Unit 5

• Indigenous Americas Art


  • Chavin
  • Mayan
  • Anasazi
  • Mississippian
  • Aztec
  • Incan
  • Native North American
• Chavin art


  • Intricate stone carvings and pottery, often depicting their gods and animals
• Mayan art


  • Elaborate architecture, intricate carvings, and colorful murals
• Anasazi art


  • Beautiful pottery and rock art, often depicting their daily lives and spiritual beliefs
• Mississippian art


  • Intricate copper and shell ornaments, as well as impressive earthen mounds
• Aztec art


  • Skilled in metalworking, creating intricate gold and silver jewelry, as well as colorful featherwork
• Incan art


  • Impressive stonework, including the famous Machu Picchu
• Native North American art


  • Varied greatly depending on the tribe, but often included intricate beadwork, basketry, and carvings
• Materials used in Mesoamerican art

  • Stone
  • Clay
  • Wood
  • Feathers
  • Shells
  • Gold
  • Silver
• Processes used in Mesoamerican art

  1. Carving

  2. Casting

  3. Weaving

  4. Painting
• Carving


  • Used to create sculptures and other objects out of stone
• Casting


  • Used to create metal objects
• Weaving


  • Used to create textiles, which were often decorated with intricate designs
• Painting


  • Used to decorate buildings, sculptures, and other objects, and often used bright colors and bold designs
• Techniques used in Mesoamerican art

  • Relief sculpture
  • Mosaic
  • Inlay
• Relief sculpture


  • Involves carving a design into a flat surface
• Mosaic


  • Involves creating a design out of small pieces of stone or other materials
• Inlay


  • Involves setting small pieces of one material into another material to create a design
• Materials used in Central Andes art

  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Copper
  • Textiles
• During colonial times, European materials were introduced, leading to new painting techniques like the Cuzco School
• Today, artists use a variety of materials and techniques, blending traditional and contemporary styles, experimenting with new materials, and exploring different art forms
• Materials used in Native North American art

  • Wood
  • Stone
  • Bone
  • Animal hides
  • Glass beads
  • Metals
  • Textiles
• Techniques used in Native North American art

  1. Carving

  2. Weaving

  3. Painting

  4. Quilling
• Common techniques in Native North American art

  • Basketry
  • Pottery
  • Jewelry making
• These methods reflect cultural and spiritual beliefs and can tell stories, record history, or celebrate events
• Traditional methods have adapted to modern materials and technologies
• Chavín de Huántar


  A religious capital, with a temple 60 meters tall adorned with a jaguar sculpture, a symbol of power, and a hidden entrance leading to stone corridors
• Chavín relief sculpture


  • Shows jaguars in shallow relief, located on the ruins of a stairway
• Lanzón Stone


  A 15-foot tall granite blade-shaped stone inside the old temple of Chavín, depicting a powerful figure that is part human and part animal, which may have served as an oracle and point of pilgrimage
• Nose Ornament


  Hammered gold alloy worn by elite men and women as emblems of their ties to the Chavín religion, transforming the wearer into a supernatural being during ceremonies
• Yaxchilán


  A Maya city set on a high terrace, with important buildings surrounding a plaza, that flourished from c. 300-800 CE
• Structure 40 at Yaxchilán


  • Overlooks the main plaza, with three doors leading to a central room decorated with stucco, a nearly intact roof with a large roof comb, and a corbel arch interior, built by ruler Bird Jaguar IV for his son
• Lintel 25, Structure 23 at Yaxchilán


  • Depicts Lady Xook invoking the Vision Serpent to commemorate her husband's rise to the throne, with the Vision Serpent having two heads - one with a warrior emerging and the other with the war god Tlaloc
• The lintel was intended to relay a message of the refoundation of the site, as there was a long pause in the building's history, and Shield Jaguar's building program may have been an attempt to reinforce his lineage and right to rule
• Structure 33 at Yaxchilán


  A restored temple structure with a roof comb, three central doorways leading to a large single room with a corbel arch interior
• Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings

  Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) structures built into the sides of a cliff, housing about one hundred people, with a plaza, kivas, and storage areas on the top ledge
• Great Serpent Mound


  A Mississippian (Eastern Woodlands) earthwork/effigy mound associated with snakes and crop fertility, with theories that it could be influenced by comets or astrological phenomena
• Templo Mayor (Main Temple)


  A series of pyramids built one atop the other in Tenochtitlán, with two temples on top dedicated to the gods Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli, destroyed by the Spanish in 1520
• Coyolxauhqui "She of the Golden Bells"


  A circular relief sculpture in volcanic stone, representing the dismembered moon goddess Coyolxauhqui, placed at the base of the twin pyramids of Tenochtitlán, where the Aztecs sacrificed people and threw their dismembered remains down the steps
• Calendar Stone


  A basalt stone reflecting the Aztecs' belief in the need to feed the sun god human hearts and blood, with a tongue in the center representing a sacrificial flint knife, and two intertwined calendar systems