Early medieval timeline: Dome of the Rock mosque, Jerusalem (600s AD) Europe in the Early Middle Ages In the Early Middle Ages, many empires around the world collapsed into smaller [...]
Iron Age timeline: Zhou Dynasty swimmers (Sichuan bronze vessel, ca. 750 BC) How did the Iron Age begin? All across Asia, the early Iron Age started out as a time of many [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
Maya royal palace at Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico (600s-700s AD) When did they get started? When the Olmec rulers began to lose control of their country about 600 BC, new leaders came forward and [...]
Aztec brazier (about 1300 AD) Mexica people move to Mexico Beginning in the 1100s AD, the Medieval Warm Period seems to have made it too hard to live where the Mexica were in [...]
