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Calender Stone (Sun stone) (Templo Mayor)

FORM - It looks like a sun. circular shape. FUNCTION - It's become the modern-day emblem of Mexican culture it most likely would have been placed horizontally on the ground. - the disc records this origin of the cosmos as the Aztecs saw it. CONTENT - It has rays emanating out. But in actuality, when you look closely it's an incredibly complicated object. This would have been originally painted, which would have helped pick out the motifs - it was unfinished, cause there are protrusions of uncarved rock that we see on the top and to the left. In the center u see a gruesome looking face with deep-set eyes and a wide mouth, and on either side, hanging down, what look like ear ornaments. - He's wearing ear spools, and within that open mouth you see the tongue protruding out. It's a anthropomorphized sacrificial blade. -The ear spools were decorations that Aztec elite would wear. - if you look to the sides, you also see that he has clawed hands and he's holding something, possibly human hearts. There have been various interpretations of who this individual actually is, and most people identify him as the sun god, Tonatiuh, which is the Nahuatl word for the sun god. - The stone relates to one of the main Aztec myths, essentially the creation of the various eras, or as they called them, suns. So what we're seeing here is a record, a history of previous eras, and then the current era, under which we live. - the current era is actually the fifth era, according to this system. The fifth sun. And yet the name of the fifth sun is "Four Movement," and we see that in the four square lobes that surround the center figure. - The particular shape that it's forming is a sign for Ollin, which in Nahuatl means movement, and we also see four dots surrounding this central figure, which gives us the name Four Movement - inside those squares or rectangular shapes that mean four movement, we see the names of the previous four suns. - On the top right and go counter-clockwise, the four eras are 4-Jaguar, 4-Wind, 4-Tlaloc, and then 4-Chalchiuhtlicue. The idea is that in the first era, it's death by jaguar, devoured by jaguars. In the second era, death by high winds. In the third era, death by rains of fire. And in the fourth era, death by water. - The idea with the fifth sun is it's predicting that this current world in which we live is going to be death by earthquakes. The city where we are and where this is from, the Aztec capital, is surrounded by volcanoes and a fault line. There are devastating earthquakes that happen here. - Theres the idea of sacrifice in the center with that face, and then this idea in Aztec mythology that this era that we're in was formed by two gods agreeing to sacrifice themselves. The sun is brought into creation by the gods sacrificing themselves, but at first, it was static, it couldn't move, and so then another god had to sacrifice himself in order to put the sun in motion. - Then the idea is that because the gods have killed themselves willingly, that we as humans need to be feeding them through offerings, and that could include things like animal sacrifice, piercing of our body to give blood, or human sacrifice. - We have, now, 20 glyphs or symbols, the 20 days, this basic unit of the Aztec calendar. And outside of that band of calendrical dates we see the rays of the sun radiating outwards and you see that the largest ones are pointed in the four cardinal directions. North, South, East, West. - And their cosmos, or their universe was thought to be divided into four quadrants associated with these four cardinal directions. And Tenochtitlan, the city, the capital of the Aztec Empire was divided also into four. Replicating a cosmological diagram. - In the outside band, there are two serpents whose heads meet at the bottom center, and from whose mouths emerge two faces. These are called fire serpents or, in Nahuatl, Xiuhcoatl. They're associated with time, with the solar calendar, and, in some sources, as carrying sun across the sky. So they make time happen. - Next to the date of 4-Wind, if we're going counter-clockwise, the royal insignia of Moctezuma II, and so we typically date this monument to the reign of that Aztec ruler. And across from the insignia of Moctezuma II, right next to that jaguar head for the date 4-Jaguar, we see a flint knife, one of the sacrificial blades, and next to it we see a single dot, which reads as a date glyph for 1 Flint. 1 Flint could be read in two different ways. Some people associate that particular date with the beginning of the era of the fifth sun. So what we have is a sense of the structure and order of the universe for the Aztecs. CONTEXT - Nahuatl is the name of the language spoken by the Nahua people, or the Aztecs. The Aztecs were part of this larger ethnic group of the Nahua.

Great Serpent Mound

- 1070 CE - Southern Ohio, US FORM - the largest serpent model in the world. - The serpent is slightly crescent-shaped and oriented such that the head is at the east and the tail at the west, with seven winding coils in between. - The shape of the head-Whereas some scholars read the oval shape as an enlarged eye, others see a hollow egg or even a frog about to be swallowed by wide, open jaws. But perhaps that lower jaw is an indication of appendages, such as small arms that might imply the creature is a lizard rather than a snake. -Many native cultures in both North and Central America attributed supernatural powers to snakes or reptiles and included them in their spiritual practices. -The native peoples of the Middle Ohio Valley in particular frequently created snake-shapes out of copper sheets. -The mound conforms to the natural topography of the site, which is a high plateau overlooking Ohio Brush Creek. In fact, the head of the creature approaches a steep, natural cliff above the creek. The unique geologic formations suggest that a meteor struck the site approximately 250-300 million years ago, causing folded bedrock underneath the mound. FUNCTION - Aspects of both the zoomorphic form and the unusual site have associations with astronomy. -The head of the serpent aligns with the summer solstice sunset, and the tail points to the winter solstice sunrise. Could this mound have been used to mark time or seasons, perhaps indicating when to plant or harvest -Likewise, it has been suggested that the curves in the body of the snake parallel lunar phases, or alternatively align with the two solstices and two equinoxes. - Some have interpreted the egg or eye shape at the head to be a representation of the sun. Perhaps even the swallowing of the sun shape could document a solar eclipse. - Another theory is that the shape of the serpent imitates the constellation Draco, with the Pole Star matching the placement of the first curve in the snake's torso from the head. An alignment with the Pole Star may indicate that the mound was used to determine true north and thus served as a kind of compass. -Halley's Comet appeared in 1066, although the tail of the comet is straight rather than curved. Perhaps the mound served in part to mark this astronomical event or a similar phenomenon, such as light from a supernova. -the serpent mound may represent a mixture of all celestial knowledge known by these native peoples in a single image. CONTENT - The Great Serpent Mound measures approximately 1,300 feet in length and ranges from one to three feet in height. CONTEXT -The mound is both architectural and sculptural and was erected by settled peoples who cultivated maize, beans and squash and who maintained a stratified society with an organized labor force, but left no written records. - Numerous mounds were made by the ancient Native American cultures that flourished along the fertile valleys of the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri Rivers a thousand years ago, though many were destroyed as farms spread across this region during the modern era. - They invite us to contemplate the rich spiritual beliefs of the ancient Native American cultures that created them. - Determining exactly which culture designed and built the effigy mound, and when, is a matter of ongoing inquiry. - A broad answer may lie in viewing the work as being designed, built, and/or refurbished over an extended period of time by several indigenous groups. -The leading theory is that the Fort Ancient Culture (1000-1650 C.E.) is principally responsible for the mound, having erected it in c. 1070 C.E. This mound-building society lived in the Ohio Valley and was influenced by the contemporary Mississippian culture (700-1550), whose urban center was located at Cahokia in Illinois. The rattlesnake was a common theme among the Mississippian culture, and thus it is possible that the Fort Ancient Culture appropriated this symbol from them (although there is no clear reference to a rattle to identify the species as such). - An alternative theory is that the Fort Ancient Culture refurbished the site c. 1070, reworking a preexisting mound built by the Adena Culture (c.1100 B.C.E.-200 C.E.) and/or the Hopewell Culture (c. 100 B.C.E.-550 C.E.). - The mound contains no artifacts, and both the Fort Ancient and Adena groups typically buried objects inside their mounds. Although there are no graves found inside the Great Serpent Mound, there are burials found nearby, but none of them are the kinds of burials typical for the Fort Ancient culture and are more closely associated with Adena burial practices. Archaeological evidence does not support a burial purpose for the Great Serpent Mound. - One scholar has recently suggested that the mound was a platform or base for totems or other architectural structures that are no longer extant, perhaps removed by subsequent cultures.

