Native Arts of the Americas Before 1300 History of the Moche: Most famous art objects the ancient

t Peruvians produced are the painted clay vessels of the Moche Occupied a series of river valleys on the northern coast of Peru around the same time the Nasca flourished in the south Vessel of Moche ~ 5th-6th century CE Originally from Moche Can now be found in the Archeological Museum of Rafael Larco Herrera in Lima Painted clay 11/2 high The Moche culture produced an extraordinary variety of painted vessels May depict a warrior, ruler, or royal retainer The realistic rendering is striking Only Greeks and the Mayans surpassed the Moche in the information recorded on their ceramics Moche pots illustrate architecture, metallurgy, weaving, brewing of the chichi (fermented maize beer), human deformities and diseases, and even sexual acts Predominantly flat-bottomed, stirrup-spouted jars derived from Chavin prototypes Potters generally decorated them with a bichrome (two-color) slip Moche made early vessels by hand without a potters wheel, but they fashioned later ones in 2 piece molds Moche ceramists continued to refine the stirrup spout, making it an elegant slender tube, much narrower than the Chavin examples

History of the Tiwanaku and Wari: In the Bolivian Mts. The Tiwanaku culture developed beginning in the 2nd century North of Paracas in Peru, the Wari culture dominated parts of the dry coast People of Tiwanaku culture, like those of Paracas, were consummate weavers, although far fewer textiles survive from the damp highlands Excavators recovered many examples of weaving especially tunics from the Wari culture Wari weavers fashioned cloth from both wool and cotton fibers Lima Tapestry ~ 500-800 CE Originally from Wari, Peru Can be found in the National Museum of Anthropology, Archeology and History of Peru Tunic 33 x 211 Whereas Paracas mantles are embroideries, Wari textiles are tapestries with the motifs woven directly into the fabric, the weft threads packed densely over the warp threads in a technique known as tapestry Some particularly fine pieces have more than 200 weft threads per inch The figures on this Wari tunic are so abstract as to be nearly unrecognizable The designer expanded or compressed each figure in a different way and placed the figures in vertical rows pressed between narrow red bands of plain cloth Tunics like this one were most likely garments made for the elite Clothing and status were closely connected in many ancient American societies, especially in the Inka Empire that eventually came to dominate Andean South America

History of the Anasazi: Also known as the Ancestral Puebloa, formerly known as the Anasazi (Navajo for enemy ancestors is a name that the descendants of these early Native Americans dislike, hence the new designation), northern neighbors of the Mimbres, emerged as an identifiable culture around 200 CE, but the culture did not reach its peak until about 1000 In Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, they built a great semicircle of 800 rooms reaching to 5 stepped-back stories, the largest of several such sites in and around the canyon In the late 12th century, a drought occurred, and the Ancestral Puebloans largely abandoned their open canyon-floor dwelling sites to move farther north the steep-sided canyons and lusher environment of Mesa Verde The Ancestral Puebloans did not disappear but gradually evolved into the various Pueblo peoples who still live in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah; they continue to speak their native languages, practice deeply rooted rituals, and make pottery in the traditional manner Cliff Palace ~ 1150-1300 CE Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado Also known as the Ancestral Puebloa, formerly known as the Anasazi Wedged into a sheltered ledge above a valley floor and contains about 200 rectangular rooms of carefully laid stone and timber, once plastered inside and out with adobe Designed it to take advantage of the sun to heat the pueblo in the winter and shade it during the hot summer 2 dozen large circular semisubterranean structures, called kivas, which once were roofed over and entered with a ladder through a hole in the flat rook These chambers were the spiritual centers of native Southwest life, male council houses where ritual regalia were stored and private rituals and preparations for public ceremonies took place

