Meso America * Map of Central America

A few themes to stress = art as a form of communication, the intersections between art and ritual, and the continuity of cultures. 

- Pre-Colombian MesoAmerica

- Isthmus (thin strip of land connecting two larger ones usually with water on both sides) of Tehuantepec (in Mexico) is the dividing line between Mexico and Central America

- Pre Classic, Classic and Post Classic divisions made by scholars

- built symbolic architectural mountains- temples on top were “caves” to connect to the spirit world

- roads and buildings often aligned to points on the horizon, heavenly bodies – link of cities with heavens

- attempt to link this world with the other world through ritual, art, architecture, numerology and the calendar

- many peoples had a 260 day ritual calendar, 13 gods each ruled over 20 days- every day had a distinct spiritual character and meaning. They hoped to gain some control over the spiritual powers that dominated their existence.

The Olmecs 1200-400BCE

- The Olmecs lived in the low-lying Gulf Coast area of what is now Mexico in about 1200-400B.C.E. at sites such as San Lorenzo (the earliest), Tres Zapotes, Laguna de los Cerros and La Venta.

- seen as one of the founding culture of MesoAmerica (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and pacific coast of El Salvador- home of pre-Colombian civilizations.) also contemporaneous cultures located in the Valley of Oaxaca. 

- preliterate (some glyphs) therefore prehistoric

- first to make representational art on a large scale (maybe the first to make representational art at all!)

- Monumental sacred complexes, massive stone sculpture, ball games, chocolate drinking and animal gods were features of Olmec culture which would be passed on to all those who followed this first great Mesoamerican civilization- Aztec and Maya.

- The Olmec civilization presents something of a mystery, indeed, we do not even know what they called themselves, as ‘Olmec’ was their Aztec name and meant ‘rubber people’.  Just archeology left!

* Olmec stone mask , c. 900-400BCE,Olmec, greenstone, (jade),13 x 11.3 x 5.7cm

- The Olmecs worked mainly in stone and particularly favored jade, or greenstone, which they believed had distinctive properties linked with fertility and procreation.

Olmec art is very distinctive and clearly reflects their religion.

Religion:

*Monument 52 from San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, showing a classic were-jaguar figure.

- The Olmec apparently had gods, or at least powerful supernatural beings, which were worshipped or respected in some way. Their names and functions - other than in the most general sense have been lost over the ages.

- they often represented phenomena such as rain, the earth and especially maize

- gave special significance to the animals present in their environment, especially those at the top of the food chain such as jaguars, eagles, caimans, snakes and even sharks, identifying them with divine beings

- The Olmecs also liked to mix animals to create weird and wonderful creatures such as the were-jaguar, a cross between a human and a jaguar, which may have been their supreme deity. (Jaguar is largest of the big cats, goes in water, camouflaged, etc. )

- The were-jaguar figure is characterized by a distinctive down-turned mouth with fleshy lips, almond-shaped eyes, and a cleft head similar – it is said – to that of the male jaguar which has a cleft running vertically the length of its head.

- It is not known what the were-jaguar represented to the Olmec, and it may well have represented different things at different times.

- The jaguar also is important for shamans who often associate the jaguar as a spirit companion or nagual, which will protect the shamans from evil spirits and while they move between the earth and the spirit realm.

- The jaguar is said to possess the transient ability of moving between worlds because of its comfort both in the trees and the water, the ability to hunt as well in the nighttime as in the daytime, and the habit of sleeping in caves, places often associated with the deceased ancestors.

- they worshipped a sky-dragon (a sort of caiman creature with flaming eyebrows) 

- they believed four dwarves held up the sky, possibly representing the four cardinal directions

- The feathered snake-god especially, would be transformed into the major gods Kukulcan for the Maya and Quetzalcoatl for the Aztecs.

- The Olmecs seem to have had a particular reverence for natural places which connected with the important junctions of sky, earth and the underworld. For example, caves could lead to the underworld and mountains which had both springs and caves could offer access to all three planes

- Olmec deities are represented in surviving stonecarvings, cave paintings and pottery. In most Mesoamerican art, gods are depicted as human-like, but are often more gruesome or imposing.

- Infants were a recurring theme in Olmec art.

*A life-size ceramic 'baby' figurine from the Olmec civilization of Mexico, Mesoamerica, 12th-9th century

- baby image- One of the gods most commonly rendered in small sculpture was God IV (names aren’t known so given numbers), sometimes called the Rain Baby, who is a toothless human baby with an open-mouth, cleft head (cranial deformation) and headband- unclear meaning

- Baby-face figurines often present a mixture of human and animal traits, with features such as a feline mouth with down-turned low corners, a flaring upper lip and 'flaming' eyebrows.

- Their bodies are naked and show no indication of gender.

- sometimes with the addition of strips of crinkled paper hanging at the side of his face (another feature seen in the gods of later cultures and representing the paper and rubber sap strips which were burnt during rites as the smoke was thought to propitiate rain).

- These "were-jaguar" infants are also carved on monumental altars and stone sculptures, lying on the lap or in the arms of a person.

*Olmec artwork showing a were-jaguar baby being held

8.16 * Kunz Axe. Olmec culture. c. 1000 BCE. , Jade, height 11” (28 cm).

(called Celts by Gardner’s)

- example of the smaller scale carvings also made (a ceremonial Axe head- not ever used as an axe)

- often buried under ceremonial courtyards or platforms

- a “were- jaguar”= almond-shaped eyes, small nostrils, prominent canine teeth, a large, flaring upper lip, and sometimes a central forehead cleft and a feature called “flame eyebrows.”

- example of a hybrid creature which represents a god

- spirits or shamans transformed into spirits. (part of a myth of a jaguar mating with a woman and having a baby= were jaguar. The baby is sometimes shown devouring the mom while breastfeeding.)

- could be connected to the kings- A dangerous, powerful, intelligent animal with a distinctive personality that moves with ease on water and land. Why wouldn't you want that in a king?

- could also be examples of deformation in children- encephalitis or down syndrome- maybe due to inbreeding among the elite- see them as special?

- far from agreed upon meaning

- carved from translucent blue green jade (jade is seen as more valuable than gold! The Spanish conquistadors trade green beads for gold to take advantage!)

- used stone tipped drills and abrasive materials

- has the same stylistic feel as the huge heads but in small form

- often ritually buried their carvings…

- These "were-jaguar" infants are also carved on monumental altars and stone sculptures, lying on the lap or in the arms of a person.

VIDEO LINK

- Olmec religious activities were performed by a combination of rulers, full-time priests, and shamans. The rulers seem to have been the most important religious figures, with their links to the Olmec deities or supernaturals providing legitimacy for their rule

*jade perforator, 1200-400 B.C.E., Olmec, jadite, 38 x 3 cm, Mexico

- Perforators were used in self-sacrifice rites, which involved drawing blood from several parts of the body.

- Some representations of Olmec rulers show them holding bloodletters and/or scepters as part of their elaborate ritual costume.

- Bloodletting was performed by the ruler to ensure the fertility of the land and the well-being of the community. It was also a means of communication with the ancestors and was vital to sustain the gods and the world. These rituals were common throughout Mesoamerica.

- Bloodletting implements were also fashioned out of bone, flint, greenstones, stingray spines and shark teeth. They vary in form and symbolism. Handles can be plain, incised with a variety of symbols associated to certain deities, or carved into the shape of supernatural beings. The blades, ending in a sharp point, are sometimes shaped into the beaks of certain birds, such as the hummingbird, or into a stingray tail.

The three sites of San Lorenzo, La Venta and Laguna de los Cerros all had a bilateral symmetry in their planning and at La Venta the first pyramid in Mesoamerica was constructed. 

8.14 * Colossal head, from San Lorenzo. Olmec culture. c. 1200–900 BCE. , Basalt, height 9’ (2.75 m).

- The most striking legacy of the Olmec civilization must be the colossal stone heads they produced. These were carved in basalt and all display unique facial features so that they may be considered portraits of actual rulers.

- The heads are incredibly naturalistic, and possess an impressive individualism.

- All portray mature men with fleshy cheeks, flat noses- their physical characteristics correspond to a type that is still common among the inhabitants of Tabasco and Veracruz

- Some even feature crossed eyes, which some art historians interpret as signifying a trance-like state. This suggests that the individuals represented may have utilized hallucinogens as a means of transporting themselves to a supernatural realm.

- Combo of individual and stereotypical- mix of individualized features (like a ruler) and stereotypical (like a god) – maybe a special god that protected the throne?

- The ruler often wears a protective helmet (from war or the ballgame) and sometimes show the subject with jaguar paws hanging over the forehead, perhaps representing a jaguar pelt worn as a symbol of political and religious power.

- The fact that these giant sculptures depict only the head may be explained by the belief in Mesoamerican culture that it was the head alone which bore the soul.

- one of 10 heads found at the city of San Lorenzo, early important Olmec center

- carved from large basalt boulders that came from 80 miles away (probably floated down river)

- The heads can be up to nine feet high and weigh twenty-eight tons. 

-The stone from which they were worked was, in some cases, transported 80 km or more, quarried from the nearby Tuxtla Mountains, presumably using huge balsa river rafts.

- great sense of authority! Somber face

- contours follow the shape of the boulder

- the heads span 300 years (1200-900 BCE) and could represent the 10 kings that each could have ruled 30 years!

- 2 of the heads were carved from a large rectangular stone perhaps to connect to the throne and seat of authority.

