Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Townsend, Richard F.

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Description: Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

BOOKAncient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13519

This volume documents the splendid accomplishments of Ancient West Mexico, and brings together some of its finest examples of sculptural art, including representations of people, animals and plants, as well as vessels and models of houses, ceremonial centres, ball games and ritual scenes. All the extraordinary earthenware figures illustrated here have been recovered from burial sites and shaft tombs. They represent a wide range of subjects — warriors, chieftains, ladies, acrobats, shamans, musicians, ball players, festival couples and bound prisoners — in a variety of styles from about 200 BC to AD 800 — that compose the artistic canon of Ancient West Mexico, a region encompassing the modern states of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit.

Author

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Print publication date January 1998 (in print)

Print ISBN 9780500050927

EISBN 9780300222074

Illustrations 415

Print Status in print

Publisher (out of print)

WorldCat

Google Books

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List of illustrations

Seated turtle-shell drummer
Adela Breton on horseback with her guide
View of the Ameca-Etzatlán valley with the town of Teuchitlán below
Map, p. 12
A figure from the Hacienda Guadalupe tumulus excavation near Etzatlán, Jalisco
Map, p. 11
Volcán de Colima, Jalisco
Lake Chapala basin, Jalisco
Canyon of the Río Santiago, near Guadalajara, Jalisco
Seated chieftain
Seated male pair rhymically gesturing
Female figure with hands on knees
Ritual dancer with a crocodile mask
Dancer wearing a deity headdress
Standing male holding an incensario
Warrior pair
Seated female figure with a red hand sign
Seated female figure with a red hand sign
Seated figure with polychrome facepaint
Seated male figure rhythmically gesturing
Standing musician holding a whistle and rattle
Female figurine
Standing couple
Female rasp player seated on a stool
Contortionist
Contortionist
Standing male figurine with hands crossed over stomach
Male figurine with a finely modeled coiffure
Teardrop bottle with a dog effigy head
Performer balancing ball on nose
Vessel
Acrobat-juggler vessel
The principal ritual precinct at Teuchitlán, Jalisco
Drawing of tomb no. 4
Map of Teuchitlán core area and periphery
Shallow bowl with a concentric red and black pattern
Bowl with a grid-and-dot pattern
Bowl with a dotted pattern
Platform complex at La Noria
Remains of circular precincts and plan and elevation of a major shaft tomb at San Andres, Jalisco
Plan of the upper complex at Cerro de los Monos, La Providencia, Jalisco
Seated male figure with an upraised weapon in his hand
Seated male figure with a shoulder cape
Two standing male warriors with darts
Marriage pair
Coatimundi pendant
Necklace
Diagram showing demographic implosion in the Teuchitlán area
Unexcavated valley site at Santa Quiteria, districts of Arenal and Amatitlán, Jalisco
Plan of the Mesa Alta complex at Santa Quiteria
Bowl with emblematic pseudo-cloisonné designs
Bowl with emblematic pseudo-cloisonné designs
Olla with a pseudo-cloisonné design
Roll-out view of olla
In the small valley below the Guachimontón complex at Teuchitlán, large springs still supply irrigation ditches between raised fields
Reconstruction drawing of the Guachimontón complex at Teuchitlán, Jalisco
Partial view of the burials in the north chamber of the shaft tomb in Huitzilapa, Jalisco
Rows of maguey agave cactus cover the fields of Huitzilapa, below the Volcán de Tequila
Archaeological sites of the Huitzilapa community, between the towns of Magdalena and Tequila, on the lower slopes of the Volcán de Tequila
Plan of the Huitzilapa site showing the ballcourt above, the large ceremonical circle adjoining the cruciform platform plaza F-1, an dthe smaller west plaza F-4 where the shaft tomb is located
Plan of west plaza F-4, showing platforms, foundations of the circular enclosing wall, and the location of the shaft-tomb entrance
Plan and cross-section drawing showing the two-chambered shaft-tomb in relation to the platform in the west plaza F-4 at Huitzilapa
The north chamber seen from the shaft entrance
Plan of the burials and offerings in the north and south chambers
In the north chamber of the Huitzilapa tomb, remains of the chieftain are shown in the process of archaeological excavation
