ANTH265
Final Exam
12/12/11

PART I: Inca and Maya Cultural Systems To one who is not familiar with the ancient peoples of the Americas, the Maya and the Inca could be misjudged as two similar civilizations. Although links do exist between all the civilizations, the Maya and the Inca are not as parallel as say the Maya and Aztec. The Maya civilization occupied what are now Guatemala, Belize, and the Mexican states of Tabasco, Chiapas and the entire Yucatan Peninsula. The earliest records of the Maya civilization show that they were already growing crops around 1,800 BC with the "golden era" of the Maya civilization occurring between 250 and 900 AD. More than 40 cities, some of which had populations of more than 50,000 existed in this time. The Incas reigned along the west coast of South America with the empire’s center in present day Peru from approximately 1476 to 1534 AD. According to M. Moseley’s book, The Incas and their Ancestors, The Inca’s population is estimated to be over 10 million at the height of the empire; however, these people were not technically Incas, but Inca subjects. Interestingly, the term ‘Inca’ only encompasses a small group of kindred, less than 40,000 individuals who built their great Andean empire by force. The ‘subjects’ were not Incas because the Incas were a closed ethnic body. Nonetheless, the differences between the Inca and Maya go much further than just regional and time differences. Each society’s religion, ideological, and cosmological beliefs played a major role in shaping their culture and all three aspects are interconnected within each culture. These beliefs are the most scared traits in the two civilizations. The Incas worshiped many gods, but held the sun, Inti, to be the highest deity and considered themselves to be the sun's representative on earth. The Temple of the Sun in Cuzco was the center of the state religion, and held the Mummies of the past Incas. Cuzco was the center of the Inca and the rest of the empire spanned out from it, forming the “radial world”. The worship of the sun was spread throughout the empire, but the Inca did not prohibit the worship of local gods or deities, such as the famers worshiping Pacha Mama (mother earth). The Inca also revered sacred phenomena, called huacas, which were mostly works of nature. To the Inca, nature was believed to be highly animate with interactive forces. For the Inca, the cosmos consisted of layer with outer celestial and inner terrestrial spheres overlaying and underlying the earth’s surface, which provides deep identification with the environment. Lastly, the role of divination was important to the Inca. They used it to inform people in the city of social events, predict battle outcomes, and ask for metaphysical interventions. The Maya also believed in many gods and considered nature highly animate. Their cosmos had three major planes, the earth, the underworld beneath and the heavens above. The Maya underworld is reached through caves and deep tunnels and the heavens through mountains. Both civilizations believed the high temples were becoming closer to the gods. Furthermore, both believed water to be the blood of the earth and used astrological findings to plan architecture, ceremonies, and their calendars that ran on cyclical time. However, where the cyclical times resulted in creation and destruction of the world in Maya culture, it was not as prominent in the Inca. In terms of religious practices both civilizations practiced sacrificing of animals and at times of humans as well. Socially and politically, the Maya and Inca were similar and different. The Inca was structured as an empire, with a central political system, lead by an emperor, called the Sapa Inca. He and his family resided in Cuzco and was top of Inca hierarchy. For the first time in the ancient civilizations, modern government organization was established. They had four quarters of area headed by four leaders, who were just below the Emperor. Every quarter was made up of several provinces run by officials. The system was hierarchical and administered by a well-developed bureaucracy that collected tribute and distributed it. An established, organized military was also in place. On the other hand, each Maya city had its own noble family that ruled. When the ruler died, the throne was passed down to his son. There was no organized army to the extent of the Incas; however, priests played an important role in each government by conducting ceremonies.
