by a.d. 600, this was the most complex society in all of mesoamerica. archaeologist william sanders. in this area where i'm standing which is right on the southern edge of the ancient city, there are between 80 and 100 permanent springs. there is some convincing evidence that at the time of the peak of the ancient city, the water from these springs was harnessed into an elaborate canal system that provided permanent irrigation for at least 7,000 or 8,000 acres of land down on the bottom of the teotihuacan valley, rich, fertile alluvium with very high productivity. this must have provided at least one of the major sources of the production of staple foods for the ancient city at its peak. keach: some archaeologists think the irrigation system was controlled by the state -- the king and his high-ranking elite -- just as the unidad controls it in cuicatlan today. that control gave the elite enormous power which can be seen in these massive buildings. man: this is the political center of teotihuacan. the temple of quetzalcoatl behind us represents the power

mesoamerica had no wheels that were usable in any meaningful sense.they had no draft animals to pull a wheeled vehicle if they had had a wheeled vehicle. so all goods were taken in one of two ways -- by canoe or raft where there was water -- and except for the coastal areas, bodies of water that were navigable for any length of time were quite rare in mesoamerica. the other means of transport is human por typically, these porters were carrying approximately 50 pounds. now, you can, of course, carry more or you can carry less. but the more you carry the shorter the distance you can usually go. so 50 pounds was about average for long-distance, day-after-day carriage. keach: so for copan's metateros, the market potential was limited by technology. because they had to carry the stones to market on their backs the market had to be close by. filomeno's problem is similar. although he can use a bus to get his metates to market the cost of transportation must be added to the sale price. if filomeno transports his metates much beyond the neighboring market tow

covered with 1,300 glyphs, these steps form the longest single inscription in mesoamerica. archaeologist bill fash. fash: the hieroglyphic stairway represents an encyclopedia of copan history. what it's saying is that copan is a powerful kingdom. it has been from its inception and all of the copan kings were great warriors. the interesting thing is when you look at the archaeological context of the stairway, you realize that all was not well in river city. keach: workers enter a tunnel behind the staircase. twelve centuries earlier other workers had built the hieroglyphic stairs on top of an existing building. the space between was filled with rubble which was usually densely packed. this fill is very loose. why such shoddy construction ? was it evidence that the king who commissioned the stairway had little support among his workers ? what had gone wrong ? once again, a maya king had been killed by a rival kingdom. at copan that king was 18 rabbit. the hieroglyphic staircase was built by his successors in a symbolic attempt to assert the status of copan's ruling dynasty. s

hundred years before the emergence of the incas, they were building a vast civilization throughout mesoamerica. the aztecs as well. this is a city on the lake. this culture in the american southwest was elaborate. the park ranger in ms. ever day -- mesa verde said there were more people living in the area then there are now. this is my favorite slide. we have to return to basics in our educational program and make sure people understand basic propositions. even bart simpson gets it. now i would like to get to this idea of american mythology and the imaginary indian. we are deeply in the american dna. every major american myth, major american origin story has to account for the indians in sunlight. here we see columbus arriving in the new world looking remarkably fresh. but hiding in the right-hand corner are the indians who were there when columbus arrived. we want to get into this business of the columbian exchange. indians have not only then he raised from american history they have any raised from world history -- not only have the indians then he raced -- erased from american history, they

hundred years before the emergence of the incas, they were building a vast civilization throughout mesoamerica. the aztecs as well. this is a city on the lake. this culture in the american southwest was elaborate. the park ranger in ms. ever day -- mesa verde said there were more people living in the area then there are now. this is my favorite slide. we have to return to basics in our educational program and make sure people understand basic propositions. even bart simpson gets it. now i would like to get to this idea of american mythology and the imaginary indian. we are deeply in the american dna. every major american myth, major american origin story has to account for the indians in sunlight. here we see columbus arriving in the new world looking remarkably fresh. but hiding in the right-hand corner are the indians who were there when columbus arrived. we want to get into this business of the columbian exchange. indians have not only then he raised from american history they have any raised from world history -- not only have the indians then he raced -- erased from american history, they

hundred years before the emergence of the incas, they were building a vast civilization throughout mesoamerica. the aztecs as well. this is a city on the lake. the chaco culture in the american southwest was a very elaborate culture. i was up at mesa verde about two summers ago and the park ranger pointed out that there were more people living there in about 1300 then live in that region now. that is how many people were living in the mesa verde area. whoops, this is my favorite slide. yes. so we have to kind of return basics in our educational program and make sure people understand basic propositions. so even bart simpson gets it. now i would like to get to this idea of american mythology and the imaginary indian. we are deeply in the american dna. every major american myth, major american origin story has to account for the indians in some ways. it is very interesting how they do that. here we see columbus arriving in the new world looking remarkably fresh for a fellow who had just spent a number of months on a 15th century sailing vessel, but hiding over there in the right-hand corner are

hundred years before the emergence of the incas, they were building a vast civilization throughout mesoamericatecs as well. this is a city on the lake. this culture in the american southwest was elaborate. the park ranger in ms. ever day -- mesa verde said there were more people living in the area then there are now. this is my favorite slide. we have to return to basics in