Huitzilapa tomb offerings include three multiple-strand necklaces of shell
Burial mask
Figurine pendant
Figurine pendant
Codex Magliabechiano: Detail depicting a funerary bundle
Conch shell
Plate with serpentine design
Plate with serpentine design
In the north chamber of the shaft tomb at Huitzilapa, this ballplayer figure originally stood by the feet of the deceased chieftain
Ballplayer figure
Offerings and grave goods discovered in the north chamber of the tomb at Huitzilapa, Jalisco
Archaeological sites in West Mexico left deeply pitted and destroyed by looters
Drawing of a normal cervical vertebra and one of the congenitally deformed vertebrae found in five of the six skeletal remains at Huitzilapa
Seated female figure
Seated polychrome female figure with tattoos
Burial types throughout ancient West Mexico
Ceremonial spear point
Ceremonial club with a human face
Plate with a lobed rosette pattern
Bowl with multiple sets of vertical bands
Bowl with four sets of vertical bands
In the second chamber at Huitzilapa the jumbled position of the skeletal remains indicates that these individuals received secondary burial in this tomb
Remnants of insect puparia adhered to the surface of a ceramic vessel
Seated hunchbacked dwarf
Male figure covered with sores
Standing female figure wearing a skirt
Male figurine with detailed coiffure and diaper loincloth
Seated male figure wearing a helmet
Seated male figure wearing a beaked helmet
Seated male figure held by a female figure
Elderly female figurine holding a bowl and cane
Elderly female figure with a cane
Seated elderly male figure with a black facial design
Seated male figure holding a bowl and drinking tube
View of an agave field near Tequila, Jalisco
Standing marriage pair
Seated chieftain with female attendants
Model of a house on a platform
Model of a house-like pavilion on a platform
Cylinder vase roll-out
Model of a house on a platform
Seated marriage pair
Model of a house on a platform
Couple carried on a litter
Seated female figure holding a plate
Elephantine female figure holding a vessel with a tumpline
Model of a houselike pavilion on a platform
Seated male figure holding a cup and an acocote gourd sucking tube
Incised vessel on a four-legged animal support
Seated male figure holding a vat and drinking cup
Codex Nuttall: Pulque scene
Reproductions of a pulque-drinking scene
Cylindrical vessel
Tray with mammiform legs
Tripod plate with a four-part chevron design
Cylindrical tripod vessel
Oval-shaped vessel with geometric designs
A farmer drawing maguey sap (aguamiel)
Male figure carrying a maguey agave heart with a tumpline
Codex Borbonicus: Maguey god
Seated male figure with right arm raised, holding a cup
The night between All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2) on the island of Janitzío , Lake Pátzcuaro
Model of a circular ceremonial center
Schematic drawing of the cylindrical Tizoc stone
Codex Borbonicus: Detail of the Aztec feast of Huey Miccaylhuitl
Standing warrior holding a dart
Standing warrior
Codex Mendoza: Detail of Aztec capture scenes
Prisoner
Prisoner
Drinking warrior with trophy heads
Vessel with trophy heads
Standing female figure
Seated female figure
Female figure
Monumental standing female figure with geometric designs
Seated rotund figure with hands on hips
Vessel in the form of a kneeling skeletonized woman
Seated mother with eighty-seven children
Female figure with an apron table
Seated female figure
Kneeling female figure
Kneeling female figure
Codex Borbonicus: Earth goddess Tlazolteotl
Codex Borgia: Five figures of Tlaloc
Model of a house
Standing couple
Model of a ceremonial center
Plan of the ceremonial center model
Detail of two marriage couples seated on opposite sides of the circular altar or pyramid
Marriage pair
Standing male figure
Standing female figure
Marriage pair seated on stools and holding bowls
Seated marriage pair
Seated female
Marriage pair
Family group
Codex Mendoza: Aztec marriage scene
Codex Borbonicus: The primordial male and female creative forces, personified as Ometecuhtli-Omecihuatl
Model of a funerary scene
Model of a funeral procession and cheek-piercing ceremony
Funerary Cheek-Piercing Ritual
Funerary cheek-piercing rite
Two ceremonial blades
Seated chieftain
Model of a circular ceremonial center
Plan of the Guachimontón complex at Teuchitlán
Ring of dancers with musicians
Ring of dancers
Rendering of a mosaic shield with cosmic designs
Ceremonial shield with mosaic sun-disk design
Drawing of ceremonial shield with mosaic sun-disk design