Slide * Monument 4 : Height 2.26m (7.41 ft). With discoverer Dr. Mathew Stirling in 1939. Current location, La Venta Park-Museum, Villahermosa.

- Shows scaleSlide * One more head from San Lorenzo

- Olmec heads were frequently re-carved or even defaced after their death. The act of ritually defacing the stone may have served as a means to physically “mark” the former ruler’s death. This practice also enabled Olmec artists to recycle the immensely heavy basalt boulders

La Venta- Olmec city that rises up after San Lorenzo was destroyed for unknown reasons (900-400BCE)

- As a ceremonial center, La Venta contains an elaborate series of buried offerings and tombs, as well as monumental sculptures. These stone monuments, stelae, and "altars" were carefully distributed amongst the mounds and platforms. The mounds and platforms were built largely from local sands and clays. It is assumed that many of these platforms were once topped with wooden structures, which have long since disappeared.

8.15 * Reconstruction drawings of La Venta, Tabasco. Olmec culture. c. 900–400 BCE: (a) principal pyramid; (b) ball court; (c) quadrangle; (d) late burial mounds

- carefully planned city layout- pre-meditated architectural layout!!! precisely aligned ceremonial precincts

- open rectangular plaza

- platforms and monuments set on each of the 4 sides of the plaza

- central axis is 8 degrees west of North- link city/ritual center to otherworld of gods- external emphasis of the center towards cosmic features (probably for astronomical reasons)

- 110 foot high conical pyramid – no stairs, no temple topper

- perhaps a volcano replica (passageway to the underworld as a gateway to the otherworld???)

- may have been where they buried the ruler (whose huge carved head is near..)

- homage to mountains and the life giving water they produce?

- recent work by Rebecca Gonzalez-Lauck has shown that the pyramid was originally a rectangular pyramid with stepped sides and inset corners, and the current shape is most likely due to 2500 years of erosion.

- Much of the iconography at the site reflects its environmental diversity and stresses the importance of the ruler's role in mediating between the watery realms occupied by fish, alligators, and sharks, and the earthly realm of agricultural and animal fertility.

* photo slide of the Great Pyramid

Maya

*Map slide

- Lived 1. Central area through Guatemala to Belize 2. Southern highlands of Guatemala 3. Northern Yucatan Peninsula

- Had 50 major cities at its height (late 700’s)

- City states (some confederacies= association of sovereign states)- NO ONE RULER (like Greece!) different kingdoms

o Rulers directed trade, politics, war, religion, rituals

o Strong city states (and rivals) were Calakmul and Tikal

o Relations between the kingdoms were complex. There was negotiation, trading and inter-marriage, as well as invasion and warfare.

- Platform temples, center of the cityo Palaces- center of government and luxury accommodations

o Also- lesser residences, temples and plazas, ball courts have been identified.

o Ball courts=two parallel walls between which a ritual game using a rubber ball was played.

- impressive artworks, including polychrome ceramic vases and carved stone monuments portraying their rulers.

o Art glorifying the gods helped the rulers into the afterlife! Big art patrons!

Writing: Fully LITERATE people! sophisticated writing system

- elaborate calendar system known as the Long Count to provide dates

8.17 * Maya hieroglyphic inscription from lintel (displayed vertically), Temple IV, Tikal, El Petén, Guatemala. 741 CE. , Wood, height approx. 19” (48.25 cm).

- Found on vases, manuscripts, monumental sculptures and buildings, portable objects (made of shell, obsidian, bone, wood, jade and other stones) and screenfold books, called codices

- Mix of pictographs (stylized images) with phonograms (signs for spoken sounds in Mayan language)

- it was discovered that the script combined signs representing whole words with signs representing syllables. Certain glyphs were recognized as naming specific people and cities (known as Name Glyphs and Emblem Glyphs respectively).

- The origin of the script is complex and far from clear.o from the sixteenth century Spanish missionaries destroyed Mayan codices

(screenfold books) and made them learn the Spanish alphabet. As a result, the Mayan language was lost

o only identified as a writing system by scholars during the nineteenth century.- We can read about 85% of the characters- We have learned about who ruled, how and about the gods!- inscriptions deal mainly with calendrical and astronomical information, and historical

events such as alliances, wars, lineages and marriages.

(click) Maya inscriptions were most often written in columns two glyphs wide, with each such column read left to right, top to bottom.

*Slide- more glyph details

* Mayan Calendar

- The Maya didn't invent the calendar, they developed the calendar further and it's still in use in some Maya communities today.

- The Mayan Calendar consists of three separate corresponding calendars,

- the Long Count-  is an astronomical calendar which was used to track longer periods of time, what the Maya called the “universal cycle”. Each such cycle is calculated to be 2,880,000 days (about 7885 solar years).

- The Mayans believed that the universe is destroyed and then recreated at the start of each universal cycle. (It was set to end in 2012…)

- the Tzolkin (divine calendar)- It is a 260-day calendar, with 20 periods of 13 days used to determine the time of religious and ceremonial events.

- Each day is numbered from one to thirteen, and then repeated. The day is also given a name (glyph) from a sequence of 20 day names.

- The calendar repeats itself after each cycle.

- the Haab (civil calendar)- a 365 day solar calendar which is divided into 18 months of 20 days each and one month which is only 5 days long 

- The calendar has an outer ring of Mayan glyphs (pictures) which represent each of the 19 months. Each day is represented by a number in the month followed by the name of the month. Each glyph represents a personality associated with the month.

- The Haab is somewhat inaccurate as it is exactly 365 days long. An actual tropical or solar year is 365.2422 days long. In today’s calendar we adjust for this discrepancy by making almost every fourth year a leap year by adding an extra day.

-Time is cyclical in the calendars and a set number of days must occur before a new cycle can begin.

- The calendars are used simultaneously.

- The Tzolkin and the Haab identify and name the days, but not the years. The Long Count date comes first, then the Tzolkin date and last the Haab date. A typical Mayan date would read: 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 8 Kumku, where 13.0.0.0.0 is the Long Count date, 4 Ahau is the Tzolkin date and 8 Kumku is the Haab date.

- Dates are written out as five numbers separated by four periods, such as 13.0.0.0.0. (The ancient Maya represented these not with numerals, of course, but with their own hieroglyphs.)

- it is kind of like a car odometer in which each number represents a set of 1s, 20’s (not 10’s), etc.)

- The Calendar Round is made from the interweaving of the Tzolk’in and Haab calendars. In the Calendar Round, any given combination of a Tzolk’in day with a Haab day will not repeat itself, until 52 periods of 365 days have passed.

- (Any historical or mythical event spanning more than 52 years required the ancient Maya to use an additional calendar, the Long Count.)

- Very accurate

- Dots (one) and bars (5)- and stylized shells (meaning "zero"). First to use ZERO as a place holder. (Indians use it

for math)- Base 20 system- World was “created” in what is equivalent to August 11, 3114 BCE

The calendar dates on monuments, buildings etc. along with the glyphs give us a really great picture/understanding/first hand account of the culture- better than that of Europe at the same time!- original documents! Not the European later written documents paraphrasing the original ones!!!

- * cartoon slide- (really an Aztec calendar)- Misinterpretation of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar was the basis for a popular

belief that a cataclysm would take place on December 21, 2012. December 21, 2012 was simply the day that the calendar went to the next unit of Mayan time (about 19 years).

Xibalba and Mayan Painting

Xibalba= place of Fear, city of dead at the base of the 9 levels of the underworld, ruled by 12 Mayan gods of Xibalba that personified distinct forms of suffering like sickness, fear and pain

- Mayan elite believed they lived with the gods before coming to earth- buried with vessels and books to help them (like Egyptian)

- Elite believed they would return to the their celestial homes upon death- started off in Xibalba

- If they survived the many torturous levels of Xibalba they would rise up through the Tree of Life (roots in Xibalba and branches in heaven pointing to the North Star) and live in the heavens with ancestors and gods

8.18 * Section of the Dresden Codex, Postclassic period. Bark paper coated with fine stucco, height 18” (20.3 cm). Sachsische Landesbibliothek, Dresden. Scala, Florence.

- It is the oldest book written in the Americas known to historians. (Of the hundreds of books that were used in Mesoamerica before the Spanish conquest, it is one of only 15 that have survived to the present day!)

- The Dresden Codex consisted of 39 sheets, inscribed on both sides, with an overall length of 11.7 feet

- one the few surviving books (we have lots of pots) that depict Xibalba

- climate and material made them perishable…(only 6 feet left today)

- The books were folded and consisted of bark paper or leather leaves with an adhesive stucco layer (lime paste) on which to write; they were protected by jaguar skin covers or, perhaps, wooden boards.

- Originally, the manuscript had been folded in accordion folds. (*on click)

- red, black and the so-called Mayan blue. (on click*)

- The Maya blue pigment is a composite of organic and inorganic constituents, primarily indigo dyes derived from the leaves of añil (Indigofera suffruticosa) plants combined with palygorskite, a natural clay which, mysteriously, is not known to exist in abundant deposits in Mesoamerica.

- depict numbers, dates, gods, history and astrology

- used to predict auspicious days

*Next slide is a different detail page.

- Reading and writing were elite functions in Maya society, and scribes were minor royalty, related to nobles or sometimes even to the king.

- By immortalizing a king's victory in battle and ready communication with the gods, a scribe played an important and highly visible role in maintaining the king's power.

