The ancient civilizations of the Americas represent distinct and unique artistic traditions, sharing an emphasis on art as a vehicle for communicating symbolic and cosmological meanings. Featuring ceramics, textiles, featherwork, and objects of stone, metal and shell, Before Columbus: Iconography in the Ancient Americas highlights both the range of iconographic forms found throughout the pre-Columbian New World, and the complexity of interpreting their meanings in a post-Columbian setting. The exhibition includes works ranging from the Peruvian highlands and Amazon Basin through Mesoamerica to ancient Missouri.

excerpt from Alex Barker's Museum Magazine article:

Drawn mainly from objects in the Museum's permanent collections - some never before exhibited - the exhibition focuses on textiles, pottery and metalwork, the areas of greatest emphasis and achievement in the surviving art and artifacts of pre-Columbian societies. Ranging from Mayan polychrome glyphic vases to ancient featherwork of South America, from ancient Andean textiles to fragments of friezes from the great Mexican city of Teotihuacan, and featuring gold from the isthmus of Panama to the effigy vessels of Colima and Moche, Before Columbus: Iconography in the Ancient Americas showcases the breadth of artistic achievements of the ancient Americas, and provides insights into the iconographic meanings of the works' rich symbolism.

The Yale Peabody Museum's latest traveling exhibition celebrates the rich and diverse artistic traditions of Mexico. Developed by the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Las Artes de México examines over 3,500 years of art and culture and of tradition and change across the broad spectrum of Mexican life, from the ancient worlds of the Mayans and Aztecs to the 20th century works of Miguel Covarrubias and Diego Rivera.

Included are artifacts from over a dozen pre-Columbian cultures that reveal a world of ceremony and celebration, of ritual warfare and the veneration of the dead, along with a selection of material from the Peabody's own collections.

Teachers' Workshop

In conjunction with Las Artes de México, the Yale Peabody Museum will offer a teacher's workshop on Saturday, April 19, 2008, from 9:00 am to Noon. The workshop features a presentation by Yale Anthropology Professor Marcello Canuto, curator of the exhibition, who was recently in the news for his work helping to find the long sought-after ancient Maya city known as Site Q. We will spend time in the exhibition and present and discuss key elements of the curriculum. Teachers will receive 0.3 CEUs for attending this workshop. To register, please call (203) 432-3297.

Preliminary Speakers:

Robert Carmack, University of Albany
Peter Furst, University of Pennsylvania
Silvia Salgado, University of Costa Rica
Garrett Cook, Baylor University
David Mora-Marín, UNC-Chapel Hill
Jill Furst, University of Pennsylvania
Tricia Gabany-Guerrero, University of Mass
Michael Smith, Arizona State University
DeCormier Ceremony, Keynote Speaker - Liliana Goldin, Florida International University

Students participate in an archaeological dig and learn the techniques for retrieving artifacts. A real Florida archaeologist will join us and guide us through how artifacts are catalogued and intrepreted.

Within the supportive framework of the NC State Guatemala Program students learn how to do ethnographic fieldwork, design a research project, carry out independent research and study the effects of tourism and change on the local environment and communities. During the program students live with indigenous Guatemalan families in the Lake Atitlán area of the Western Highlands.

The goal of this course/program is to provide students with practical training and experience in sociocultural anthropology fieldwork (participant observation methods, interviewing, research design, sampling, coding, data analysis and ethics) as they study the anthropology of tourism in a practical context. Each student is free to choose any topic for his or her independent ethnographic research project, but environmental and tourism issues inevitably will play at least some minor role in nearly all potential topics.

This workshop is designed to provide a practical application of geophysical equipment and aerial photographic techniques available for the identification, evaluation, and ultimately, the conservation and protection of cultural resources. The field exercises associated with the course will concentrate on the application of these techniques to archeological investigations. Instruction will be given in the use, processing, and interpretation of data from magnetometers, conductivity meters, resistivity meters, ground penetrating radar, metal detectors, and magnetic susceptibility instruments and their applications to non-destructive subsurface investigations. The major emphasis of the training will be on the field use of the equipment. Instruction will also be offered in the use of and interpretation of aerial photographic techniques, and in the use of low altitude large scale aerial reconnaissance. Special topics for this year will include soil magnetism and the effects of plowing on geophysical signatures and site integrity.

