Reading Blog #6

One thing that is interesting about the Americas is how much they accomplished, and how much culture they had, for how little of them there were. Occupying over 25% of the world, the Americas never had more than 8% of the population between 400 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E. The Maya people are some of the most interesting of the Americas in this time era. The Mayans have been tracked back to as far s 2000 B.C.E. with ceremonial centers that would be in present day Guatemala and the Yucatán region of Mexico. By 1000 B.C.E. there were already concentrated population centers and monumental architecture like the site of El Mirador which was home to tens of thousands of people. El Mirador was a temple like pyramid that was one of the largest in the world. The mayans are even more well known for their accomplishments in the first millennium. Between 250 C.E. and 900 C.E. intellectuals developed the concept of the number zero and place holding allowing for complex calculations. They were also able to plot the cycles of planets, predict eclipses, and construct calendars. The mayans were also the reason that many people believed the world would end in 2012. Also interesting in the Americas was the mound building cultures versus the ancestral pueblo cultures. The Pueblo Bonito was a major accomplishment for the Ancestral Pueblo people. Also interesting was how astronomy affected these American people. There were highly skilled astronomers in the Chaco elite. Also interesting was how turquoise ornaments became a feature of commerce in that area. All of these things together only scratch the surface of the major civilizations at work in the Americas.