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The Zapotecs are from Choapan, from the northern part of Oaxaca. The urns were often found in tombs and represented humans and gods. It looks like a statue. These were built between 550-750 BCE , The Zapotecs had their own system of writing and distinctive traditions. The urns have carvings of what the people were before they died. The majority of Zapotec urns are associated with mortuary contexts, and in particular tombs, where they were placed in different positions relative to the structure: on the roof, in front of the entrance and in niches above the entrance or within the tomb itself, in the antechamber, in wall niches and on the floor.
03.03 Early Mesoamerican Civilizations: Assessment
Nazca pottery is polychrome, meaning that one piece is decorated with several different colors. They are also attractive. Although the images are of people and animals, they are highly stylized and angular. Designs are bold and modern-looking. These were created around 200 to 600 BCE. A wide variety of both naturalistic as well as fantastic motifs were found on them, some clearly recognizable as birds, fish, plants and animals but others portraying strange creatures exhibiting both human and animal characteristics. The source of this pottery was the South American country of Peru.
The Tomb – This was created in the center of Olmec society La Vente between 900 to 400 B.C. These basalt columns were transported many miles for two reasons – to make ‘fences’ around sacred areas, and also to be used in making buildings. This building is a tomb, and it housed two coffins filled with luxurious offerings such as jade, serpentine, obsidian, manta ray spines, shark teeth, and hematite. It was created after the decline of San Lorenzo. It served to represent a constellation of stars.
The Olmec civilization, which flourished along Mexico's Gulf Coast from 1200 - 400 B.C., was the first major Mesoamerican culture. They were extremely talented artists, and their most lasting artistic contribution is without a doubt the enormous sculpted heads they created. These sculptures have been found at a handful of archaeological sites, including La Venta and San Lorenzo. Originally thought to depict gods or ballplayers, most archaeologists now believe they are likenesses of long-dead Olmec rulers.
The Chavins made this around 850 B.C. , the Tello Obelisk is a prismatic granite monolith from the archaeological site of Chavín de Huantár in north-central Peru. The Obelisk features one of the most complex stone carvings known in the Americas for its time. The correlation of the Tello Obelisk to the Old Temple is supported by stylistic comparison with the Lanzón, another important monolith at Chavín. Perhaps in so doing the Tello Obelisk is carrying out the intended function of its creators, to serve as an immutable testimonial about the relationships they observed in the diverse environments of desert, mountain and jungle, and to stimulate those who view the imagery to contemplate life’s relationships.
Tenon heads are found throughout Chavin de Huantar and are one of the most popular images associated with the Chavin civilization. These tenon heads were carved anywhere between 200 and 900 BCE, when the Chavin were alive. Tenon heads are large stone carvings of fanged jaguar heads which stick out from the tops of the interior walls. They are thought to represent stages of a drug-induced human-to-feline shamanic transformation
Mesoamerican pyramids, pyramid-shaped structures, are an important part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. These structures were usually step pyramids with temples on top – more akin to the ziggurats of Mesopotamia than to the pyramids of Ancient Egypt. These pyramid structures were built in 700 BCE and were constructed at Monte Alban. This was used as a site for shelter and religious practices.