Geophysical techniques provide a means of non-destructive investigations for archeological surveys. These techniques utilize physical principles to study the earth through indirect interpretation of the earth's physical properties. Geophysicists interpret the Earth’s physical characteristics using physical, electrical, and/or chemical measurements. Active geophysical techniques are based on responses from an induced signal used to detect contracts in different material properties. Such techniques include electromagnetics (EM), ground penetrating radar (GPR), metal detectors, electrical resistivity, and seismic. Passive techniques are based on responses from the natural conditions. These techniques include magnetics, gravity, and self potential (SP). The course will provide an opportunity to learn about non-destructive geophysical techniques for archeological investigations including advantages and disadvantages of such techniques.

The workshop is open to all archeologists and students as well as those interested in forensic studies and cemetery investigations. The field exercises will take place at the Biesterfeldt Site (a protohistoric village site on the Sheyenne River). Co-sponsors for the workshop include the National Park Service, the Archaeological Conservancy, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

Through hands on experience, you will learn the general aspects of field archaeology excavation, survey, mapping, artifact processing, and artifact analysis. Field techniques training will be supplemented by lectures. Subjects vary but generally cover excavation objectives, lithic analysis, ceramic analysis, osteological analysis and Maya prehistory. All project participants will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of aspects of archaeological fieldwork.

PfBAP is directed by Dr. Fred Valdez of the Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin. PfBAP research focuses on the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, a nature reserve that is over 250,000 acres in size and contains over 50 ancient Maya settlements. The PfBAP offers archaeological fieldwork opportunities for volunteers of any age and experience level as well as opportunities for students to earn college credit. Academic credit may be obtained from the University of Texas at Austin, or your home institution.

Additional session: June 14 - July 11, 2008 or attend both sessions: May 20 - July 11, 2008.

Since 2004 the Uxbenká Archaeological Project has been studying the rise and fall of an important Maya city, Uxbenká, located in the remote rainforest of southern Belize. In summer 2008 a limited number of students will have the opportunity to gain valuable field experience learning from an international and multidisciplinary team of scientists while participating in ongoing archaeological research.

This five week summer course focuses on the archaeology of the ancient Maya and will provide students with hands-on training in basic archaeological field and lab methods. Instruction will include training in excavation and survey using state of the art technology, lectures during field trips to nearby Maya ruins, and additional instruction in the form of lectures by visiting scholars and specialists.

Since 1992, research at the Maya center of Blue Creek as been MRP’s flagship effort. Blue Creek was a wealthy polity with a city center incorporation major monumental architecture. We have excavated much of the public architecture, discovered one of the Maya area’s largest caches of jade, and found a large-scale ancient agricultural system. Blue Creek represents one of the most well-studied and longest-continuity excavations in the Americas. MRP’s work at Blue Creek has produced an academic book, dozens of published papers, five doctoral dissertations and more than ten master’s theses. Hundreds of undergraduate students and volunteers have participated in the project. The current blue Creek project team includes faculty members and graduate students from a dozen universities. The blue Creek Project has also been instrumental in documenting and protecting many Maya sites in northwest Belize.

In May and June of each year, MRP hosts multiple two-week sessions for students and volunteers at Blue Creek. Everyone is a full participant in the effort, being involved with field excavations and laboratory work.

Additional sessions being offered:

Session 2: June 9 - June 22
Session 3: June 30 - July 13
Session 4: July 14 - July 27

A limited number of scholarships are available for students.

Sponsored by the UNC-Duke Consortium, the Yucatec Maya Summer Institute offers both a beginning and continuing six-week program to teach modern Yucatec Maya, a living language spoken by one million people living in the Yucatán Peninsula and Belize. The courses are open to anyone who wishes to study Yucatec Maya.