Ruler's feather headdress (probably of Motecuhzoma II)

- 1428 CE - Mexico FORM AND CONTENT - quetzal tail feathers, which only come from the male quetzal, and we see so many of them, and usually the bird only has two, three tail feathers. So these come from a lot of different quetzals, a kind of bird that you find in Central America, like costa rica - this is speaking to is the long distance trade that's happening as well as tribute items that are sent back to the Aztec capitol of Tenochtitlan. - There are pure gold ornaments as well as other colors of feathers like a turquoise blue. FUNCTION - The feathers were part of an entire costume, and in so much Aztec art, we see not only the feather headdress, but we see paper ornaments, we see other kinds of elaborate aspects of costume that were part of rituals, part of performances. - Costume was incredibly important to the Aztecs, as it was to many Meso-American culture CONTEXT - This is a replica of a feathered headdress that's currently in the museum in Vienna, sent to Europe by Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs. So, Cortes comes in with his army of Spanish soldiers, conquers the Aztec people, and is overwhelmed by the beauty of much of what he sees, especially these feathered objects, and sends a lot of them back to Spain to Charles V. - even though this is a replica, it gives us a really good sense of what some of these feather objects would have looked like. - the Aztecs have an empire with lots of cities that they've conquered, and what they exact from those cities is luxury goods, and that includes feathers, that includes textiles, cacao, shells, and they're all coming to the capitol of the empire, which is actually here in what is present-day Mexico City, but was then Tenochtitlan - The people who made this lived in a special quarter of the capitol. They were called in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, amanteca, feather workers. they were highly regarded - after the Spanish conquest when people like Hernan Cortes, the Spanish conquistador, encountered objects like this, they were so impressed, that this is actually a type of artistic production that doesn't cease with the conquest, but what we see is a shift in subject matter. - Instead of making ritual headdresses like this, we see objects that display Christian iconography. - Very close to the feathered headdress here in the museum, we see a replica of a chalice covering that is made of feathers, and if we're looking at the subject matter, it looks very Aztec. We see water glyphs, and what looks like a ray of fire and a strange kind of mouth, or symbols that are very unfamiliar to us, in other words. And this is the beginning of a reinterpretation of Christian iconography using Aztec glyphs. - So we have a coming together of these two cultures, a hybrid art form. A chalice is something that we see in Christian rituals, it's the vessel that contained the wine that becomes the blood of Christ during Mass. And so this coming together of these two very different cultures, but Aztec culture forced to become a Christian culture by the Spanish.

City of Cusco, including Qorikancha (Inka main temple), Santo Domingo (Spanish colonial convent), and Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman)

- 1440 CE - Central Highlands, Peru FORM - elevation of 11,200 feet - (i think this is walls of sqasa waman aka Sacsayhuaman)The masonry of Cusco displays an understanding of stones as being like people, in that many different ones may fit together if they are properly organized. -Each individual stone was pecked with tools and fitted to the one next to it, with the result that blocks will have a varied number of sides, such as the famous Twelve-Sided stone in the walls of Hatun Rumiyoq Street. -Some sides of each stone were made to curve outward slightly, others to be slightly concave, so that the stones slotted together, while still allowing a small amount of movement. The ability to move a little was important in an area that is seismically active, protecting the walls from earthquakes. -The stones used to construct the city were much larger than those used in the streets and houses of Cusco -The stones were quarried and hauled into place using considerable manpower, obtained through the mit'a, or labor tax, that all able-bodied people of the empire owed the Inka. - The exceptionally fine masonry of the Qorikancha was reserved for the most important buildings, since it was even more time-consuming than regular Inka stonework. - Rather than fitting each stone together as an individual shape, creating an irregular-looking surface, here they were shaped into even courses of rectangular blocks, and polished to a smooth finish. -The walls were then covered in sheets of gold to signify the shrine's dedication to Inti, and would have reflected the sun's rays with a blinding brilliance. Inside, a reproduction of the world in miniature took the shape of a garden made from gold, silver and jewels, with people, animals, and plants. -The riches of the Qorikancha would be taken in the looting of the city following the Spanish conquest in 1532, and melted down for their precious materials FUNCTION - the city of Cusco was the capital of Tawantinsuyu ("Land of the Four Quarters," the Inka name for their empire in their native language, Quechua). - It was also an axis mundi—the center of existence—and a reflection of Inka power. CONTENT - The city was divided into two sections, hanan (upper or high) and hurin (lower), which paralleled the social organization of Inka society into upper and lower moieties (social divisions). - Cusco was further divided into quarters that reflected the four divisions of the empire, and people from those sections inhabited their respective quarters of the city. In this way, the city was a map in miniature of the entire Inka empire, and a way for the Inka rulers to explicitly display their power to shape and order that empire. - Some scholars think that the city was deliberately laid out so that it was shaped like a puma, symbol of Inka might, but this is still under debate. - At the heart of hurin Cusco was the Qorikancha ("Golden House"), the most sacred shrine of the Inka, dedicated to the worship of the sun. While the Inka had many gods, they claimed descent from the sun, whom they called Inti, and held the sun's worship above all others. -The Qorikancha was the center point of the empire, and from it radiated imaginary lines, called ceques, which connected it to shrines throughout the Cusco valley. -Rebecca Stone refers to the ceques as a "landscape calendar and cosmogram," as the shrines were also a marker of time, with different noble families tending to and holding rituals at the shrines around the ceque system throughout the year. -After the conquest, the Qorikancha was one of many Inka shrines turned into a Christian holy space. -The monastery and church of Santo Domingo were built around and on top of the original shrine, incorporating the old structure into the new one in a way that makes for a strange appearance today. -Parts of the old temple are still visible, inside and out, alternating with Spanish Baroque architectural features - The Qorikancha itself was renovated by the first emperor, Pachacuti Inka Yupanqui, after he had a mystical revelation that declared him a divine king. All of the doorways, windows, and wall niches of the Qorikancha were the distinctive Inka trapezoid shape, with doorways double-jambed to signify the importance of the building. CONTEXT - The city buzzed with activity, both secular and religious. Not only the Inka rulers and their nobles resided in Cusco. Local leaders from all sections of the empire also lived in Cusco—often compelled to do so as a means of controlling their home populations. - Girls and young women were drawn from across the empire to the capital to serve as cloistered acllas ("chosen women"): to weave fine cloth for gods and nobles and to make corn beer (chicha) for religious rituals, to serve gods in shrines, and in some cases to be given to Inka favorites in marriage. -Young men were also brought to Cusco to be educated and raised in the Inka culture. When they returned to their homes, they would be valuable advocates for Inka traditions and power. -In addition to the Inka gods and ancestor mummies kept in the capital, there were also the captured gods of subject peoples, brought there as another means of controlling their followers. -It is possible that it was never finished, or that parts of it were left incomplete at the time of conquest, as Jean-Pierre Protzen has proposed.

Maize cobs

- 1440 CE - Inka South America FORM - A garden of miniature llamas, corn, flowers, and people all made of gold and silver. - existed in the courtyard in one of the most important Inka temples, the Qorikancha, in the capital city of Cuzco. - a gold-silver alloy corncob sculpture. It mimics the appearance of a ripe ear of corn breaking through its husk, still on the stalk but ready to be harvested. - In this sculptural representation of maize (Zea mays), individual kernels of corn protrude from the cob that is nestled in jagged metallic leaves. - Inka metalsmiths expertly combined silver and copper to mimic the internal and external components of actual corn. Hollow and delicate, the ears of corn on the stalk are life-sized. -While many ancient Andean art traditions favored abstract and geometric forms , Inka visual expression often incorporated more naturalistic forms in small-scale metal objects. -After the Spaniards arrived in the Andes, the European invaders soon desired the gold and silver belonging to the Inka. Some of the earliest Spanish chroniclers record the placement of a garden composed of gold and silver objects among many of the offering and ritual spaces in the Qorikancha. FUNCTION - The life-size garden was a significant offering within the Qorikancha where it became part of a compact version of the cosmos controlled by the Inka state. - It also represented the vast range of ecosystems encompassed by the empire and the most important agricultural products cultivated in them. - The empire reached from the desert coasts to over 6000 feet above sea level. -Plants and animals represented in the golden garden cannot grow and survive at every point in the empire, but only at specified altitudes. For example maize grows up to a mid-range altitude, and llamas graze at the highest points of the empire. -The metallic maize cobs would have represented one of the most important imperial foodstuffs, used for making the chicha (maize beer) consumed at political feasts, which cemented the obligations of local political leaders to the Inka state. - For centuries, an organized "vertical archipelago" system and terracing technologies allowed Andean people to obtain the foods and materials that they needed to survive from different elevations. The Inka adopted these systems, enhanced them, and exploited them on an imperial scale. - The Qorikancha's garden asserted the natural world as a possession of the Inka at the same time it reinforced their divine right to rule across the Andes. CONTENT - The Inka commonly deployed small-scale naturalistic metallic offerings, like the silver alloy corncobs, in ritual practices that supported state religion and government. - Offerings have been found across Inka territories. Besides corn, these offerings included small gold and silver human figurines ornamented with textiles that accompanied qhapaq hucha sacrifices at the furthest reaches of the empire. - All these offerings acted as symbols of the supernatural origin of the Inkas in the Sun, and their control over the natural world as descendants from the most powerful deity. CONTEXT - After the defeat of Inka leadership in the 1530s, Spanish royal agents set up colonies across the continent. - They looted Inka objects in large quantities and sent many back to Spain. The silver corncob and stalk were likely part of the spoils captured in this raid. - By 1534, the collections of the Spanish king Charles V included a gold maize stalk with three leaves and two ears of corn. - Royal inventories also describe gold and silver llamas, female figures, a lamb, and a male figure that purportedly originated in one of the most important Inka temples in the capital city of Cuzco, the Qorikancha.

