Survey 1 ch13

Copyright © 2018, 2014, 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Art History
Sixth Edition
Chapter 13
Art of the Americas before
1300

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)
13.a Identify the visual hallmarks of the art of early cultures in the
Americas for formal, technical, and expressive qualities.
13.b Interpret the meaning of works of art of early cultures in the
Americas based on their themes, subjects, and symbols.
13.c Relate artists and the art of early cultures in the Americas to their
distinct cultural, economic, and political contexts.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)
13.d Apply the vocabulary and concepts relevant to the art, artists, and
art history of early cultures in the Americas.
13.e Interpret a work of art of the early Americas using the art historical
methods of observation, comparison, and inductive reasoning.
13.f Select visual and textual evidence in various media to support an
argument or an interpretation of a work of art of the early Americas.

OFFERING 4, LA VENTA
Mexico. Olmec culture, c. 750–550 BCE.
Jade, greenstone, granite, and sandstone, height of figures 6-1/4"-7" (16-18 cm).
Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City. © akg-images/De Agostini Picture Lib./G.
Dagli Orti. [Fig. 13-01]

The Rise of Civilizations in the
Americas
• It is widely debated how native peoples entered the Americas and
remained isolated from Africa and Eurasia until the European invasion
in the 1400s.
• A shift to agriculture was accompanied by the slow rise of hierarchical
societies with systems of writing and metalwork.
• Extraordinary artistic traditions flourished in five American regions.

Mesoamerica and Central America
• The area between the Valley of Mexico and Honduras in Central
America was linked by cultural similarity and trade.
• Three broad periods define these civilizations: Preclassic, Classic, and
Postclassic.
• The Classic period (250–900 CE) brackets the time during which the
Maya erected dated stone monuments.

THE AMERICAS BEFORE 1300
Human beings moved across North America, then southward through Central America
until they eventually reached the Tierra del Fuego region of South America. [Map 13-01]

Art and Its Contexts: The Cosmic
Ballgame
• A ritual ballgame was popular during the Mesoamerican period and it
appeared commonly in works of art.
• A Cylindrical Vessel shows four lords playing the game, which may
have had political and religious significance.
• The largest surviving ballcourt at Chichen Itza was bigger than a
football field.

BALLCOURT
Copan, Honduras.
Maya culture, c. 711–736 CE.
© Keren Su/Getty Images. [Fig. 13-02]

CYLINDRICAL VESSEL WITH BALLGAME SCENE
Maya culture, 600–800 CE.
Painted ceramic, diameter 6-3/8" (15.9 cm), height 8-1/8" (20.5 cm).
Dallas Museum of Art. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Nasher 1983.148. Roll-out
photograph © Justin Kerr, K2803. [Fig. 13-03]

The Olmec (1 of 2)
• The basalt for Colossal Heads was quarried from a distant site and
brought to San Lorenzo and La Venta.
– Each head displays different features and may represent
individuals.

COLOSSAL HEAD, SAN LORENZO
Basalt, height 7'5" (2.26 m).
Werner Forman Archive. [Fig. 13-04]

The Olmec (2 of 2)
• The Olmec participated in extensive long-distance trade to acquire
jade and other precious materials.
• Raised earth mounds served as ceremonial centers.
• The Great Pyramid was the most prominent earth mound at La Venta,
at a height of over 100 feet.

GREAT PYRAMID AND PLAZA, LA VENTA
Pyramid height approx. 100' (30 m).
© 2016. Image copyright The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence.
[Fig. 13-05]

Teotihuacan (1 of 3)
• At its height during 300–650 CE, Teotihuacan had a population of
125,000.
– Residents lived in apartment compounds.
• Its monopoly on obsidian aided its wealth.
• Many deities were worshipped and pyramids accommodated
assemblies.

