Ancients Cities

TEOTIHUACAN CULTURE

LOCATION

Teotihuacan It was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city located in the Valley of Mexico, 48 kilometers northeast of modern Mexico City.

EARLY YEARS

• Teotihuacan origin is unknown,

• Around the 4th century it was a powerful civilization

• It was extended by throughout Mesoamerica.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

• Teotihuacan had a theocratic State.

• I was ruled by a King

• Royalty ruled over a large lower class such as farmers, artisans and merchants.

• Monarchs kept peace for several centuries.

• They had cultural and economic exchange with other Mesoamerican cities.

MOST IMPORTANT GODS

Tlaloc: God of rain.

Quetzalcoatl: God of wisdom.

Chalchiuhtlicue: Goddess of rivers and seas.

Huehueteotl: God of fire.

Tezcatlipoca: God of the sky and the Earth.

MOST FAMOUS PLACES

• Pyramid of the Moon,

• Pyramid of the Sun,

• Temple of Quetzalcoatl

• Feathered Serpent.

All pyramids were built with precise astronomical measurements.

MYSTERIES

• It is believed that Teotihuacan was built by The Toltec.

• Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan,

• It is a mystery their city's founders.

• Archeologists wonder why, after nine centuries of prosperity, this civilization disappeared.

• Why did Teotihuacan collapsed?

THEORIES

• Probably poorer classes revolted against the elite.

• A very long and severe lack.

• Discontent of poorer inhabitants.

- But by the seventh or eighth century, it stopped to exist as a, prosperous city,

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NOWADAYS

There is an archaeological site to receive lots of visitors in Mexico.

In spring equinox, groups of esoteric believers come to Teotihuacan to renew energy.

It is believed that Mexican pre-Hispanic pyramids are energy points.

OLMEC CULTURE

LOCATION

• They lived in the tropical lands of south Mexico.

• the present-day states of Veracruz and Tabasco

EARLY YEARS

The Olmec flourished during Mesoamerica's period.

It was the first Mesoamerican city.

They influenced the foundations of other following civilizations

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MAIN ACTIVITIES

Most of them s labored in the fields.

They fished in the rivers.

Sometimes, they move immense stones many miles away to the cities.

• FAMOUS PLACES 17 different kind of colossal heads have been found.

• La venta are,

• The Great Pyramid,

• Rectangular altars,

• Jade face masks,

• Tombs, and sculptures.

MYSTERIES

• It is unknown what happened to their Civilization,

• Olmec civilization was gone after the decline of the major city at La Venta, around 400 B.C.

THEORIES

-Perhaps local tribes become hostile.

Climate change and scarcity probably affected The Olmec.

Lack on of basic crops, such as maize, beans and squash.

MYSTERIES

Their colossal heads:

• Where did they get the stones to carve the heads?

• If they unknown the wheel, how did the transport them?

• Where did they ge that knowledge to create them?

• There is a similarity between colossal heads and African facial characteristics.

• Archeologists reject the existence of pre-Hispanic contacts with Africa.

NOWADAYS La Venta Park Museum in Villahermosa, Tabasco,

Carlos Pellicer a Mexican poet created an ecological park to protect La Venta Sculptures,

Mexico is an outdoor museum and ecological park created in 1957 with many visitors.

MAYAN CULTURE

LOCATION

The Mayans occupied Mesoamerica

(the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Yucatan);

The present territory of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

EARLY YEARS

They created a multitude of kingdoms and small empires

They built monumental palaces and temples,

They developed an elaborate writing system.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

They worked growing crops such as corn (maize), beans, squash and cassava

They showed more advanced cultural qualities like pyramid-building and city construction.

They use to make religious rituals.

They made significant advances in mathematics and astronomy,

They use of the number zero

They developed of a complex calendar system based on 365 days

FAMOUS PLACES

Kukulcan in Chichen-Itza, Uxmal, Tulum, and Tikal pyramids.

MYSTERIES

- By the end of the ninth century, Maya civilization collapsed.

the cities were abandoned one by one.

THEORIES

-They probably migrated to other places in search of survival.

They were abducted by aliens,. They fought among competing cities

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