Showing posts with label Mesoamerican Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mesoamerican Art. Show all posts

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Chacmool


We just learned about the art pattern of Xicalcoliuhqui.

Another ancient Mesoamerican work of art is the Chacmool.

These are sculptures of warriors on their backs, propped up on their elbows with their knees bent and their head turned.
They have a bowl on their stomach, and many people believe these were used to offer sacrifices to mythological gods for fallen warriors.



(from: wikipedia - chacmool)


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Saturday, November 9, 2019

Xicalcoliuhqui


We just learned about the San Martin Pajapan Monument I.

Another type of Mesoamerican art is Xicalcoliuhqui.

This word means "twisted gourd" and is something that is seen on a lot of art from the Mesoamerican areas from long ago.

It is made up of some small steps that are then connected to a spiral.
Ancient sculptures and paintings used this on buildings, clothing or other works of art.


(from: wikipedia - xicalcoliuhqui)


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Saturday, November 2, 2019

San Martín Pajapan Monument 1


We just learned about the Toltec Atlantean figures from Tula.

Another ancient sculpture from Mesoamerica is the San Martín Pajapan Monument 1.

This is another sculpture made by the Olmec people from ancient Mexico, carved some time before 1000 BC.

It is made out of basalt rock, and was found on the top of the San Martin Pajapan volcano in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

The statue is of a young ruler who is bent over and lifting a large bar from the ground.
People think this bar was meant to be for the world tree, and the sculpture was meant to show the earthly world connecting with the spiritual worlds above and below.


(from: wikipedia - )


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Saturday, October 26, 2019

Toltec Atlantean figures from Tula


We just learned about the Montezuma's Headdress.

Another famous Mesoamerican ancient sculpture is the Toltec Atlantean figures from Tula.

These are four big statues that used to be pillars that held up a roof for a building.
They are called atlantean figures, because they look kind of like sculptures of Atlas holding up the world that were found in Europe long ago.

The sculptures are in the town of Tula in the state of Hidalgo in Mexico.
No one knows for sure when they were built, but people think it was around 750 AD, by the Toltec people who lived there.

The statues are over 15 feet tall, have butterfly shaped armor, sun shields, feathered helmets, and spears.
They were warriors that were meant to serve the mythical Quetzalcoatl from ancient times in Mexico.


(from: wikipedia - atlantean figures)


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Saturday, October 19, 2019

Montezuma's Headdress


We just learned about the Teocalli of the Sacred War.

Another ancient mesoamerican work of art is Montezuma's Headdress.

This is a crown made of feathers sewn together, and decorated with some gold plates.
It is about 46 inches tall and 69 inches wide.
There are feathers from four birds: the cotinga amabilis, the roseate spoonbill, the squirrel cuckoo, and the quetzal.

Most of the feathers on the headdress are from the quetzal
.

(from: wikipedia - montezuma's headdress)


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Saturday, October 12, 2019

Teocalli of the Sacred War


We just learned about the ancient sculpture of The Wrestler.

Another ancient Mesoamerican work of art is the Teocalli of the Sacred War.

This is a stone sculpture that looks like a miniature sized Aztec temple.
Some people believe this was built to be a throne for the ruler of the Aztecs in the 1500s.


(from: wikipedia - teocalli of the sacred war)


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Saturday, October 5, 2019

The Wrestler


We just learned about the Were-Jaguar Sculpture.

Another ancient Mesoamerican sculpture is The Wrestler.

This is a sculpture of a sitting man, made out of an igneous rock called basalt.

The man has his arms out and bent, and one leg forward and one leg back.
Because he looks like he is moving, some people thought it looked like he was getting ready to wrestle.
Historians don't think he was actually supposed to be a wrestler, but maybe someone doing a special ceremony.

This statue doesn't have special markings to say when it was made, so people are not really sure if it was made around 400 BC or around 1500 BC!

It was found in the Mexico state of Veracruz in 1933.


(from: wikipedia - the wrestler (sculpture))


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Saturday, September 28, 2019

Were-Jaguar Sculpture


We just learned about the Aztec Sun Stone.