Maya society was strictly ranked and it was important for one to be able to trace his or her linage. At the top were the nobles, who had private lands and held the more important political offices. Then there were the commoners, who were the free workers of the population and they were also classified into rich and poor. The Inca were also similarly structured with nobles on the top followed by a middle and lower class. One main difference between the Maya and Inca is that the Inca have collectives of households and kindred called ayllu. Each ayllu exchange labor and jointly own land and other resources. Furthermore, unlike the Maya, the Inca had no writing system. While the Maya had codices to keep records, the Inca used a series of knotted rope known as quipu to keep all of their records. The Maya used swidden methods for food production, also know as the slash and burn method, along with chinampas (raised fields). Chinampas were much more productive because the soil was more fertile and it was used in poorly drained areas. Some terracing was also used in the lowlands. The Inca’s farming was extremely sophisticated with complex terracing and irrigation methods. Because of the climate of the Andes, the terraces allowed many of the same crops as the Maya to grow in a cooler climate. Both civilizations produced corn, chili peppers, and potatoes. The Inca also grew quinoa. The Maya and Inca economies were based off of agriculture and trading of goods and labor. The Inca had an advantage in its economy with its extensive terracing, which produced ample crops, and their intricate roads, which allowed the spreading of goods. For taxation and tribute, Maya commoners were required to pay tribute to the ruler, their local elite lords, and to the gods in the form of labor, goods, offerings, and a portion of their harvests from their communal and private lands. As for Inca, mit'a was mandatory labor tribute in the society of the Inca Empire along with clothes, crops, and other goods. In return the Inca government then redistributed some of the tribute back into the society. The Inca had an agricultural tax where their fields were divided into three equal areas. One area was dedicated to the gods, one to the emperor, and one to the local community for its support. The local community’s was redistributed among the community annually by the kuraka. Around 2000 BC, farming villages begin to be established in the Maya region and continue to grow into a more developed society. A milestone occurs in 700 BC when writing is first introduced to Mesoamerica. Maya continue to become more advanced with recorded calendars appearing around approximately 400 BC and 300 BC brings the Maya adopting the idea of a hierarchical society ruled by nobles and kings. Teotihuacan is formed and the Maya begin to take part in a one-way trade, obtaining goods, traits, and cultural aspects from Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan is said to have been a boost for the Maya to become a more complex civilization. In 500 AD, Tikal is established as the first great Maya city and Teotihuacan people bring even more culture there. In 900 AD, fragmentation occurs and the major Maya sites, such as Tikal, begin to shrink while former smaller cities, such as Tula, begin to grow into major sites as the Maya enter the Post-Classic era by a population shift. The focus shifts to the Itza as they begin building the city of Mayapan, which becomes the capital of Yucatan. Shortly after, fights break out and political union is lost. The Spanish arrive at approximately 1517 to the Yucatan. South American civilizations begin in the Early Horizon period (900-200 BC) with the Chavin, who settled in the northern Andes and laid the foundation for upcoming civilization. The Moche and Nazca who bring about the beginnings of intra-annual storage and paired regional polity follow them. Going into the Middle Horizon period (600-1000 AD), one finds supra-local polity and paired regional polity and intra-annual storage. The Chimu follow and all are still located in the present day Peru. There is no more regional polity and they are the first single Andean polity to arise and have intra-regional roads. The Inca develop around 1476 AD and brought about intricate inter-regional roads and a sophisticated government. The Inca expanded along the coast of South America and become a dominating empire that the Spanish find in 1532.

Part II. Environmental Settings of Maya and Inca The Maya settled in two areas, the area of the Valley of Mexico and the Yucatan. The Valley of Mexico, because of the combination of the latitude and local air mass patterns, has distinct wet and dry seasons. The wet season stretched from May to October while the dry season went from November to April and because of this, water management was extremely important. In this region, the most common form of agriculture was the swidden method, also known as slash and burn. This farming involved a cycling of plots where the burning provides organic ash to fertilize crops and the other plots are left to fallow. Both areas of tropical forest and the more scarce land do not have fertile soil and the slash and burn method helps fertilize. In the poorly drained areas, they used raised fields or “floating gardens”. Although they are very labor intensive, the soil is extremely fertile and allows the crops to be grown in normally inaccessible areas. The Maya agricultural systems were stable and capable of supporting large populations. The Inca were located in the Andes and their agricultural methods had to be compatible with the rugged landscape of the mountains along with the harsher climate. Therefore, the Incas developed intricate terrace farming. They carved into the landscape and reinforced the terraces with stone to create flat land for farming. The terraces also helped to keep rainwater from running off and causing erosion. To control and manage the water supply, they built raised aqueducts to carry water to farmlands for irrigation. By terracing down into the mountains, the Inca were able to grow more tropical-like crops because the frost would be delayed. For the Incas living around Lake Titicaca, raised fields were also used for growing crops and had the same benefits as it did for the Maya.