Codex Fejérváry-Mayer: Cosmological diagram
Huichol Indians' Father Sun and Grandfather Fire
Huichol Indians' Father Sun and Grandfather Fire
Huichol Indians' Father Sun and Grandfather Fire
Huichol Indians' Father Sun and Grandfather Fire
Ceremonial Village Scene with a Flying Figure
Model of a pochotl tree surrounded by four feasting couples
Vessel in the form of a section of pochotl (ceiba) tree
Model of a Tree-Climbing Ritual
Chalchihuites mountains over the hall of columns at Alta Vista in Zacatecas
First flash of light a few days before equinox sunrise at Alta Vista
Equinox sunrise at Alta Vista showing long shadows cast by the crowd in attendance and the sunlight shaft part way up the zigzag entry corridor
Model of a ballcourt
Codex Borbonicus: Illustration of a ballcourt
Ballcourt at Xochicalco, Morelos (AD 900–1000)
Drawings of eight ballgame figurines
Seated ballplayer
Drawing of a ballplayer figurine holding a ball
Marriage pair
Standing ballplayer
Drawing of a ballplayer figurine wearing a traditional-style yoke
Drawing of a ballplayer figurine wearing a phallic-style yoke
Drawing of a ballplayer figurine wearing a Tuxcacuesco-style wrapped yoke
Drawing of female ballplayer figurine wearing a traditional-style yoke
Drawing of a ballplayer or warrior figurine wearing a traditional-style yoke and holding a bat
Drawing of a figurine wearing a yoke with a jaguar-head hacha and playing a conch-shell trumpet
Drawing of a female ballplayer figurine wearing a woven yoke
Ballplayer figurine wearing a woven yoke
Figurine throwing a ball
Drawing of a headless figurine with a trophy head hanging around its neck
Ballgame figurine
Model of a ballcourt
Model of a ballgame with spectators
Model of a ballgame
Combat scene with two ballplayers
Crouching male figure with a smoking tube and animal visor
Dog transforming into a human
Animal curing scene
Shaman with a tree growing from his back
Shaman carrying a human figure on his back
Male figure inhaling intoxicating snuff
Hunchbacked dwarf gesturing with paired peyote buds
Reclinatorio with a dog's head in rear
Reclinatorio
Cylindrical vase with four reliefs
Elderly pair
Male figure blowing through a tube into a bowl
Mother goddess figure
Woman lying on a metate
Personification of the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi)
Grave marker depicting a horned figure
Seated male figure with a horned headdress
Seated dwarf with a bird necklace
Shaman with a young initiate hanging down his front
Male figure with a horned headdress
Vessel in the form of a human head
Two shamans in combat
Model of a teponaztle drum
Two shamans riding a drum
Seated drummer
Dog wearing a mask with a human face
Model antler with a human head
Antler fetish
Shark swallowing a man
Male figure with a shark headdress
Seated male figure wearing a conch-shell headdress
Seated chieftain with a conch shell and headdress
Seated warrior
Model of a Strombus conch shell
Turbinella conch shell
Drawing of Stela 11
Pectoral and Maya inscription (on reverse)
Detail from a mural in the Temple of Agriculture
Detail from the façade of the Palace of the Plumed Conch Shells
Pyramid of the Plumed Serpent
Drawings of celestial monsters from Altar 41
Drawing of the rear face of Stela 11
Drawing of an inscription from a royal stela (the Hauberg Stela)
Standing figure carrying ritual devices
Detail from a fresco panel
Figure presenting a drinking vessel
Seated chieftain wearing a headdress with a horn and dog's head
Bottle with three crayfish supports
Mercado Libertad, Guadalajara, Mexico
Nopal cacti were cultivated in groves for their edible tender paddles and juicy tuna fruits
Preparing the harvested tuna fruits for market involves brushing away their fine needles
Duck
Male figure carrying a vessel with a tumpline
Coatimundi
Prairie dog
Joined ducks
Crab
Turtle
A tlachiquero trims the leaves of the maguey agave
Sugary mescal for sale in the market
Phytomorphic Vessel
Dancing dogs
Old pregnant snarling dog
Parrot
Vessel with zapotes
Vessel with squashes
Heaps of squash in a Guadalajara market
Squash vessel with parrot supports
Vessel in the form of a bowl of pitayas
Bowl of pitayas
Vessel in the form of an organ cactus
Vessel with cuahuayote fruits
Vessel with shrimps
Vessel with crabs
Vessel with crayfish
Roasted dog on the platter
The Sayula basin
By the end of July, rains have covered the lake bed with a thin sheet of water and the fields in the southern part of the basin have dramatically turned green
Seasonal rains bringout smaller organisms, shellfish, and small fish, attracting flocks of birds to the shallow basin
