By 4000 B.C.E. they had discovered the agricultural potential of maize, which soon became the staple food of the region.

Bound within the Mesoamerican belief systems, bloodletting was used as a tool to legitimize the ruling lineage’s socio-political position and, when enacted, was important to the perceived well-being of a given society or settlement.

Your Hershey bar may have been worth its weight in gold in Mayan times. A new study reveals that chocolate became its own form of money at the height of Mayan opulence—and that the loss of this delicacy may have played a role in the downfall of the famed civilization.

The most important plant in ancient Mesoamerica, is, unarguably, maize. Squash and beans are also important staples of the ancient Mesoamerican agricultural diet and along with maize, are often referred to as the “Three Sisters”.

Popul Vuh. – Book containing the story of the Mayan creation. – Under christian influence. – rewritten through a colonial lens. – the version we have is the “script” of what performers performed.

Rain Spirit and Were-jaguar (God III) Joralemon states that the Olmec rain spirit “is based on were-jaguar features”, but is not the were-jaguar per se.

The religion of the Zapotec is Roman Catholic, but belief in pagan spirits, rituals, and myths persists, to some extent intermingled with Christianity. The compadrazgo, a system of ritual kinship established with godparents, is important.

Tula, also called Tollan, ancient capital of the Toltecs in Mexico, it was primarily important from approximately ad 850 to 1150. Although its exact location is not certain, an archaeological site near the contemporary town of Tula in Hidalgo state has been the persistent choice of historians.

The Zapotec civilization (Be’ena’a (Zapotec) “The People” c. 700 BC–1521 AD) was an indigenous pre-Columbian civilization that flourished in the Valley of Oaxaca in Mesoamerica. Archaeological evidence shows that their culture originated at least 2,500 years ago.

The Zapotec /ˈzæpətɛk/ languages are a group of around 50 closely related indigenous Mesoamerican languages that constitute a main branch of the Oto-Manguean language family and which is spoken by the Zapotec people from the southwestern-central highlands of Mexico.

The Cloud People

The writing system of the Zapotec culture represents one of the earliest writing systems in Mesoamerica. Rising in the late Pre-Classic era after the decline of the Olmec civilization, the Zapotecs of present-day Oaxaca built an empire around Monte Alban.

Mixtec language