Chapter 18: Native Arts of the Americas Before 1300

Preview: This chapter surveys the artwork of indigenous people of the Americas from ca. 1200 BCE to 1300, a millennium during which a variety of cultures thrived in Mesoamerica, South America, and North America. Mesoamerica is comprised of part of present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and the Pacific coast of El Salvador, and was the site of important pre-Columbian cultures. The Olmec (ca. 900-400 BCE) produced colossal ruler portraits, while builders in Teotihuacán near present-day Mexico City constructed grand avenues and pyramids in the Preclassic period (ca. 400 BCE-300 CE). In the Classic period (ca. 300-900), the Maya built vast complexes that included temple-pyramids and ball courts. In South America, archeologists have discovered temple complexes and monumental sculpture produced between 800 and 200 BCE. Between ca. 400 BCE and 700 CE, various South American cultures produced extraordinary textiles, ceramics, and inlaid goldworks, while the Tiwanaku (ca. 100-1000) constructed monumental stone buildings. In North America, the Eskimo made portable artworks in the first millennium CE, while the Mississippian culture (ca. 800-1500 CE) built mound complexes, the largest of which is located in Cahokia, Illinois. In the Southwest, groups such as the Mimbres (ca. 1000-1250 CE) are known for their black-and-white painted bowls, while the Ancestral Puebloans built urban complexes of stone and wood covered in adobe. The incursion of European explorers and conquerors in the 16th century hastened the decline of these advanced cultures, but modern archeologists and art historians have used artworks to reconstruct their history prior to European contact. The art and architecture of the Americas from 1300 to the present is the subject of Chapter 35.

Key Figures & Gods: Quetzalcoatl

Key Cultural & Religious Terms: Pre-Columbian, hieroglyphic, Popol Vuh

Key Art Terms: chacmool, celt, were-jaguar, stelae, atlantid, atlatl, lost-wax process, adobe, backstrap loom, warp, weft, embroidery, tapestry, bichrome, gorget

Key Architectural Terms: talud-tablero construction, roof comb, caracol, effigy mound, pueblo

Lecture Notes:

Introductory Notes:

MESOAMERICA

Olmec and Preclassic West Mexico:Dates:

  • Colossal head, La Venta, Mexico, Olmec, ca. 900-400 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Ceremonial ax in the form of a were-jaguar, from La Venta, Mexico, Olmec, ca. 900-400 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Teotihuacán:Dates:

  • Aerial view of Teotihucán, Mexico: Pyramid of the Moon, Pyramid of the Sun, and the Citadel, all connected by the Avenue of the Dead; main structures ca. 50-250 CE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:
  • Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Citadel, Teotihuacán, Mexico, third century CE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:
  • Goddess, wall painting from the Tetitla apartment complex at Teotihuacán, Mexico, 650-750 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Bloodletting mural, Teotihuacán, Mexico, ca. 600-700 CE
  • Description & significance:

Classic Maya:Dates:

  • Stele D portraying Ruler 13 (Waxaklajuun-Ub’aah-K’awiil), Great Plaza, Copán, Honduras, Maya, 736 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Ball court, Middle Plaza, Copán, Honduras, Maya, 738 CE
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Temple I (Temple of the Giant Jaguar), Tikal, Guatemala, Maya, ca. 732 CE
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, ca. 675-690 CE
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Ball player, from Jaina Island, Mexico, Maya, 700-900 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Presentation of captives to Lord Chan Muwan, room 2 of structure 1, Bonampak, Mexico, Maya, ca. 690 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Enthroned Maya lord and attendants, cylinder vase, probably from Altamira, Mexico, Maya, ca. 672-830 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Shield Jaguar and Lady Xoc, lintel 24 of temple 32, Yaxchilán, Mexico, Maya, ca. 725 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Classic Veracruz:Dates:

  • Pyramid of the Niches, El Tajin, Mexico, Classic Veracruz, sixth century CE
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Function & significance:

Postclassic Mexico:Dates:

  • Aerial view of the Castillo, Chichén Itzá, Mexico, Maya, ca. 800-900 CE
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Chacmool, from the Platform of the Eagles, Chichén Itzá, Mexico, Maya, ca. 800-900 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Aerial view of the Caracol, Chichén Itzá, Mexico, Maya, ca. 800-900 CE
  • Description & architectural features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Colossal atlantids, Pyramid B, Tula, Mexico, Toltec, ca. 900-1180 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

INTERMEDIATE AREA

  • Pendant in the form of a bat-faced man, from northeastern Colombia, Tairona, after 1000 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

SOUTH AMERICA

Chavín:

  • Raimondi Stele, from the main temple, Chavin de Huántar, Peru, ca. 800-200 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Subject & stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Paracas, Nasca, and Moche:

  • Embroidered funerary mantle, from the southern coast of Peru, Paracas, first century CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Bridge-spouted vessel with flying figures, from the Nasca River valley, Peru, Nasca, ca. 50-200 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Hummingbird, Nasca Plain, Peru, Nasca, ca. 500 CE
  • Description & significance:
  • Vessel in the shape of a portrait head, from the northern coast of Peru, Moche, fifth to sixth century CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Ear ornament, from Sipán, Peru, Moche, ca. 300 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Tiwanaku and Wari:

  • Gateway of the Sun, Bolivia, Tiwanaku, ca. 375-700 CE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:
  • Lima Tapestry, tunic, from Peru, Wari, ca. 500-800 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

NORTH AMERICA

Eskimo:

  • Burial mask, from Point Hope, Alaska, Ipiutak, ca. 100 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Woodlands:

  • Pipe, from a mound in Ohio, Adena, ca. 500-1 BCE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Monk’s Mound, Cahokia, ca. 1050-1200 CE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:
  • Serpent Mound, Ohio, Mississippian, ca. 1070 CE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:
  • Incised gorget with running warrior, from Sumner County, Tennessee, Mississippian, ca. 1250-1300
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:

Southwest:

  • Bowl with two cranes and geometric forms, from New Mexico, Mimbres, ca. 1250 CE
  • Medium/materials:
  • Size/scale:
  • Description & subject:
  • Stylistic features:
  • Function & significance:
  • Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, Ancestral Puebloan, ca. 1150-1300 CE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:
  • Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, ca. 850-1050 CE
  • Description:
  • Function & significance:

Concluding notes:

Exercises for Study:

1. Select an ancient Mesoamerican work of art or architecture and describe what its materials, form, and/or usage tells us about the culture from which it derives.

2. Select an ancient South American work of art or architecture and describe what its materials, form, and/or usage tells us about the culture from which it derives.

3. Select an ancient North American work of art or architecture and describe what its materials, form, and/or usage tells us about the culture from which it derives.

4. Compare and contrast the following pairs of artworks, using the points of comparison as a guide.

A. Temple of Quetzalcoatl (Fig. 18-6); Pyramid of the Niches (Fig. 18-15):

  • Cultures/locations:
  • General descriptions:
  • Orientation/function:

B. Embroidered funerary mantle (Fig.18-22); Lima Tapestry (Fig. 18-28)

  • Cultures/locations:
  • Textile technique:
  • Motifs & stylistic features:

C. Monk’s Mound, Cahokia (Fig. 18-30A); Serpent Mound, Ohio (Fig. 18-31)

  • Periods:
  • Mediums:
  • Buddhist iconography:
  • Stylistic features: