Encyclopedia of society and culture in the ancient world ( PDFDrive ) 509

458 family: primary source documents governing group of lineages composed of warrior elites who held political and religious offices; a middle class of artisans, who worked as retainers of the ruling lineages; and a commoner class of farmers, herders, and fishers, who sustained the economic system Early Mesoamericans practiced settled agriculture as early as around 2000 b.c.e and developed more complex societies in the first millennium b.c.e During the first 500 years c.e small settlements grew, interacted with one another, and gave rise to bustling urban cities like Teotihuacán Beginning about 1500 b.c.e the Olmec began establishing major centers at the Gulf Coast sites of San Lorenzo, La Venta, Laguna de los Cerros, and Tres Zapotes, a region often referred to as the Olmec “heartland.” Archaeological studies indicate that families typically lived in small wattle-and-daub houses with thatched palm roofs, similar to those built near these sites today They clustered their houses around a central patio, where the community performed various tasks and grew maize nearby At the larger sites, like San Lorenzo, excavations have revealed more elaborate housing complexes inhabited by the ruler, his family, and attendants Like the palaces of the elite, these residences occupied a prime location very close to the ritual center Olmec culture was far-reaching, and families also lived in rural villages in central Mexico and surrounding regions Early inhabitants of the Pacific coastal region, the ancestors of the Maya, established some of the first settled communities in the Maya area between 2000 to 1000 b.c.e Over the next millennium societies in this region developed political and social complexity, with the emergence of Maya civilization between ca 400 b.c.e and 100 c.e Many families practiced swidden, or slash-and-burn, agriculture and settled at early sites like Izapa, Kaminaljuyú, Takalik Abaj, El Baúl, Uaxactún, Tikal, El Mirador, and Cerros The Middle East Our knowledge of West Mexico during the ancient period comes primarily from objects recovered from shaft tombs A variety of ceramic vessels, figurines, and objects found in the modern Mexican states of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit, as well as near the Mezcala River, provide valuable information about West Mexican architecture, spiritual beliefs, and society In Nayarit many tombs contained pairs of male and female ceramic figures that may have accompanied married couples in the tomb The painted slip on the figures details the elaborate accoutrement of the matching costumes, and the pairs often hold musical instruments Early inhabitants of Teotihuacán, a central Mexican site that flourished ca 150–600 c.e., laid out their city on a grid plan with residential compounds of various sizes flanking the elaborate pyramid structures of the ceremonial core Walls surrounded each residential compound with a single entry offering access to the many dwellings within Each grouping included three shrines and a platform for ritual activities Consistency in materials and structure suggests state-sponsored building The most elaborate apartment complexes contained painted fresco murals depicting warfare, deities, and sacrifice Populations have been estimated as high as 125,000 See also agriculture; art; architecture; building techniques and materials; children; cities; clothing and footwear; crafts; education; empires and dynasties; gender structures and roles; health and disease; hunting, fishing, and gathering; laws and legal codes; literature; migration and population movements; occupations; religion and cosmology; settlement patterns; slaves and slavery; social organization; textiles and needlework; towns and villages; war and conquest A Collection of Contracts from Mesopotamia, excerpts, ca 2300–428 b.c.e VIII MARRIAGE Contract for Marriage, Reign of Shamshu-ilu-na, ca 2200 B.C.E RIMUM, son of Shamkhatum, has taken as a wife and spouse Bashtum, the daughter of Belizunu, the priestess (?) of Shamash, daughter of Uzibitum Her bridal present shall be _ shekels of money When she receives it she shall be free If Bashtum to Rimum, her husband shall say, “You are not my husband,” they shall strangle her and cast her into the river If Rimum to Bashtum, his wife, shall say, “You are not my wife,” he shall pay ten