CEREMONIAL CENTER OF THE CITY OF TEOTIHUACAN
Mexico. Teotihuacan culture, c. 100–650 CE.
V Korostyshevskiy/Fotolia. [Fig. 13-06]

PLAN OF THE CEREMONIAL CENTER OF TEOTIHUACAN
[Fig. 13-07]

• The Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent is a seven-tiered structure with
talud-tablero sloping bases and entablatures.
– Painted heads of the goggle-eyed Storm God and Feather
Serpent protrude from the balustrade.

PYRAMID OF THE FEATHERED SERPENT
The Ciudadela, Teotihuacan, Mexico.
Teotihuacan culture, c. 200 CE.
NoraDoa/Fotolia. [Fig. 13-08]

• A wall painting depicting a Feathered Serpent and Flowering Trees
was created in a fresco technique.
– It was installed at the end of a tunnel within the Pyramid of the Sun
and contained offerings.
• Teotihuacan remained influential despite disaster in the seventh
century.

FEATHERED SERPENT AND FLOWERING TREES
Fragment of a fresco from Techinantitla building, Teotihuacan, Mexico. Teotihuacan
culture, c. 500–650 CE. Earthen aggregate, lime plaster, and mineral pigments. Pigment
on lime plaster, 23-1⁄4 ×159-1⁄2 × 2-1⁄4″ (56.1 × 405.1 × 5.7 cm). The Fine Arts Museums
of San Francisco. Bequest of Harald Wagner (1985.104.1). [Fig. 13-09]

Art and Its Contexts: Maya Writing
• Ideographs or logographs represent entire words as well as a set of
symbols that stand for the sound of each syllable.
• A word could be written with a picture, syllables, or a combination of
the two systems.

ART AND ITS CONTEXTS: Maya Writing
Credit: Kathy Mrozek

The Maya (1 of 7)
• The Maya developed advanced hieroglyphic writing and a calendrical
system, as well as studied anatomy and natural cycles of plants and
animals.
• Maya civilization emerged about 400 BCE–250 CE and declinedby 1521.

The Maya (2 of 7)
• Tikal
– The city of Tikal buried its kings within funerary pyramids at the
North Acropolis.
– Temple I has a base of nine levels and a crest rising over the roof,
known as a roof comb, that was originally covered with brightly
painted sculpture.

BASE OF NORTH ACROPOLIS (LEFT) AND TEMPLE I (RIGHT), TIKAL
Guatemala. Maya culture. North Acropolis, 4th century BCE–5th century CE;
Temple I (Tomb of Jasaw Chan K'awiil), c. 734 CE.
© Daniel Loncarevic/Shutterstock. [Fig. 13-10]

The Maya (3 of 7)
• Palenque
– Prominent city Palenque features major buildings grouped on a
high ground.
– This includes the Palace, Temple of the Inscriptions, and two other
temples commissioned by Pakal the Great.
– The Temple of the Inscriptions has nine levels of steep stairs and
has a roof comb crest on top.

The Maya (4 of 7)
• Palenque
– This includes the Palace, Temple of the Inscriptions, and two other
temples commissioned by Pakal the Great.
– The Temple of the Inscriptions has nine levels of steep stairs and
has a roof comb crest on top.

PALACE (FOREGROUND) AND TEMPLE OF THE INSCRIPTIONS, PALENQUE
Mexico. Maya culture. Palace, 5th–8th century CE;
Temple of the Inscriptions (Tomb of Pakal the Great), c. 683 CE.
© Danny Lehman/Corbis. [Fig. 13-11]

The Maya (5 of 7)
• Palenque
– In 1952, a Mexican archaeologist uncovered the undisturbed tomb
of Pakal the Great.
 The stucco portrait head of Pakal has traces of pigment and
characteristics of Mayan ideal beauty.

