The Americas

The coming together of the Americas consisted of four ancient civilizations known as the Olmecs, Mayans-Toltecs, the Aztecs, and the Incas. The cultures focused on nobles and commoners, divine rights, farming, sporting events, and hereditary leadership. Religion was a big factor, the people had ceremonial centers, which were the nuclei of Mesoamerican settlement. The temples provided spatial orientation for the town, and the pyramids were meant to stand out and represent the gods and powers of the region. Human sacrifice was also a very big part of the culture.

The Olmecs were the first major civilization in Mexico. There were called the "people of the rubber country," and they developed hieroglyphic writing. They also invented the first calendar of the Western hemisphere. They included realistic artwork throughout their design and accented with a lot of jade. A famous site built by these people is known as La Venta. This was the first example of the temple focused city type. The ceremony center composed of: the great pyramid of earth,ball court, smaller pyramids, burial grounds and giant stone heads.

These giant stone heads that were within this site weighed between 40-50 tons!

Another magnificent architectural site was known an Teotihuacan, "Place of the gods." There was a ceremonial center that ran two miles in length, with a central spine known as the "road of the dead." There was also a temple of the feathered serpent and the pyramid of the sun and one as well for the moon. The city was laid out in a grid form and there were not walls around the site to show a sign of a powerful society without enemies.

The Mayans were the second civilization to come about in the years from 300B.C.-1521 A.D. This society for 1,800 years nut were later destroyed by the spanish conquest of 1519. This area occupied highlands and the lowlands. Chichen Itza was the architectural site built by the Mayans and this ceremonial site on particular meant "mouth of the well of the Itza." included with a four sided pyramid called "Castillo." There was also a chacmool (ritualistic furniture) and jaguar throne within the site.





The Aztecs were the third civilization to be discovered. They used a creation of art expression through thoughts on life. The architecture expressed thoughts and beliefs accompanied by floating gardens. The civilization rivaled Rome and the population grew from 500,000 to over 3 million until it was conquered by Spain in 1520. An architectural site built by the Aztecs known as the Templo Mayor. 

Templo Mayor



Another part of the Aztecs culture was their brilliant idea for agricultural systems. They were called Chinampas which were raised gardening beds located in swamps or shallow lakes. They may have been the most productive agricultural design ever developed by humans, and the growers were able to get up to 7 harvests per year from a single bed.



The last civilization were known as the Incas, which was the largest empire in Pre-Columbia America. They were known for their architecture and was located on the pacific coast and moutons. There was a lot of climate variations in this area and it was the capital of Cuzco. They were also the masters of stone cutting and used a lot of trapezoid shapes within their designs.




This architectural site that was built in this time was known as Machu Picchu. it was located in a seismically unstable area and was built without mortar. It was a royal estate for the Incan emperor Pachacuti with trapezoid openings. This was never discovered by the Spanish but was later discovered in 1911 by the American professor Bingham.