Pre - Columbian Art

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Pre - Columbian Art

• What you need to know to survive DCHS Art Week

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Pre-Columbian Art and Civilizations in Mexico

• The cultures of pre-Columbian Meso- America are
  very complex and cover thousands of years. (yes,
  I said thousands of years! ) This is time BEFORE
  Columbus!

• So get comfortable!

I have underlined what you need to know!
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• This time includes many peoples, languages,
  beliefs, crafts, architectural styles and ways of
  life. The geography of Mexico itself separates
  people. They developed different customs over
  time and still remain quite distinct from one
  another. Yet, all relied on corn as the basic
  food staple which was complemented by many
  vegetables. For the most part, pre-Columbian
  peoples also shared similar beliefs including the
  rain god, a calendar system of 365 days, rituals
  such as the ball court, and human and animal
  sacrifice. Prehistoric human presence in Mexico
  dates back to some 15,000 years ago with finds at
  the site of Hueyaltalco. However evidence of
  humans dates even longer ago to about 1,000 B.C.
  to northern Mexico. Most archaeologists think
  that people of the Americas traveled across the
  land bridge that once connected Siberia and
  Alaska. They made their way down to the tip of
  South America. This journey took 1000s years.
  Even after the Spaniards conquered the great
  civilizations of Latin America, the strong
  artistic traditions survived. There were great
  changes after the Conquest the introduction of
  new raw materials, sources of colors and designs,
  techniques of manufacture and others

Just Kidding!!!
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Mexico..

• Corn was the basic food staple.
• Mostly the people of Mexico had similar belief
  systems. These beliefs included the rain god, 260
  day Aztec calendar, rituals, human and animal
  sacrifices.

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• Even after the Spanish conquered the
  civilizations of Latin America, strong traditions
  lived onand on.

Even today these traditions live on in many
villages and remote areas of Mexico.
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What traditions????

• The Olmecs are an ancient group that in habited
  the State of Tabasco.

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Olmecs around 800-400 BC

• Olmec works of art, made of stone, clay, and
  jade, represent the first sophisticated artistic
  style that had been discovered in the Americas.

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• Olmec art continued to be an influence for more
  than 2300 years.

Codices were folding books made out of bark or
animal skin throughout Mexico and Central
America. These books told the stories about
chiefs or conquests through pictures.
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• The Zapotecs were located at Monte Alban which is
  4000 feet above current day Oaxaca.

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This is a picture of Monte Alban. You can see the
ruins in the picture.
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• There are 140 stone slabs that have carvings of
  dancers on them. These danzantes (dancers) have
  strong Olmec features.

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• The Aztecs took prisoners to use as human
  sacrifices. They felt that it was their duty to
  sacrifice these prisoners to their gods.

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• There were many gods that were important god
  of rain, god of sun, god of fire. All of these
  gods had different names based on the language.
  However, they were all a part of the culture.
  These are seen within carvings, drawings etc.

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• Painters specialized in murals in the temples
  and palaces. Also they made numerous kinds of
  ceramics, textiles, baskets etc.

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• The Aztec Capital was named Tenochtitlan which
  was located North of present day Mexico City.
  Teotihuacán was also an important city. Below is
  a picture of one of the ruins.

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• Example of Aztec drawings. Notice the shapes,
  colors and symbols

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• The Aztecs had a sophisticated way of dying
  and weaving in order to produce bright colored
  textiles. These same practices have survived the
  centuries and are still used today by the quarter
  of a million contemporary Aztecs.

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Fighters.not?

• The Aztecs were fighters. They were very
  fierce warriors. The people they conquered hated
  them because they sacrificed their prisoners. The
  Aztecs made these sacrifices to appease the gods.
  When they felt like the gods were angry with them
  they made human sacrifices to gain the favor of
  the gods.

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Human Sacrifices
He has someones guts in his hand.nice huh?
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Modern Day Aztec Dancers
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• Aztec rain god

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• Example of current artists trying to recreate
  Aztec art. (1997)

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• We cannot mention the Aztecs without talking
  about El Día de los Muertos. November 1st and
  2nd each year this holiday is celebrated. The
  roots of this holiday dates back to the Aztecs.
  You can find many pieces of art (drawings,
  carvings etc.) that reflect death and the
  offerings (ofrendas) given to those that have
  died. I have included some pictures..

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Here is another picture of the Aztec Warriors
what do you see?
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