From the surrounding hillsides to the lake bed, three distinct ecological zones are seen in the Sayula basin
Vessel with armadillos
Flocks appearing during the height of the rainy season suggest the teeming wildlife that once populated the entire Jalisco lake-basin region
Duck
Heron
At Cerritos Colorados, foundations of ancient buildings appear amid heaps of broken pottery remaining from the dry-season saltworks
Chronology of the Sayula basin in relation to the Teuchitlán area and the Colima/southern Jalisco sequences
Map of the Sayula basin showing Usmajac phase and Verdía subphase site locations
Typical Usmajac-phase shaft tomb of the type found at the Cerro del Agua Escondida site
Plan of sector 3 of the Cerro del Agua Escondida site
Representative selection of Usmajac-phase pottery
Representative selection of Usmajac-phase pottery
Marriage pair
Map of the Pacific Coast from West Mexico to Peru
Codex Mendoza: Detail illustrating typical Mesoamerican clothing
Relación de Michoacán: Detail showing the unique male breeches worn by Tarascan males and a tunic-clad chieftain seated on a stool
Relación de Michoacán: Detail showing Tarascan males seated on stools and wearing checkered, tunic-like shirts
Relación de Michoacán: Detail showing a high-status wedding
Relación de Michoacán: Detail portraying the goddess Xaratanga wearing typical Tarascan female attire
Couple with a child
Female figure
Male figure
Figure wearing a short shirt and breeches
Female figure
Standing couple
Drawing of a stirrup-spout vessel
Drawing of a stirrup-spout vessel
Seated chieftain wearing a double carved-tusk pendant
Drawings of whale-tooth (a, c) and pig tusk (b) pendants set in gold
Hunchback
Female figure
Textile fragment displaying a checkered pattern with geometric repeating designs within each square
Tunic
Axe-monies
Relacíon de Michoacán: Detail depicting a Tarascan priest clad in a checkered, tunic-like shirt and wearing a large pair of golden tweezers around his neck
Drawings of a Tarascan tweezers
The painted jay inhabits only a small region in West Mexico, separated by four thousand kilometers from its morphologically close relative, the white-tailed jay of Ecuador and Peru
Vessel in the form of a dog
The thorny oyster Spondylus princeps
Illustration of a balsa raft sailing past a Spanish galleon near the mouth of the Bay of Guayaquil in Ecuador
Codex Mendoza: Tribute tally
Pendant in the form of a mythic double-headed creature with serpentine motifs
Bead necklace and pendant in the form of a large fish eating a small fish
Ceremonial earspools and earspool attachments
Circular pendant with a serpentine motif (necklace)
Seated figure
Necklace
Female figure
Vessel in the form of gourds
Vessel with Painted Motifs in the Form of a Gourd
Standing female figure with geometric designs
Standing female figure with geometric designs
Three ceremonial dancers
Standing dancer with ritual attire
Group of conical-headed "teco" figurines
Phallic dancer with removable headdress
Conch shell
Mirror
Standing male figure with a patterned shirt and conical hat
Plan of the Cuicuilco pyramid
Great Plaza at Teotihuacan
Ballcourt at La Quemada, Zacatecas
Grand stairway at La Quemada, Zacatecas
Plan of La Quemada, Zacatecas
Aerial view of Poverty Point, Louisiana
Plan of Poverty Point, Louisiana
Plan of Moundville, Alabama
The Great City of Tenochtitlán
Figure of a man bearing a burden of pottery
Snarling dog
Seated marriage pair
Family Group
Joined pair
Family Group
Standing female figure
Family group
Sleeping dog
Storyteller figure
Burial mask
Duck
Group of fourteen heads
Ribbed jar
Seated ithyphallic dwarf
Sleeping female figure
Standing dancer with animal on helmet
Squash vessel with parrot supports
Vase with iguana supports
Vessel with parrot legs and a serpentine design
Standing male figurine
Standing dancer with a removable headdress
Grotesque seated female figure
Squatting warrior wearing a helmet
Standing warrior holding a dart
Standing warrior holding a dart
Standing warrior holding a dart
Figure of a high-ranking matron
Elongated figure with hands on hips
Standing figure wearing a headdresss with twin circular motifs
Half-gourd vessel with frog designs
Vessel with a modeled face and geometric designs
Burial mask with geometric designs
Burial mask with geometric designs
Reclining female figure
Seated figure with a striped head
Standing figure with a painted face and torso
Reclining figure
Seated pair
Seated pair
Seated elderly male figure with a striped face