LID OF THE SARCOPHAGUS OF PAKAL THE GREAT
From Pakal's tomb, Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, Mexico.
Maya culture, c. 683 CE. Limestone, 12'1-1/2" × 7'1-1/2" (3.72 × 2.17 m).
© Fine Art Images/Alinari Archives, Firenze. [Fig. 13-12]

BURIAL MASK OF PAKAL THE GREAT
From Pakal's tomb, Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, Mexico.
Maya culture, c. 683 CE. Jade, shell, and pearl; life-size mask.
Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City. © akg-images/Album/J.Enrique Molina.
[Fig. 13-13]

The Maya (6 of 7)
• Yaxchilan
– An example of Mayan low-relief carving can be found on a series
of lintels featuring "Shield Jaguar the Great."
 The prominence of the figure of Lady Xok indicates that she
held an important status.

A CLOSER LOOK: Shield Jaguar and Lady Xok (Lintel 24)
Yaxchilan, Mexico. Maya culture, 726 CE. Limestone, 43-1/2" × 31-3/4" (110.5 × 80.6 cm).
British Museum, London. Roll-out photograph © Justin Kerr, K2887. [Fig. 13-14]

The Maya (7 of 7)
• Postclassic Period
– The postclassic city of Chichen Itza is famous for its nine-level
pyramid surrounded by half-reclining chacmool figures.
– Many features of Chichen Itza recall complexes in Mexico rather
than Maya styles.

PYRAMID ("EL CASTILLO") WITH CHACMOOL IN FOREGROUND
Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. Maya culture, 9th–12th century CE.
From the top of the Temple of the Warriors, where a reclining chacmool sculpture graces
the platform, there is a clear view of the radial pyramid nicknamed "El Castillo."
© akg-Images/Hedda Eid. [Fig. 13-15]

Central America
• Societies in Central America lived in extended family groups.
• Areas of artistic specialty included featherwork, ceramics, textiles, and
metallurgy using gold and jade.
• Diquis art, like the gold pendant of a figure with drum and snake,
depicted animals as fierce and dangerous; their meaning is unclear.

SUPERNATURAL FIGURE WITH DRUM AND SNAKE
Costa Rica. Diquis culture, c. 13th–16th century CE.
Gold, 4-1/4" × 3-1/4" (10.8 × 8.2 cm).
Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
Photo: John Bigelow Taylor. [Fig. 13-16]

South America: The Central Andes
• Complex hierarchical societies with rich and varied artistic traditions
characterized the region.
• Andean peoples developed monumental architecture and textiles long
before ceramics and agriculture, which contrasts with the
developments of other societies.

Chavin de Huantar
• This was important religious center during the Early Horizon period.
• Architecture synthesizes coastal and highland tradition.
• Lanzón is a sculpture of a creature with a humanoid body.
– It shows flat relief, curvilinear design and a combination of animal
features, and may have functioned as an oracle.

LANZÓN, CHAVIN DE HUANTAR
Peru. Chavin culture, c. 900 BCE.
Granite, height 15' (4.5 m).
© akg-Images/Bildarchiv Steffens. [Fig. 13-17]

The Paracas and Nazca Cultures (1 of 2)
• Paracas
– Fine textiles were a source of wealth and prestige.
 Designs included repeated embroidered figures of warriors,
dancers, composite creatures, and animals.

Technique: Andean Textiles
• Textile artists used cotton and camelid fiber and a variety of different
techniques.
• Most textiles were woven on portable, two-bar looms.
• Embroidery with needle and thread allowed artistic freedom with line
and form.
• Dyeing was another advance.

MANTLE WITH DOUBLE FISH PATTERN
Paracas Necropolis, Peru. Paracas culture, 1st century CE.
Cotton and camelid fiber, plain weave with stem-stitch embroidery,
118-1/8" × 63-3/4" (3 × 1.62 m).
Brooklyn Museum. Alfred W. Jenkins Fund (34.1560). [Fig. 13-18]

The Paracas and Nazca Cultures (2 of 2)
• Nazca
– Some of the most enigmatic monumental constructions in Peru are
geoglyphs, or earthworks, such as the Hummingbird and other
animals.
 At up to 12 miles long, some geoglyphs can only be seen fully
from air.

