A rubber ball made by the Olmec people (about 1000 BC) Invention of rubber With different natural resources available to them, the people of South America and Central America invented different things than [...]
For the Maya gods, a Maya pyramid at Tonina (ca. 700 AD) A Maya creation story Maya people believed that the world was created by One Deer. One Deer created [...]
Maya Corn King on a plate Polytheism in the Americas The people who lived in South and Central America before 1500 were polytheistic - they believed in many different gods. Because they [...]
Maya pyramid to the Corn God at Tonina (ca. 700 AD) Because corn (maize) was Mayan people's main food, their most important god was the Corn God. A popular Mayan story was [...]
The Aztec god of seeds, Xipe Totec (ca 1500 AD) Who were the Aztec gods? Aztec people were polytheistic - they had many gods. That's the same as like the people of China, India, or Africa at [...]
Maya writing on a page from the Madrid Codex Did the Maya invent writing themselves? It's possible that the Maya learned how to write from the Olmec, but there aren't any [...]
A bolt of lightning in the sky, like the one that split open Maize Mountain Where did this story come from? Maya people liked to tell a story about how people [...]
An Aztec book, or codex (ca 1500 AD) Aztec writing and the Maya The Aztec system of writing was very much like the Maya system. Probably the Aztec people learned how to write [...]
A Zapotec head The Zapotec civilization, like the Maya, grew up in the region that had been ruled by the Olmec, after the collapse of Olmec power about 500 BC. The main city [...]
Olmec clay statue ca. 1100-500 BC - Olmec history Why are the Olmec important? The earliest state government in North or South America was the Olmec. They formed their state about 1200 BC. [...]
