Unit 7 - Indigenous Americas, Spanish, Colonial Americas

Tlatilco female figurine identifiers

Tlatilco female figurine. Central Mexico, site of Tlatilco. 1200-900 BCE. Ceramic

Tlatilco female figurine. Central Mexico, site of Tlatilco. 1200-900 BCE. Ceramic

Content 

• 3 inch small sculpture of women 

1. Elaborate hair style, symbolizing status 

2. Two conjoined faces with shared eye 

• Small slitted eyes

3. Mouth is upside down eye stylistically similar 

4. Flipper arms (nubs for hands and feet)

5. Small breasts 

6. Small waits with small navel 

7. Full thighs (sign of fertility)

• Ceramic clay molded by hand 

Function

• Funerary piece (found in burial areas, under homes) 

• Home ritual 

Context

• Modern-day Mexico with natural clay resource

• Before Aztec took over Mexico city, Tlatilco people 

IM: Early cultures everywhere have created female figure, dual face related into shamanism (seeing past/present, heaven/earth), physical abnormalities were linked to spiritual world 

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwelling Identifiers

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings. Montezuma County, Colorado. Anasazi. 450-1300 C.E. Sandstone

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings. Montezuma County, Colorado. Anasazi. 450-1300 C.E. Sandstone

Content

•  Cliff Palace 

• 150 rooms, 1 - 4 stories, 20 important circular rooms (kivas)

  • kivas with pillarstars, wooden scaffolding and wooden roof, fireplace in center, spiritual

  • Everyone experiences from same vantage point

• Made with adobe, plaster walls with geometric designs with landscapes, plants, geometric material 

  • Mixed clay with natural material for color

Function

• Dwelling, Protection from harsh winters 

Context

• Only lived in for a century (extreme drought, social/political problems)

• Anasazi - ancestral pueblos in four corners area, semi arid, extreme unpredictable temperature

• Egalitarian society 

IM:

Great Serpent Mound Identifiers

Great Serpent Mound. Adams County, Southern Ohio. Mississippian (Eastern Woodlands). C. 1070 CE Earthwork / Effigy Mound.

Great Serpent Mound. Adams County, Southern Ohio. Mississippian (Eastern Woodlands). C. 1070 CE Earthwork / Effigy Mound.

Content

•  Effigy Mound → mounded earth in the shape of an animal

• Serpent shape 

  • Head faces east, and summer solstice at sunset

  • Tail face west 

• Height 5 ft, with 25 ft, length ¼ mile

• Shape = mouth swallowing large egg, circle shape is serpent eye

• Along a ridge line 

  • Match cliff 

Function

• Sacred spot, linked with supernatural, ritual use

Context

• Mississippian culture after the brightest appearance of Haley’s comet 

  • String system of government, clear chief, ruling family, strong hierarchy 

  • Specialized skilled, cultivate maize

Bandolier Bag Identifiers

Bandolier bag. Lenape (eastern Delaware) tribe. c. 1850 CE Beadwork on leather.

Content

•  Large beaded bag worn cross body 

• Rectangular style bag with thick band across shoulder 

• Floral and geometric patterns, glass beadwork

• Hanging silk ribbon 

Function

• Ammunition pouch; this one decorative so not practically used

Context

• Lenape people used dyed porcupine quills to make decorations on bag

• Europeans introduce trade with glass beads from czech and venice for furs 

  • Brought natives cotton thread and silk ribbon

• Canadian nuns teach embroidery patterns

IM: Indian Removal act, act of defiance 

Transformation mask identifiers

Transformation mask. Kwakwaka’wakw, Northwest coast of Canada. Late 19th century CE. Wood, Paint, and string. 

Transformation mask. Kwakwaka’wakw, Northwest coast of Canada. Late 19th century CE. Wood, Paint, and string. 

Content

•  Wearable mask made of painted wood (red cedar, soft & easy to carve) 

• Closed = hawk 

  • Pulley mechanism to open it

• Open = man 

  • Flat images on the inside of the mask; recurring shapes

    • Ovoid = rectangle with rounded edges 

    • U shape

  • Organic material for hair 

  • bold contrasting colors of natural material 

    • Black = charcoal 

    • Red / brown = oaker 

    • Blue / green - clay

Function

• Potlatch festival - winter festival, celebrate gatherings, and gift-giving; share wealth, 

• Dramatic performance with drums, dance, masks; reenact the tribe history → said to bring the ancestors  in

Context

• Ancestors shed their animal skins and reveal human form; life only differed in physical skin - all living things are unified 

• Mask becomes animal that their ancestor was associated with, then shed skin 

  • Wear becomes ancestor and animal

IM: reciprocity, sharing of wealth (similar with Malagan Mask or Buk Mask); reaffirm memories

Hide Painting of the Sun Dance Identifiers

Hide painting of Sun Dance. Attributed to Cotsiogo (Cadzi Cody), Eastern Shoshone, Wind River Reservation, Wyoming. C. 1890-1900 CE. Painted Elk Hide.