Lecture 2B - Cradles of Early Science

Cradles of Early Science

The Maya are an indigenous people

who have continuously inhabited
the lands comprising modern-day
Mexico and southward through
Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and
Honduras.
The designation Maya comes from
the ancient Yucatan city of
Mayapan, the last capital of a
Mayan Kingdom in the Post-Classic
Period.
Maya Civilization
Maya script, also known as Maya
glyphs, was the writing system of
the Maya civilization and is the
only Mesoamerican writing
system that has been
substantially deciphered.

1. Madrid codex
2. Dresden codex
3. Paris codex
Maya Script
The Inca civilization
flourished in ancient Peru
between c.1400 and 1533
CE, and their empire
eventually extended across
western South America
making it the largest empire
ever seen in the Americas
and the largest in the world at
that time.
Inca Civilization
The Incas developed superb
architecture and engineering
techniques without the use of the
wheel and modern tools. Their
buildings have proved earthquake
resistant. The most magnificent
community the Incas built is the
citadel of Machu Picchu built
between the mountains of Machu
Picchu and Huayna Picchu.
Architecture
The medicine practiced by the
Incas was related to
religion and rituals. Shamans also
used plant extracts and fresh or
dried animals to cure diseases.
Their most important discovery
and one that is widely used in
current Andean society is the use
of plant extracts such as Digitalis
purpurea, Matricaria chamomilla
and Plantago paralias, among
others.
Medicine
The Incas also performed cranial
surgery called trepanation in
order to cure mental illnesses or
injuries. They drilled a hole in the
patient’s skull, let them bleed and
then performed a ritual in order to
let the bad spirits out.
Medicine
The success of empire’s
centralized economy led to social
harmony and to its
fast expansion. The Inca
economy did not use money as
an exchange unit or markets to
trade. Every member was obliged
to contribute labor as tribute and
in exchange they received food,
clothing, housing, education and
health care security.
Economy
The Aztec Empire flourished
between c. 1345 and 1521 CE
and, at its greatest extent,
covered most of northern
Mesoamerica. Aztec warriors
were able to dominate their
neighbouring states and permit
rulers to impose Aztec ideals and
religion across Mexico.
Aztec Civilization
The Aztecs got the last of the land
that was up for grabs in the Valley
of Mexico, it wasn't rich farmland.
The Aztecs produced prodigious
amounts of corn, beans and
squash, and they even raised
animals such as turkeys through
the use of floating gardens known
as chinampas.
Agriculture
For Aztec children, education
began in the home, with girls
learning domestic chores and
boys learning their fathers'
trades.From the ages of 12 to 15,
all children were required to
attend a school known as a
cuicacalli, or house of song,
where they learned ceremonial
songs and the cosmology of their
people.
Education
The Aztecs were also great
observers of the human body,
with the tictil,or physicians. One
of the important works that sheds
light on Aztec herbal practices is
known as the Badianus
Manuscript, a codex (or illustrated
text) from 1552 that describes the
use of over 180 plants and trees
in the treatment of ailments.
Medicine
Prior to the Spanish conquest of
the Aztecs in the early 16th
century, the European world had
never experienced fabric dyed a
deep scarlet color. The best cloth
that could be produced was dyed
with a plant extract known as
madder red, which produced a
paler color than the Aztecs were
making. Their secret ingredient?
The cochineal beetle.
Textile
The history of India begins with the
birth of the Indus Valley Civilization,
more precisely known as Harappan
Civilization. It flourished around
2,500 BC, in the western part of
South Asia, what today is Pakistan
and Western India.
Ancient Indian
Civilization
India is famous in medicine. For
example, Ayurveda, a system of
traditional medicine that originated in
ancient India before 2500 BC, is still
practiced as a form of alternative
medicine.
Medicine
The decimal number system in use
today was first recorded in Indian
mathematics. Indian mathematicians
made early contributions to the study of
the concept of zero as a number,
negative numbers, arithmetic, and
algebra. In addition, trigonometry was
further advanced in India, and, in
particular, the modern definitions of sine
and cosine were developed there.
Mathematics
Ancient China produced what has
become the oldest extant culture in
the world. It has generally been
accepted that the Chinese `Cradle of
Civilization’ is the Yellow River
Valley which gave rise to villages
sometime around 5000 BCE.
Ancient Chinese
Civilization
The Chinese are known for
traditional medicines, a product of
centuries of experiences and
discovery of the Chinese people.
They discovered various medical
properties and uses of different plants
and animals to cure human illness.
Medicine
The ancient Near East is considered one of
the cradles of civilization. It was here that
intensive year-round agriculture was first
practiced, leading to the rise of the first
dense urban settlements and the
development of many familiar institutions
of civilization, such as social stratification,
centralized government and empires,
organized religion and organized warfare.
Ancient Near East

Civilization
A Muslim scientist named Ibn-al-
Haytham is also regarded as the
‘Father of Optics’, especially for his
empirical proof of the intromission
theory of light.
Ibn-al-Haytham
the mathematician Muhammad Ibn
Musa al-Khwarizmi gave his name
to the concept of the algorithm while
the term algebra is derived from al-
jabr, the beginning of the title of one
of his publications.
Muhammad Ibn
Musa al-Khwarizmi
In the field of medicine, Ibn Sina
pioneered the science of experimental
medicine and was the first physician to
conduct clinical trials.
Among his many contributions are the
discovery of the contagious nature of
infectious diseases and the introduction
of clinical pharmacology.
Ibn Sina

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Cradles of Early Science

The Maya are an indigenous people

Ancient Near East

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