Before their subjugation by the invading Spanish conquistadores,
the indigenous peoples of Mexico were heirs to a 2,500-
year-old tradition of complex life, with powerful states, cities,
magnificent art, standing armies, developed religious and
philosophical systems, and other hallmarks of “civilization.”
Because of Mexico’s diverse geography, these early cultures
evolved in distinct ways but were periodically unified by the
rapid spread of what some scholars considered exchange
networks and others called empires. Scholar Michael Coe
examines four of these powerful civilizations—Olmec,
Teotihuacan, Toltec, and Aztec—that extended over non-Maya
Mesoamerica before the conquest.
9:30 to 10:45 a.m. The Olmec: Mesoamerica’s Oldest
Civilization
For about 1,100 years (1500 B.C. to 400 B.C.), the Olmec
created one of the most brilliant but enigmatic cultures of the
NewWorld, with cities like San Lorenzo and Venta, and art
including colossal heads, pottery, jade, and statues of gods.
11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Teotihuacan: City of the Gods
This vast pre-Columbian city complex dominated Mesoamerica
for about 600 years (until 600 A.D.) with its grid plan, broad
avenues, palaces, and enormous pyramids; new fieldwork at
the Pyramid of the Moon revealed captive sacrifice on a
grand scale.
12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Lunch
Participants provide their own lunch.
1:30 to 2:45 p.m. Tula of the Toltecs
Revered as super-civilized forebears of
the Aztecs, Toltecs had a warrior cult
and two great gods, Quetzalcoatl and
Tezcatlipoca, and a highland capital,
Tula, “the Place of the Reeds.”
3 to 4:15 p.m. The Aztecs: Empire of
the Sun
Evolving from nomadic barbarians,
the Aztecs came to dominate most of non-Maya Mesoamerica
from their island capital, Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco (now under
Mexico City). Through their art, poetry, and religion, we see
they were misrepresented by the Spaniards as practitioners of
human sacrifice.
Coe is a professor emeritus of anthropology
at Yale University and co-author of
Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs
(Thames and Hudson, sixth edition), which is
available for signing.
CODE: 1J0-526