Mesoamerican Chronology

Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation–3500 BCE), the Archaic (3500–2000), the Preclassic (2000 BCE–200 CE), the Classic (200 CE–1000CE), and the Postclassic (1000 CE–1697 CE). Some of the period divisions are taken from the history of the Maya: The Preclassic-Classic boundary marks the first Maya "collapse", the Classic-Postclassic boundary marks the second, and the end date of 1697 marks the conquest of the last independent Maya city-state, Tayasal. However, this chronology applies to other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations as well.