Portal:Mesoamerica/Selected picture
Selected pictures
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Teotihuacan is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the Avenue of the Dead, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals.
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Cocijo (occasionally spelt Cociyo) is a lightning deity of the pre-Columbian Zapotec civilization of southern Mexico. He has attributes characteristic of similar Mesoamerican deities associated with rain, thunder and lightning, such as Tlaloc of central Mexico. Cocijo was the most important deity among the pre-Columbian Zapotecs because of his association with rainfall.
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An eccentric flint is a chipped artefact produced by the Maya civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. Although generally referred to as "flints", they were typically fashioned from chert, chalcedony and obsidian. Eccentric flints were manufactured by specialist artisans in lithic workshops for non-utilitarian purposes and were sacred high-status objects associated with Maya elite power.
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El Castillo, found in the Chichen Itza archaeological site, is a Mesoamerican step-pyramid that is one of the most recognized and widely visited pre-Columbian structures in Mexico. Built by the Maya, it served as a temple to Kukulkan, the Yucatec Maya Feathered Serpent deity.
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In Aztec mythology, Xiuhtecuhtli ("Turquoise Lord" or "Lord of Fire"), was the god of fire, day and heat. He was the lord of volcanoes, the personification of life after death, warmth in cold (fire), light in darkness and food during famine. He was also named Cuezaltzin ("flame") and Ixcozauhqui, and is sometimes considered to be the same as Huehueteotl ("Old God").
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Tikal Temple I is the designation given to one of the major structures at Tikal, one of the largest cities and archaeological sites of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Mesoamerica. Temple I is a typically Petén-styled limestone stepped pyramid structure that is dated to approximately 730 CE.
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Tzintzuntzan was the ceremonial center of the pre-Columbian Tarascan state capital of the same name. The name comes from the P'urhépecha word Ts’intsuntsani, which means "place of hummingbirds". Power was consolidated in Tzintzuntzan in the mid 15th century and the empire continued to grow and hold off attacks by the neighboring Aztec Empire, until the Spanish arrived.
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The Wrestler is an ancient basalt statuette that is one of the most important sculptures of the Olmec culture. The near life-size figure has been praised not only for its realism and sense of energy, but also for its aesthetic qualities. Since 1964, the sculpture has been part of the collection of the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City.
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In Aztec mythology, Coyolxauhqui (Classical Nahuatl: Coyolxāuhqui, "Face painted with Bells") was a daughter of Coatlicue and Mixcoatl and is the leader of the Centzon Huitznahuas, the star gods. Coyolxauhqui was a powerful magician and led her siblings in an attack on their mother, Coatlicue, because Coatlicue had become pregnant.
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Xipe Totec ("our lord the flayed one") was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, disease, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths and the seasons. Xipe Totec flayed himself to give food to humanity, symbolic of the way maize seeds lose their outer layer before germination and of snakes shedding their skin.
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Xochicalco (Nahuatl pronunciation: [ʃotʃiˈkaɬko]) is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Mexican state of Morelos. The apogee of Xochicalco came in the Epiclassic period (AD 700 – 900) after the fall of Teotihuacan and it has been speculated that Xochicalco may have played a part in the collapse of the Teotihuacan empire.
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Acatitlan (Nahuatl: "place among the reeds"; Spanish "carrizal") is an early Aztec archaeological site located in the municipality of Tlalnepantla de Baz in Mexico. In pre-Hispanic times it was located on the northwest shore of Lake Texcoco. Acatitlan declined after the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the city was destroyed so its stone could be used to construct Christian churches.
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The goals and motives of Maya warfare are not thoroughly understood. Evidence of warfare includes fortified defenses around structure complexes, artistic and epigraphical depictions of war, and weapons such as obsidian blades and projectile points. Some scholars have suggested that the capture of sacrificial victims was a driving force behind warfare.
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Olmec figurines were produced by the Preclassic inhabitants of Mesoamerica. Although not all were produced in the Olmec heartland, they bear the hallmarks and motifs of Olmec culture. Most are simple in design, often nude or with a minimum of clothing, and made of local terracotta. More durable and better known by the general public are those carved from jade and other stones.
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Coatlicue, (Classical Nahuatl: Cōhuātlīcue, is the Aztec goddess who gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war. She is also known as Toci (Tocî, "our grandmother") and Cihuacoatl (Cihuācōhuātl, "the lady of the serpent"), the patron of women who die in childbirth.
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Jade was worked in variety of ways in Mesoamerica, either as ornaments, a medium upon which hieroglyphs were inscribed, or shaped into figurines, weapons, and other objects.
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Jaina Island, in the present-day Mexican state of Campeche, served as an elite Maya burial site, and is notable for the high number of fine ceramic figurines excavated there.
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Frederick Catherwood and John Lloyd Stephens made a brief visit to the ruins of Q'umarkaj in 1840. While there, Catherwood produced a drawing of the Temple of Tohil
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Olmec colossal stone heads are realistic portraits of living (or recently deceased) rulers. Each head is distinct and naturalistic, displaying individualised features.
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