The Development of Science in Mesoamerica

Introduction
The term Mesoamerica is literally means Middle/ Central America; it is derived from Greek word which
meso means “Middle” or “Intermediate”.

Mesoamerica includes the entire area of Central America from southern Mexico up to the boarder of
South America. Mesoamerican peoples included a complex pantheon of deities, architectural features, a
ballgame, the 260-day calendar, trade, food (especially a reliance on maize, beans, and squash), dress,
and accoutrements (such as earspools).

Some of the well-known Mesoamerican cultures are the Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Teotihuacan, Mixtec,
Inca and Aztec (or Mexica).

Science and Technology in Mesoamerica

Meso-America and the Andes were the two centres of civilization in America.

In early period or hunter-gatherer period of Mesoamerica, people had a lifestyle that was based on a
combination of hunting, gathering, and fishing. Until such time Olmec Civilization flourishes in
Mesoamerica and it is the first major civilization in Mesoamerica. The name Olmec is a Nahuatl—the
Aztec language word; it means the rubber people. They introduced farming activities like planting many
crops where corn or maize is the first cultivation. People in the Americas developed an entirely different
menu of foods than those in Mesopotamia for the simple reason that the indigenous plants and animals
were different than those in the Fertile Crescent. The site is most noted for its extraordinary stone
monuments, especially the “colossal heads” measuring up to 9 feet in height and possibly representing
players in a ritual ballgame. They developed the first written language and numbering system in
Mesoamerica.

Meso-American civilizations had paper and a pictorial script from a very early stage (or hieroglyphics). In
Meso-America the Maya civilization made the greatest progress in science and technology, they had a
highly developed written language and mathematics plus they had amazing knowledge of astronomy.
Among its innovations were the position-value number system with zero, the development of the most
accurate known calendar, the invention of rubber and the corbelled arch and amazing pyramids.

In the Andean region the Inca established an empire that reached from Ecuador to Santiago de Chile.
The strength of the Inca empire was civil engineering (road and bridge construction), social management
and plant cultivation which maize was not only the product produce by the estates. There was no script,
and all book-keeping was done by placing knots in textile strings known as quipu. There are other
textiles with patterned structures and symbols; if they carry messages they have yet to be deciphered.

The Aztec entered the region as warrior nomads and assimilated much of the existing civilizations. They
established a public school system and continued the Maya tradition of astronomical observation.
The Aztecs were famous for their agriculture, cultivating all available land, introducing irrigation,
draining swamps, and creating artificial islands in the lakes. They developed a form of hieroglyphic
writing, a complex calendar system, and built famous pyramids and temples.
Contribution of Mesoamerica in the field of science

Achievements of Math and Science in Mesoamerica. In what is now Central and South America,
there were three highly advanced ancient civilizations: The Aztecs, the Maya, and the Inca. All three of
these achieved incredible feats of engineering and science because they highly valued education.