Root Cultures in the Americas and Oceania

Themes

unraveling mysteries
-centrism
migrations

The Americas

Stories
- encounters:
- "civilized" versus "primitive"
- Popol Vuh
Mayan Archaeology
- Maize god; aesthetic values [Alt Mayan maize god]
- Mayan Ball Courts; ball court acoustics
- Mayan Sacrifice
- Mayan Calendar (part of Calendars through the Ages)
- Mayan Astronomy
- Maya Archaeology (Palenque)
- Journey through Tikal (requires QuickTime)
- Mayan Glyphs; Mayan Codices
Environment
Development
- migration: 40,000-10,000 B.C.E.
- adaptation to environment 8000-7,000 B.C.E.
- Mesoamerica
  - agriculture 8000-7000 B.C.E.
  - Olmec 1200 - 100 B.C.E.
  - Maya 300-1100 C.E.
- S. America: Andean societies
  - agriculture 2500-2000 B.C.E.
  - Mochica society 300-700 C.E.
Cultures
- Olmec:
  - Olmec ruler
- Maya:
- religion

Oceania

Stories
- chant; Hawaiian voyaging proverbs; stories
- European theories: Abraham Fornander; S. Percy Smith; Thor Heyerdahl (1947)
Navigation experiments:
Archaeology and language
Environment and Development
- migration to Australia and New Guinea 120,000-60,000 B.C.E.
- Austronesian migrants circa 3000 B.C.E.
- Austronesian migrations to Pacific islands 2000 B.C.E. - 700 C.E.
- Marquesas to Hawaii (1st cen B.C.E.), Society Islands (400 C.E.), New Zealand (700 C.E.): map of Polynesia
Cultures
- migration: seafaring `ohana; plants
- identity:
- political and social:

Conclusions

assumptions versus discoveries
how we know what we know
Popol Vuh and maize; ohana and wayfinding
migrations and cultural identity

Explore

Return to Syllabus Lecture Outline

kjolly@hawaii.edu 6/30/05