EARTH DRAWING (GEOGLYPH) OF A HUMMINGBIRD, NAZCA PLAIN
Southwest Peru. Nazca culture, c. 1–700 CE.
Length approx. 450' (137 m); wingspan approx. 220' (60.9 m). © Stéphane Compoint.
[Fig. 13-19]

The Moche Culture (1 of 3)
• This culture, which spanned the Piura Valley to Huarmey Valley in
modern Peru, flourished between about 100 BCE to 700 CE.
• The Pyramid of the Sun, built entirely of adobe bricks, was one of the
largest ancient structures in South America.

• The ceramic Portrait Vessel showing a Moche Lord exhibits the portrait
likenesses characteristic of mass-produced Moche ceramics.

MOCHE PORTRAIT VESSEL
Peru. Moche culture, c. 100–700 CE. Clay, height 11" (28 cm).
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Ethnologisches Museum. © 2016. Photo Scala,
Florence/bpk, Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Gechsichte, Berlin. [Fig. 13-20]

• The Tomb of the Warrior Priest
– A Warrior Priest in a tomb at Sipán was buried with earspools
depicting Moche warriors in gold and turquoise.
 The central figure is three-dimensional while two flanking
figures are shown in profile.
 It exhibits the naturalism and close attention to detail inherent
to the Moche art style.

EARSPOOL
From Sipán, Peru. Moche culture, c. 300 CE.
Gold, turquoise, quartz, and shell, diameter approx. 3" (9.4 cm).
Bruning Archaeological Museum, Lambayeque, Peru. Photo: Susan Einstein. [Fig. 13-21]

North America
• Most of North America remained sparsely populated in comparison to
Mesoamerica and South America.
• Agriculture developed on a more limited scale.

The East
• People in the early cultures of eastern North America lived in
communities that contained burial and ceremonial earthworks.
• Poverty Point was a concentric earthwork nearly mile-long arcs.

The Woodland Period
• In the fertile lands near the Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi, and Missouri
rivers, cultures cultivated maize.
• People traded widely with other regions.
• The Hopewell culture made pipes of fine-grain pipestone, an example
of which is the beaver pipe from Illinois.

BEAVER EFFIGY PLATFORM PIPE
From Bedford Mound, Pike County, Illinois. Hopewell culture, c. 100–400 CE.
Pipestone, river pearls, and bone, 4-9/16" × 1-7/8" × 2” (11.6 × 4.8 × 5.1 cm).
Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Photo: John Bigelow Taylor. [Fig. 13-22]

The Mississippian Period (1 of 2)
• The Mississippian culture created the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio,
built around 1070 CE.
• They built an urban center known as Cahokia, majorly constructed
between about 1000–1300 CE.
– The Monk's Mound had a rounded platform at its summit that
supported a fence and rectangular building.

GREAT SERPENT MOUND
Adams County, Ohio. Mississippian culture, c. 1070 CE.
Length approx. 1,254' (328.2 m).
© Tony Linck/SuperStock. [Fig. 13-23]

RECONSTRUCTION OF CENTRAL CAHOKIA,
As it would have appeared about 1150 CE. Collinsville, Illinois. Mississippian culture, c.
1000–1300 CE. East-west length approx. 3 miles (4.82 km), north-south length approx. 2-
1/4 miles (3.6 km); base of great mound, 1,037' × 790' (316 × 241 m), height approx. 100'
(30 m). Monk's Mound is the large platform in the center of the image.
Painting by William R. Iseminger, "Reconstruction of Central Cahokia Mounds". c. 1150
CE. Courtesy of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. [Fig. 13-24]

The Mississippian Period (2 of 2)
• Florida Glades Culture
– The Florida Glades culture dates about 1000 CE.
– A surviving Pelican sculpture shows remarkable power of
observation.
– Animal heads may have been attached to ceremonial furniture or
posts.

