Download
1 / 20
E N D
MESOAMERICA • After destruction of Teotihuacán and the abandonment of the southern Maya sites, new cities arose to take their places. Notable were the Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Yucatán and Tula, the Toltec capital. Their dominance was relatively short lived, however, and neither city left extensive written records. Thus, Mesoamerican history in the early Postclassic period (ca. 900-1250) is less well documented than that of earlier groups. The history of the cultures that succeeded them in the late Postclassic period (ca. 1250-1521), however, is better known.
The Borgia Codex • One page of The Borgia Codex shows the god of life, the black Quetzalcóatl, and the god of death, the white Mictlantecuhtli. Below is an inverted skull, a symbol of the Underworld. The image conveys the joining of opposites and the relationship of life and death, an important theme in Mesoamerican art. Symbols of the 20 days of the 260-day Mesoamerican ritual calendar appear in the margins.
Mictlantecuhtli and Quetzalcóatl, illuminated page from the Borgia Codex, from Puebla/Tlaxcala (?), Mexico, ca. 1400–1500. Mineral and vegetable pigments on deerskin, approx. 10 5/8” X 10 3/8”. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome.
The Rise of the Aztecs: • The destruction of Tula in about 1200 and the disintegration of the Toltec Empire began a century of anarchy. Northern invaders, the Aztecs, gradually organized into city-states, acquiring the Toltec culture. Their magnificent city of Tenochtitlán was laid out on a grid plan, reminiscent of Teotihuacán, which had become a pilgrimage site for the Aztecs. The Aztecs believed they had a divine mission to propagate the cult of their tribal god, Huitzilopochtli, the hummingbird god of war. Aztec statecraft used the gods and human sacrifice to achieve and maintain political dominion.
Coyolxauhqui (She of the Golden Bells), Aztec, from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlán, Mexico City, ca. 1469. Stone, diameter approx. 10’ 10”. Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City.
Coatlicue (She of the Serpent Skirt), Aztec, from Tenochtitlán, Mexico City, ca. 1487–1520. Andesite, 11’ 6” high. Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
The Inka Empire • The Inka were a highland tribe who established themselves in the Cuzco Valley around 1000, with the city of Cuzco as their capital. In the fifteenth century, their empire stretched from modern Quito, Ecuador, to central Chile. The Inka's story, like those of the pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica, ended in extermination by the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century.The Inka mastered the difficult problems of Andean agriculture with expert terracing and irrigation, and knitted together the fabric of their empire with networks of roads and bridges. Stone steps ascended steep terrain, and rope bridges crossed canyons Relay runners carried messages throughout the empire along main highways and connecting roads. • The imperial Inka were great architects, masters of shaping and fitting stone, and grasped the relationship of architecture to site. An example is the mountain city of Machu Picchu, a rare site left undisturbed since Inka times. The Inkas carefully sited buildings so that windows and doors framed spectacular views of sacred peaks and facilitated the recording of important astronomical events.
Figure 30-5 Machu Picchu (view from adjacent peak), Inka, Peru, 15th century.
Figure 30-6 Wall of the Golden Enclosure (surmounted by the church of Santo Domingo), Inka, Cuzco, Peru, 15th century.
The North American Southwest • By the time of the first European contact in the sixteenth century, the ancient peoples of the Southwest had evolved into the "Pueblo Indians." The Pueblo Indians include a linguistically diverse, but culturally similar, group of peoples from the Hopi of northern Arizona to the Rio Grande Pueblos of New Mexico. The Apache and Navajo, descendants of nomadic hunters from northwestern Canada, also adopted many features of Pueblo life.
Detail of a kiva painting from Kuaua Pueblo (Coronado State Monument), Anasazi, New Mexico, late 15th to early 16th century. MIAC/LOA Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe.
MARÍA MONTOYA MARTÍNEZ, jar, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, ca. 1939. Blackware, 11 1/8” x 1’ 1”. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. (gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Hollachy).
The Hopi Katsina or Kachina Another art form from the Southwest, the Kachina doll, also has deep roots in the area. Kachinas are benevolent supernatural spirits personifying natural elements. Kachina dolls are miniature representations of the masked dancers who impersonate Kachinas during festivals. The Kachina of a rain-bringing deity wears a mask symbolic of water and agricultural fertility.
Northwest Coast • Among the Northwest Coast tribes are the Kwakiutl of southern British Columbia, the Haida who live on the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of the province, and the Tlingit of southern Alaska. In the Northwest, a class of professional artists developed, in contrast to the more typical Native American pattern of part-time artisans.The Northwest Coast artists carved masks for healing rites and dramatic ceremonial performances. The animals and mythological creatures celebrate the mythological origins and inherited privileges of high-ranking families. The Kwakiutl mask could be transformed from human to eagle and back again.
Eagle transformation mask, closed and open views, Kwakiutl, Alert Bay, late 19th century. Wood, feathers, and string, approx. 1’ 10” x 11”. American Museum of Natural History, New York.
Figure 30-13 Chilkat blanket with stylized animal motifs, Tlingit, early 20th century. Mountain goat’s wool and cedar bark, 6’ x 2’ 11”. Southwest Museum, Los Angeles.