City of Machu Picchu

- 1450 CE - Central Highlands, Peru FORM - Water management at the site was crucial, and throughout Machu Picchu a system of stone channels drains water from rainfall and from a spring near the site. - Some of the water was channeled to stone fountains. There are sixteen in all, descending in elevation through the site. - The first in the series is placed outside the door of the emperor's compound. That fountain is constructed with walls that may have created a ritual bath for the emperor, connected to his duties as a sacred king who performed religious rituals. - The construction of the main buildings is typical of Inka elite architecture. - The walls were built of stones that had been individually shaped to fit closely with one another, rather than being shaped into similar units. This was accomplished by a laborious process of pecking at the stones with tools, gradually shaping them so that each stone was uniquely nested against those around it. Each stone had some sides that protruded slightly, and some with slight concave faces, socketing the stones so that they held together, but allowed for earthquake-damping movement in this seismically active region. Outward faces were then worked smooth, so that the walls resemble an intricate mosaic. - Most structures were roofed with wood and thatch. Entryways were in the unique Inka shape of a trapezoid, rather than a rectangle. The trapezoid shape was also used for niches and windows in the walls of buildings. - Buildings for people or activities of lower status were made using a rough construction technique that did not take the time to shape the stones. FUNCTION - It was built as a royal estate for the first Inka emperor, Pachacuti Inka Yupanqui, in the middle of the 15th century, on a mountain saddle overlooking the Urubamba River (in modern day Peru). - The location was approximately three days' walk from the Inka capital of Cusco, and nearly 3,000 feet lower in elevation with a pleasant climate. - It was intended as a place where the Inka emperor and his family could host feasts, perform religious ceremonies, and administer the affairs of empire, while also establishing a claim to land that would be owned by his lineage after his death. - The site was chosen and situated for its relationship to the Andean landscape, including sight lines to other mountain peaks, called apus, which have long been considered ancestral deities throughout the Andes. - The site contains housing for elites, retainers, and maintenance staff, religious shrines, fountains, and terraces, as well as carved rock outcrops, a signature element of Inka art. - Also called the Temple of the Sun, this building's purpose is echoed in its unique shape. It is composed of two main parts: an upper curved stone enclosure with windows and niches placed in it, and a cave beneath this structure with masonry additions that hold more niches. -Modifications of the windows in the Observatory's upper walls indicate that they were used to calculate the June solstice, as well as the first morning rise of the constellation Pleiades and other important constellations. The cave beneath the enclosure may refer to the place of the underworld in Inka myth, making the Observatory a building that embodied cosmological thought as much as it facilitated astronomical observation. CONTENT - the site features architecture, from houses to terraces, built by carefully fitting individual stones against each other. Terraces were a common element of highland agriculture long before the Inka. They increased the arable land surface and reduced erosion by creating walled steps down the sides of steep mountains. Each step could then be planted with crops. Terracing took advantage of the landscape and provided some sustenance for the emperor and his entourage during his visits, as well as producing ritually-important maize crops. - Further provisions came from the rich lands at the foot of the mountain peak, which were also beholden to Pachacuti and his family. - The Intihuatana ("hitching post of the sun") is a carved boulder located in the ritual area of the site, to the west of the main plaza. Carved boulders were a part of the Inka relationship with the earth, and expressions of belief in a landscape inhabited by supernatural forces. Carved boulders of this type are found throughout the heart of the Inka empire. - The stone's name refers to the idea that it was used to track the passage of the sun throughout the year, part of the reckoning of time used to determine when religious events would take place and similar to the Observatory. CONTEXT - The emperor and his retinue would only reside at Machu Picchu for part of the year. - Most of the people who lived there permanently were yanaconas (retainers) and mitimaes (colonists obligated to move to their location). - Graves at Machu Picchu have yielded evidence that many of the yanaconas there were craftspeople, including metalsmiths, who came from all over the empire. T - he ability to command people across the empire and to oblige them to work for the Inka nobility was an expression of imperial power. - The buildings of Machu Picchu clearly show the social divisions of the site, with most of the high-status residential buildings in a cluster to the northeast. - The emperor himself lived in a separate compound at the southwest of the site, indicating his unique status as the ruler. - The Observatory was adjacent to the royal residence, emphasizing the relationship between the elites, religious ritual, and astronomical observation, including Pachacuti's claim as both a descendant of the sun (whom the Inka called Inti) and the sun himself. - One of the obligations of the royal family was performing rituals that sustained relationships with the supernatural forces that drove existence. The number of religious structures at Machu Picchu is high, indicating that Pachacuti and his lineage were heavily involved in the religious functioning of the empire, a task that underscored his right to rule.

All-T'opaqu Tunic

- 1450 CE - Inka South America FORM - Camelid fiber and cotton - Weaving in Andean cultures was usually done on backstrap looms made from a series of sturdy sticks supporting the warp, or skeletal threads, of the textile. - A backstrap loom is tied to a post or tree at one end, while the other end is attached to a strap that passes around the back of the weaver. -By leaning forward or tilting back, the weaver can adjust the tension on the warp threads as he or she passes the weft threads back and forth, creating the pattern that we see on the surface of the textile. -By the time of the Inka, an incredible number of variations on this basic technique had created all kinds of textile patterns and weaves. -The two main fibers spun into the threads of the tunic came from cotton and camelids. Cotton plants grew well on the Andean coast, in a variety of natural colors. -Camelids thrived in the highlands (this includes the wild guanacos and vicuña and their domesticated brethren, the llama and the alpaca). Most Andean camelid-fiber textiles were made with the silky wool of the alpaca. -Animal fibers are more easily dyed than plant fibers, so when weavers wanted bright colors they most commonly used alpaca wool. -The All-T'oqapu Tunic is made of dyed camelid wool warp over a cotton weft, a common combination for high-status textiles. -Collecting, spinning, and dyeing the fibers for a textile represented a huge amount of work from numerous people before a weaver even began their task. -Some dyes, like cochineal red or indigo blue, were especially prized and reserved for high-status textiles. Cochineal dye comes from the bodies of small insects that live on cacti, and it takes thousands of them to make a small amount of dye. Indigo dyeing requires a high level of technical skill and a large investment in time. Red- and blue-dyed textiles were not only beautiful, they also represented the apex of the resources needed to produce them and the social and political power that commanded those resources. -In the Inka empire, textiles were produced by a number of groups, but the finest cloth, called qompi in Quechua (the language of the Inkas), was produced by acllas ("chosen women"), women who were collected from across the empire and cloistered in buildings to weave fine cloth. - The threads in the All-T'oqapu Tunic were spun so finely that there are approximately 100 threads per centimeter, making for a light, strong weave. It was traditional to weave garments in a single piece if possible, as cutting the cloth once it was off the loom would destroy its spirit existence (camac), which formed as it grew on the loom. - The All-T'oqapu Tuni c is a single piece of cloth, woven with a slit in the center for the head to pass through, and folded over and sewn together along the sides with spaces left open as arm holes. FUNCTION - Object of high status, more valuable than gold or gems - Expression of power -The acllas also performed religious rituals, and made and served chicha (corn beer) at state feasts. These women spun, dyed, and wove fibers that were collected as part of the Inka taxation system. -The textiles they produced were then given as royal gifts, worn by the royal household, or burned as a precious sacrifice to the sun god, Inti. CONTENT - The decoration of the tunic is where its name derives from. - T'oqapu are the square geometric motifs that make up the entirety of this tunic. These designs were only allowed to be worn by those of high rank in Inka society. - Normally, an Inka tunic with t'oqapu on it would have a band or bands of the motif near the neck or at the waist. - Individual t'oqapu designs appear to have been related to various peoples, places, and social roles within the Inka empire. - Covering a single tunic with a large variety of t'oqapu, as seen in this example, likely makes it a royal tunic, and symbolizes the power of the Inka ruler (the Sapa Inka). - The Sapa Inka's power is manifest in the tunic in several ways; firstly, its fine thread, expert weave, and bright colors signify his ability to command the taxation of the empire, access to luxury goods like rare and difficult dyes, and the weaving expertise of the acllas. - Secondly, among the t'oqapu in the tunic is one pattern than contains a black and white checkerboard. This was the tunic pattern worn by the Inka army, and shows the Sapa Inka's military might. - Lastly, the collection of many patterns shows that the Sapa Inka (which means "unique Inka" in Quechua) was a special individual who held claim to all t'oqapu and therefore all the peoples and places of his empire. It is a statement of absolute dominion over the land, its people, and its resources, manifested in an item that is typically Andean in its material and manufacture. CONTEXT - The Inka were masters of statecraft, forging an empire that at its height extended from modern Quito, Ecuador to Santiago, Chile.