Artist/Scribe Status

8.19 * Incised bone from tomb of Hasaw Chan K’awil, Tikal. Burial 116 in Temple I. Late Classic period. 8th century.

- “to paint” and “to write” was the same word- special status of artist/calligrapher –came from the royal elite- called “royal artist scribes”

- the artists were special – they had a degree of poetic license, not like the rules of our text

- here an artist shows his inspiration- delicate painting hand emerges from Itzamna= celestial serpent (sky god) and patron of writing

- the skills come from beyond!!!

- paint pots are found in royal graves- symbols of their skills or secret knowledge…

8.20 * The Teaching Vase . Northern Guatemala? c. late 8th century. Height 3-1/2” (8.9 cm).

- ceramic vessels were a symbol of status and power for the Maya. They were used by the élite and are found as offerings in rich burials.

- image that shows the “royal librarian” (RIGHT) who may have been the most distinguished of all the royal artist scribes

- chief diviner

- in charge of production and training of all books and royal scribe artists

- shows “royal librarian” seated cross legged across from the Pawatan= old god of art and writing (LEFT) brushes in his head wrap

- Pawatan reads from a book and the speech lines (like a modern cartoon!) shows he is reading the numbers 11 and 13

- book he is reading would have history, myth and astrological info- even though the books themselves are gone, these post help us to see they existed!

-many of the lost written stories and myths are preserved from oral tradition after the conquest- written down by scribes….in a book called Popul Vuh= “Book of Council”

Slide * Mayan elite pressed their baby’s heads in cradle boards to alter their head shape.

- for beauty

- for status like elite (sometimes different deformation- squished sides versus elongated heads, for different statuses) This made faking being an elite impossible and made the elite instantly recognizable.

- for connection to jaguar head

- for connection to Maize god- fertility

* Yaxchilán lintel 24, structure 23, after 709 C.E., Maya, Late Classic period, limestone, 109 x 78 x 6 cm, Mexico © Trustees of the British Museum

Yaxchilán was a significant Maya center during the Classic period (250-900 C.E.) and a number of its buildings stand to this day. Carved stone lintels above their doorways which have made this site famous. These lintels, commissioned by the rulers of the city, provide a lengthy dynastic record in both text and image. 

- The scene represents a bloodletting ritual performed by the king of Yaxchilán, Shield Jaguar the Great (681-742), and his wife, Lady K'ab'al Xook

- bloodletting= a common practice in Maya life from the Late Preclassic period (400 B.C.E.- 250 C.E.) onwards, and an essential part of rulership and of all public rituals.

- The Maya élite drew blood from various parts of their bodies using lancets made of stingray spine, flint, bone or obsidian.

* detail next slide

- Lady K'abal Xook pulls a rope with obsidian blades through her tongue in the principal form of blood sacrifice performed by royal women.

- The rope falls onto an open codex.

- Scrolls of blood can be seen around her mouth. 

- Her pierced tongue allowed her blood to flow as part of a ritual communication with gods and spirits.

- This sacrifice mirrored the Maya story of creation, when the gods let their blood to create the human race.

- By choosing to take part in the ritual, the queen demonstrated both her moral and physical strength to the people, and her suitability as a Maya royal. 

* detail next slide

- She kneels in front of Shield Jaguar who holds a great torch described in the text as a "burning spear” illuminating a ritual that was probably held at night or set in the dark recess of a private chamber. 

- Both king and queen are richly attired with Sun God pectorals.

King

- The human head worn by Shield Jaguar over his brow may be a shrunken battle trophy. 

- he has quetzal (say Ket- Zal) feathers in his hair (*bird on click- example of trade- each male bird only has about 3 tail feathers like this.)

- Maya viewed the quetzal as the "god of the air" and as a symbol of goodness and light. The Maya also viewed the quetzal symbolizing freedom and wealth, due to their view of quetzals dying in captivity and the value of their feathers, respectively.

- a jade bead necklace that is counterbalanced by a long strand of jade beads and what are probably carved shells going down his back. The artist was careful to show such minute details as the strings that are tied to hold on the wrist cuffs worn by both royals, and the pattern woven on Shield Jaguar’s beautiful cape.

Queen

- The queen also wears an elaborate headdress. There are flower tassels on the main part of the head band and a mosaic depiction of Tlaloc (rain god) sprouting quetzal feathers.

- Her elaborately carved traditional dress (huipil) is trimmed with fringe and pearls.

- Her necklace also appears to have a pectoral depiction of the sun god. It is probably made of shell or jade plaques, as are her wrist cuffs.

- includes a single L shaped strip of glyphs (another common form of writing)

- The first two glyphs in the text at the top of the lintel indicate the event and the date on which it took place, October 24, 709 C.E. (5 Eb, 15 Mak in the maya calendar). The last glyph represents the Emblem Glyph (that is, the city name in Maya hieroglyphs) of Yaxchilán. The text on the left of the panel contains the name and titles of Lady K'ab'al Xook. 

- The lintel has traces of Maya blue, turquoise and red pigment.

8.21 * The Ball Court, Copan, Honduras. Late Classic period. (2 slides) - info about this is left for us in the Book Popul Vuh.

- athletic men competed against one another hitting a rubber ball from end to end

- The game was invented sometime in the Preclassical Period (2500-100 BCE), probably by the Olmec, and became a common Mesoamerican-wide feature of the urban landscape by the Classical Period (300-900 CE). Eventually, the game was even exported to other cultures in North America and the Caribbean.

- ball courts are found all over Mesoamerica (almost every city had one)

- RITUAL (not modern sense of “game”)

- 2 teams of 7 aristocratic/ priestly status members- MEN- (also could have been captives)

- I (or T shaped) shaped court- each team volleyed the ball down the “alley” (stick of the I) and defended the end zones (the top and bottom of the I)- slopes on either side of the I. May have been a designated half of the alley per team that they weren’t to cross.

- It is not known with any certainty of the sizes or weights of the balls actually used in the ballgame.

- natural rubber disintegrates.

-While several dozen ancient balls have been recovered, they were originally laid down as offerings in a sacrificial bog or spring, and there is no evidence that any of these were used in the ballgame. In fact, some of these extant votive balls were created specifically as offerings. (found in sacred cenotes.)

- ball made from sap of tree can also be seen as symbolically connected to the blood that flows from sacrifice and the sap as the “blood” of the tree used for the game - men wore pads on hips and legs, off of which they would hit and steer the ball. (known only through art- none survive)

- padded helmet or a huge feathered headdress, perhaps the latter being for ceremonial purposes only.

- ball was heavy and could break bones! Men had belt and “pads” to keep the ball from hitting them and causing internal bleeding.

- some courts had sculptures to hit or rings to toss through

- priests sat above the sloped sides and kept score and penalties (no touching with hands, for example.)

- public would wager

- popular entertainment

- kings may have played instead of going to battle! Economic and political importance!

- RELIGIOUS- Xibalba and underworld associations- skulls as motifs, scenes of human sacrifice, cleft in the earth associations!

- priests “ascend” the mountain temples, players “descend” into the underworld to play

- human sacrifice in the court in post game ritual (those the priests may have decided who was meant to go join the gods- not necessarily the winners or losers..)- decapitation, cut out heart

- Blood was viewed as a potent source of nourishment for the Maya deities, and the sacrifice of a living creature was a powerful blood offering. Generally only high status prisoners of war were sacrificed, with lower status captives being used for labor.

- human sacrifice legitimized and sanctified the elites’ political power

- metaphorical parallel to the movements of the cosmos- the regeneration of maize, vegetation and life (seasonality of agriculture)

- there were skull racks where severed heads from sacrifices were displayed

- may have been seen as representing the “cosmos” or the underworld and the helped to decipher gods wants and wishes.

Little is known about the game's symbolic contents. Several other themes recur in scholarly writing.

Astronomy. The bouncing ball is thought to have represented the sun. The stone scoring rings are speculated to signify sunrise and sunset, or equinoxes.

War. This is the most obvious symbolic aspect of the game ("Proxy for warfare"). Among the Mayas, the ball can represent the vanquished enemy, both in the late-Postclassic K'iche' kingdom (Popol Vuh), and in Classic kingdoms such as that of Yaxchilan.

Fertility. Formative period ballplayer figurines—most likely females—often wear maize icons. At El Tajin, the ballplayer sacrifice ensures the renewal of pulque, an alcoholic maguey cactus beverage.

8.22 * The Princeton Vase . Late Classic period, 8th century. , Painted ceramic, 8-1/2 × 6-1/2” (21.5 × 16.6 cm).

- chocolate drinking vessel- Mayan chocolate was very different than the chocolate we know today. It was a liquid made from crushed cocoa beans, chili peppers, and water. (There was no sugar in South America.) They poured the liquid from one cup to another until a frothy foam appeared on top. In fact, the word ‘chocolate’ is said to come from the Mayan word ‘xocolatl’ which means ‘bitter water.’

- in book, Popul Vuh, gods triumph, sacrifice two men (twins) and repeat the challenge to one of the men’s twin sons. The Hero Twins go to the underworld and beat the gods in many conquests, kill people and bring them back to life- the gods are impressed. The gods try to kill themselves, too, but the Hero Twins (duality is a big thing in MesoAmerican art) do not bring them back to life and thus decrease the power of the Xibalba. Hero Twins bring back their dad who becomes the Maize God (fertility and cycle of life)

- As is common in mythological narratives throughout the Americas, these heroes win the day not through feats of brute strength but through cunning, and often humorous, trickery.