Level I
June 2 - July 12, 2008

Level I begins with two and a half weeks of intensive classroom instruction, six hours each day, on the UNC - Chapel Hill campus. Students will learn basic Mayan grammar and usage before traveling to Yucatán for the remainder of the course. Dr. David Mora-Marin, Professor of Linguistics at UNC-CH teach Level I at UNC. After the two and a half weeks, Level I students will travel to the colonial city of Mérida, the Puuc region, and then to the historic city of Valladolid and the nearby village of Xocen, where they will attend classes and spend time experiencing village life. During the course, Mayan scholars and anthropologists will lead trips to archaeological and colonial sites. This counts as 6 credit hours and 160 contact hours.

Level II
June 2 - July 12, 2008

Level II begins with an intensive six hours a day of classroom instruction. Teaching will focus on further developing conversational skills and grammar. Recording and playback facilities will be used as well as laboratory instruction in Mérida. Linguist Ismael May May and Dr. John Tuxill will teach the course. While in Mérida, Level II students will live with Mexican host families. There will be time to explore many facets of Meridian life. During the third week of the program, students in Level II in Mérida will have the advantage of being part of a series of afternoon workshops, given by some of the field's top scholars. Level II students will spend the remaining three weeks living in the villages of Santa Elena in the Puuc region, Valladolid, and in Xocen. This counts as 6 credit hours and 140 contact hours.

Our fieldwork will continue at the site of Baking Pot, which is located on the outskirts of the modern town of San Ignacio, in the Cayo District of Belize, Central America. The investigations will include extensive stratigraphic and horizontal excavations of stratified deposits, as well as mapping of all cultural features.

The investigations will include extensive stratigraphic excavations, testing of architecture by means of trenching, as well as mapping of the archaeological features and architectural remains uncovered. Students will be involved in all aspects of the archaeological investigations, from the setting of excavation units, to the production of site maps. The project also incorporates daily laboratory work where students participate in the processing and documentation of the artifacts recovered from the site (including a range of ceramic and lithic artifacts as well as human and animal remains). Weekly lectures will present an overview of Maya civilization and will provide introductions to other specific topics such as ceramic typology, archaeological survey methods, human osteology, and Maya ritual and ideology.

Participation on the BVAR project can take a number of forms:

Option One - 4 Weeks
This option is designed for extensive exposure to archaeological methods and techniques. This option spans over a four week duration and includes extensive training in archaeological field techniques: reconnaissance, survey, excavation, and artifact processing. This option forms a complete curriculum including all lectures, site tours and written exams. This option is tailored for students wishing to obtain academic credit for this field course. Nonetheless this option is also suitable for enthusiasts seeking in-depth exposure to archaeological field experience.
Session 1: June 2 - June 27, 2008
Session 2: July 7 - August 1, 2008

Option Two - 2 Weeks
This option forms a basic introduction to field research techniques and spans the first two weeks of either session. All the introductory lectures to archaeological methods and most site tours are provided during the first two weeks of each session. For those wishing to get a good "feel" for how archaeology works in a short period of time, this option is ideal.
Session 1: June 2 - June 13, 2008
Session 2: July 7 - July 18, 2008

Academic credit may be obtained for the course through the University of Mississippi.

Through hands on experience, you will learn the general aspects of field archaeology excavation, survey, mapping, artifact processing, and artifact analysis. Field techniques training will be supplemented by lectures. Subjects vary but generally cover excavation objectives, lithic analysis, ceramic analysis, osteological analysis and Maya prehistory. All project participants will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of aspects of archaeological fieldwork.

PfBAP is directed by Dr. Fred Valdez of the Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin. PfBAP research focuses on the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, a nature reserve that is over 250,000 acres in size and contains over 50 ancient Maya settlements. The PfBAP offers archaeological fieldwork opportunities for volunteers of any age and experience level as well as opportunities for students to earn college credit. Academic credit may be obtained from the University of Texas at Austin, or your home institution.