Bandolier bag

- 1850 CE - Americas FORM -Wool and cotton trade cloth, wool yarn, glass, metal -Bandolier Bags are often large in size and decorated with a wide array of colorful beads and ribbons. They are worn as a cross-body bag -The NMAI Bandolier Bag relates to a broader array of objects that demonstrate the Prairie Style. -The artist of the NMAI Bandolier Bag borrowed from older Delaware traditions, as well as those of other native peoples after they were forcibly relocated. -Another Bandolier bag in the NMAI collection by an Anishnaabe artist, demonstrates the "Prairie Style" clearly in the upper section where a floral motif floats against a dark ground. -The Prairie Style used colorful glass beads fashioned in floral patterns. The patterns could be either naturalistic flowers or abstract floral designs. -A Sac and Fox breechcloth in the NMAI collection is a clear example of the more abstract Prairie Style because the floral designs do not closely resemble flowers (the Sacs or Sauks are an Eastern Woodlands group, the Fox tribe is closely related to them). -The Prairie Style is the result of peoples coming into contact with one another, particularly in the wake of removal from their ancestral homelands. -Bandolier Bags, as well as other objects and clothing, helped to express group identities and social status. In the wake of forced removals and threats to traditional ways of life, objects like the NMAI Bandolier Bag demonstrate the resilience and continued creativity of groups like the Lenape. FUNCTION -in the Ojibwe language they are called Aazhooningwa'on, or "worn across the shoulder" -Bandolier Bags are based on bags carried by European soldiers armed with rifles, who used the bags to store ammunition cartridges. -While Bandolier Bags were made by different tribes and First Nations across the Great Lakes and Prairie regions, they differ in appearance. The stylistic differences are the result of personal preference as much contact with Europeans and Euro-Americans, goods acquired in trade, and travel. -The designs on the bag are abstracted and symmetrical. White beads act as contour lines to help make the designs more visible to the naked eye. -On the cross-body strap, we see a design that branches in four directions. the artist made each side slightly different. The left portion of the strap displays a light blue background, and the repeating form is more rounded, with softer edges. On the right side of the strap, the blue is darker, the framing pink and green is varied, and the repeating form displays more straight lines. The small size of seed beads allowed for more curvilinear designs than quillwork. - It is possible that the contrasting colors represent the Celestial/Sky and Underworld realms. The abstracted designs on the sash may also be read in relation to the cosmos because they branch into four directions, which might relate to the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) and the division of the terrestrial (earthly) realm into four quadrants. - While men most commonly wore these bags, women created them. Initially, Bandolier Bags did not have a pocket, but were intended to complement men's ceremonial outfits. Men even wore more than one bag on occasion, dressing themselves in a rainbow of colors and patterns. Even those bags with pockets weren't necessarily always used to hold objects CONTENT - Women typically produced Bandolier Bags using trade cloth, made from cotton or wool. It is often possible to see the exposed unembroidered trade cloth underneath the cross-body strap. -The NMAI bag uses animal hide in addition to the cotton cloth, combining materials that had long been used among these groups (animal hides) with new materials (cotton trade cloth). -Beads and other materials were embroidered on the trade cloth and hide. The tiny glass beads, called seed beads, were acquired from European traders, and they were prized for their brilliant colors. Glass beads replaced porcupine quillwork, which had a longstanding history in this area. Before the use of glass beads, porcupine quills were acquired softened and dyed. Once they were malleable enough to bend, the quills were woven onto the surfaces of objects (especially clothing or other cloth goods like bags). Quillwork required different working techniques than embroidering with beads, so people adopted new methods for decorating the surfaces of bags, clothing, and other goods. -In addition to glass beads, the NMAI bag is decorated with silk ribbons—also procured via trade with Europeans. Much like the glass beads, silk ribbons offered a new material with a greater variety of color choices. -we can see that the artists attached strips of yellow, blue, red, and green ribbons, like tassels, to the ends of the straps, as well as longer orange ribbons that fall below the bottom of the bag. -Before the introduction of ribbons, women would paint the surface of hides in addition to decorating the bags with quillwork. Ribbons afforded women the opportunity to produce more textural variation, and to expand the surface of the bags in new ways. - Further animating the surface of the NMAI Bandolier Bag is a red wool fringe, capped with metal cones that attach to the bag's rectangular pouch. the fringe and metal offered more colors and textures to the bag's surface. CONTEXT - The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in New York City has an example of a Bandolier Bag, most likely made by a Lenape artist - These bags were especially popular in the late nineteenth century in the Eastern or Woodlands region, which comprised parts of what is today Canada and the United States. - The Woodlands area encompasses the Great Lakes Region and terrain east of the Mississippi River. - Bandolier Bags were created across this vast expanse of land, and the NMAI has examples from the Upper Great Lakes region and Oklahoma. - Due to events and laws like the Indian Removal Act of 1830 , the Lenape were forcibly removed from these ancestral lands and relocated to areas of Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada. Despite these traumatic relocations, tribes like the Lenape continued to create objects as they had in ancestral lands. - Bandolier Bags are still made and worn today

Cadzi Cody, Attributed to Cotsiogo (Hide Painting of the Sun Dance)

- 1890 CE - Cotsiogo, Wyoming FORM -painted elk hide FUNCTION -Painting, and oral traditions, functioned to record history. -Often artists like Cotsiogo, a member of the Eastern Shoshone tribe, who is also known by his Euro-American name, Cadzi Cody, painted on elk, deer, or buffalo hides using natural pigments like red ochre and chalk, and eventually paints and dyes obtained through trade. -Usually, artists decorated the hides with geometric or figural motifs. By the later nineteenth century certain hide artists like Cotsiogo began depicting subject matter that "affirmed native identity" and appealed to tourists. -The imagery placed on the hide was likely done with a combination of free-hand painting and stenciling. Men and women both painted on hides, but men usually produced the scenes on tipis (tepees), clothing, and shields. -Many of these scenes celebrated battles and other biographical details. -may have functioned as a wall hanging and has also been classified as a robe. -Cotsiogo likely created it Euro-American tourists who visited the reservation. It might explain why there is a scene of buffalo hunting, a scene which was thought to be desirable to tourists. -Its production helped to support him after the Shoshone were moved to the reservation. With newly established trade markets and the influx of new materials, artists like Cotsiogo sometimes produced work that helped support themselves and their families. CONTENT - combines history with the contemporary moment. It displays elements of several different dances, including the important and sacred Sun Dance and non-religious Wolf Dance (tdsayuge or tásayùge). The Sun Dance surrounds a not-yet-raised buffalo head between two poles (or a split tree), with an eagle above it. -Men dressed in feather bustles and headdresses—not to be confused with feathered war bonnets—dance around the poles, which represents the Grass Dance. With their arms akimbo and their bodies bent, Cotsiogo shows these men in motion. Men participating in this sacred, social ceremony refrained from eating or drinking. -The hide painting also shows activities of daily life. Surrounding the Sun Dance, women rest near a fire and more men on horses hunt buffaloes. Warriors on horses are also shown returning to camp, which was celebrated with the Wolf Dance. -Two tipis represent the camp, with the warriors appearing between them. Some of the warriors wear feathered war bonnets made of eagle feathers. These headdresses communicated a warrior acted bravely in battle, and so they functioned as symbols of honor and power. Not just anyone could wear a feathered war bonnet -Cotsiogo shows the warriors hunting with bows and arrows while riding, but in reality Shoshone men had used rifles for some time. Horses were introduced to the Southwest by Spaniards. -Horses made their way to some Plains nations through trade with others like the Ute, Navajo, and Apache. By the mid-eighteenth century, horses had become an important part of Plains culture. -Buffaloes were sacred to the Plains people because the animals were essential to their livelihood. Some scenes display individuals skinning buffaloes and separating the animals' body parts into piles. All parts of the buffalo were used, as it was considered a way of honoring this sacred animal. At the time Cotsiogo painted this hide, most buffalo had either been killed or displaced. Buffaloes had largely disappeared from this area by the 1880s. Cotsiogo's hide thus marks past events and deeds rather than events occurring at the time it was created. CONTEXT -Painting on animal hides is a longstanding tradition of the Great Basin and Great Plains people of the United States, including the Kiowa, Lakota, Shoshone, Blackfeet, Crow, Dakota, and Osage. -During his lifetime, Cotsiogo was placed on the Wind River Reservation in central western Wyoming. It had been established by the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868 -Prior to their placement on the Wind River Reservation, the Shoshone moved with the seasons and the availability of natural resources. Many Shoshone traversed the geographic regions we now call the Great Plains and Plateau regions. -The Sun Dance was intended to honor the Creator Deity for the earth's bounty and to ensure this bounty continued. It was a sacred ceremony that tourists and anthropologists often witnessed. -However, the United States government deemed it unacceptable and forbid it. The U.S. government outlawed the Sun Dance until 1935, in an effort to compel Native Americans to abandon their traditional ways. Cotsiogo likely included references to the Sun Dance because he knew tourist consumers would find the scene attractive; but he modified the scene combining it with the acceptable Wolf Dance, perhaps to avoid potential ramifications. =The Wolf Dance eventually transformed into the Grass Dance which is performed today during pow wows (ceremonial gatherings).