Hero Twins become Sun and Moon (alternatively the stars in some accounts) – go to the underworld and return- this symbols of life and death

On this Vase-One scene- Here the twins wear dotted jaguar pelts and long reptilian masks- about to decapitate a man with ornate knives

-  the victim’s serpent-umbilicus curls out to bite one of the executioners.- Hero Twins are very popular in art- Ball game may have been a reenactment of the Hero Twins battle with the underworld

gods!!! Rebirth as leaders in heaven!

In between- a young noblewoman taps the foot of the woman in front of her while turning her head in the opposite direction: she is between two scenes and encourages her companion (and thus the viewer) to shift her attention around the vase.

Other scene- God L- one of the aged gods of Xibalba. In addition to ruling the Maya underworld, God L was the patron deity of tobacco and merchants.

- is surrounded by 5 women attendants whose hair has been plucked and whose foreheads are sloping

- Women goddesses have varied poses/ movements- One goddess pours chocolate drink from high up to froth it.

- Fat rabbit acts as an artist scribe to record the event on a folded screen in a fur lined box

Temple Architecture

- tall mountain shaped temples

-Mayan rulers claimed they could travel to the otherworld, commune with the gods and return to the earth through certain pathways and portals within their temple complexes

- named y-tot =his or her house, indicating that the temples belonged to the gods and goddesses

- stelae acted as “trees” -called them “stone trees”= te tun- in the symbolic landscape with the “mountain” temples

- narrow passages at the top of the temples were like caves that lead from this world to the next- rulers would go back and forth from earth to otherworld and bring back divine knowledge for their rule.

Tikal (Mayan) Guatemala

- one of the oldest and largest Mayan cities

- city not a regular plan like Teotihuacan but more irregular groupings

- the Great Plaza is at the center of the city- bordered by large stone stelae and structures including two huge temples that face each (taller than the surrounding jungle trees!)

- rain sunk quickly into their soil, they figured out a way to make a plaster basin and slightly tilt the main plaza so that rain water would run down into a great cistern creation that provided for the many inhabitants!

8.23 * Temple I (Temple of the Giant Jaguar). Tikal, El Petén, Guatemala., Late Classic period, 8th century. local limestone

- city of Tikal (750BCE-900CE) has the tallest temples- 154 ft

- temple and tomb for one strong king= Jasaw Chan K'awiil (ruled 682-734) (where the carved artists bone from earlier came from..)

- has become THE symbol for Tikal, the Maya and for Guatemala

- king’s body at the bottom, 9 levels above him symbolizing Xibalba- this is his entry way!

- temple at the top was used for king’s funeral rituals after his death (there are carved roofbeams inside that show his military prowess and accession to the throne)- Huge stucco image (now eroded) that showed enthroned king with Itzamna (celestial serpent, sky god, and patron of writing) looped over his head= image of king as KING of HEAVENS!

- The tomb of Jasaw Chan K'awiil I was discovered by archaeologists in 1962.

- It is a large vaulted chamber deep within the pyramid, below the level of the Great Plaza.

- Over half of the chamber is occupied by the masonry bench supporting the king's body and his jewelry.

- The king's remains had been laid on a woven mat and the tomb contained rich offerings of jaguar skins, jadeite objects, painted ceramics, rare shells, pearls, mirrors, and other works of art.

- The body of the king was covered with large quantities of jade ornaments including an enormous necklace with 114 especially large beads, as depicted in sculpted portraits of the king, and weighing 8.6 lb.

- no equal structure in Europe at the time.

- would have been painted- red, white, and maybe other bright colors

City of Palenque (Mayan) Mexico

8.24 * The Temple of the Inscriptions. Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. Late Classic period, c. 670–680 CE.

- tomb for King Hanab Pakal (ruled 615-83)

- had a beautiful palace made- at age 75 had this temple made next to the palace

- made in a manner that looks like a stone version of a Mayan house- lashed saplings, high pitched roof, roof of palm fronds= king’s “home” in the afterlife.

Video Link

8.25 * Sarcophagus lid, Temple of the Inscriptions. Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. , Late Classic period, c. 680 CE. , Limestone, approx. 12’2” × 7’ (3.7 × 2.2 m).

- lid to the sarcophagus of the ruler Pakal’s tomb

- (The Temple of the Inscriptions has been significant in the study of the ancient Maya, owing to the extraordinary sample of hieroglyphic text found on the Inscription Tablets, the impressive sculptural panels on the piers of the building, and the finds inside the tomb of Pakal)

- moment of king’s death as he falls backwards like the setting sun into jaws of the earth monster on his way to Xibalba

- like how his body would be carried from the temple, down the stairs to the tomb on ground level.

- Pakal lies on top of the “earth monster.” Below him are the open jaws of a jaguar, symbolizing Xibalba. Above him is the Celestial Bird, perched atop the Cosmic Tree (represented by a cross) which, in turn, holds a Serpent in its branches. Thus, in the image Pakal lies between two worlds: the heavens and the underworld. Also on the sarcophagus are Pakal’s ancestors, arraigned in a line going back six generations

- Originally, the piers would have been extraordinarily colorful. Bright red, yellow, and blue would have been seen on their stucco sculpture.

* Pakal’s sarcophogus reconstructed- (on click)- real remains and burial goods, Palenque, Maya

- inside the sarcophagus were Pakal’s remains and burial goods including a funerary mask of jade and obsidian

- In his right hand Pakal held a squared piece of jade and in his left one a sphere of the same material. ???

*(sideways view) Sarcophagus lid, Temple of the Inscriptions. Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. Late Classic period, c. 680 CE. Limestone, approx. 12’2” × 7’ (3.7 × 2.2 m)

- another interpretation says he is riding a great machine and gives evidence for extrateresstrials!!

Copan (Mayan) Honduras

- Mayans set up tall stone sculpted stele in the Grand Plaza…(symbolic trees)

8.26 * Portrait statue of Waxaklahun Ubah K’awil, ruler of Copán. Stela A. Copán, Honduras. Late Classic period, 731 CE. Andesite, over lifesize.

(and close up on click*)

- around 695 CE, ruler commissions temple “mountains” and stone “trees” that establishes Copan as major Mayan art center

- over life size royal stelae portraits

- stelae—upright flat slabs of stone worked in relief on one, two, or four faces.

- glyphs on front, sides or back recorded names, dates of reign and notable achievements.

- larger stone sculptures served as the principal medium for presenting political and religious rhetoric to the public.

- placement at the base of immense pyramids or in open plazas facing small stage-like platforms suggests that they were intended to be viewed by vast audiences in conjunction with other public spectacles.

- ensured that the public recognized the authority of the ruler, the fortitude of his or her dynasty, and of the favor of deities. 

- wearing full ceremonial dress- sandals, garters, loincloth, ear plugs, necklaces, plumed headdress- various symbols of kingship, and an unwieldy, oversized headdress that must have been highly impractical for regular use!

- holds a bar with serpent heads on each side= Itzamna- sky serpent god- and the bar then represents the whole Mayan cosmos. King is ruler/ regent for the gods!

- NOT about personality of the individual!

- made of andesite stone which is soft but hardens on contact with air- the sculptors achieve very 3Dforms that was different (less of the Mayan linear form)- his rounded forms burst forth from the background that symbolizes his authority

- like change from Renaissance to Baroque in West!

- must have been aware of the effects of shadows and the drama it can give!

- made with only stone tools!!!

8.27 * Detail of Maya wall painting, Room 2, Structure 1, Bonampak.Late Classic period, c. 795 CE. Polychrome stucco, entire wall 17 × 15’ (5.18 × 4.57 m).

- Bonampak= another city (in Mexico)

- the most well-preserved Maya murals- unparalleled resource for understanding ancient society

- the ancient Maya at the end of their splendor, engaging in court rituals and human sacrifice, wearing elegant costumes and stripping the clothing from fallen captives, acknowledging foreign nobles and receiving abundant tribute.

- the murals clearly depict war and human sacrifice

- The capture of sacrificial victims was an essential aspect of Maya warfare, as they were necessary for many rituals.

- some of the few surviving examples

- mural that celebrates the exploits of the king and his queen

- king and captain (in royal jaguar pelts) and his warriors looking at a group of captives

- blood drips from some captive suggesting they have already been tortured in rituals

- lifeless captive in the middle is foreshortened! – contrasts with the more formal images of the king

8.28 * The House of the Governor. Uxmal, Yucatán, Mexico. 10th century. Art Archive/Dagli Orti.

- city of Uxmal (say "oosh-mahl" )- not that much rainfall here- belief in Chac- rain god(s)- reptilian creature with long curved nose and open fanged mouth, beady eyes- His hair is a permanently knotted tangle of confusion (spelled Chac, Chaac, etc.)

- Chac sends rain into the world by weeping from his large benevolent eyes, even teaching the secrets of farming at no extra cost.

- ironically this is built by ruler named Lord Chac

- “House of the Governor”= 16th c. name- administrative center

- 3 buildings linked by (emergence of) corbelled arches (click on slide) - mosaic like stonework on the top section over plain lower section

- The whole building leans slightly outwards giving an impression of lightness and also correcting the distorted perspective created by the long horizontals of the building.

- decoration using motifs such as serpents, step frets and lattice work along with human portraits and small thatched houses.

- some of the carving shows Chac heads over Mayan homes= Chac together with Lord Chac send the rain!

