Transcript Olmec

“Unthinking Eurocentrism”
(left) Joaquin Torres-Garcia (Uruguay, 1874-1949) Map of South America, 1943
(right) André Breton (French Surrealist poet, 1896-1966) Surrealist Map of the
World, 1929
In the Surrealist "Map of the World," 1929,
the Pacific Ocean is central, the United
States does not exist. Mexico, Russia,
Alaska, China, and Labrador are large and
important.
Dimaxion map
Voyages of Christopher Columbus, 1492, 1493, 1502
The Taíno:
The Caribbean before European Conquest
Taíno Zemi, Dominican Republic, cotton, shell, and human skull, 75 in H,
Anthropological museum, Turin, Italy
Taíno Duho, Dominican Republic, wood and manatee bone, 45 x 62 in,
Museum of Dominican Man, Santo Domingo; (right) detail of duho carving
Taíno (left & center) Zemi, clay & stone; (right) stone belt or yoke, C.E.1200
to 1500
Taíno reliquaries, hollow earthenware, C.E.1200 to 1500
Taíno, ritual objects: monkey-effigy ax, stone (left) and rattle, incised clay
(right), C.E.1200 to 1500
Latin America was the main destination of the millions of people enslaved and
taken out of Africa between 1500 and 1850. The U.S. received about
523,000 enslaved immigrants. Cuba alone got more. Spanish America
absorbed around 1.5 million and Brazil at least 3.5 million. Their descendants
form about half of the population in the Caribbean and Brazil – the two
historic centers of sugar production.
Taíno, Zemi, (left: back view), Dominican Republic, after 1515 CE, wood,
cotton, shell, and glass, 32” H, National Ethnographic Museum, Rome.
Combines Taino, European, and African materials, a syncretic spiritual object
made for a high ranking cacique
Raphael, The School of Athens (Philosophy), 1511, from the fresco suite
made for the Pope’s Vatican Library, Vatican City, Rome, Italy
El Escorial, palace-monastery of Philip II of Spain, mid-16th Century, this vast
complex was the center of the Counter-Reformation in Europe funded by the
enormous wealth drawn from Latin America. The Reformation had begun in 1517.
El Escorial, designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo, Spanish architect and sculptor who
had studied under Michelangelo in Rome.
Diego Velázquez
(Spanish 1599-1660),
Las Meninas, 1656.
Velázquez was the
leading painter of the
Spanish Golden Age.
The influence of his
painting is
unsurpassed in the
history of art.
Hispaniola, Taino/Arawak, 1500 CE
For the next quiz, know
locations and dates for
cultures covered in
lecture only. You can
use the dates given
here or in your
textbook. You will be
asked to mark them on
the same map we used
to identify modern
nation states of Central
and South America.
Olmec
Jadite mask, 10th-6th C. BCE
Centralized along the Gulf Coast of Mexico around the modern city
of Veracruz, the Olmec culture appeared as early as 1500 BCE and
lasted until about 400 BCE. The Olmec are the first of the great
Mesoamerican civilizations and laid the foundations for those that
followed.
Olmec: the first, parent, Mesoamerican high civilization, 1500–400 BCE.
Map showing sites and sites of influence and (right) Colossal Head, one of 10
Olmec heads, four San Lorenzo in Veracruz, Mexico, over 9ft high, Early Preclassic. C. 1500-1200 BCE.
Olmec culture. The yellow dots represent ancient habitation sites; the red dots represent
artifact finds.
Olmec head: (left) excavation, Veracruz, ca 1942; (below) at Anthropological
Museum, Xalapa. The largest of the colossal heads is over 9’ high and weighs
more than 25 tons, made of basalt, a stone that was brought from the Tuxtla
mountains. (upper right) National Geographic artist rendering of
transportation of colossal head.
(left) Olmec ”Wrestler,” basalt figure of a bearded man, Veracruz, 26” H
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
(right) Olmec, Las Limas Monument, greenstone, “priest” holding Rain God
deity from Las Limas, Veracruz, Middle Preclassic period, 21.5” high. Knees and
shoulders incised - profile heads of four Olmec gods with cleft heads:
considered Olmec Rosetta Stone, but all assertions of meaning are scholarly
speculation
Las Limas Monument shows an
androgenous youth holding a
were-jaguar infant. The tatoo-like
incised dieties (below) on
shoulders and knees are thought
to represent the Olmec pantheon.
The four supernaturals show
several common Olmec motifs, in
particular the cleft head.
Right shoulder
Left shoulder
Right leg
Left leg
Olmec culture, San Lorenzo, first site, Early Preclassic, (c.1000 BCE)
drainage system has been compared with Nile civilizations of Egypt
Olmec, north end of Altar 5 at La Venta. Two adult figures carry were-jaguar
babies
La Venta, Stele with
Three Kings, Olmec
Olmec, La Venta, mosaic
serpentine “floor” that had
been carefully buried (See
Miller)
Olmec carved jade and serpentine figures and celts (ceremonial hand axes)
and figures, excavated at a corner of a basalt courtyard, La Venta, figurines
(found arranged as a tableau) are c. 8”H; celts are 9” to 10” H.
Cranial deformation, loincloths, half-open mouths with deformed teeth
Olmec “frontier”: hollow figures, white slipped ceramic, all 11-16” H, Early
Formative (100-800 BCE)
Later Mesoamerican cultures induced crossed eyes during infancy – sign of
beauty and elegance
Olmec, "Hollow baby" white ware
figure, c. 100-800 BCE, Museo
Nacional de Antropología e Historia,
México
Teotihuacán ["the place where one becomes a god“] looking down the
Avenue of the Dead from the Pyramid of the Moon; map of Teotihuacán
heartland and area of influence. C. 150-550AD
Teotihuacán with archaeological map
(left) The only finished free-standing monument found at Teotihuacán in
front of the Pyramid of the Sun, reportedly of a water goddess, Early Classic
period, Ht 10 ft; (right) Stone mask, Early Classic, shell inlay, turquoise
mosaic
Teotihuacán ceramics: (left) tripod vase with sgraffito (“cloisonné) design
of Quetzalcoatl (feathered serpent) 600-750 CE; (right) sgraffito vessel with
Tlaloc (rain/storm god) usual goggle-shaped eyes and fanged mouth.