Transformation mask

- 1890 CE - Northwest coast of Canada FORM - cedar wood, feathers, sinew, cord, bird skin, hide, plant fibers, cotton, iron, pigments, leather, nails, metal plate cedar bark costume -The masks display a variety of brightly colored surfaces filled with complex forms. -use elements of the formline style, a term coined in 1965 to describe the characteristics of Northwest Coast visual culture. -For instance, The Brooklyn Museum mask displays a color palette of mostly red, blue-green, and black, which is consistent with other formline objects like a Tlingit Raven Screen (a house partition screen) attributed to Kadyisdu.axch' - The masks, whether opened or closed, are bilaterally symmetrical. - Typical of the formline style is the use of an undulating, calligraphic line. Also, note how the pupils of the eyes on the exterior of the Brooklyn Museum mask are ovoid shapes, similar to the figures and forms found on the interior surfaces of many masks. This ovoid shape, along with s- and u-forms, are common features of the formline style. FUNCTION - Northwest Coast transformation masks manifest transformation, usually an animal changing into a mythical being or one animal becoming another. - Masks are worn by dancers during ceremonies, they pull strings to open and move the mask—in effect, animating it. -Transformation masks, like those belonging to the Kwakwaka'wakw ( Kwak-wak-ah-wak, a Pacific Northwest Coast indigenous people) are worn during a potlatch, a ceremony where the host displayed his status, in part by giving away gifts to those in attendance. -These masks were only one part of a costume that also included a cloak made of red cedar bark. During a potlatch, Kwakwaka'wakw dancers perform wearing the mask and costume. The masks conveyed social position (only those with a certain status could wear them) and also helped to portray a family's genealogy by displaying (family) crest symbols. CONTENT - In the Eagle mask from the collection of the American Museum of Natural History, you can see the wooden frame and netting that held the mask on the dancer's head. When the cords are pulled, the eagle's face and beak split down the center, and the bottom of the beak opens downwards, giving the impression of a bird spreading its wings -Transformed, the mask reveals the face of an ancestor. A Transformation Mask at the Brooklyn Museum shows a Thunderbird, but when opened it reveals a human face flanked on either side by two lightning snakes called sisiutl, and with another bird below it and a small figure in black above it. - A whale transformation mask, such as the one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gives the impression that the whale is swimming. The mouth opens and closes, the tail moves upwards and downwards, and the flippers extend outwards but also retract inwards. - Masks take months, sometimes years, to create. - With the introduction and enforcement of Christianity and as a result of colonization in the nineteenth century, masking practices changed among peoples of the Northwest Coast. Prior to contact with Russians, Europeans, and Euro-Americans, masks like the Brooklyn Museums's Thunderbird Transformation Mask, were not carved using metal tools. After iron tools were introduced along with other materials and equipment, masks demonstrate different carving techniques. Earlier masks used natural (plant and mineral based) pigments, post-contact, brighter and more durable synthetic colors were introduced. CONTEXT - The Kwakwaka'wakw ("Kwak'wala speaking tribes") are generally called Kwakiutl by non-Native people. They are one of many indigenous groups that live on the western coast of British Columbia, Canada. The mythology and cosmology of different Kwakwaka'wakw Nations (such as the Kwagu'ł (Kwakiutl) or 'Namgis) is extremely diverse, although there are commonalities. For instance, many groups relate that deceased ancestors roamed the world, transforming themselves in the process (this might entail removing their animal skins or masks to reveal their human selves within). - Kwakwaka'wakw bands are arranged into four clans (Killer Whale, Eagle, Raven, and Wolf clans). The clans are divided into numayn (or 'na'mina), which can be loosely translated as "group of fellows of the same kind" (essentially groups that shared a common ancestor). -Numayns were responsible for safe-guarding crest symbols and for conveying their specific rights—which might include access to natural resources (like salmon fishing areas) and rights to sacred names and dances that related to a numayn's ancestor or the group's origins. - The numayn were ranked, and typically only one person could fill a spot at any given moment in time. Each rank entailed specific rights, including ceremonial privileges—like the right to wear a mask -Animal transformation masks contained crests for a given numayn. Ancestral entities and supernatural forces temporarily embody dancers wearing these masks and other ceremonial regalia. -Many myths relate moments of transformation often involving trickster supernaturals (a trickster is a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or anthropomorphic animal who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and conventional behavior). -Raven, for instance, is known as a consummate trickster—he often changes into other creatures, and helps humans by providing them with a variety of useful things such as the sun, moon, fire, and salmon. Thunderbird (Kwankwanxwalige') was a mythical ancestor of the Kwakwaka'wakw. He is believed to cause thunder when he beats his wings, and lightning comes from his eyes. He lives in the celestial realm, and he can remove his bird skin to assume human form. -Masks passed between family members of a specific clan (they could be inherited or gifted). -They were just one sign of a person's status and rank, which were important to demonstrate within Kwakwaka'wakw society—especially during a potlatch. -Franz Boas, an anthropologist who worked in this area between 1885 and 1930, noted that "The acquisition of a high position and the maintenance of its dignity require correct marriages and wealth—wealth accumulated by industry and by loaning out property at interest—dissipated at the proper time, albeit with the understanding that each recipient of a gift has to return it with interest at a time when he is dissipating his wealth. -Potlatches were banned in 1885 until the 1950s because they were considered immoral by Christian missionaries who believed cannibalism occurred (for its part, the Canadian Government thought potlatches hindered economic development because people ceased work during these ritual celebrations). With the prohibition of potlatches, many masks were confiscated. Those that weren't destroyed often made their way into museums or private collections. -When the ban against potlatches was removed by the Canadian government, many First Nations have attempted to regain possession of the masks and other objects that had been taken from them. Potlatches are still practiced today among Northwest Coast peoples.