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Contents

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Table of Contents

Author

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.001

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13520

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Lenders to the Exhibition

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Lenders to the Exhibition

Author

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13521

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Foreword

James N. Wood

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Anyone traveling across the United States from Okracoke to Chicago, or along the Mississippi and through the Dakotas past Wenatchee to Seattle, or southwest between Acoma and Tehachapi Pass, will be naming the names of Amerindian peoples and the titles they gave to the landscape. From Central Mexico southward to Guatemala, the memory of early peoples and places is marked by the ruins of cities, pyramids, and processional ways at Teotihuacan, Monte Albán, Uxmal, Tikal, and scores of other ancient …

Author

James N. Wood

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13522

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Acknowledgments

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

During the course of the twentieth century a cultural movement has been evolving in the Americas, aimed at identifying and restoring a range of settings and landscapes: national preserves, historic towns and urban districts, battlefield sites, migration routes, and the ruins of early civilizations. This process has accelerated as the environment becomes ever more rapidly and permanently changed by industrial development, burgeoning cities, and mechanized cultivation. In The Necessity for Ruins …

Author

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.004

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13523

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Introduction: Renewing the Inquiry in Ancient West Mexico

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

When the British artist Adela Breton arrived in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, in May 1895, her interest in antiquities was aroused by descriptions of ancient ruins and artifacts in the surrounding region (see fig. 2). An adventurous and experienced traveler, she soon made arrangements to explore this area and boarded a local train heading westward into a country of broad, open basins and dun-colored mountains. The railway ran past the shallow lake of the Teuchitlán vega, glittering …

Author

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.15-33

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.005

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13524

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanArt--HistoriographyBreton, Adela, 1849-1923Art and anthropologyEthnologyIndians of MexicoArchaeology and art

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The Teuchitlán Tradition: Rise of a Statelike Society

Phil C. Weigand and Christopher S. Beekman

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

When we began our archaeological research in the area surrounding the sites of Teuchitlán and Etzatlán in Jalisco in 1969, we simply had no idea what we were about to discover. Conventional wisdom concerning the archaeology of this region had always emphasized the presence of shaft tombs and the impressive art objects found within them. Speculations abounded concerning the functions and meanings of the large earthenware figures, the smaller figurines, and the shaft tombs themselves, but these …

Author

Phil C. Weigand and Christopher S. Beekman

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.35-51

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.006

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13525

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanTeuchitlán (Mexico)Indians of Mexico--HistoryIndians of Mexico--Funeral customs and ritesTombsArchaeology and art

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Excavating the Tomb at Huitzilapa

Lorenza López Mestas Camberos and Jorge Ramos de la Vega

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

West Mexico has long been recognized as a region of shaft tombs and beautiful ceramic sculptures—both of which were manifestations of a reverence of ancestors and a belief in the afterlife. Today, these traits, among many others, are recognized as characteristic of the cultural development of this region during the period from 300 B.C. to A.D. 400 (generally identified as the Late Formative and Early Classic eras). Recent studies have brought to light evidence of complex social systems that …

Author

Lorenza López Mestas Camberos and Jorge Ramos de la Vega

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.53-69

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.007

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13526

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanExcavations (Archaeology)TombsIndians of Mexico--Funeral customs and ritesAncestor worshipGrave goodsIndian mythology--MexicoFertility, Human, in art

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Mortuary Practices in the Shaft-Tomb Region

Robert B. Pickering and Maria Teresa Cabrero

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

The shaft-tomb tradition of ancient West Mexico lies within a subtropical region that extends from the west coasts of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit through a series of highland valleys and lake basins to Guadalajara and Lake Chapala. Shaft tombs have also been found as far north as western Zacatecas and south into Michoacán. While most of the shaft tombs have been discovered within a small portion of this large area, no one has yet determined the actual extent of this distribution. Nonetheless …