Cloisonné pottery involves coating the vessel's surface with a lime stucco-like
substance then applying colors between incised lines.
Teotihuacán, Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent), exterior sculptural decoration,
Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the major temple structure within the administrative
ceremonial center believed to have been built ca. 200/250 C.E. by a powerful ruler of
Teotihuacán
Burial of warriors sacrificed at the dedication of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl,
Teotihuacán, c. 250-300 CE. Note human mandibles and maxilla necklaces
and spear heads
Teotihuacán, Patio of Quetzalpapalotl (Quetzal-Butterfly”) Palace, with year
symbol roof carvings; (below right) mural in true fresco technique showing
Tlaloc (rain god) and (left) a artist's reconstruction of the "Tlalocan" (paradise
of the rain god) fresco
Teotihuacan palace courtyard, reconstructed
“Toltec” in Nahuatl means master builders. The Toltec formed a warrior
aristocracy that gained ascendancy in the Valley of Mexico CE c.900 after the fall
of Teotihuacan. A period of southward expansion began c.1000 and resulted in
Toltec domination of the Maya of Yucatan from the 11th to the 13th centuries.
Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico, Temple of the Warriors, Early Post-classic.
Toltec-Maya. Note Chacmool figure at top and colonnades that once
supported a roof. Compare Toltec Pyramid B at Tula.
Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico, Temple of the Warriors, Early Post-classic.
Toltec-Maya. Chacmool figure at top
Photo courtesy Joel Swonsen
Pyramid B of Tula Grande, civic/religious center of Tula, Hidalgo, the
Toltec capital
Post-Classic site view and map. At its apogee Tula covered 5.4 sq. miles and
contained a population of 30,000 – 40,000
Toltec, Tula Atlantes, Pyramid B. Temple roof supports carved as
Toltec warriors (front & back views),15ft high; (below) Tula stone
bas-reliefs from Coatepantli (Serpent Wall) relief carvings of human
skull in the jaws of a snake
Toltec, 10th -12th Century, CE) stone “chacmool” (red jaguar) from Tula,
only complete one of seven at site, Post-Classical period
Toltec, Tula, plumbate-ware jar covered with mother-of-pearl and other shell
mosaic. Supposed depiction of Quetzalcoatl emerging from the jaws of a
feathered coyote
Toltec ceramic bowls, (left) Mazapan (Teotihuacan) red-on-buff bowl; (right)
imported Papagayo Polychrome painted pottery.
The ruin of Tula, 1156 or 1168 AD
and the great Toltec diaspora
Nahuatl poem:
Everywhere there meet the eye,
Everywhere can be seen the remains of clay
vessels,
Of their cups, their figures,
Of their dolls, of their figurines,
Of their bracelets,
Everywhere are their ruins,
Truly the Toltecs once lived here
Aztec Empire in 1519; (right) Aztec
Eagle Warrior, hollow, life-sized ceramic
recovered from the Great Temple
excavations.
According to legend, Azteca (Mexica) tribe
entered central Mexico from “Aztlan” in
AD 1111.
Aztec, Tenochtitlán: (left) artist’s historical rendering, (right) map made by
Cortez from memory, published in 1524. There were three major causeways
that ran from the mainland into the city which was divided into four districts
and populated by more than two hundred thousand people. In 1521, Cortez
demolished the ceremonial center during the course of the longest continuous
battle ever recorded in military history.
“The city is spread out in circles of jade,
Radiating flashes of light like quetzal plumes,
Beside it the lords are borne in boats:
Over them extends a flowery mist.”
Nahuatl poem
Aztec, Codex Mendoza, mid-16th century, early colonial period, made for the
Viceroy of New Spain. This image from the Codex Mendoza, which tells the
history and customs of the Aztecs, illustrates the founding of Tenochtitlán in
1325.
Flag of Mexico
Aztec, Templo Mayor (Great Temple); (right) excavation site in 1978 the
heart of the sacred precinct in their capital city, Tenochtitlán (now in Mexico
City). Only the base remains of what was once a massive double pyramid,
which represented the hill where Huitzilopochtli (wee-tsee-loh-poch'-tlee), the
god of god of war and of the sun, of the Aztec origin myth, was born
Aztec, Tenochtitlan, Templo Mayor ruins: Painted reclining sacrificial
Chacmool figure; Tzompantli (skull rack)
Aztec, colossal stone relief of Coyolxauhqui (coh-yohl-shau'-kee, Moon
Goddess) from Great Temple of Tenochtitlan, Late Post-Classic, c 11ft w;
Coatlicue (Serpent Skirt), an earth goddess who gave birth to the Aztec tribal
deity, Huitzilopochtli, stone, 8 ft. h
Aztec Calendar Stone from
the Great Temple, Late PostClassical period. The
monolithic sculpture was
excavated in the Zócalo,
Mexico City's main square,
on December 17, 1790.
Measuring about 12 ft in
diameter, 4 ft in thickness,
and weighing 24 tons, the
original basalt version is on
display at the National
Museum of Anthropology in
Mexico City. It contains a
hieroglyphic and pictographic
layout of how the Aztecs
measured time, and was
primarily a religious and
cosmological artifact.
Aztec feathered shields with war symbols