Additional session: May 20 - June 17, 2008, or attend both sessions: May 20 - July 11, 2008.

Students are embedded in Belize culture as they learn archaeological field methods and research strategies. They excavate ancient Maya ruins at Cahal Pech, where they make significant discoveries that improve our knowledge of the Maya's history. Students recently uncovered one of the earliest Maya burials on record, dating from approximately 1000 B.C., and artifacts uncovered by students are on display in the Belize National Museum.

This is a four-week summer institute for middle and high school faculty of History, Social Studies, Art History, Literature and Spanish selected from applicants around the United States. It is designed to facilitate the expanded integration of Mesoamerican cultural heritage materials – new discoveries and the latest research interpreting the same – into curricular units or lesson plans that will appeal to a variety of learners and bring greater multicultural depth and understanding into the classroom. The aim is to explore how the histories of Mesoamerican peoples might provide useful comparisons for exploring humanities questions in the broader American and the global context – such as how peoples move from non-sedentary to more settled societies, what leads to city formation, the emergence of writing and literacy, the development of complex societies, cultural florescence (and decline), how empires are built and what the human consequences are, and what are the nature and outcomes of cultural encounters and exchange. It is also our aim to explore our methods and sources, considering perspective and voice and how we can interpret cultural heritage materials such as museum objects, architectural remains, or pictorial and textual archival manuscripts.

Judith Musick, Director of the Wired Humanities Project at the University of Oregon and an early member of the international movement to establish the new "inter-discipline" of digital humanities, will direct the technology component of this institute. She is assembling a team of experts who will share their skills in working with still images, slide presentations, and simple video editing, all with an eye to enhancing curriculum development. She will also explore with us, more generally, the ways in which digital humanities methods can present unique approaches to cultural heritage materials for scholars and teachers.

Stephanie Wood, author of four books, dozens of articles on Mesoamerica, and a co-editor of the Handbook of Latin American Studies' "Mesoamerican Ethnohistory" series since 1995, is directing the Mesoamerican content portion of the institute. She is a specialist in pictorial and textual manuscripts produced in indigenous communities of New Spain. She and Musick collaborate at the University of Oregon on the Mapas Project, which has benefited from a two-year NEH grant, 2006–08. This is a digital resource that will feature prominently in the institute, along with the Virtual Mesoamerican Archive (VMA), a finding aid and repository for Mesoamerican heritage materials at Oregon and around the globe. Building the VMA over the past half-dozen years has helped Wood keep abreast of the latest developments in all aspects of Mesoamerican cultures and histories.

Additional members of the core faculty, from the University of Oregon, include Robert Haskett, a history professor who shares with Wood an expertise in ethnohistory, co-editing with her the HLAS, and brings to the institute his special familiarity with religion, pre- and post-conquest; and, Lynn Stephen, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, with twenty-five years visiting and studying what is now Oaxaca, Mexico, who will introduce us to the Mixtecs and Zapotecs and discuss important social, political, economic, and religious aspects of their societies.

Faculty coming from other institutions include Professor Carolyn Tate, who has expertise as a curator for museum exhibits and experience researching the better-known Pre-Classic civilization, the Olmecs, among other cultures; Sandra Noble, Director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI), who is a specialist in the Classic Maya; Professor Marc Zender, an epigrapher from Harvard who will give us a lesson in reading Maya glyphs; and John Sullivan and Delfina de la Cruz from an institute in Zacatecas, Mexico, who will lead the final workshop on indigenous perspectives on Mesoamerican studies.

