MESOAMERICAN ART

Lecture 8A: Introduction to Mesoamerican People

The Olmec

THE POPULATING OF THE AMERICAS… HOW DID PEOPLE ARRIVE HERE?

• Several theories abound. DNA and archaeological research indicate there were several migrations.

• So far science cannot determine how/why there are some similarities between “old world” and “new world” examples of art and architecture.

Spread of humans across the globe. Dates

listed are in “years before the present”.

Cultures with Mexica features:

Teotihuacan culture, Classic

Veracruz, Mixtec, and Aztecs

(Mexica)

Cultures with Maya features:

Olmec, Toltec, and Maya.

MESOAMERICA: MANY CULTURES OF THE MAYA AND MEXICA

Olmec

Aztec (Mexica)

Teotihuacan

Culture

Maya

WORLDVIEW OF THE MESOAMERICANS

• Highly civilized peoples and assoc. material culture developed independently from that of the “Old World”.

• Religious beliefs may have come from Asia/Africa.

– Belief in a spirit world/gods.

– Worlds were linked.

– Meeting of the two worlds at the site of mountains; a priest/ruler could mediate between the two.

Temple 1 at Tikal, after 735 in modern Guatemala.

THE MESOAMERICAN WORLD:

COMPLEX CALENDAR SYSTEMS

• Some version of a calendar system that includes a 260 day ritual calendar, and a 365 day solar/agricultural calendar. Results in a 52 year complete cycle.

• Long dates used to distinguish between cycles.

• 12-21-12 marked the end of a 5,125 year cycle and was feared to be the end of the world. Luckily we lived to tell the tale…it wasn’t!

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THE MESOAMERICAN WORLD:

BALLGAME

• Mesoamericans played a ballgame involving two teams and a hard rubber ball.

• The object of the game was to get the ball through a hoop on the ballcourt wall without using the hands.

• May have been a part of religious ritual.

• Losers may have been sacrificed to the gods!!!

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Ballcourt ring and relief panel, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico.

ca. 600-1000 CE

Typical Ballcourt plan:

• long playing alley flanked by sloping

platforms

•larger vertical walled platforms

supporting temples.

•elaborately decorated courts, with

sculptured alley markers and deeply

carved stone sculpture on the upper

facades of the flanking temples.

Copan, Honduras, Maya culture,

Main Ballcourt, Late Classic,

c.700-750.

THE MESOAMERICAN WORLD:

THE SACRED POWER OF BLOOD

• Belief that the gods created the universe through the act of sacrifice…from the gods severed body parts.

• From death comes life. Death allows the cosmic cycle to continue so humans must sacrifice in return.

• Offerings ranged from blood letting, to animals, and even the full-on sacrifice of humans with heart extraction.

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Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico, Lintel 24

THE OLMEC

• The earliest MesoAm. Civilization (1500 BCE-400 BCE)

• Fine artworks in a number of media.

– Monumental stone sculpture/architecture

– Carved jades

– Ceramics

• Works both naturalistic and abstract; fantastic anthropomorphic creatures, historic events.

• Olmec is a misnomer; we don’t know what these people called themselves. New research from 2013 is questioning if they are even separate from the Mayans. Olmec Celts from the Met Museum

Great Pyramid: Earthmound that

rises over 100 feet in the air.

No indication of a temple on top…is it

a “volcano” with access to the

underworld?

Located at the south end of the plaza

and is aligned to the cardinal points.

Jades and mosaics discovered under

pyramid may be offerings to the gods.

Great Pyramid at La Venta,

Tabasco, Mexico. 900-500

BCE

Offering 4, La Venta, Tabasco.900-500 BCE

The “Kunz Axe,” Olmec, ca. 1000 BCE

ABSTRACT OLMEC ART

• Emphasis on the head (which may be elongated).

• Combo of carving and incising.

• Almond/feline eyes

• Downturned mouths

• Human, animal, and mythological motifs such as the “were-jaguar” seen here.

Colossal Heads from San Lorenzo, Veracruz. 1200-900 BCE

NATURALISTIC

PORTRAIT HEADS

La Venta: Altar 4

Basalt; H. 59 1/16 in. (150 cm)

Parque Museo La Venta, Villahermosa, Tabasco

AFTER THIS LECTURE YOU SHOULD

BE ABLE TO…

• Identify the four Mesoamerican cultures

that will be examined in detail in this unit.

• Discuss the similarities in worldviews

among these civilizations, noting especially

their religious views, calendar systems,

and the ballgame.

• Explore the formal elements and functions

of art in the Olmec world.

• Describe urban planning in Olmec cities.