Another ancient Mesoamerican sculpture is the Were-Jaguar Sculpture.

Some time before 600 BC in the area of Mexico there were a bunch of sculptures created that showed people that seemed to be part jaguar and part human.
Kind of like a werewolf, but with a jaguar so they called it a were-jaguar.

People these days are not really sure what this meant back then, if it was something worshipped by people long ago or if it was some old story, but there are a bunch of these were-jaguar sculptures.

One of them is very famous, and is called the Las Limas figure.
It is about 22 inches tall and shows a person holding a little were-jaguar baby.
The statue is made of greenstone, which means it was made from one of the many greenish rocks found in the area, like omphacite or olivine.

Were-jaguar sculptures had a dip in the top middle of their head, almond shaped eyes with round irises, a frowning mouth with the upper lip lifted up, and gums with no teeth.



(from: wikipedia - werejaguar)


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Saturday, September 21, 2019

Aztec Sun Stone


We just learned about the La Mojarra Stela 1.

Another famous Mesoamerican sculpture is the Aztec Sun Stone, made some time around 1500 AD in Mexico.

This stone is about over 11 feet wide, and over 3 feet thick.

The design of the stone is split up into a few different parts.

The very middle is a sculpture of a face that people think was the sun god that the people believed in.
Around the face are four squares representing symbols for past times. The jaguar, wind, rain and water.

The first circle around that is a type of calendar, with different parts of the year shown as symbols like crocodiles, monkeys or dogs.

The second circle has sculptures of arches, feathers, and different lines that people think are for the suns rays.

The last circle on the outside has two big serpents meeting face to face, that have flame carvings all over their bodies.

(from: wikipedia - aztec sun stone)


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Saturday, September 14, 2019

La Mojarra Stela 1


We just learned about the Double Headed Serpent.

Another ancient sculpture from Mesoamerica is the La Mojarra Stela 1 made some time before 200 AD, in Veracruz Mexico.

We've learned before that a stele or stela is a tall stone or wooden slab that has carvings and usually writings on it, to honor someone that died, someone winning a battle, or an important set of words that people need to remember.

This stela is a carving of an warrior in a costume, and it has some writing on it about the warrior.


(from: wikipedia - la mojarra stela 1)


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Saturday, September 7, 2019

Double Headed Serpent


We just learned about the Serpent Labret with Articulated Tongue jewelry worn by Aztec people in their lip.

Another sculpture from ancient America is the Double Headed Serpent, made around 1500 AD in what is now Mexico.

The sculpture is a wavy snake with a head on either end.
It is made out of wood, turquoise, pine resin, shells and other things.
On the inside it is a wooden snake sculpture, and then turquoise stones were broken into tiny pieces and glued to the wooden body using pine resin.
It has holes for eyes, and some sticky beeswax in it so people think there might have been jewels for eyes before they fell out.
This was a sculpture made by the ancient Aztecs.


(from: wikipedia - double-headed serpent)


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Saturday, August 31, 2019

Serpent Labret with Articulated Tongue


We just learned about the Olmec Colossal Heads.

Another ancient art from the ancient Americas is the Serpent Labret with Articulated Tongue.

This is a type of jewelry that was worn in someone's pierced lower lip.
The snake would stick out, and the tongue would even move when they moved their head.
In the place now known as Mexico there were people called the Aztecs that would sometimes pierce their lips and wear things in their mouth like that.

It's made of gold, copper and silver, and was made long ago, some time around 1400 AD.



(from: wikipedia - serpent labret with articulated tongue)


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Saturday, August 24, 2019

Olmec Colossal Heads


We just learned about the Nubian Pyramids in Africa.

Another group of ancient sculptures are the Olmec Colossal Heads.

These are in the states of Veracruz and Tabasco, in Mexico.
They were made thousands of years ago, by the Olmec people who lived in that area long ago.

Archeologists have found 17 different heads built in the area, and all of them, from 4 feet to 11 feet tall.
Because they are so big and heavy, people think that these heads must have been made to honor rulers like kings or queens from those days.



(from: wikipedia - olmec colossal heads)


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