Black-on-black ceramic vessel Maria Martinez and Julian Martinez

- 1950 CE - New Mexico US FORM - blackware ceramic - Maria and Julian Martinez pioneered a style of applying a matte-black design over polished-black. - the design was based on pottery sherds found on an Ancestral Pueblo dig site dating to the twelfth to seventeenth centuries at what is now known as Bandelier National Monument. The Martinezes worked at the site, with Julian helping the archaeologists at the dig and Maria helping at the campsite. - Julian Martinez spent time drawing and painting the designs found on the walls and on the sherds of pottery into his notebooks, designs he later recreated on pots. - In the 1910s, Maria and Julian worked together to recreate the black-on-black ware they found at the dig, experimenting with clay from different areas and using different firing techniques. - Taking a cue from Santa Clara pots, they discovered that smothering the fire with powdered manure removed the oxygen while retaining the heat and resulted in a pot that was blackened. - This resulted in a pot that was less hard and not entirely watertight, which worked for the new market that prized decorative use over utilitarian value. - The areas that were burnished had a shiny black surface and the areas painted with guaco were matte designs based on natural phenomenon, such as rain clouds, bird feathers, rows of planted corn, and the flow of rivers. FUNCTION - Before the arrival of the railroad to the area in the 1880s, pots were used in the Pueblos for food storage, cooking, and ceremonies. - But with inexpensive pots appearing along the rail line, these practices were in decline. - By the 1910s, Ms. Martinez found a way to continue the art by selling her pots to a non-Native audience where they were purchased as something beautiful to look at rather than as utilitarian objects. CONTENT - The olla features two design bands, one across the widest part of the pot and the other around the neck. - The elements inside are abstract but suggest a bird in flight with rain clouds above, perhaps a prayer for rain that could be flown up to the sky. - These designs are exaggerated due to the low rounded shapes of the pot, which are bulbous around the shoulder then narrow at the top. - The shape, color, and designs fit the contemporary Art Deco movement, which was popular between the two World Wars and emphasized bold, geometric forms and colors. With its dramatic shape and the high polish of surface, this pot exemplifies Maria Martinez's skill in transforming a utilitarian object into a fine art. CONTEXT - Born Maria Antonia Montoya, Maria Martinez became one of the best-known Native potters of the twentieth century due to her excellence as a ceramist and her connections with a larger, predominantly non-Native audience. - Though she lived at the Pueblo of San Ildefonso, about 20 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, from her birth in 1887 until her death in 1980, her work and her life had a wide reaching importance to the Native art world - Her mastery as a ceramist was noted in her village while she was still young. She learned the ceramic techniques that were used in the Southwest for several millennia by watching potters from San Ildefonso, especially her aunt Nicholasa as well as potters (including Margaret Tafoya from Santa Clara), from other nearby Pueblos. - All the raw materials had to be gathered and processed carefully or the final vessel would not fire properly. The clay was found locally. - To make the pottery stronger it had to be mixed with a temper made from sherds of broken pots that had been pounded into a powder or volcanic ash. - When mixed with water, the elasticity of the clay and the strength of the temper could be formed into different shapes, including a rounded pot (known as an olla) or a flat plate, using only the artist's hands as the potting wheel was not used. -The dried vessel needed to be scraped, sanded, smoothed, then covered with a slip (a thin solution of clay and water). - The slip was polished by rubbing a smooth stone over the surface to flatten the clay and create a shiny finish—a difficult and time-consuming process. - Over the polished slip the pot was covered with designs painted with an iron-rich solution using either pulverized iron ore or a reduction of wild plants called guaco. These would be dried but required a high temperature firing to change the brittle clay to hard ceramics. E - ven without kilns, the ceramists were able to create a fire hot enough to transform the pot by using manure. - Making ceramics in the Pueblo was considered a communal activity, where different steps in the process were often shared. - Throughout her career, she worked with different family members, including her husband Julian, her son Adam and his wife Santana, and her son Popovi Da. As the pots moved into a fine art market, Ms. Martinez was encouraged to sign her name on the bottom of her pots. Though this denied the communal nature of the art, she began to do so as it resulted in more money per pot.

Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings

- 450 CE - Montezuma Country, Colorado, US FORM - Home built into the side of a cliff - stone, mortar, and plaster remain the most intact. -To build these structures, people used stone and mud mortar, along with wooden beams adapted to the natural clefts in the cliff face. This building technique was a shift from structures built prior to 1000 CE in the Mesa Verde area, which had been made primarily of adobe, a type of brick made of clay, sand and straw or sticks. - We often see traces of the people who constructed these buildings, such as handprints or fingerprints in many of the mortar and plaster walls. - The inhabited region encompassed a far larger geographic area than is defined now by the national park and included other residential sites like Hovenweep National Monument and Yellow Jacket Pueblo. FUNCTION - Homes of Anasazi -These structures were mostly residential but some were used for storage and ritual. CONTENT - There are more than 4300 sites and more than 600 cliff dwellings - "Verde" is Spanish for green. "Mesa" means table but here refers to the flat-topped mountains common in the southwestern United States. - The Ancestral Puebloans accessed these dwellings with retractable ladders - To access Mesa Verde National Park, you drive up to the plateau along a winding road. - The largest of all the cliff dwellings, Cliff Palace, has about 150 rooms and more than 20 circular rooms. Due to its location, it was well protected from the elements. - The buildings originally ranged from one to four stories, and some hit the natural stone ceiling. - These buildings, along with the decorative elements and objects found inside them, provide important insights into the lives of the Ancestral Puebloan people during the thirteenth century. - At sites like Cliff Palace, families lived in architectural units, organized around kivas, circular, subterranean rooms. -A kiva typically had a wood-beamed roof held up by six engaged support columns made of masonry above a shelf-like banquette. Other typical features of a kiva included a fire pit or hearth, a ventilation shaft, a deflector (low wall designed to prevent air drawn from the ventilation shaft from reaching the fire directly), and a sipapu ( a small hole in the floor that is ceremonial in purpose). -They developed from the pithouse, also a circular, subterranean room used as a living space. -Kivas continue to be used for ceremonies today by Puebloan peoples, though not those within Mesa Verde National Park. - In the past, these circular spaces were likely both ceremonial and residential. If you visit Cliff Palace today, you will see the kivas without their roofs, but in the past they would have been covered. The space around them would have functioned as a small plaza -Connected rooms fanned out around these plazas, creating a housing unit. One room, typically facing onto the plaza, contained a hearth (the floor of a fireplace.) Family members most likely gathered here. Other rooms located off the hearth were most likely storage rooms, with just enough of an opening to squeeze your arm through a hole to grab anything you might need. -Cliff Palace also features some unusual structures, including a circular tower. Archaeologists are still uncertain as to the exact use of the tower. - The builders of these structures plastered and painted murals, although what remains today is fairly fragmentary. Some murals display geometric designs, while other murals represent animals and plants. - For example, Mural 30, on the third floor of a rectangular tower (more accurately a room block) at Cliff Palace, is painted red against a white wall. The mural includes geometric shapes that are thought to portray the landscape. - This mural is similar to murals inside other cliff dwellings, including Spruce Tree House and Balcony House. Scholars have suggested that the red band at the bottom symbolizes the earth while the lighter portion of the wall symbolizes the sky. The top of the red band, then, forms a horizon line that separates the two. We recognize what look like triangular peaks, perhaps mountains on the horizon line. The rectangular element in the sky might relate to clouds, rain, or the sun and moon. The dotted lines might represent cracks in the earth. - The creators of the murals used paint produced from clay, organic materials, and minerals. For instance, the red color came from hematite, a red ocher. Blue pigment could be turquoise or azurite, while black was often derived from charcoal. -Along with the complex architecture and mural painting, the Ancestral Puebloan peoples produced black-on-white ceramics and turquoise and shell jewelry. -Goods were imported from afar including shell and other types of pottery. Many of these high-quality objects and their materials demonstrate the close relationship these people had to the landscape. for example, the geometric designs on the mugs above appear similar to those in Mural 30 at Cliff Palace. CONTEXT - The Ancestral Puebloan peoples, formerly known as the Anasazi lived in these homes. - Beginning after 1000-1100 CE, they built more than 600 structures into the cliff faces of the Four Corners region of the United States: the southwestern corner of Colorado, northwestern corner of New Mexico, northeastern corner of Arizona, and southeastern corner of Utah. - The dwellings depicted here are located in what is today southwestern Colorado in the national park known as Mesa Verde. - Ancestral Puebloans occupied the Mesa Verde region from about 450 CE to 1300 CE. - Not all Ancestral Puebloans lived in cliff dwellings. only about 125 people lived in Cliff Palace, the largest of the Mesa Verde sites. - From 500-1300 CE, Ancestral Puebloans who lived at Mesa Verde were sedentary (seated) farmers who cultivated beans, squash, and corn. -Corn originally came from what is today Mexico at some point during the first millennium of the Common Era. Originally most farmers lived near their crops, but this shifted in the late 1100s when people began to live near sources of water and often had to walk longer distances to their crops. -So why move up to the cliff alcoves at all, away from water and crops? They certainly provide shade and protection from snow. but we are left only with educated guesses -The cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde were abandoned around 1300 CE. why did people leave the area? We dont know, maybe bc droughts occurred from 1276 to 1299 CE. These dry periods likely caused a shortage of resources - People living in mesa verde were trading extensively with people

Yaxchilan (and Yaxchilan Lintels)