- If you stand back from the Palace on the east side, the 103 stone masks of Chac seem to slither across the facade like a serpent. They end at the corners, where there are columns of masks. 

- The Governor's Palace probably had an astrological significance as well.

- For years, scholars pondered why this building was constructed slightly turned from adjacent buildings. Recently scholars of archaeoastronomy (a relatively new science that

studies the placement of archaeological sites in relation to the stars) discovered that the central doorway, which is larger than the others, is in perfect alignment with Venus.

* 8.29 The Nunnery, Chichén-Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico. 10th century.

-Decorative stone serpent-masks are arranged in diagonals to create striking outlined triangles on all façades.

- "The Nunnery" at Chichen Itza was given its name because of its resemblance to convents in Spain. They were probably the living quarters of the elite Mayans. Located in the southern group of ruins, it contains some of the best preserved structures at Chichen Itza. Every square foot of wall has reliefs and paintings decorating it

Chichen Itza (Mayan…parts Toltec? Discuss later…) Mexico

*El Castillo dominates the center of the Chichen Itza archaeological site.

- 98 foot high pyramid in the main northern plaza

- Spanish nicknamed “Castle” Castillo

- 9 levels to reference the 9 levels of Xibalba

- temple oriented to the 4 cardinal points

- dedicated to Kukulcan (say Cool Cool Kan)= feathered serpent god (equal to Aztec Queztlcoatl)

– came to be major religious focus in Chichen Itza

- messenger between god and man?- one of the great creators?- name is also mixed up with a king whose name is the same confusing things.

- 92 steps on one side and 91 on all other 3= 365 days of the year!

*The serpent effect observed during the 2009 spring equinox

- so cool!

*The "El Caracol" observatory temple. Chichen Itza, 800-900

- round and domed temple

- Caracol= “snail shell”- conch shell like which is an attribute of Feathered Serpent – may be a temple then to Kukulcan

- inventive and experimental

- 2 platforms

- circular staircase inside leads to a small chamber with windows along the way may have been an astrological observatory

- Several of its windows point towards the equinox sunset and the southernmost and northernmost points on the horizon where Venus rises.

(MZE- book puts this next slide under Toltec, people we will discuss later..) I choose to put it under Mayan!

*** Chichen Itza and city of Tula (of the Toltec people) have numerous architectural similarities in a number of their constructions. This Toltec-Maya connection is widely considered powerful, unprecedented, and unique in Mesoamerica. Unlike most Maya sites, some of Chichen Itza’s buildings have the traits of the Toltecs, a historically powerful indigenous group from modern-day Mexico. The explanation of these similarities is a point of controversy among the scholars of the Toltec and Maya fields.***

8.36 * Temple of the Warriors and Group of the Thousand Columns, Chichén Itzá, Yucatán. Early Postclassic period, c. 1000.

- The Temple of the Warriors complex consists of a large stepped pyramid fronted and flanked by rows of carved columns depicting warriors. This complex is analogous to Temple B (which we will see soon) at the Toltec capital of Tula, and indicates some form of cultural contact between the two regions.

- Toltec/ Mayan combo features

- The temple consists of four platforms, flanked on the south and west sides by 200 round and square columns.

- All square columns are carved in low relief, with warriors; in some places they are cemented together in sections, painted in brilliant colors and covered with plaster.

- The Temple of Warriors is approached by a broad stairway with a plain, stepped ramp on either side, and each ramp has figures of standard-bearers to hold flags. Before the main entrance a chacmool reclined.

Slide * Chacmool- At the top of the stairway on the pyramid’s summit (and leading towards the entrance of the pyramid’s temple) is a Chac Mool.

- life sized sculpture of a man/ perhaps fallen warrior lying on his back holding a bowl over his stomach

- may have been a repository for human sacrificial victim’s hearts! (or 1. other sacrificial offerings or 2. as a table to make sacrifices or piercings over)

- not a god- not inside the temples or sanctuaries and the reclining pose relates more to the look of captives in art

- On the top, serpent columns which had S shaped supported wooden lintels (now gone) above the doorways. Astronomical signs and decorative features on the head of each serpent are carved over the eyes.

* The Sacred Cenote, “Cenote Sagrado” Chichen Itza, Mexico, 800-900

- The region is pockmarked with natural sinkholes, called cenotes, which expose the water table to the surface.

- The Cenote Sagrado was a place of pilgrimage for ancient Maya people who would conduct sacrifices during times of drought.

- Archaeological investigations support this as thousands of objects have been removed from the bottom of the cenote, including material such as gold, carved jade, copal, pottery, flint, obsidian, shell, wood, rubber, cloth, as well as skeletons of children and men.

The Maya today

By about 800 C.E. Maya civilization was in decline. Building and monument-making stopped and in some places there is evidence of violence and destruction. The problems may have been caused by warfare and agricultural crisis. Despite this "collapse," the Maya survived in reduced numbers. There are about six million Maya alive today.

Meso America Part 2

Map * City of Teotihuacan (Pre Aztec) Contemporary to the Maya (peak in 600 CE)

- translates to “Birthplace of the Gods” given to it by the Aztecs long after the city’s decline and abandonment.

- notion of Mexico as a land ruled out of the Valley of Mexico (a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Mexico Valley was a center for several pre-Columbian civilizations, including Teotihuacan, the Toltec, and the Aztec) comes from Teotihuacan!

- 200,000 people at its peak! (1-650CE)- biggest pre-Colombian city

- manufacturing center- painters, potters, sculptors, obsidian traders

The City

* Plan of Teotihuacán. c. 650 CE. Showing major ceremonial sites and artists’ workshops.

- it was named Teotihuacan, "Birthplace of the Gods" by the Aztecs.

- a complex urban grid filled with single- and multi-floor apartment compounds. This grid, unique in Mesoamerica in its scale and organization, implies a high degree of social control.

- layout of the city may relate to astronomical phenomena

- The Avenue of the Dead, Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon= later Aztec given names

- city is divided into numerous sectors- north/south and east/west axes

- was very cosmopolitan and large

- a religious center

- city layout reflects social structure of the city- citadel and admin is in the center – then lesser nobles and merchants’ houses, then regular homes and workshops

- apartment complex buildings made for families or maybe work groups- for 60 to 100 people- had drainage- each had temple

- non-religious buildings (dwellings, businesses, etc) were built of wood, which has long since decayed

- one city block was 187 feet and buildings were made of multiples of this number

- (only site with no ball court! However there is art representing the ball game…)

- even the river was diverted to follow the grid plan

- one main Avenue, called the Avenue of the Dead, that connects all of the important structures

- 130 feet wide, 1.5 mile long

- changes elevation up and down stairs at several points

- commands attention as architectural form in its own right

- Avenue of the Dead points like an arrow to a cleft in one of the mountains on the horizon behind the Pyramid of the Moon - 15 degrees, 29 mins east of true north

8.30 * Pyramid of the Sun. Teotihuacán. Begun c. 100 CE. , Base 738 × 738’ (225 × 225 m), height 264’ (80.5 m). , Art Archive.

- Pyramid of the Sun also 15 degree, 29 mins north of true west to a spot that the sun sets on April 29 and August 12- linked to the sun as it falls from the sky to the underworld!!!

* Alternate view slide

- temple build over a cave and spring- (now closed and locked) both were seen as conduits to the underworld while mountains (temples) communicated with heavens- pyramid temple as “water mountain”- center of earth and cosmos

- seen by the city as axis mundi = world axis- center of the world- gateway to upper and lower worlds

- rubble filled and faced with local volcanic stone

- echo the surrounding mountains

-ramped stairways to crowning temples of perishable materials of thatch or wood

- excavators found the remains or children buried at the 4 corners of the pyramid- may have been like the later Aztec’s sacrifice of children to bring rainfall- may have been a water/agriculture ritual.

Slide * Teotihuacan, View down the Avenue of the Dead, Mexico

Slide * Teotihuacan, Platform along the Avenue of the Dead showing the talud-tablero architectural style

- the way they built the buildings with sloping sides at the base and then straight walls reflects the actual bases of the mountains in the area= talud-tablero style

- talud= Spanish for walls, tablero= Spanish for pictures

- the straight walls may have been decorated with pictures hence the name tablero= pictures

- the talud-tablero construction, distinctive to Teotihuacan (on click*)

- At the end of the Avenue of the Dead there is a citadel (with a temple and two palaces.)

Slide * The Citadel with the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in the center, Teotihuacan, Mexico

- FYI- there is a stepped platform in front of the actual Temple (may represent a change in thinking- to put a platform that kind of blocks this temple..)

- citadel- valley like space- other temple clusters with mountain shaped platform temples, may have been like a replica of the mountain valley area of Teotihuacan

*Detail of Teotihuacan-Temple of the Feathered Serpent

- a smaller pyramid is enclosed inside the Citadel dedicated to the Feathered Serpent, the later Aztecs called Quetzelcoatl= wind, rain clouds, life god

- The outside edges of each level are decorated with feathered serpent heads alternating with those of another googled eyed snake-like creature, often identified as Tlaloc (aka Chac aka Rain God)

- Under each row of heads are bas-reliefs of the full feathered serpent, in profile, also associated with water symbols.

- In antiquity the entire pyramid was painted – the background here was blue with carved sea shells providing decoration.

- (detail drawing on click *)

- found a tomb underneath of a presumed ruler

- a hundred warrior skeletons (and some of women too) found around the temple- appease the gods through human sacrifice.