Author

Robert B. Pickering and Maria Teresa Cabrero

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.71-87

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.008

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13527

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanExcavations (Archaeology)Archaeology and artTombsIndians of Mexico--Funeral customs and ritesGrave goodsClay figurines

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Food for the Dead: The West Mexican Art of Feasting

Kristi Butterwick

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Throughout the Mesoamerican world, feasts were the catalyst for significant ritual, social, and political interchange. We know from historical documents and hieroglyphic texts that pre-Hispanic peoples held over a dozen annual feasts, and that they commemorated life and death events, and brokered political and economic deals, in a milieu of feasting. These occasions were comparable to, or even exceeded, the bounty and significance of present-day state dinners or our own religious and national …

Author

Kristi Butterwick

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.89-105

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.009

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13528

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanCosmology, AncientIndians of Mexico--Social life and customsIndians of Mexico--Funeral customs and ritesRites and ceremonies in artFasts and feasts in artDrinking in artGrave goods

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Before Gods, Before Kings

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

In the silence of the night, hundreds of candles burn by the graves and the rows of baskets that have been laid out with white cloths covering the offerings of holiday bread; everything about is sprinkled with orange marigold petals (see fig. 1). Small wooden altars also stand by the low mounds, each decked with bread, dried ears of maize, and the bright pungent flowers. The village women sit in vigil, wrapped in dark shawls and the red or black folds of their woolen skirts. Their only movements …

Author

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.107-135

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.010

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13529

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanGrave goodsIndians of Mexico--Funeral customs and ritesKings and rulers in artTombsIndian mythology--Mexico

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Sacred Sun Centers

Christopher L. Whitmore

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

There is a biting chill in the morning air which nips at his toes through the weave in his sandals. His stomach, however, is still warm from the drink of hot cacao and honey that he had heated over an open fire. During the night he had taken shelter in a grove of huamuchil trees that now seem to vibrate from a faint pulsating drumbeat originating in the west. In that direction, just over a low hill of terraced farming plots, the traveler can make out tall poles stretching toward the last of the …

Author

Christopher L. Whitmore

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.137-149

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.011

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13530

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanIndian mythology--MexicoCosmology, AncientArchitecture and cosmologyCosmology in artIndians of Mexico--Rites and ceremoniesRites and ceremonies in artIndian calendar

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The West Mexican Ballgame

Jane Stevenson Day

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Everyone who visits the grand archaeological sites of Mesoamerica will find, among the tiered pyramids, open plazas, royal residences, and processional ways, certain open courts, usually made in the shape of a capital I, with parallel stands along the sides, markers set at regular intervals, and defined zones at either end. These are ballcourts, where games were played between two teams using a latex rubber ball. Played for sport, to adjudicate quarrels, or for a range of ritual occasions …

Author

Jane Stevenson Day

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.151-167

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.012

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13531

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanIndians of Mexico--Social life and customsSports in artPok-ta-pok (Indian game)Clay figurinesAthletes in artGrave goods

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Shamanic Symbolism, Transformation, and Deities in West Mexican Funerary Art

Peter T. Furst

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Ancient West Mexican funerary art has long been famous for its ceramic representations of the natural and social world, but only recently have sacred, symbolic, supernatural, shamanic, and other phenomena outside everyday experience begun to be recognized as important subjects and functions of this art. If the “non-ordinary” is even now not always recognized for what it is, at least a dimension of the spiritual or magical is now acknowledged as a significant component of the ancient mortuary …

Author

Peter T. Furst

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.169-189

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.013

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13532

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanShamanism--MexicoIndians of Mexico--Rites and ceremoniesGrave goodsSymbolism in artSupernatural in artIndian mythology--Mexico

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The Iconography of Rulership in Ancient West Mexico

Mark Miller Graham

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Pre-Columbian studies have so far produced three different interpretive models or paradigms of the cultures that existed in ancient West Mexico before the rise of the Tarascan state in the Postclassic period. These models, which might be handily tagged “Daily Life in Marginal Villages,” “Shamanism,” and “Complex Society,” were developed successively, although the latter two models were more shifts of emphasis in research than explicit efforts to progress from a critique of an earlier model. …

Author

Mark Miller Graham

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.191-203

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.014

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13533

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanArt--HistoriographyArt and societyIndians--Kings and rulersKings and rulers in artIdols and imagesShells in artHeaddresses

