Mesoamerican chronology

The chronology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica is usually divided into the following periods:

In the early days of the first Paleo-Indian settlement of the Mesoamerican cultural area was held by humans. People lived in this period mainly as hunter-gatherers.

In the Archaic Period first forms of agriculture were developed. It was at this time the first time to permanent settlement in villages; the end of this period came the use of pottery and simple looms (cf. Mokaya culture).

The Präklassik ( also referred to as ' Formative Period ') marks the beginning of the time of the formation of larger city-states as well as the first large-scale ceremonial architecture. It is characterized by the development of villages to cities, which in turn exert a regional power and influence. With the Olmecs developed at this time on the coast to the Gulf of Mexico, the first Mesoamerican civilization; they probably influenced sites in the central highlands ( cf. Tlatilco culture) as well as in the south of the country ( cf. Izapa ). Also Zapotec and Maya were in an early phase of an urban development.

During the classical period the central Mexican city of Teotihuacán grew to become the metropolis; their empire dominated much of Mesoamerica. The Classic was also the most important time of the Mayan culture. The end of the classical period falls in Mesoamerica, along with the demise of Teotihuacán in the 7th century. In the course of also experienced many of the places in the southern lowlands (especially Tikal ) a short-term decline, which is referred to in the research as " Classic Hiatus ". The late classical period, which was characterized by a continuous development of the Maya, is referred to as part heyday. In the early 20th century, this period was sometimes referred to as ' Old Kingdom ', in analogy to Ancient Egypt; this term is now considered inaccurate and therefore not used for several decades by archaeologists and researchers.

During the Postclassic the power focus of the Yucatán Peninsula gradually shifted toward central Mexico. The Toltecs controlled briefly by the 11th to the 13th century central Mexico; after their empire fell apart under the onslaught of some tribes from the north of Mexico. The resulting power vacuum was filled from the early 14th century until the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire. In the north of Yucatan, there was next to the early 11th century, shortly after the Empire of the Toltecs had gone to an invasion of groups of central Mexico. The merger of local Mayan culture with the culture of the conquerors helped the cities of the northern lowlands in the sequence to a climb, which was only terminated by the arrival of the Spaniards. The late flowering of Maya in the north was sometimes referred to as ' New Kingdom ' in the early 20th century, a term no longer appears to be suitable due to new information and is thus no longer used.

Chronology

In Mesoamerica, a division into periods is used for the classification of cultural phenomena whose exact chronology varies quite. An important reason for this is that distinctive cultural change in the different regions of Mesoamerica not apply simultaneously. This is particularly clear for the end of the Classic, which is set in central Mexico earlier than in the field of Mayan culture, which is why there also spoken by a Endklassikum.