showed great cleverness and skill in supplying water for the crops, since only scattered sections of the land could grow corn. For this reason, they endeavored to increase its fertility as much as possible.” This was a quote from Garciasco de la Vega, a son of a Spanish explorer and an Incan princess, which described a method of farming in the Incan empire in 1539. The three most advanced civilizations were the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas. All three civilizations made major accomplishments, all being added upon and used by other civilizations. For example, the Mayans had created a calendar with three hundred sixty-five and a quarter days. The Incas had created terrace farming to create better and a larger amount of

American archaeologist and anthropologist, Stephen Plog, wrote an account of the pre-Columbian natives of the Americans titled Ancient Peoples of the American Southwest. Plog’s purpose is to communicate the cultural and ritualistic lifestyles of the prehistoric natives of the southwest, which spans across the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Nevada with some mention of trade with Mexico. The author has demonstrated an effective approach of an objective viewpoint on the lives of the prehistoric south westerners using sources from excursions from previous archaeologists such as, Paul S Martin and David R Wilcox among many others who excavated the vacant villages of the southwest.

Moche: An important regional civilization of Peru, governed by warrior-priests; flourished from around 100to800c.e. (pron. MO-che)

The Aztecs were a Mesoamerican people that lived within the regions of central Mexico during the mid-13th century through the 16th century. The Aztecs history is one of most famous, rich, and tragic histories in the world.

From three thousand BC to one thousand two hundred BC, this mighty nation lived. In Peru, near the city of Lima, scientists discovered a city. A sunken plaza, a big amphitheater, a city in ruins. Sadly, they disappeared. One of the skeletons they found, was a woman. By what the scientists could tell, she had a high status, and, based on what they found in the grave, this civilization practiced equality between men and women. I welcome you, to the oldest civilization, Norte Chico.

Mesoamerica lies in the northern tropical latitudes. From the slopes of Pico de Orizaba, it is the 3rd highest mountain in North America that has dramatic gradations of altitude, temperature and rainfall. Mesoamerica’s earliest urban society was built by the Olmec. These centers include modern Mexico City. Another was in the fertile Oaxaca Valley in the mountains of southern Mexico. Finally another came to the low lying Yucatan Peninsula and upland areas of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. This population mostly spoken a language in the Maya family. Mesoamerica became a zone of dynamic intercommunication. The exchange soon tapered off to the north. The rainfall was much lower and farming was smaller. In 1800 years, people did not migrate

The Incan city Cuzco was an elongated triangle formed the meeting of two rivers (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 452). On one end opposite of the confluence, was a hill with several structures, including the imperial armory and a temple dedicated to the Sun god. Below on the plain, the city was laid out on a grid pattern where both the upper and lower class residents of the city lived in adobe houses arranged in a block and courtyard pattern (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 453). Various temples and squares in the city served as ceremonial centers. For instance, one plaza had a platform with the imperial throne and a pillar placed on the top (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 453).

The country of Peru has many artistic roots and still make art to this day. Peruvians first made chavin vases in 1500 BC and earlier and the Inca knotted strings.

A civilised society or country is one that has a powerful structure of culture, government and way of life for the people who live there. This means the ability to delight all the residents fairly. A civilised society has an exceedingly high-established society and a strong middle class of people. It is also developed and well organised, which includes fair laws and rules about the behaviour to others. A modern civilised society has intellectual and moral advancement focused on education, safety and a high quality of life.

they returned to Spain, they told of all the gold that the Aztecs had. The

     The ancient Mayans were a very well developed society with a very accurate calendar, skilled architects, artisans, extensive traders and hunters. They are known to have developed medicine and astronomy as well. All of this was developed while the Europeans were still in the Dark Ages.

This essay focuses on two different types of pyramids; the Step pyramid which was the first pyramid and the Great pyramid, which was the largest pyramid built in Egypt. The essay investigates the meaning of the selected forms for the Egyptian culture and explains their dialog with the cosmos.