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Natural Resources and Human Settlements in Ancient West Mexico

Otto Schöndube

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

For those of us who have a certain curiosity about human life, it is interesting to try to understand how different peoples lived in times past. Although the past can never be recaptured entirely, we are left with many types of evidence that allow us to imagine, with varying degrees of accuracy, how things may once have been. In this essay we will look at evidence that speaks of the interrelationship between humankind and the environment in the shaft-tomb area of Jalisco, Colima, and Nayarit in …

Author

Otto Schöndube

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.205-215

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.015

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13534

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanArchaeology and artNatural resources--MexicoAgriculture in artAnimal sculptureGrave goodsIndians of Mexico--Agriculture

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The Sayula Basin: Ancient Settlements and Resources

Francisco Valdez

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

The art of ancient West Mexico has traditionally been treated in terms of a group of beautiful but enigmatic objects. Because of insufficient knowledge, however, the various regional styles have generally been classified according to their geographical location. In spite of the unquestionable aesthetic quality inherent in these works, few specialists have attempted to trace the origins of their social, cultural, and symbolic functions, or of the societies that created this art. The lack of …

Author

Francisco Valdez

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.217-231

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.016

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13535

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanSayula Lake (Mexico)Natural resources--MexicoIndians of Mexico--AgricultureArchaeology and artIndians of Mexico--History

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They Came to Trade Exquisite Things: Ancient West Mexican–Ecuadorian Contacts

Patricia Rieff Anawalt

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

The conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés took place between 1519 and 1521. In the years immediately following, the newly arrived Spanish overlords methodically searched for riches in the rugged terrain and diverse ethnic pockets of their recently acquired domains. Of particular interest to those conquerors were gold, silver, and other exploitable sources of quick wealth and lofty position. Thanks to the Spaniards’ propensity for recordkeeping—the indigenous inhabitants of Mexico were the best …

Author

Patricia Rieff Anawalt

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.233-249

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.017

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13536

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanIndians of MexicoIndians of South AmericaArchaeology and artTrade routesClothing and dress in artExcavations (Archaeology)

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The Evolution of Complex Societies in West Mexico: A Comparative Perspective

Joseph B. Mountjoy

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Even among archaeologists who work in the region, the definition of precisely what constitutes West Mexico remains unclear. Nevertheless, a combination of historical, geographical, and cultural features, none of which is entirely adequate on its own, can help us fix our focus on the indigenous cultures that developed in the area that today comprises the modern Mexican states of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit, Michoacán, and Sinaloa, along with portions of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Durango. This region …

Author

Joseph B. Mountjoy

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.251-265

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.018

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13537

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanIndians of Mexico--HistoryExcavations (Archaeology)Archaeology and artIndian art--MexicoIndian architecture--MexicoArt and anthropology

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West Mexican Art and Modernist Artists

Barbara Braun

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

The idea that the so-called primitive art of Africa and Oceania has had considerable influence on a number of major twentieth-century artists is hardly novel. Such a relationship was demonstrated and solidified by, among other things, Robert Goldwater’s pathbreaking study Primitivism in Modern Art, a number of exhibitions in the past half-century in London and Paris, and a major show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York ten years ago. But the impact of the pre-Columbian art of Mexico …

Author

Barbara Braun

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

Related print edition pages: pp.267-283

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.019

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13538

Chapter subject tags:Art, Ancient AmericanArt, ModernRivera, Diego, 1886-1957Kahlo, FridaTamayo, Rufino, 1899-1991Art, Modern--Indigenous influences

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Catalogue of the Exhibition

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

In the following checklist, we have, wherever possible, used the names of geographical locations to designate groups of figures sharing stylistic characteristics and apparently made in workshops within a restricted area. For example, in the vicinity of Comala, Colima, numerous local workshops produced groups of figures. Each of these groups is subtly different from the next, yet these “Comala style” forms have affinities that distinguish them from, say, figures of the “San Sebastián style” of …

Author

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.020

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13539

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Bibliography

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past

Bibliography

Author

Richard F. Townsend (Editor)

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00016.021

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-13540

Access to this content is only available to subscribers. If you are at an institution that currently subscribes to the A&AePortal, please login to your VPN before accessing the site. If you have already purchased an individual subscription, please sign in to your account to access the content. Learn more about subscriptions.

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