- 725 CE - Mexico - Mayan FUNCTION - Before the construction of Structure 23, there was a gap in building at Yaxchilán for about 150 years. - There was a focus on Lady Xook rather than Shield Jaguar II because it might be that the ruler wanted to promote his lineage and power through his principal wife (who had more prestige than his other wives). -Structure 23 is therefore important not only for advertising Shield Jaguar II's power, but also for highlighting the important role of royal women in Maya culture. -Other relief sculptures, such as Lintel 45 on Structure 44, show Shield Jaguar II with war captives to commemorate his victory in battles against rival city-states. FORM AND CONTENT - Yaxchilan Structure-Pyramid shape - Floating down the Usumacinta River in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala, Yaxchilán is located in Chiapas, Mexico (close to the border of Guatemala) between the Maya cities of Copán and Palenque. -The site hosts over 100 structures and monuments and is especially famous for its high-quality relief carvings. -Shield Jaguar II's commissions at Yaxchilán's central complex of buildings (called the Central Acropolis) include carved lintels (the beam at the top of a doorway), stairs faced with hieroglyphic writing, and stele (upright wood or stone slab monuments). -Some of the most famous lintels are those on Structure 23—a yotoot (palace building) showing Shield Jaguar II's wife, Lady K'abal Xook. -Anyone entering Structure 23 would pass underneath the limestone lintels when entering the doorways; the lintels are thus situated in a liminal space between exterior and interior. - The three lintels on Structure 23—known as lintels 24, 25, and 26—depict different ritual moments in the life of Lady Xook. -While they appear to have been carved years apart from one another, they seem to show a narrative. the monuments and objects uncovered at Yaxchilán are numbered in the order in which they were found - On Lintel 24, Lady Xook pulls a thorned cord through her tongue so that she can bleed onto paper that fills a basket on the ground before her. -She is engaged in bloodletting—the ritual shedding of blood. Her husband, Shield Jaguar II, holds a lit torch above her. The glyphs (writing) on the top note Lady Xook's titles, and mention that the events depicted occurred on 28 October 709 C.E. -Bloodletting was a common ritual among elites and it is one of the most frequent subjects in Maya art. A ruler or other elites (including women), would let blood to honor and feed the gods, at the dedication ceremony of a building, when children were born, or other occasions. -Rulers needed to shed blood in order to maintain order in the cosmos. The ruler was believed to be a descendent of the gods, and the act of bloodletting was of critical importance in maintaining their power. - Bloodletting was also an act related to rebirth and rejuvenation. - The loss of blood and the burning of incense produced hallucinations, which were desired in certain ritual contexts to access other realms. -In lintel 25, Lady Xook (in the lower right) kneels before a vision serpent, from whose mouth emerges a figure. Lady Xook holds a bowl in her left hand while she looks up towards the rising serpent. In addition to her patterned huipil (square-cut blouse), Lady Xook is festooned with a headdress, elaborate bracelets, earrings, and a necklace—likely made of jade. In the bowl are pieces of paper stained with her blood. She has likely burned the paper to allow the blood to ascend to the gods, and to bring about the vision serpent. - you can see that the figure emerging from the vision serpent's mouth is armed with a shield, spear and a war helmet. He, too, wears an elaborate headdress, a breastplate and ear spools. The identity of this figure is debated; some scholars claim it is an ancestral figure while other believe it is Shield Jaguar II or perhaps even Lady Xook. -A glyphic inscription ( written backwards) in the upper left corner of Lintel 25 notes the date of Shield Jaguar II's ascension to the throne in October 681. The image and the inscription both reinforce the reign of the ruler and his dynastic ties, in this case via his wife. - The lintels exemplify the skilled carving of Maya artists at Yaxchilán—and the Maya more generally. The scenes are carved in high relief with carefully incised details decorating the raised surfaces. A diamond pattern decorates Lady Xook's huipil, for instance, in Lintel 24 - The contour and incised lines of the lintels possess a calligraphic quality, as if they were drawn or painted rather than carved. - The Yaxchilán lintels were originally painted, although only traces remain, including red on Lady Xook's clothing and the brilliant Maya blue color on the background of Lintel 24 - Also located within the Central Acropolis near Structure 23, Structure 33 (dedicated around 756 C.E.) is an example of Maya Classic architecture, particularly of the Usumacinta and Peten region or "style" as some would call it. -It was most likely built by Bird Jaguar IV, who like his father Shield Jaguar II engaged in a series of building projects and commissioned various monuments as part of his campaign to legitimate his rule. Bird Jaguar ascended the throne ten years after his father died, suggesting that there was perhaps a conflict about who was to become Yaxchilán's ruler. - Structure 33 rests on the side of the main plaza, making it a focal point for the area. The building itself is narrow, only one vault deep, so it was not intended to hold many people. -Three entryways punctuate the exterior—which is embellished with stucco ornamentation. An elaborate roof-comb (a masonary "wall" that rises upwards above a building to give the impression that it is taller than it actually is), arguably the most famous component of the temple, incorporates a decorative frieze, niches, and sculptural elements, including a sculpted human being in the central niche. It is possible that this is Bird Jaguar IV. -Intricate latticework covers the symmetrical roof-comb and the building's overall style is reminiscent of buildings found at other important Classic Maya city-states like Palenque. -Like Structure 23, carved lintels form the underside of each of the doorways on Structure 33. Lintel 1, for example, shows Bird Jaguar festooned in the clothing of a Maya ruler. -The other lintels show a similar concern with rulership. Lintel 2 displays Bird Jaguar and his son and heir, Chel Te' Chan K'inich (later known as Shield Jaguar IV), while another depicts Bird Jaguar once again dressed in royal regalia.* - Hieroglyphic Stairway #2 leads up to the building. The top step of Structure 33 displays rulers, including Bird Jaguar IV and his father and grandfather playing the ballgame in a series of thirteen carved limestone blocks. They play against Yaxchilán enemies—such as Lord Jeweled Skull who Bird Jaguar defeats. - Bird Jaguar IV also had Structure 40 built as part of his political campaign to secure his rulership. Structure 40 sits in the South Acropolis, flanked by two other structures. It displays the typical Yaxchilán architectural style—a rectangular vaulted building with a stuccoed roof comb. -Like many other Yaxchilán buildings it had stele associated with it, such as Stela 11 that showed Bird Jaguar IV towering over war captives accompanied by his parents. The stela, like the buildings and other commissioned works, were intended to advertise Bird Jaguar IV's dynastic lineage and thus his right to rule. - Lintels 24, 25 and 26, set above the three doorways of Structure 23, depict a series of rituals performed by Shield Jaguar II and his wife. -Structure 21, commissioned by Bird Jaguar IV, housed lintels 15, 16 and 17. CONTEXT - Yaxchilán's ruling dynasty rose in the 4th century C.E., but its bloom followed several hundred years later (during what art historians call the Classic period), with Lord Shield Jaguar II who ruled for 60 years beginning in 681. - He commissioned some of the most famous sculptural works at the site. His son and heir, Bird Jaguar IV, continued this tradition. - the city-state Maya collapsed in the 9th century.

Chavín de Huántar

- 900 BCE - Northern Highlands, Peru FORM - At 10,330 feet in elevation, it sits between the eastern (Cordillera Negra—snowless) and western (Cordillera Blanca—snowy) ranges of the Andes, near two of the few mountain passes that allow passage between the desert coast to the west and the Amazon jungle to the east. - It is also located near the confluence of the Huachesca and Mosna Rivers, a natural phenomenon of two joining into one that may have been seen as a spiritually powerful phenomenon. - The temple complex that stands today is comprised of two building phases: the U-shaped Old Temple, built around 900 B.C.E., and the New Temple (built around 500 B.C.E.), which expanded the Old Temple and added a rectangular sunken court. - The majority of the structures used roughly-shaped stones in many sizes to compose walls and floors. Finer smoothed stone was used for carved elements. - From its first construction, the interior of the temple had a multitude of tunnels, called galleries. While some of the maze-like galleries are connected with each other, some are separate. - The galleries all existed in darkness—there are no windows in them, although there are many smaller tunnels that allow for air to pass throughout the structure. Archaeologists are still studying the meaning and use of these galleries and vents, but new explorations are examining the acoustics of these structures, and how they may have projected sounds from inside the temple to pilgrims in the plazas outside. It is possible that the whole building spoke with the voice of its god. FUNCTION -The location of Chavín helped make it a special place—the temple built there became an important pilgrimage site that drew people and their offerings from far - Over the course of 700 years, the site drew many worshipers to its temple who helped in spreading the artistic style of Chavín throughout highland and coastal Peru by transporting ceramics, textiles, and other portable objects back to their homes. - The god for whom the temple was constructed was represented in the Lanzón Stela, a notched wedge-shaped stone over 15 feet tall, carved with the image of a supernatural being, and located deep within the Old Temple, intersecting several galleries. - Lanzón means "great spear" in Spanish, in reference to the stone's shape, but a better comparison would be the shape of the digging stick used in traditional highland agriculture. That shape seem to indicate that the deity's power was ensuring successful planting and harvest. - The Lanzón depicts a standing figure with large round eyes looking upward. Its mouth is also large, with bared teeth and protruding fangs. The figure's left hand rests pointing down, while the right is raised upward, encompassing the heavens and the earth. Both hands have long, talon-like fingernails. -A carved channel runs from the top of the Lanzón to the figure's forehead, perhaps to receive liquid offerings poured from one of the intersecting galleries. CONTENT - Two key elements characterize the Lanzón deity: it is a mixture of human and animal features -The fangs and talons most likely indicate associations with the jaguar and the caiman—apex predators from the jungle lowlands that are seen elsewhere in Chavín art and in Andean iconography. -The eyebrows and hair of the figure have been rendered as snakes, making them read as both bodily features and animals. -on the figure's tunic, where two heads share a single fanged mouth. This technique, where two images share parts or outlines, is called contour rivalry, and in Chavín art it creates a visually complex style that is confusing, creating a barrier between believers who can see its true form and those outside the cult who cannot. - While the Lanzón was hidden deep in the temple and probably only seen by priests, the same iconography and contour rivalry was used in Chavín art on the outside of the temple and in portable wares that have been found throughout Peru - The serpent motif seen in the Lanzón is also visible in a nose ornament in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. This pinches or passes through the septum, is a common form in the Andes. - The two serpent heads flank right and left, with the same upward-looking eyes as the Lanzón. The swirling forms beneath them also evoke the sculpture's eye shape. -An ornament like this would have been worn by an elite person to show not only their wealth and power but their allegiance to the Chavín religion. -Metallurgy in the Americas first developed in South America before traveling north, and objects such as this that combine wealth and religion are among the earliest examples. -This particular piece was formed by hammering and cutting the gold, but Andean artists would develop other forming techniques over time. CONTEXT -Once thought to be the birthplace of an ancient "mother culture," the modern understanding is more nuanced (elaborate?). -The cultural expressions found at Chavín most likely did not originate in that place, but can be seen as coming into their full force there. - The visual legacy of Chavín would persist long after the site's decline in approximately 200 B.C.E., with motifs and stylistic elements traveling to the southern highlands and to the coast.

