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Early Mesoamerican and Andean Civilizations

I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR TOUR!

The Olmec

Tomb

Colossal Heads

The Zapotec

Cocijo

Monte Alban

An example of Olmec architecture, this tomb is one of many architectural structure still remaining at La Venta, an ancient Olmec city that is now a park. Archeologists believe that the layout of La Venta was designed to allign with a constellation of stars. Maybe they had an interest in astrology.

The Olmec colossal heads were representations of human heads sculpted from large basalt boulders. Portraying mature men with fleshy cheeks, flat noses, and slightly crossed eyes,they are believed to have been created by the Olmec people as monuments to represent powerful Olmec rulers. They are currently located in either San Lorenzo or La Venta, the oldest know Olmec settlements

In the 700s BCE, the Zapotec began constructing a city located at Monte Albán.

This city included pyramids, elaborate tombs, and even a ball field. The city flourished primarily from 300 to 900 C.E., and the settlement grew to become the largest and most important center in Mesoamerica.

The Zapotec often sculpted urns in honor of the deities they worshipped. This example is an urn sculpted to represent Cocijo, the god of rain and lightening. He had a human body and jaguar and serpent features. It is now held at the Stanford Cantor Museum.

The Andes is a mountain range in modern day Peru that has always been abundant in natural resources.The long wet season is beneficial to agriculture, the many river valleys are fertile, and fish are plentiful. But all that water created the need for an agricultural technique called terrace farming that began to be developed in the Andes. This allowed the growth of some of the earliest sophisticated civilizations in South America.

The Chavin

Motifs

Chavin

(Archeological Site)

The temple ruins at ChavÍn de Huántar, the most important surviving settlement of the Chavin civilization, include many common ChavÍn motifs, such as people, birds, cats, crocodiles, and serpents. Human and animals heads like this one are a common motif in Chavin art, which can be found spread over a wide territory.

The archaeological site of Chavin gave its name to the culture that developed between 1500 and 300 B.C. in this high valley of the Peruvian Andes. This former place of worship is one of the earliest and best-known pre-Columbian sites. Its appearance is striking, with the complex of terraces and squares, surrounded by structures of dressed stone, and the mainly zoomorphic ornamentation.

Mesoamerica is a region that is defined by the cultural similarities of it's native population. It extended from central Mexico through most of Central America. And although the Aztecs and the Mayans are known as the the most famous civilizations to thrive in this region, they most certainly weren't the first.

On this tour, you will be able to view some of the ancient art and architecture from this region.

The Legacies of Olmec, Zapotec, and Chavin

A Tour of Pre-Columbian Latin America

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