Native Arts of the Americas After 1300 History of the Inka: Small highland group who established themselves in the Cuzco Valley around 1000 In the 15th century they rapidly extended their power until their empire stretched from modern Quito, Ecuador, to central Chile, a distance of more than 3,000 miles 12 million subjects inhabited this area Expertise in mining and metalwork enabled the Inka to accumulate enormous wealth and to amass the fabled troves of gold and silver the Spaniards so coveted They imposed serious political and economical control and even into their art style. Control extended to clothing, which communicated the social status of the person wearing the garment The Inka never developed a writing system, but they employed a remarkably sophisticated record-keeping system using a device known as the khipu, with which they recorded calendrical and astronomical information; consisted of a main fiber cord and other knotted threads hanging perpendicularly off it; the color,position, kind of knot, and location signified numbers and categories Machu Picchu ~ 15th Century Found in Inka, Peru Was the estate of an Inka ruler Stone terraces spill down the Peruvian mountainside Precisely placed windows and doors facilitated astronomical observations Perches on a ridge between 2 jagged peaks 9,000 ft. above sea level Completely invisible from the Urubamba River Valley 1,600 ft. below, the site remained unknown to the outside world until Hiram Bingham, an American explorer, discovered it in 1911 Smaller and insignificant compared with its neighbors Resident population of a little more than 1,000 The Inka cut large stones to echo the shapes of the mountain beyond Huayna Picchu is the great hill just beyond the citys main plaza

 The Inka carefully planned windows and doors so that they framed spectacular views of sacred peaks and facilitated the recording of important astronomical events

History of the Mixteca-Puebla: One of the most impressive art-producing peoples of the Postclassic period in Mesoamerica was the Mixtecs, who succeeded the Zapotecs at Monte Alban in southern Mexico after 700 The treasures found in the tombs at Monte Alban bear witness to Mixtec wealth, and the quality of these works demonstrates the high level of Mixtec artistic achievement The Mixtecs were highly skilled goldsmiths and won renown for their work in mosaics using turquoise obtained from distant regions such as present day New Mexico The peoples of Mesoamerica prized illustrated books Their books were precious vehicles for recording history, rituals, astronomical tables, calendrical calculations, maps, and trade and tribute accountants The texts consisted of hieroglyohic columns read from left to right and top to bottom Only 3 Mayan books exist today Wrote their books on a long sheet doubled in folds, which was then enclosed between 2 boards finely ornamented Contained nothing but superstitions and falsehoods of the devil, they were burned and gave much pain to those people (Bishop Diego de Landa; author of an invaluable treatise on the Maya of Yucatan; 15241579) 10 non-Maya books survived, 5 from Mixtec Oaxaca and 5 from the Puebla region Art historians have named the style they represent Mixteca-Puebla as an example of Mesoamerican art that crossed both ethnic and regional boundaries The Mixteca-Puebla artists painted on long sheets of deerskin, which they first coated with fine white lime plaster and folded into accordion-like pleats Some of the manuscripts are codices and resemble modern books with covers of wood, mosaic, or feathers Mictantecuhtli and Quetzalacoatl ~ 1400-1500 CE From the Borgia Codex Originally from Puebla or Tlaxcala, Mexico Can be found in the Vatican Apostolic Library in Rome

 Mineral and vegetable pigments on deerskin One of the rare surviving Mesoamerican books The Mixteca-Puebla Borgia Codex includes this painting of the gods of life and death above an inverted skull symbolizing the underworld One extensively illustrated book that escaped the Spanish destruction is the Borgia Codex It is the largest and most elaborate of several manuscripts known as the Borgia Group Shows 2 richly attired, vividly gesticulating gods rendered predominantly in reds and yellows with black outlines The god of life, the black Quetzalcoatl (depicted as a masked human rather than in the usual form of a feathered serpent) The god of death, the white Miclantecuhtli Below them is an inverted skull with a double keyboard of teeth, a symbol of the Underworld (Mictlan), which could be entered through the mouth of a great earth monster Both hold scepters in one hand and gesticulate with the other The image conveys the inevitable relationship of life and death, an important theme in Mesoamerican art Some scholars believe the image may also be a kind of writing conveying a specific divinatory meaning

