Art of the Americas before 1300

Mesoamerica, “The New World” The Olmec Teotihuacan The Maya Maya writing Epigraphy: the study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions The Cosmic Ballgame What role does ritual play in these objects?

The Olmec Olmec culture produced distinctive sculpture in the form of colossal carved heads. purpose Medium Method of production Visual characteristics

La Venta: view of Great Pyramid (Mound C-1) looking north The Olmec

Title: Colossal head #1 from San Lorenzo: installation view bc, basalt

Olmec Title: Colossal head #1 from San Lorenzo Date: B.C Location: San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán Site Material: basalt (h. 2.85m, 2.11m)

Teotihuacan 30 miles northeast of Mexico City By 200 ce, it was a bustling metropolis City is organized on a grid Orientation chosen for its calendrical significance We do NOT know the original architects of Teotihuacan Was revered by the Aztecs & its name comes from them Was a town that was known for its wealth of obsidian (volcanic rock) would be able to exchange it and pottery for other goods Obsidian rock aka volcanic glass (can be very sharp and carved into arrowhead knife)

PLAN OF THE CEREMONIAL CENTER OF TEOTIHUACAN [Fig ]

Pyramid and Plaza of the Moon (view from SE. atop the Pyramid of the Sun), ca C.E Teotihuacan

Title: Street of the Dead Location: TEOTIHUACAN Location: Mexico

Title: Temple of Quetzalcoatl Location: TEOTIHUACAN

The Maya Maya writing: logosyllabic, consists of ideographs that represent entire words as well as a set of symbols that stand for the sound of each syllable in the Maya language Codices (plural form of codex): the books they wrote. Many were destroyed by Spanish colonialists and only a few survive. Major Towns: – Tikal – Palenque – Yaxchilan

Bloodletting ritual: in which one bleeds for the purpose of ritual. – Blood is thought to be life-giving, restorative to the soil that produces the harvest (that nourishes the city’s entire population)

BLOODLETTING RITUAL Fragment of a fresco from Teotihuacan, Mexico. Teotihuacan culture, c CE. Pigment on lime plaster, 32-1/4" × 45-1/4" (82 × cm). The Cleveland Museum of Art. Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund (63.252). [Fig ]

Map of Mayan sites Palenque Tikal Yaxchilan And many more that exist, but we don’t focus on.

Maya: Tikal

Title: Temple I, part of North Acropolis and Great Plaza Title: Aerial View Location: TIKAL Location: GuatemalaTIKAL

Title: Palace Location: PALENQUEPALENQUE

PalenquePalenque: Palace and Temple of the Inscriptions, aerial view

Lid of the sarcophagus of Pakal the Great, from Pakal’s tomb, Palenque, Mexico c. 683 CE. Limestone. 12 ½” x 7’ 1 ½”

Title: Portrait of Pakal the Great Date: mid 7th century stucco and red paint h.15.75"

Portrait of Pakal the Great Maize god

Work from Yaxchilan: Shield Jaguar and Lady Xok Yaxchilan was a large center and rival of Palenque Yaxchilan The sculpture depicts a sacred blood-letting ritual which took place on 26 October 709. Lord Shield Jaguar is shown holding a torch, while his wife Lady Xok draws a rope through her pierced tongue. high relief & bas-relief (from the French, meaning “low relief”) in order to maximize the lintel’s narrative capabilities. Bas-relief is used to depict the elaborate garment worn by Lady Xok. It is also used to define the glyphic inscriptions above and to the left of Lord Shield Jaguar.

Lintel 24 (seen in previous slide) Shield Jaguar and Lady Xok. Lintel 24 of a temple. Yaxchilán, Mexico. Maya culture, CE. Limestone, 43 1⁄2” x 31 3⁄4” (110.5 x 80.6 cm). British Museum, London. While lintels 24, 25, and 26 are now at the British Museum and hang on the wall for easy viewing, viewers would have originally had to stand in the doorways of Structure 23, turn sideways, and look up to view the carved and painted scenes above their heads as they entered the House of Lady Xok.

Andean tribes from Peru Moche, Inca, Chavín Many burial sites with lavish jewels and textiles Visual emphasis on dualities or opposition in the objects we find (man/woman, moon/sun, night/day)

El Niño a climate pattern that occurs across the Pacific Ocean every 2 to 7 years and lasts for a few months to 2 years refers to the cycle of warm and cold temperatures, as measured by sea surface temperature, SST, of the tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean. El Niño is accompanied by high air pressure in the western Pacific and low air pressure in the eastern Pacific El Niño and La Niña climate cycles can influence weather patterns across the globe El Niño affected pre-Columbian Incas and may have led to the demise of the Moche and other pre-Columbian Peruvian cultures

Title: Moche lord with a feline: painted ceramic

MocheMoche portrait vessel, Peru. c ce Clay, height: 11 in. While most Moche portrait vessels feature heads, some portray full human figures. They are meant to hold liquids. Almost all of the portraits of are adult men. In some rare instances, young boys are represented No portrait vessels of adult women have yet been found

Full-body Moche portrait vessel of person with paralysis

Earspool Date: Material: gold Measurements: diam cm Description: Lambayeque Valley type: Jewelry America (Peru): Sican

Great Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio Subject: Earthworks (art)--Adena Moundbuilders

-Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, ce -Crescent shape -Puebloan population declined during a severe dourght in the 12 th century and building ceased around Kiva: round, submerged pit house

Pueblo Bonito: aerial view of wall structure Date: c.1100

El Pueblo, New Mexico The Ancestral Puebloan people were formerly known as the Anasazi and are still sometimes referred to in this manner by non- academic sources. The word “Anasazi” is actually a Navajo term that means “Enemy Ancestors.” As many Ancestral Puebloan ruins are on Navajo land, this is what gave rise to the term. ** “Anasazi” is no longer used in scholarly literature as the culture is now understood to be the parent culture of modern Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo peoples, and it would be inappropriate to continue to use a Navajo name for them. Older literature on the Ancestral Puebloans does use “Anasazi” so students of the material should keep this in mind when researching the culture. **

Puebloan Seed Jar Puebloan Seed Jar Date: earthenware with black-and-white pigment diameter 14 1/2" earthenware with black-and-white pigment