Ancient Mesoamerican

What are the three cultures and their time periods?

Teotihuacan- 1-600CE

Moche- 1-750CE

Mayan- 2-900CE

Context of Teotihuacan 100-600ce

-Organised urban planning, military power, organised labour

-Population moved toward Teotihuacan due to volcanic eruptions

Name of temple step style?

Talud-Tablero

Teotihuacan Mural Example?

Tepantitla Mural of the Great Goddess, symbolic symbol of life and sustenance, mountain of providing below her. Many people with offerings, she is the centre, tree-like, axis mundi.

What else about the Great Goddess?

Stone statues of the Great Goddess, identifiable for her large circular ear spools, ornamentation, prominent nose.

Significant as most of Teotihuacan art is repetitive without signular identity.

Great Goddess statue found at Pyramid of Moon, where sacrafical animal burials were found, temple of feathered serpant some 200 human sacrafice.

Context of the Mayans 200-900ce

Mayans storytellers, plaza at Tikal showing talud-tablero style

Well narrated history, example of Stelae with political lineage.

Similar gods, such as feathered serpant, war gods

Example of Mayan lintel art

Lintel 24 and 25 at Yaxchilan, showing ritual bood letting with thorned rope of lady Xooc, and the hallucination of serpent god, elaborate headdress.

Lintels were hard to see, orientated and in dark in entrance, few were literate and couldn’t access the glyphs, intended for the Gods.

Moche context 100-750 ce

They weren’t anonymous like Teotihuacan, had archetypal political roles, which transcended gender roles, burial with armour, weapons, jewlery, gold silver, servants and animals

Projected and interchangable identites

What does a historian say about Moche Burials and Rulers?

Alva

Multiple burials of Lord of Sipan within the same site, under layers, same objects buried with each identifiable from murals. Such as the Sacrafice Ceremony,

Interchangable authoratative identities.

Example of Female roles?

The burial of La Senora de Cao, showing a woman being buried with funerary objects derived from what appears to be a male figure in the Sacrifice Ceremony Mural.

Scale armour, two eared headdress.

Women occupying prominent roles, gender non-conforming.

Symbols on the Sacrifice Ceremony Mural

Captives being brought for blood sacrifice, Warrior Priest, Bird Priest, Priestess, living people enacting mythical events, impersonating deities.

Who discusses the reality of Sacrifice Ceremony

Taggart

That archaeological discovery confirmed that Sacrifice ceremony was a real ritual being carried out by figures