Indigenous Americas Art Pieces (Info)

Templo Mayor

• Tenochtitlan laid out on a grid; city seen as the center of the world. 

• Two temples atop a pyramid, each with a separate staircase.

• South: Dedicated to Huitzilopochtli: god of sun and war.

• North: Dedicated to Tlaloc: god of rain and agriculture.

Calendar Stone

• Covered in Aztec creation myths and important calendar days.  

• Not an actual calendar, more ceremonial container/ altar which linked them to sun god. 

• Sacrifices are needed to keep sun moving in the sky. 

Great Serpent Mound

• Effigy mounds were popular in Mississippian culture.

• Rattlesnake as a symbol in Mississippian iconography.

• Snakes associated with crop fertility.

Yaxchilan

• City set on a high terrace; plaza surrounded by important building. 

• Flourished from 300- 800 C.E. 

Structure #40

• Overlooks main plaza.

• Roof remains intact, with large roof comb (ornamented stone tops on roofs)

Structure #33

• This temple has been restored.

• Three central doorways lead to one large room.  

Lintel 25, Structure 23, Yaxchilan

• Lady Xook invokes the Vision Serpent to commemorate her husbands rise to the throne.

• She holds a bowl with bloodletting ceremonial items; stinging spine and bloodstained paper.  

• She burns the paper as a gift to the spirit world. 

Chavin de Huantar

• A religious capital and pilgrimage site.

• Adorned with Jaguar sculpture.

Nose Ornament

• Makes wearer into a supernatural being during ceremonies. 

Lanzon Stone

• 15 ft tall 

• Spanish for blade 

• Depicts composite creature, part human, part animal. 

• Head of snakes and a face of a jaguar. 

• Few had access. 

• Modern scholars believe the stone acted as an oracle. 

Transformation Masks

• Masks worn by native people of the Pacific Northwest , western Canada, and Alaska.

• Worn during a potlatch, a ceremony where the host displayed his status, in part by giving away gifts to those in attendance. 

• During a ritual performance the wearer opens and closes the transformation mask using strings.

Machu Picchu

• Originally functioned as a royal retreat. 

• Buildings built of stone with perfectly carved rock rendered in precise shapes and grooved together; thatched roofs. 

Observatory

• Used to chart the sun’s movements 

• Ashlar masonry. 

Intihuatana Stone

• Intihuatana means “Hitching Post of the Sun,” aligns with the sun at the spring and the autumn equinoxes when the sun stands directly over the pillar, creating no shadow. 

• Inkan ceremonies held in concert with this event. 

City of Cusco

• Historic capital of the Inkan Empire. 

• In the shape of the puma, a royal animal 

Walls at Saqsa Waman

• Complex outside of Cusco, at the head of the Puma shaped city plan.

Maize Cobs

• Repousse technique 

• Hollow 

• life-size

• May have been part of a full sized metal sculpture garden of maize placed outside of Qorinkancha. 

• May have been used to ensure a successful harvest.

Mesa Verde cliff dwellings

• Pueblo built into the side of a cliff, housed 250 people . 

• Clans moved together for mutual support and defense. 

• Top-ledge stores all supplies, cool and dry area out of the way, accessible only by ladder.  

• Plaza in front of adobe structure; kivas face the plaza. 

• Each family received a one room dwelling 

• Farming done on the plateau above pueblo, everything had to be imported into the structure, including water.

Ruler’s Feather Headdress

• 400 long green feathers are the trails of sacred quetzal bird; male birds produce only 2- 3 feathers each. 

• 400 symbolizes eternity. 

• Only known feather headdress in the world. 

• Headdress probably part of a collection of artifacts given by Motecuhzoma to Cortez for Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. 

All- T’oqapu Tunic

• Rectangular shape, a slit in the center for the head. 

• Composition is comprised of small rectangular shapes called t’oqapu 

• Wearing an intricate garment like this would signify your status. 

• May have been worn by Incan ruler. 

• Exhibits Inkan preference for abstract designs, standardization of designs, and an expression of unity and order.

Black-on-black Ceramic Vessel, Maria Martinez

• Highly polished surfaces 

• Contrast of shiny black and matte black finishes. 

• Comes from 1000 year old tradition of pottery making in Southwest USA

• Their work sparked a revival of pueblo techniques. 

• Maria innovated new pottery techniques and invented new pueblo shapes.

Hide Painting of a Sun Dance

• Depicted traditional aspects of Plains people culture that were nostalgic rather than practical: bison hunt with bow and arrow (Nostalgic), Sun Dance, & Wolf Dance