Templo Mayor (Main Temple)

-1375 CE - Tenochtitlan, Mexico - Aztec FORM - Volcanic stone - approximately ninety feet high and covered in stucco. FUNCTION - the twin temples were dedicated to the deities Tlaloc and Huitzilopochti. CONTENT - Located in the sacred precinct at the heart of the city, the Templo Mayor was positioned at the center of the Mexica capital and thus the entire empire. -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 grand staircases accessed twin temples, which were dedicated to the deities Tlaloc and Huitzilopochti. - Tlaloc was the deity of water and rain and was associated with agricultural fertility. Huitzilopochtli was the patron deity of the Mexica, and he was associated with warfare, fire, and the Sun. - Paired together on the Templo Mayor, the two deities symbolized the Mexica concept of atl-tlachinolli, or burnt water, which connoted warfare—the primary way in which the Mexica acquired their power and wealth. - In the center of the Huitzilopochtli temple was a sacrificial stone. Near the top, standard-bearer figures decorated the stairs. They likely held paper banners and feathers. Serpent balustrades adorn the base of the temple of Huitzilopochtli, and two undulating serpents flank the stairs that led to the base of the Templo Mayor as well. - By placing the Coyolxauhqui Stone at the base of Huiztilopochtli's temple, the Mexica effectively transformed the temple into Coatepec. -Many of the temple's decorations and sculptural program also support this identification. The snake balustrades and serpent heads identify the temple as a snake mountain, or Coatepec. -It is possible that the standard-bearer figures recovered at the Templo Mayor symbolized Huitzilopochtli's 400 brothers. -Ritual performances that occurred at the Templo Mayor also support the idea that the temple symbolically represented Coatepec. For instance, the ritual of Panquetzaliztli (banner raising) celebrated Huitzilopochtli's triumph over Coyolxauhqui and his 400 brothers. People offered gifts to the deity, danced and ate tamales. -During the ritual, war captives who had been painted blue were killed on the sacrificial stone and then their bodies were rolled down the staircase to fall atop the Coyolxauhqui monolith to reenact the myth associated with Coatepec. -For the enemies of the Mexica and those people the Mexica ruled over, this ritual was a powerful reminder to submit to Mexica authority. Clearly, the decorations and rituals associated with the Templo Mayor connoted the power of the Mexica empire and their patron deity, Huitzilopochtli. -At the top center of the Tlaloc temple is a sculpture of a male figure on his back painted in blue and red. The figure holds a vessel on his abdomen likely to receive offerings. This type of sculpture is called a chacmool, and is older than the Mexica. It was associated with the rain god, in this case Tlaloc. - At the base of the Tlaloc side of the temple, on the same axis as the chacmool, are stone sculptures of two frogs with their heads arched upwards. This is known as the Altar of the Frogs. The croaking of frogs was thought to herald the coming of the rainy season, and so they are connected to Tlaloc. - While Huiztilopochtli's temple symbolized Coatepec, Tlaloc's temple was likely intended to symbolize the Mountain of Sustenance, or Tonacatepetl. This fertile mountain produced high amounts of rain, thereby allowing crops to grow. - Over a hundred ritual caches or deposits containing thousands of objects have been found associated with the Templo Mayor. 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 - 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 CONTEXT - The city of Tenochtitlan was established in 1325 on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco and with the city's foundation the Templo Mayor was built. -Between 1325 and 1519, the Templo Mayor was expanded, enlarged, and reconstructed during seven main building phases, which likely corresponded with different rulers, or tlatoani ("speaker"), taking office. Sometimes new construction was the result of environmental problems, such as flooding. -archeologists have found that with each phase, the same subject of Coyolxauhqui, was placed in the same location over and over.

Olmec-style mask (Templo Mayor)

FORM - This mask is not much bigger than the palm of a hand. - Polished green stone FUNCTION - this was found buried as a kind of offering in the temple precinct - the Aztecs collected these objects, and then ritually burying them at certain points, and this object would've been one of many buried in a specific offering - It's a traditional Olmec mask CONTENT - It's a great example of Olmec features, like upturned lips, this almost-baby face, almond eyes, the cleft in the head. CONTEXT - This mask actually belonged to the Olmec culture, which started thriving somewhere between 1500 and 1200 B.C.E. So, more than 1500 years before the Aztecs, the Olmecs were thriving along the Gulf Coast of Mexico, not even Central Mexico, where the Aztecs are later building. - It shows us that the Aztecs had a reverence for the ancient cultures that came before them - They were looking to the Olmec, the kind of "mother culture" of Mesoameric and the city of Teotihuacán and its inhabitants, that was flourishing hundreds and hundreds of years before the Aztec. That's the city famous because of its enormous pyramids And it was where the Aztecs thought the Fifth Era, or the Sun, was born, and they called it "The City of the Gods." That's what "Teotihuacán" means. - So the Aztecs were collecting objects from both Central Mexico, but also from quite a distance. They were importing materials from what is now the southwest of the United States. They were bringing objects up from the Yucatán.

Coyolxauhqui Stone (Templo Mayor)

FORM - This was once painted with bright colors CONTENT - Coyolxauhqui monolith is found at the base of the stairs of huiztilopohctli temple. Originally painted and carved in low relief, it is approximately eleven feet in diameter and displays the female deity Coyolxauhqui, or Bells-on-her-face, or Bells-Her-Cheeks. The figure features prominently in Aztec mythology. - the bells on her cheeks are telling us who she is - Golden bells decorate 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. Monster faces are found at her joints, connecting her to other female deities—some of whom are associated with trouble and chaos. - She is shown naked, with sagging breasts and a stretched belly to indicate that she was a mother. For the Mexica, nakedness was considered a form of humiliation and also defeat. She is also decapitated and dismembered. Her head and limbs are separated from her torso and are organized in a pinwheel shape. Pieces of bone stick out from her limbs. - this pinwheel composition, this chaotic movement but it would've been much easier to pick out the various motifs with color. The background would've been red, to give the impression of a pool of blood and her body would've been painted in like a yellow color. - a skull that would've been at her back, a snake belt around her waist. CONTEXT AND FUNCTION - The monolith relates to an important myth: the birth of the Mexica patron deity, Huitzilopochtli. Huitzilopochtli's mother, Coatlicue (Snakes-her-skirt), was squeaking on top of Snake Mountain and a ball of feathers fell into her apron skirt and became pregnant. Her daughter, Coyolxauhqui, became angry when she heard that her mother was pregnant, and together with her 400 brothers (called the Centzonhuitznahua) attacked their mother. At the moment of attack, Huitzilopochtli emerged, fully clothed and armed, to defend his mother on the mountain called Coatepec (Snake Mountain). Eventually, Huitzilopochtli defeated his sister, then beheaded her and threw her body down the mountain, at which point her body broke apart. - As the aztecs enlarged the temple they buried previous versions of the same subject and redid it on top in the same location. So both the subject and the location went together. - The Aztecs had a very active ritual calendar and there's one monthly festival. The festival called Panquetzalitztli or the Raising of the Banners that was devoted to the reenactment of this myth of the events of Snake Mountain. And so during this particular festival war captives would be killed at the top of the Huitzilopochtli side of the temple and they would be rolled down the temple to reenact the killing of Bells Her Cheeks or Coyolxauhqui.