WEEK ONE (July 14 to 18)

Orientation
Mesoamerica and Digital Resources (Stephanie Wood and Judith Musick)
Introduction to Material Cultures – Textiles (Wood)
Introduction to Material Cultures – Sculpture and Ceramics (Carolyn Tate)
Introduction to the Olmec Civilization (Tate)
Reconstructing La Venta at 400 BC (Tate)
Creation Stories (Tate)
Imaging and Electronic Presentation Workshops (Musick)

WEEK TWO (July 21 to 25)

An Overview of FAMSI Research Materials on Line (Sandra Noble)
Introduction to Maya Civilization (Noble)
Classic Maya Cultural Heritage Materials: Curricular Approaches at FAMSI (Noble)
Rethinking the Classic-Period Maya ‘Collapse’ (Noble)
Development of Writing and Literacy in Early Mesoamerica (Marc Zender)
Cracking the Code: Glyphic Texts of the Maya (Zender)
A Lesson in Reading Glyphs (Zender)
The Mesoamerican Ballgame (Zender)
Imaging and Electronic Presentation Workshops (Musick)

WEEK THREE (July 28 – Aug 1)

Introduction to the Mixtec and Zapotec Civilizations (Lynn Stephen)
Introduction to the Aztec (Nahua) Civilization (Robert Haskett)
Teaching the Topic of Human Sacrifice (Haskett)
The Spanish Conquest (Haskett)
Indigenous Views of Spaniards (Wood)
Primordial Titles: Nahuas Look Back on Conquest (Haskett)
The Mapas Project: Overview (Wood and Musick)
The Mapas Project: Case Studies (Wood)
Incorporating Film into the Curriculum (Wood)
Editing Video Clips (Musick)

WEEK FOUR (Aug 4 to Aug 8)

Finding Women in Early Mesoamerican Cultural Heritage Materials (Wood)
Rethinking La Malinche as Malintzin (Wood)
Indigenous Christianity (Haskett)
The Virgin of Guadalupe as Tonantzin (Wood)
Indigenous Perspectives on Mesoamerican Studies (Sullivan and de la Cruz)
Indigenous Languages: Universal and Unique Communication Forms, the Example of Nahuatl (Sullivan and de la Cruz)
Participant Presentations
Evaluation

The Minority Languages and Cultures of Latin America Program (ML&CP) & the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at Indiana University invite proposals for Individual Presentations, Round Table Discussions, Panel Presentations, Interactive Workshops and Poster Sessions. The themes of the 2008 symposium will provide an opportunity for participants to engage with some of the challenging and fundamental questions about the intersection of research and teaching of indigenous languages of Latin America:

Best practices, methodologies and strategies in teaching indigenous languages
Using multimedia and other multiple resources in language teaching
The interplay of teaching and research
Issues of language policy and planning in language teaching
The importance of indigenous languages learning for fieldwork
Impact of language attitudes and ideologies on teaching indigenous languages
Connecting, celebrating and maintaining traditions through teaching
Assessment and evaluation
Issues of dialectology and standardization in language instruction
Technology and indigenous languages
Distance learning / online courses
Strengthening indigenous languages as an international subject of study

Abstracts deadline: June 10, 2008.

Please join the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington, D.C. as we explore manifestations of Aztec power and politics in one of the New World's most powerful and complex empires.

Trade, Tribute and Markets in the Aztec Imperial World
Dr. Frances Berdan, University of California/San Bernardino

Aztec Imperial Strategies from the Bottom Up: A View from the Pictorial Histories
Dr. Lori Diel, Texas Christian University

Aztec Militarism
Dr. John Pohl, Fowler Museum of UCLA

Architecture, Power, and Kingship at Aztec Cities outside Tenochtitlan
Dr. Michael Smith, Arizona State University

The Great Mountain Shrines of Tetzcotzingo and Mt. Tlaloc
Dr. Richard Townsend, Art Institute of Chicago

Monuments, Omens, and Historical Thought: the Transition from Ahuitzotl to Motecuhzoma II
Dr. Emily Umberger, Arizona State University

This one-day conference brings together some of the foremost scholars to present their research on and knowledge about ancient Mesoamerican Mythological belief systems and to discuss how these mythologies are reflected in their art, architecture, and sacred texts.

