Abstract This paper looks at the world of the Toltecs, focusing on how they were shaped and how they helped to shape a larger Meso-American cultural grouping that shared a number of salient cultural features. The author also makes particular mention of Toltecs impact on the Aztecs.
From the paper:
"The rise of the Toltec civilization did however mark a distinct turn in some sense because after the rise of the organized Toltec empire the peoples and rulers of this region of Mexico would be more deeply and more consistently marked by a militaristic orientation than those people (culturally related as they were) that preceded them, as Bernal argues".
Abstract This is an in-depth look at the Zapotec Indians, both historically and currently and uses an exhibit from the Field Museum in Chicago to explain the people. The author pays special attention to historical civilization that evolved around Monte Alban. Included is an examination of their history and origins, homes, food and irrigation, trade, societal values, class systems, politics, religion, architecture, routine and kinship systems.
From the Paper "The center of historic Zapotec civilization was in the Valley of Oaxaca, especially at a hill known as Monte Alban. Archeological knowledge of the Valley of Oaxaca began with the impressive landmark, Monte Alban, dating from approximately 400 BC. Evidence of an early food-collecting, incipient cultivation culture is known from a series of caves and rock shelters, located near Mitla, in a transition zone from piedmont to mountains. There the native inhabitants collected acorns, pinon nuts, mesquite beans, magueys, and other wild plants while hunting deer, cottontail rabbits, and mud turtles. I have done the same in order to present you with an amazing wedding present, so we may have our first dinner together eating traditional Zapotec food."
