According to Rodolfo F. Acuna, maize became an important crop that was an essential part of the
evolution of many indigenous cultures. The indigenous people worshipped this essential crop.
Due to the outgrowing populat
...
According to Rodolfo F. Acuna, maize became an important crop that was an essential part of the
evolution of many indigenous cultures. The indigenous people worshipped this essential crop.
Due to the outgrowing population, maize production increased in agricultural innovations and
became important in the way of labor work. The more maize that was harvested the increase it
provided to the indiginous people. This resulted in helping mobilize labor as the population grew.
The indigenous people came in discovery that maize was able to grow year around and learned
how quickly after harvest it became ready, they became familiar with the growth cycle of maize
and became their primary dietary staple throughout Mesoamerica and spread northwards and
southward.
The Olmeca is known as “mother culture of Mexico,” this was due to the cross fertilization of
indeginous cultures that included other Mesoamerican civilizations. They were the first to build
kingdoms that resulted in a political symbolism. The Olmecas settled in cities and villages in the
gulf of coastal lowlands which today are known as southeastern Veracruz and Tabasco. San
Lorenzo was the home of Olmeca civilization where there were public buildings, a drainage
system, and a ball court. La Venta was a ceremonial site in Tabasco that was used for gatherings
and trades. Their earliest pottery was used to store food surpluses. Acuna describes the 3 types of
calendars the Olmeca developed with the sophisticated knowledge of mathematics they had.
They had a ritual calendar which had a 260 day cycle in which it was used for religious purposes,
a solar calendar which consisted of 18 months of 20 days plus 5 days that were tackled in and a
combination of the two that was used for purposes of naming a new infant. The Olmeca
civilization had a tremendous knowledge in mathematics which led to the discovery of these 3
calendars. The discovery of zero is still an ongoing discussion among scientists and professionals
on who discovered it first, the Olmeca civilization or the Mayan civilizations. This is due to the
writing of the Olmeca still not being completely deciphered.
In the early years of the Mayan civilization, they populated an area half the size of texas. They
wanted to improve their agriculture. The development of canals accomplished improved water
flow and reclaimed wetlands by elevating their fields. They built temples, pyramids, and
monuments. The Mayan’s calendars were a product of the time in science and used their
astronomy skills to link earthly events to those of the heavens. They observed the stars and had
predictions of the movements of the sun and the moons. The Azteca was the most dominant
empire that ruled 300 cities. They used adobe mud and stone roofs in the houses they lived in.
The Azteca engineering helped advance better canals, aqueducts and chinampas used to farm.
They created a water aqueduct that ran 3 miles long from the mainland to provide the city with
an adequate fresh water source. They created routes that helped advance their economy and gave
opportunities to exchange goods.
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