AP World History Head: Mesoamerica

The first theme of my history head is "Patterns and impacts of interaction between humans and the environment (demography and disease, migration, patterns of settlement, technology). Starting from the outside, I drew a picture of a Mayan calendar. The Mayan calendar spliced two kinds of years; a solar year of 365 days (which governed the agricultural cycle) and a ritual year of 260 days (twenty months of thirteen days apiece). In order to get these different numbers, Mayan priests would study the environment (primarily the sky) and they would create both calendars. The image on the inside of the head consists of maize, cacao, and cotton, which were the primary crops for Mayans. I drew these crops because the 365 day calendar governed the agricultural cycle, which greatly affected the people that were in charge of growing and harvesting them. The creation of the Mayan calendar by priests affected people who harvested/grew specific crops because of the agricultural cycle governed by the 365 day calendar.  

The second theme of my history head is the "Development and interaction of cultures (religions, belief systems, philosophies and ideologies, science and technology, the arts and architecture). On the outside of the head is a picture equation; Maize plus water equaled flesh and blood (aka humans). This was a Mayan creation myth called Popol Vuh. This is why agriculture played a fundamental role in Mayan society. And because of this, agriculture affected people's beliefs greatly. On the inside of the head is a Mayan style knife dripping with blood. Although a little gruesome, bloodletting rituals were quite common in Mayan society. The Mayans believed that if humans would sacrifice their blood, it would prompt the gods to send rain to water their crops of maize. These rituals were not used to torture enemies, as royal figures such as Chan Bahlum voluntarily sacrificed their blood because they truly believed that gods expected honor from humans

The third theme on my history head is "State-building, expansion, and conflict (Political structures and forms of governance, empires, nations and nationalism, revolts and revolutions, regional, transregional, and global structures and organizations). On the inside of the history head is a picture of two swords of opposing sides fighting. This represents the constant fighting between Maya kingdoms. The victors of the fight took over the losers ceremonial centers, and even captured the enemy and kept him as a trophy in some cases. On the outside of the head is a picture of the captive, bloodletting as the sacrifice to the gods. This is what happened usually happened to a captive of a fight. But in other cases, the captive would be used as a slave.

The fourth theme on my history head is "Creation, expansion, and interaction of economic systems (Agricultural and pastoral production, trade and commerce, labor systems, industrialization, capitalism and socialism). The picture inside of the head is an early Olmec agricultural village. In these agricultural villages, Olmecs would cultivate beans, chili peppers, avocados, squashes, gourds, tomatoes, and most importantly, maize. People in early Mesoamerica had diets rich in cultivated foods and not in domesticated animals, which is why agricultural villages were so important to all early Mesoamericans. On the outside of the head are pictures of jade and obsidian. Early Olmecs produced large amounts of decorative pieces from jade (which was imported). They also crafted tools from obsidian such as knives and axes which were very effective. Both jade and obsidian had to be imported from distant regions in the interior of Mesoamerica, so it was not something an average person was used to.

The fifth and final theme on my history head is the "Development and transformation of social structures (gender roles and relations, family and kingship, racial and ethnic constructions, social and economic classes). On the inside of the head, I drew a picture of both a man and a woman (stick figure version). The reason I drew this is because men were dominant to women in early Mesoamerica. This is the same case for most of the early societies. On the outside of the head I drew two separate picture. The first picture shows an oversized Olmec head. As stated in the textbook, these heads could possibly be made in likeliness to the rulers at the time. The second image I drew was a picture of a Mayan king and a picture of a slave; the top and bottom of the social hierarchy. During the Mayan period, the king and ruling family were at the top of the social hierarchy. Next in line came priests. Then came hereditary nobility (from merchant class), warriors, professionals and artisans, peasants, and slaves in that order from top to bottom.