The issues and questions surrounding the development of civilization in Mesoamerica offer a unique and stimulating exercise in what prompted complex societies to develop. When -and for what purposes-did the peoples of pre-Columbian Middle America seek to develop from hunter-gatherers into the creators of some of the most renowned cities in the entire history of ancient civilization?
In Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica, by C.C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and Jeremy A. Sabloff, Mesoamerica is defined as "a geographic area within whose borders a distinct culture system flourished in Pre-Columbian times." What is this "culture system" which provided a sense of unity for three thousand years in this area. What was this cultural unity? How was it formed?
It is believed that civilization in Mesoamerica began around 1200 BC, in the lowland region of Mexico's gulf coast with the rise of the Olmecs. Prior to the establishment of this complex society, however, there is little available data on the antecedents to civilization in Mesoamerica.
Theoretically, the rise of agriculture, animal domestication, and sedentism are considered antecedents for later developments of society. Apparently, animal domestication played no significant role in the birth of civilization in Mesoamerica, likely due to a lack of opportunity and environmental conditions.
Still, as authors Lamberg-Karlovsky and Sabloff point to the "relative poverty" of evidence for this critical phase prior to civilization, some limited archaeological data is available on the habits of hunters and gathers, early agriculture, and settled village life in Mesoamerica.
Prior to 8000 BC, the late Pleistocene Ice Age, there was little attention or importance placed on the hunting of the large, now-extinct mammals of that era, according to research from the archaeological finds of that age in this geographical area.
More attention was paid to small game hunting and gathering of edible plants, according to the archaeological evidence, particularly after climatic changes that occurred between 8000-7000 BC.
In The Course of Mexican History, authors Michael C. Meyer and William L. Sherman concede that little data is available at least until the period 10,000 to 8,000 BC
Meyer and Sherman have made some note of the impact of the environment changes from the thawing of the Pleistocene Ice Age around 8,000 BC on early man in Mexico. "By these times moist conditions, lush grasslands, and full foliage provided ample fodder for strange animals-hairy mammals, mastodons, giant armadillos, and early ancestors of the bison, camel and horse."
A large lake covered the floor of the Valley of Mexico, and to that watering place came the prehistoric beasts.
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