- Some interpret the pyramid's iconography as cosmological in scope – a myth of the origin of time or of creation – or as calendrical in nature. Others find symbols of rulership, or war and the military.

- may have had a calendar element to it- with notches that could have been filled to count/mark each day.

8.31 * The Great Goddess . Tepantitla, Teotihuacán. Upper portion of mural. c. 650 CE.

- finest surviving mural in the city

- covers 4 walls of an apartment compound of a noble family

- Earth Goddess- water and fertility goddess – all of these or maybe more! (gods/goddesses are always shown frontal in the city)

- Two major defining characteristics of the Great Goddess are a bird headress (quetzal) and a nose pendant with descending fangs

- headdress spouts plants and butterflies and spiders

- water falls from her outstretched hands

- basin of plants at her feet

- mountain shape of her must connect to the idea of “water mountain”

- like an axis of earth and sky

- style is specific to Teotihuacan- basic curves and straight lines (not like Mayan whiplash curves)= architectonic= style that reflects geometry itself and the geometry of the walls and cities it is found on!

The fall of Teotihuacan in the seventh century precipitates a period of dislocation. Many peoples are uprooted to new territories, forming new political and trade alliances, and creating eclectic art styles.

A number of smaller cities in central Mexico compete for control and prestige. On the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, El Tajín develops into an extensive site and appears to have been the center for important ceremonial games. In the Valley of Oaxaca, small regional centers increase their power, and the Mixtecs have a growing presence. By 900 A.D., the Toltec culture is the new centralizing force in Mesoamerica.

Classic Veracruz Culture (found in the Veracruz plain, heir to the Olmec culture)

100–1000 CE * Map slide

The Gulf Coast and El Tajin

- Distinctive style of sculpture and architecture- Classic Veracruz (north of Olmec territory) aka El Tajin (“the Lightening”)- The ballgame, one of the elements that unites and defines Mesoamerican cultures, may

have originated on the Gulf Coast of Veracruz. This notion is supported by the ubiquitous presence of ballcourts, including at least seventeen at El Tajín, the frequent depiction of ballplayers in the region, and the elaborate nature of Gulf Coast ballplayer accoutrements.

8.32 * Palma with coyote ball player. El Tajín, Veracruz. Late Classic period, 900–1100 CE. Stone, 19-1/3 × 9-1/4 × 4-1/2” (49.2 × 23.4 × 11.4 cm).

- The palma, named for its palm frond shape, is an item of protective gear worn in the Mesoamerican ballgame.

- Although those worn in actual play are thought to have been made of a much lighter material such as leather or wadded cotton, many stone palmas survive.- this is one of 3 types of portable sculptures found

- other 2 types of portable sculptures were 1. U shaped (yokes) worn around waist and bladelike heads (axes)

- may have been ceremonial forms of the ball game equipment – palma would be put in waist of yoke vertically to protect chest and main organs.

- may also be trophies for winning

- were found buried with ball game players or leaders of the associated cults

- here a man with a coyote mask

- agave plant growing from head- agave plant made the alcoholic drink pulque that was drunk during the ball game rituals

- loop of interlocking scrolls (characteristic of El Tajin style) and grotesque heads that are all along the edge of the sculpture

- coyote man may be sacrificial priest

- scene of sacrificing a ball player is shown on the back….

8.33 * Relief panel depicting the sacrifice of a ball player. South Ball Court, El Tajín, Veracruz. Late Classic period, 300–900 CE. Stone, 5’ × 6’6” (1.56 × 1.98 m). - here is a big version of what would be seen on the back of the palma above

- this scene comes from a large sculpture at the El Tajin ball court itself

- Sacrifice!!!

- skeletal figure of death with scroll head descends from sky

- priest with stone knife prepares to cut open ball player chest and take out heart

- ball player wears a palma on a yoke around his waist (other priest and assistant also wear them)

- ball player, probably drunk on pulque has his eyes closed in a dreamy state

- connection to water too- seeing the ball court game and rituals as the entryway to earth and underworld and source of water- helped to ensure the seasonal rains, the success of the farmers!

8. 35 * Pyramid of the Niches, El Tajín, Veracruz. 9–10th century.

- tallest building in El Tajin- solar symbol, symbolic mountain

- talud tablero style or architecture

- Originally the structure was painted a dark red with the niches in black intended to deepen the shadows of the recessed niches.

- 365 niches for 365 days of the year- also symbolized the cave that was the passageway to the other world and heavenly bodies

- close connection between form of Mesoamerican monuments and astrological observations and the measurement of time.

- The most important part of the structure was the temple that was on top of this pyramid; however, this was completely destroyed and little is known about what it might have looked like

- costumed performers or sculptures may have stood on the 4 niched platforms on the stairway

- there are places for bannered poles to stand at the base of the pyramid for military banners and ball game orders

- stelae (“stone trees”) would also have stood here to complete the cosmological landscape symbolism

Post Classic Art after 900 Map * slide

- new centers arise, the time most big cities and Mayan are abandoned- mix of influences- Cities of Tula has Mayan influences and City of Chichen Itza has Mexican/Toltec

influences probably due to an exiled king forced from one city to the other- MZE read the paragraph that explains this cross culture on page 305

Toltec (people of the city of Tula)

- Toltec name means “maker of things”

- city of Tula= north of Mexico City

- The main ceremonial area has a number of architectural innovations that indicate societal changes. The large central plaza has space for 100,000 people. On three sides, there are long meeting halls with ceilings supported by columns all facing the plaza with over 1000 meters of benches, which have stone reliefs depicting warriors and others in procession. The architecture indicates a change from rituals performed by only a few people in closed spaces to large ceremonies to be viewed by many. These ceremonies were dominated by warriors.

8.37 * Pyramid B, Tula, Hidalgo. Early Postclassic Toltec period, c. 900–1200.

- Toltec/Maya features

-  At the top of Pyramid B are four massive columns each carved in the likeness of Toltec warriors which once supported the roof of the temple on top of the pyramid.

8.38 * Atlantean figures, Pyramid B, Tula, Hidalgo. , Height 15’ (4.6 m).

- remaining sculpture that were once inside the Temple B to hold up the roof that no longer exists there- compact and rigid because of function

- called atlantids= male statue columns

- warriors or rulers in military dress

- they wear feathered headdresses and breastplates that look like stylized butterflies (heraldic symbols of Toltecs)

- men carry spear throwers (atlatls) in one hand and darts in the other!

- stand eternally at attention, ward off hostile forces

- originally would have been painted- must have been awe inspiring to the people sitting for worship there!

Cultures after 1300…. (Post Classic)

Mixtecs (people of Oaxaca)

- Contemporaries of the Toltecs of Tula- great goldsmiths and mosaicists

- books!-aka codex- recorded history, rituals, astronomical tables, calendar calculations, maps, trade and tribute accounts.

- so many get destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors (only FOUR Mayan ones survive, Five later Mixteca ones survive.)

8.39 * Wedding of King Eight Deer to Lady Thirteen Serpent of Flowers . Detail of page from the Codex Nuttall. Mixteca–Puebla style. Postclassic period, c. 1500. , The British Museum, London.

- known for their codices (screenfold manuscript books) – bound pages of wood, vellum, hand written

- often have hieroglyphic columns read left to right.

- The codex folds together like a screen and is vividly painted on both sides

* on click- A facsimile of the Codex Zouche-Nuttall on display in the British Museum.

- mixture of myth and history

- It is made of deer skin and comprises 47 leaves

- book that documents the rise and fall of a specific king, named Eight Deer after his birthday on the Mixtec calendar- shown here with a deer head and eight dots after it (see it in the middle of the image below the feet)

- his wedding to Lady Thirteen Serpent of Flowers- she presents him with frothing chocolate, sacred drink (her name is right below the cup)- he accepts which symbolized marriage.

* Detail with name glyphs pointed out on click

- FYI- The date is 12 Serpent in the year 13 Cane (AD 1051) when 8 Deer was already 40 years old, surprisingly late in life for a first, especially a royal, marriage. The dynasty was assured, however by the birth of two sons

- MZE- not sure what lower half depicts…

- (king gets later killed by Dad in law in battle shown later in codex)

The Aztecs * map slide

- On edge of Valley of Mexico - They called themselves the Mexica, (pronounced 'Mé-shee-ka') named later for a lake

that is their legendary homeland- 200,000 people, founded 1325- Tenochtitlan= Aztec capital- - city was on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco (say

Tex- coco) TODAY MEXICO CITY! The lake is gone! - (* click on map slide)

o According to traditional history the destruction of the Toltec city of Tula about 1200 led to a century of anarchy to the Valley of Mexico- eventually the Mexica (Aztecs) transformed themselves from migratory outcasts to serfs for local rulers to masters in their own right of the kingdoms of the Valley of Mexico.

o the Mexica (Aztecs) wandered waiting for a sign to indicate where they should settle. It is said that in 1325 C.E. this sign, an eagle and serpent fighting on a cactus, was seen at Lake Texcoco prompting the Mexica to found their capital city, Tenochtitlan.

o Tenochtitlan comes from the words “land of the rock, cactus”

Warfare was extremely important for the Mexica people and led them to conquer most of modern-day central and southern Mexico.

o They controlled their huge empire through military strength, a long-distance trading network and the tribute which conquered peoples had to pay. 

o The Mexica went to war for two main reasons; to exact tribute and to capture prisoners. They needed prisoners because they believed that the gods must be appeased with human blood and hearts to ensure the sun rose each day.

o Human sacrifice on a greater scale than any earlier culture.

