Mesoamerica Civilization Timeline

7000 BCE - 2000 BCE

7000 BCE

The Archaic Period: 7000-2000 BCE – During this time a hunter-gatherer culture began to cultivate crops such as maize, beans and other vegetables and the domestication of animals (most notably dogs and turkeys) and plants became widely practiced.

2700 BCE

2700 BCE

Corn is first cultivated in Mesoamerica. There is evidence maize/corn was first cultivated in the Maya lowlands around 6,500 years ago.

c. 1200 BCE - 400 BCE The Olmec Civilization

1200 BCE

The Olmec Civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica. The Olmecs practiced basic agriculture using the "slash-and-burn" technique, in which overgrown plots of land are burned: this clears them for planting and the ashes act as fertilizer. They planted many of the same crops seen in the region today, such as squash, beans, manioc, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. The Olmec Period which saw the rise of the Olmec culture's work in stone, first major cities appear.

950 BCE - 1400 BCE

950 BCE

Evidence of surgical procedure trephination found in Mesoamerica. Trephination in Mesoamerica has been practised by a number of pre-Columbian cultures in the Mesoamerican region, dating from at least the mid-Preclassic era (ca. 1500 BCE), and continuing up to the late Postclassic, or ca. 1200 CE.

500 BCE

500 BCE

Cuicuilco is at its peak in the Valley of Mexico and constructs a large circular temple pyramid.

500 BCE - 900 CE The Zapotec Civilization

500 BCE

The Zapotec Civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica. The Zapotecs, known as the 'Cloud People', dwelt in the southern highlands of central Mesoamerica, specifically, in the Valley of Oaxaca, which they inhabited from the late Preclassic period to the end of the Classic period (500 BCE - 900 CE).

300 BCE

300 BCE

First recorded settlement at Tikal. Tikal was the capital of a conquest state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya.[5] Though monumental architecture at the site dates back as far as the 4th century BC, Tikal reached its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200 to 900. Following the end of the Late Classic Period, no new major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned.

250 BC Mayan Script

250 BCE

The best documented and deciphered Mesoamerican writing system, and the most widely known, is the classic Maya script. Earlier scripts with poorer and varying levels of decipherment include the Olmec hieroglyphs, the Zapotec script, and the Isthmian script, all of which date back to the 1st millennium BC.

250 BCE - 950 BCE

250 BCE

The Classic Maya Period which saw the height of the Maya Civilization in cities such as Chichen Itza, Palenque, Tikal, Copan and Uxmal. The Maya used what is now known as the calendar round which is made up of 3 interlocking cycles. A cycle of 20 names, a cycle of 13 numbers (which forms the 260-day sacred calendar) and a 365 days solar year. 52 years will pass until the three cycles line up again. https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-americas/maya

100 CE

100

The Pyramid of the Sun is built at Teotihuacan. Pyramid of the Sun, large pyramid in the ancient city of Teotihuacán, Mexico, that was built about 100 ce and is one of the largest structures of its type in the Western Hemisphere. The pyramid rises 216 feet (66 metres) above ground level, and it measures approximately 720 by 760 feet (220 by 230 metres) at its base.

800 CE

800

The Pyramid of the Niches is completed at El Tajin. The Pyramid of the Niches was completed and the huge raised acropolis platform of Tajin Chico was constructed. El Tajin was destroyed by fire and abandoned around 1100 CE or even earlier.

c. 900 CE - 1150 CE The Toltec Civilization

900

The Toltec civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica. The Toltec Civilization flourished in ancient central Mexico between the 10th and mid-12th centuries. Continuing the Mesoamerican heritage left to them by earlier cultures, the Toltecs built an impressive capital at Tollan.

1200 CE

1200

Tulum prospers as a trading centre under the influence of Mayapan. First settled in the 6th century CE, Tulum prospered, especially so under Mayapán influence from c. 1200 CE, and was an important centre trading in such typical barter goods of the period as cotton, foodstuffs, copper bells, axes, and cacao beans.

1345 CE - 1521 CE The Aztec Civilization

1345

The Aztec civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica. Highly agriculture and trade, the last of the great Mesoamerican civilizations was also noted for its art and architecture. The Aztec Sun Stone (or Calendar Stone) depicts the five consecutive worlds of the sun from Aztec mythology. The stone is not, therefore, in any sense a functioning calendar, but rather it is an elaborately carved solar disk, which for the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures represented rulership.

1350 CE - 1522 CE Tarascan Civilization

1350

The Tarascan civilization flourishes in Mesoamerica. The Tarascan Civilization (aka the Purépecha, after their language) dominated western Mexico and built an empire that would bring it into direct conflict with that other great Mesoamerican civilization of the Post-classic period, the Aztecs. The Tarascan state, with its capital at Tzintzúntzan on Lake Pátzcuaro, controlled an empire of over 75,000 square kilometres, second in size only to the Aztec empire.