PELICAN FIGUREHEAD
Key Marco, Florida. Florida Glades culture, c. 1000 CE.
Wood and paint, 4-3/8" × 2-3/8" × 3-1/8" (11.2 × 6 × 8 cm).
University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.
Courtesy of the Penn Museum, image #160303. [Fig. 13-25]

The Southwest (1 of 5)
• The Hohokam culture emerged around 200 CE, creating irrigation
systems, multistoried residences, and ballcourts.
• The Mimbres/Mogollan culture flourished from 200–1250 CE.
– They resided in the River valley in New Mexico and produced
deep bowls painted with lively and imaginative scenes of humans
and animals.

BOWL WITH SCORPIONS
Swarts Ruin, Southwest New Mexico. Mimbres culture, c. 1000–1150 CE. Earthenware
with white slip and black paint, height 4-3/4" (12 cm), diameter 11-5/8" (29.5 cm).
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
© President and Fellows of Harvard College, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University, PM# 24-15-10/94585. [Fig. 13-26]

• The Ancestral Puebloans emerged around 550 CE in the Four Corners
region, producing expressive works of painted pottery.
– A seed jar like the one shown would have been suspended from
roof poles to keep rodents away.
 Its patterns conform to the jar, enhancing its curved, expanded
center.

SEED JAR
Ancestral Puebloan culture, c. 1150 CE.
Earthenware with black-and-white pigment, diameter 14-1/2" (36.9 cm). Saint Louis Art
Museum. Funds given by the Children's Art Festival (175:1981). [Fig. 13-27]

• Chaco Canyon
– Great houses, such as Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, were D
shaped and contained hundreds of rooms.
 32 kivas recalled pit houses of earlier Southwestern cultures.
– All aspects of construction were done without draft animals,
wheeled vehicles, or metal tools.

"PUEBLO BONITO"
Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.
Ancestral Puebloan culture, 830–1150 CE.
© Richard A. Cooke/Corbis. [Fig. 13-28]

• Chaco Canyon
– Ancestral Puebloan population declined during a severe drought
and building at Pueblo Bonito ceased around 1250.
 Puebloans may have moved to the Rio Grande and Mogollon
River valleys, where they built apartmentlike dwellings on
ledges.

"CLIFF PALACE"
Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Ancestral Puebloan culture, c. 1150–1300 CE.
© MarclSchauer/Shutterstock. [Fig. 13-29]

• Rock Art
– Pictographs are paintings on rock walls.
– Petrogyphs are often found where bacterial growths created
"desert varnish" stain canyon walls.
– In the Horseshoe canyon, human bodies have long, decorated
bodies.
– Nine Mile Canyon shows a scene of hunters pursuing bighorn
sheep.

ANTHROPOMORPHS
The Great Gallery, Horseshoe (Barrier) Canyon, Utah. c. 1–1000 CE.
Largest figure about 8' (2.44 m) tall.
© Whit Richardson/Aurora Open/SuperStock. [Fig. 13-30]

Think About It (1 of 2)
• Characterize and compare the differing figure styles of paintings from
Teotihuacan and Maya culture as seen in Figs. 13–9 and 13–3.
• Discuss the significance of bloodletting as a recurring theme in early
Mesoamerican art, focusing your answer on one specific work of art in
this chapter.

Think About It (2 of 2)
• Evaluate what we can learn about the broad cultural values of Olmec
civilization from the figural group (FIG. 13–1) that was the subject of
the opening discussion in this chapter.
• Compare the architectural complexes of Teotihuacan and Chaco
Canyon. Evaluate the arguments for understanding both of these early
monuments of American art as ceremonial sites. What do we know of
the rituals that would have been performed in each location?

Survey 1 ch13

In this document

Survey 1 ch13

Editor's Notes

Survey 1 ch13

More Related Content

What's hot

Similar to Survey 1 ch13

Recently uploaded

In this document

Survey 1 ch13

Editor's Notes