Aztec Religion

*16th Century Representation of Huitzilopochtli - Aztec God of War and Sacrifice

- complex religious beliefs and the large pantheon of gods they worshipped.

- Aztecs often adopted the gods of conquered peoples so they had a complex pantheon- no less than 200 gods and goddesses, divided into three groups, with each group

supervising one aspect of the universe such as the heaven or the sky; the rain, fertility and agriculture; and finally the war and sacrifice.

- The Aztecs thought that some gods were benevolent and some were of terrifying nature.

- Huitzilopochtli (pronounced Weetz-ee-loh-POSHT-lee)- hummingbird- war and sun/fire deity

o According to some scholars, Huitzilopochtli could have been an historical figure, probably a priest, who became a god after his death.

- Tlaloc (say tlall-ock)- rain and fertility god o priests offered sacrifice of small children because their tears brought the rainso He who makes things growo Known to the Olmec as "Epcoatl", meaning Seashell Serpent; to the Maya as

Chac; to the Mixtecs as Tzahui. o A water god and probably among the oldest gods. o Benevolent, he would release floods and lightning when angered.

- Quetzacoatl - life, wind, learning and culture- patron of priestso Feathered serpent

earth-dwelling snake and a sky-dwelling bird, signifying the duality of the feather-serpent deity Quetzalcoatl.

the fusion of heaven and earth, eternity and renewal- Mictlantecuhtli (say Meekt-lahn-te-koot-ly ) - lord of the Underworld- The Aztec

Underworld is a unpleasant place where the dead gradually cease to exist.- Tlaltecuhtli (say tlal te KWa tlee ) - female earth goddess but called “Lord of the Earth”- Freestanding images of various gods stood in an around temples- made of wood, stone,

even dough to be eaten after a ritual!- Celebrated rituals in their 2 calendars- one sacred calendar of 260 days and one solar

calendar of 360 days plus 5 unlucky and nameless days. (it took 52 years for the same date to recur in both calendars! They had an elaborate ritual to commemorate this event that included sacrifice.)

- Priests and priestesses served in Aztec temples- Priestesses primarily served the female earth mother cults- Rituals involved incense, colorfully attired dancers, actors, musicians (conch shell

trumpets, drums, rattles, whistles, etc.) and …human sacrificeAztec beliefs on art

- their word for art comes from the word “Toltec”- for their admiration of the earlier peoples

- belief that the best artists had “deified hearts” (ability to open up to the gods) and “restless hearts” (ability to search for truth from the gods in order to partake of the gods’ immortality)

- belief that spiritually enlightened artists could receive sacred revelations and by pleasing the gods with their art could become immortal!

- king Izcoatl (ruled 1427-40) burned many earlier books and commanded a rewrite of Mexican history from the Aztec point of view! A group of elite sages, tlamatinime, (say tla- ma-tin-EE-may) (critics, patrons, aesthetes who knew more than the public would) preserved the

metaphysical speculation on art and life in poetry in both Spanish and the Aztec language (Nauhuatl)

- belief that earthly things would be destroyed eventually by the wrathful gods

- only “flower and song” (art and beauty) were everlasting because they came from the gods

- art, divinity, truth, immortality were all linked!!!

- Gods were not always perfect in their art- had to remake the world 4 times before it was right

- present world was created on Aztec Day 4 after an earthquake which will end in an earthquake, so we are now in the 5th era of creation…

- belief in successive ages of creation (like many groups in Mesoamerica- like the Maya)

*Map detail Tenochtitlan slide

- The Aztec capital city, Tenochtitlan, was founded on a small piece of land in the western part of Lake Texcoco. The city was contained within high mountains and surrounding lake and marshes.

- To create living and farming space the Aztecs sank piles into the marshes and formed small land masses called chinampas, or floating gardens.

- Tenochtitlan was highly developed with causeways between islands for transport, aqueducts to carry fresh water and sewers to dispose of waste.

- The city developed into a metropolis led by a ruling leader and supported by noble classes, priests, warriors and merchants. By the early 1500s it contained an array of pyramids, temples, palaces and market places. 

- The Spanish thought it looked Venice like!

* Templo Mayor (reconstruction),   Tenochtitlan,   1375–1520 C.E.

- the Templo Mayor was positioned at the center of the Mexica capital and thus the entire empire.

- ninety feet high and covered in stucco- The capital was also divided into four main quadrants, with the Templo Mayor at the center. - This design reflects the Mexica cosmos, which was believed to be composed of four parts

structured around the navel of the universe, or the axis mundi.- two main avenues met at the central temple precinct and the Templo Mayor= navel of the universe on the axis mundi- twin temples were dedicated to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli.

- working administrative center

- the entire sacred precinct also included other temples, ball court, skull rack for sacrificial victims and a school.

- also a “water mountain”- a cosmos where water surrounds the earth

- Hundreds of offerings/ ritual caches were found.

- Some offerings contained items related to water, like coral, shells, crocodile skeletons, and vessels depicting Tlaloc.

- Other deposits related to warfare and sacrifice, containing items like human skull masks with obsidian blade tongues and noses and sacrificial knives.

- Many of these offerings contain objects from faraway places—likely places from which the Mexica collected tribute.

- Some offerings demonstrate the Mexica’s awareness of the historical and cultural traditions in Mesoamerica. For instance, they buried an Olmec mask made of jadeite, as well as others from Teotihuacan

- remains of earlier temples were incorporated into this temple. A common trait of Mesoamerica!

- After the Spanish Conquest in 1521, the Templo Mayor was destroyed, and what did survive remained buried. The stones were reused to build structures like the Cathedral in the newly founded capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (1521-1821).

8.40 * The Founding of Tenochtitlán. Frontispiece to Codex Mendoza. c. 1541–42. , 12-7/8 × 8-5/8” (32.7 × 22 cm).

- the legend says that Huitzilopochtli guided the founding people to the Valley of Mexico. God instructed them to look for an eagle on a prickly pear cactus

- on the flag of Mexico too. (click slide)

- this codex is an Aztec Spanish hybrid style (made after the Spanish conquest- all “heathen material” must be destroyed)

- labels in Aztec glyphs and Spanish

- four blue lines represent 4 canals that come out of the center of Tenochtitlán, the center of the cosmos! Axis Mundi!

- temple above the eagle is the simplified form of the Templo Mayor

- rack with sacrificial skull

- men around sitting on mats may be subject regions/municipalities or city founders

- below the blue canals shows warriors with shields and clubs in front of burning platformed temples that represent Aztec conquests (2 cities)- temples set ablaze

8. 42 * Diego Rivera, The Great City of Tenochtitlán . 1945. Detail of the mural in the patio corridor, Palacio Nacional, Mexico City.

- can see the grid pattern and causeways here

- Rivera- after Mexican Revolution (getting rid of a dictator), revolutionaries celebrated native Pre Colombian cultures- pride in being Mexican!! Revived the murals of some Pre Colombian cultures- emphasized the repressiveness of the Spanish colonialists (kicked out earlier) and extolled the future- Rivera was schooled in Europe but tried to emphasize native folk art traditions

- The muralists saw themselves as one with the worker’s movement and often worked for workmen’s wages and likened the physical labor of painting frescoes to assembly line production.

- 8.43 * Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas. 1939. Oil on canvas, 5’7” × 5’7” (1.7 × 1.7 m).- struggle for national identity- painful life and divorce- flat- ish like Aztec art and Mexican retables (folk religious images on tin)

8.41 * Stone of Five Suns or Aztec Calendar Stone, Tenochtitlán, Mexico. 1502–20

- would have been set up in the heart of Tenochtitlan near the Templo Mayor

- stone that shows the Aztec creation story- Not really a calendar, a diagram of creation!

- MYTH- gods created this world out of their own bodies and blood- Aztecs are a people born in debt to the gods who sacrificed themselves to make the sun move, time to continue…- must nourish mother earth with their own bodies and blood- people considered it an honor to do so!

- massive stone! 3 feet thick, almost 12 feet across, and weighing almost 25 tons

- would have lain flat

- In the center is the terrible sun god, Tonatuih (say Toe-knot-tue) (some believe this may be the earth god??).

- center shows a creature with claws and a tongue shaped like a sacrificial knife- Each of his hands holds a human heart

- earspools/ earflares (plugs!!!) of the Aztec elite

- shows the various eras- also called the “suns”- of the world

- shows the previous 4 “suns”/eras and the current era in which we live- it is called/titled “The 4 Movement” and there are 4 dots in the middle to represent the number 4, and the 4 squares with two circle shapes around the center head is the symbol for “movement” hence “The 4 Movement.”

- inside the squares that make up the word for “movement” we have glyphs that name the 4 previous suns/eras.

- 4 Jaguar (ended by death by jaguar), 4 Wind (ended by death by wind), 4 Rain (ended by death by rain of fire), 4 Water (ended by death by flood)

- 4 Movement will be, is prophesied to be death by earthquake! (common to the area)

- After he was knocked from his exalted position by rivals, the first creator, Tezcatlipoca, turned into a jaguar and destroyed the world.  Under similar circumstances, the world was created and then destroyed with wind, and then two floods.

- When the world is destroyed, it's born again through the sacrifice of one of the gods, and so through the birth of a new sun.

- because humankind was made from the sacrifice of the gods and their bodies, humankind owes a debt to the gods that can be repaid in human sacrifice

- Next come the 20 signs mentioned above, the days of the Aztec month. The 5 dots are the 5 unlucky days, days of sacrifice.