Coatlicue ~ she of the serpent skirt 1487-1520 Originally from Tenochtitlan, Mexico City, Mexico Can now be found at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico Andesite 116 high In addition to relief carving, Aztecs produced freestanding statuary The sculptures original setting is unknown but some scholars believe it was one of a group set up at the Great Temple The main forms are in high relief and the details executed either in low relief or by incising From the beheaded goddesss neck writhe 2 serpents whose heads meet to form tusked masks Coatlicue wears a necklace of severed human hands and excised human hearts The pendant of the necklace is a skull and entwined snakes form her skirt Between her legs emerges another serpent, symbolic perhaps of both menses and males Like most Aztec deities, Coatlicue has both masculine and feminine traits Her hands and feet have great claws, which she used to tear the human flesh she consumed All these attributes of her symbolize sacrificial death In Aztec thought, this mother of the gods combined savagery and tenderness, for out of destruction arose new life, a theme seen before at Teotihuacan

Hopi Katsina ~ Otto Pentewa Carved before 1959 Katsina figurine Orginally from Hopi, New Oraibi, Arizona Can now be found in the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson Cottonwood root and feathers 1 high Southwest Katsinas are benevolent supernatural spirits personifying ancestors and natural elements living in mountains and water sources Among contemporary Pueblo groups, masked dancers ritually impersonate katsinas during yearly festivals dedicated to rain,fertility, and good hunting To educate young girls in ritual lore, the Hopi traditionally give them miniature representations of the masked dancers Represents a rain-bringing deity who wears a mask painted in geometric patterns symbolic of water and agricultural fertility Topping the mask are shapes signifying thunderclouds and feathers to carry the Hopis airborne prayer

Maria Montoya Martinez Jar ~ Maria Montoya Martinez 1939 Made in San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico Can now be found in the National Museum of Women in the Arts Blackware 11x11 Pottery is traditionally a Native American womans art form Renown for her black-on-black vessels of striking shapes with matte designs on highly polished surfaces She coiled, slipped and burnished her own pots and her husband painted the designs Around 1918 they invented the black-on-black ware that made Maria and the whole pueblo famous When nonnative buyers auggested she sign her pots to increase their value, she obliged but in the communal spirit typical of the Pueblos, she also signed her neighbors names so that they might share in her fortune

Eagle Transformation ~ 19th Century Kwakiutl Originally from Alert Bay, Canada Can now be found in the American Museum of Natural History, New York Wood, feathers, and string 110x11 Northwest Coast religious specialist used masks in their healing rituals Men also wore masks in dramatic public performances during the winter ceremonial season The animals and mythological creatures on the masks derive from the Northwest Coasts rich oral tradition and celebrate the mythological origins and inherited privileges of high-ranking families The wearer of this mask could open and close it rapidly by pulling hidden strings, magically transforming himself from human to eagle as he danced This type of transformation theme, in myriad forms, is a central aspect of the art and religion of the Americas The human aspect owes its dramatic character to the exaggeration and distortion of facial parts and to the deeply undercut depressions which form strong shadows This may represent a supernatural being whose powers enhance the wearers strength The artist surely created its grimacing expression to intimidate the enemy

Hidatsa Warrior Pehriska-Ruhpa (Two Ravens) ~ Karl Bodmer 1833 Can now be found at the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha Watercolor 14x11 Most plains peoples were nomadic so they focused their aesthetic attention largely on their clothing and bodies and on other portable objects (shields, club, pipes etc.) The warriors pipe, painted buffalo robe, bear-claw necklace, and feather decorations, are all symbolic of his affiliations and military accomplishments These items represent his biography a composite artistic statement that neighboring Native Americans could have read easily The concentric circle design over his left shoulder is an abstract rendering of an eagle-feather war bonnet Plains peoples also made shields and shiels covers that were both artworks and power images Shield paintings often derived from personal religious visions The owners believed that the pigments themselves and added materials like the feathers provided them with magical protection and supernatural power