- The next area has square sections with dots, possibly representing weeks of 5 days each. The eight angles are rays of the sun.

- Finally, on the Aztec calendar stone there are the snakes (2 fire gods?) that come head to head at the bottom. The symbols may represent the 52 years in a cycle. Between the tails is a symbol probably showing the date the stone was carved or the birthday of the present sun.

- has become an international symbol of Mexico

- mze- Video link is 7 mins. long- awesome explanation.

1. 5 * Coatlicue , Tenochtitlán (present-day Mexico City). Aztec. c. 1487-1520. Stone, height 11’4” (3.45 m).

- Coatlicue (say Koh-at-lee-kway)= “She of the Serpent Skirt” or literally “Snakes-Her-Skirt”

- huge! 11 feet

- would have been set up in the heart of Tenochtitlan near the Templo Mayor- part of the multimedia experience of nonwestern art

- shows how differently the styles can be in Aztec art (different from calendar stone) as they borrow from their predecessors (probably by conquered Toltec peoples)

- guardian priestess, earth goddess mom to:

- Huitzilopochtli- (say Wheat-zil –oh-poach-lee) the god born from the pregnancy

- central deity of Mexico

- god of war

- associated with the sun (and fire)

Myth story: (main version)

One day Coatlicue, an earth goddess, was sweeping atop Coatepec (or Snake Mountain, near Tula), when a feather fell into her apron. At that moment, she immaculately conceived a son, whose name was Huitzilopochtli (a sun and warrior god).

Upon hearing that her mother was pregnant, her daughter, Coyolxauhqui (or Bells-Her-Cheeks, pronounced "coy-al-shauw-kee") - became enraged. She rallied her 400 brothers, to storm Snake Mountain and kill their mother.

At the moment Coyolxauhqui approached her mother, Huitzilopochtli was born, fully grown and armed. He sliced off his sister’s head, and threw her body off the mountain. As she fell, her body broke apart until it came to rest at the bottom of Snake Mountain.

- Really a myth that explains cosmology: Huitzilopochtli in this origin story was equated with the sun, Coyolxauhqui was representative of the moon (whose dismemberment parallels the moon’s phases), and her 500 brothers were representative of the stars. Each night Huitzilopochtli (as the sun) chases and defeats Coxolxauhqui and her brothers (the moon and stars) to create the dawn of a new day.

How she looks:

- her feet have eyes and talons!

- her skirt is made up of intertwined snakes, we can see heads and rattles of snakes

- snakes were popular symbols: The habit of snakes to shed their skin each year probably led to them being used to convey ideas concerning renewal and transformation. Likewise the ability of many species to move freely between water, earth and the forest canopy helped underline their

symbolic role as intermediaries between the different layers of the cosmos (underworld, earth and sky).

- her snake belt has a human skull on both front and back of her figure!

- her necklace is made of alternating hands and human hearts

- the necklace covers her kinda saggy breasts and a roll or two on her tummy (lovely signs of motherhood!)

- Snakes coming out of body parts, as we see here, was an Aztec convention for squirting blood.

- snake between legs could be menses or penis reference!

- right at the base of her neck are a row of small circle symbols of “preciousness”- probably indicating spurting blood and thus confirming decapitation.

- her head is decapitated- what we “see” as a head is actually two snakes coming out of her neck and meeting nose to nose (with fangs hanging down.) It makes it look like a frontal snake face but it is not.

- streaming blood, which was a precious liquid connoting fertility.

- why is she decapitated?

- perhaps decapitated as a sacrifice would have helped the continuation of life

- several female deities (perhaps Coatlicue among them), sacrificed themselves to put the sun in motion, effectively allowing time itself to continue.

- her arms bent and pulled up against her sides as if to strike

- her hands seem to also have snakes coming from the wrists and thus seem to have been cut off/ spurting blood

- she is carved on all sides and under her feet is also carved a relief of the earth lord, which would touch the earth.

- would have been painted originally!

- helped to ensure public support for the ritual of human sacrifice!

- helped to proclaim the power of the Aztecs over their enemies!

- definitely commissioned by the tlamatinime (sages)- part of their job to guide art and myth- most likely the revelations and stories would have kept coming from their work as the years passed if the Spanish had not conquered them.

- myth comes from revelation, stories, experiences, art and culture not from History.

- probably both respected and feared by the people of the time.

* Image published in Antonio León y Gama’s 1792 book,   Descripción histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras que con ocasión del nuevo empedrado que se está formando en la plaza principal de México, se hallaron en ella el año de 1790

- fearsome!!! Actually was reburied by the Spanish originally and then several other times!!! Before being put on display- she was considered too frightening and pagan.

* The Coyolxauhqui Stone , c. 1500. volcanic stone, found: Templo Mayor, Tenochtitlan (Museo   del   Templo Mayor, Mexico City),

- famous stone relief of Coyolxauhqui naked and dismembered

- found at the base of the Tempo Mayor- By placing this sculpture at the base of Huiztilopochtli’s temple, the Mexica effectively transformed the temple into the mythical mountain (“Snake Mountain”) she was thrown down (see that previous Temple slide)

- eleven feet in diameter

- would have been painted

- saggy breasts and rolls to indicate motherhood

- Golden bells decorate her cheeks (her name= “Bells Her Cheeks”), feathers and balls of down adorn her hair, and she wears elaborate earrings, fanciful sandals and bracelets, and a serpent belt with a skull attached at the back.

- the edges of the dismembered parts have a scalloped look- like ripped flesh.

- Monster faces are found at her joints

- For the Mexica, nakedness was considered a form of humiliation and also defeat.

- in their ritual calendar, there was a ritual in which they would reenact this myth, sacrifice victims and throw their bodies down the stairs of Huiztilopochtli’s temple.

*Mosaic of a Double-headed Serpent , c. 15th-16th century, cedrela wood, turquoise, pine resin, oyster shell, hematite, and copal, 20.5 x 43.3 x 6.5

- An icon of Mexica (Aztec) art, this striking object was probably worn on ceremonial occasions as a pectoral (an ornament worn on the chest). It is carved in wood (Cedrela odorata) and covered with turquoise mosaic. The wood is hollowed at the back.

- The habit of snakes to shed their skin each year probably led to them being used to convey ideas concerning renewal and transformation. Likewise the ability of many species to move freely between water, earth and the forest canopy helped underline their symbolic role as intermediaries between the different layers of the cosmos (underworld, earth and sky).

- Spondylus (thorny oyster) shell was used for the bright red details around the nose and mouth of both of this object's serpent heads. Strombus (conch) shell was used for the white teeth. Within the gaping mouths the resin adhesive was colored bright red with hematite. Beeswax adheres to the edges of the empty eye sockets which were probably originally inlaid, perhaps with iron pyrites.

End of Aztec dominance:

Hernán Cortés and his small Spanish army arrived in 1519 and overthrew the Mexica ruler Moctezuma Xocoyotzin with relative ease. This was partly due to the latter's weakness, as well as the Spaniards' superior weaponry, their unfamiliar battle tactics and the devastation of the Mexica population by European disease. Mexico remained under Spanish rule until gaining independence in 1821 C.E.

- Spanish did their best to build new shrines on top of ruined and plundered Mesoamerican temples.

Mesoamerican Summary

Olmec- “mother culture”- pyramids, ball courts and colossal stone ruler portraits

Teotihuacan- grid plan city- pyramids and plazas

Maya- temple pyramids, palaces, plazas, ball courts, sculptures and paintings- glorified rulers and gods

- written language

Aztec- city of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City)- sacrifice, stone carving

Super summary:

The stepped pyramid is the greatest form of Mesoamerican architecture. Like the ziggurats of Mesopotamia, Mesoamerican pyramids served mainly as platforms for temples; internal chambers, if present, were small. Mesoamerican pyramids were generally made of stone, allowing them to weather the elements far better than their brick ziggurat cousins. The most

famous of all Mesoamerican structures is El Castillo, the great central pyramid in the Maya city of Chichen Itza, Mexico.

Mesoamerican palaces have the same massive, richly carved aesthetic as the stepped pyramids.

Apart from pyramids, the best known Mesoamerican building type is the ball court. This structure housed the infamous Mesoamerican ball game, in which players attempt to direct a ball through a stone hoop without using their hands. The court consists of a flat playing surface flanked by sloping walls, with stone hoops mounted along the top of each wall.

Mesoamerican sculpture is typically quite stylized with simplified, curvilinear shapes. As in traditions of sculpture throughout the world, human and animal figures are common, as are hybrid creatures. Humans are often depicted with elaborate headdresses and jewellery.

Olmec art has survived chiefly in the form of small figures and vessels sculpted from stone and clay. The most famous Olmec works, however, are the colossal heads: enormous stone busts which stand over six feet high.

One of the principal forms of Mesoamerican sculpture is the stele (plural stelae): an upright stone slab carved in relief. Stelae were fashioned by many civilizations as religious and civic monuments, often displaying the portraits and deeds of deities or human rulers. Stelae were a common feature of Mesoamerican plazas.

Mesoamerican sculpture culminated under the Maya, who worked extensively in stelae, figures, vessels, and architectural sculpture.

Painting, a relatively fragile art, survives in far less abundance than architecture or sculpture. Nonetheless, Mesoamerican painting has been discovered in the form of murals, pottery decoration, and illuminated manuscripts.