The symposium guest speakers include Karl Taube, Michael Coe, Wendy Ashmore, David Stuart, John Pohl, and Leonardo Lopez Lujan. Speakers' Reception and Dinner are open to the public (with separate registration) featuring our Keynote Speaker Dr. Mary Miller, Yale University.

Presented by the New World Archaeology Council in conjunction with the Archaeological Institute of America – Orange County Society and the Anthropology Department of University of California Riverside.

Explore the grandeur and complexity of one of the world's great civilizations. Within the span of 200 years, the Aztecs went from a nomadic group to one of the most powerful and influential societies ever, leaving behind a legacy that lives on today. Now, find out how an empire that began in the middle of a lake went on to become the center of the world. With hundreds of spectacular artifacts and works of art, assembled together for the first time, you can journey into the everyday lives of an ancient culture. Examine the deities, temples and sacrificial altars of Aztec religion. Explore the training, weapons and celebrations of Aztec warriors. Discover the privilege, possessions and treasures of Aztec rulers. And trace the remarkable rise and fall of The Aztec World exclusively at The Field Museum.

Power and authority provide the framework for societies the world over, and have done so, arguably from the dawn of social interaction between the human species. This year's topic is an attempt to analyze and provide an examination of power, authority and respect, in regards to the various ways that it is incorporated within the archaeological record. Power is manifested via a multitude of sociocultural structures, and is seen across societies in the form of monumental architecture, religious institutions, rulers, and armies. It is also present on a smaller scale, within familial relationships, guilds, and neighborhoods. Cultural symbols reinforce this ever present and pervasive factor, such as ear spools within Mesoamerica, ranks within a military unit, or styles and manners of dress. Based solely on these few examples alone, a plethora of archaeological research can be conducted, and these few examples are by no means the extent of possible areas for potential research and presentation.

CALL FOR PAPERS:

Tentative Conference Session Topics:

"Queens" of the Stone Age: The Role of Women within Power Structures
Temples, Tombs and Stele: The Representation of Power through the Ages
Alternative Power: Modes and Structures of Authority
Family Ties: Respect and Authority on a Personal Level
Warfare: Archaeology of the Rank and File
Bodily Power: How Body Modifications Reflect Power Structures
"Art"ifactual Evidence: Power as Manifested by Personal Ornamentation and Art
Deus Lovolt: Power and Religion
You Are What You Wear: Clothing as Evidence for Social Status
Lexicon of Power: The Role of Language and Propaganda within Social Structures
"The Urban Peasant" Diet as an Indicator of Status in Ancient Populations

Confirmed plenary speakers include:

Norman Yoffee from the University of Michigan
Susan Jamieson from Trent University
Randy McGuire from Binghamton University (State University of New York)
Zhichun Jing from the University of British Columbia

Deadline for submission of Abstracts has been extended to April 7th, 2008.

Located in Golden Gate Park, the de Young is San Francisco’s oldest museum. On October 15, 2005, the de Young Museum re-opened in a state-of-the-art new facility that integrates art, architecture and the natural landscape in one multi-faceted destination that will inspire audiences from around the world.

A walk through the de Young’s collection of over 2,500 objects from Mesoamerica, Central and South America, as well as the West Coast of North America reveals the richness and complexity of art that links the Americas. Notable treasures include the largest group of Teotihuacán wall murals outside of México, a rare Lowland Maya stela dating from the 8th century A.D., a Peruvian mouth mask of hammered gold from the Nazca culture, and a ten-foot totem pole from Alaska.

This exhibit draws on the William P. Palmer III Collection, a collection of 2,228 Precolumbian ceramics, lithics, and gold work dating from 2,000 B.C. to the time of the Spanish Conquest and is one of the finest collections of its type in the nation. The exhibit includes many Maya pieces, including a stela, glyph panel, cylindrical vases, figurines, shell, bone and antler carvings, and jade pieces. It explores cultures of México and Central America ranging from Olmec to Aztec.

The Hudson Museum also features the following Online Exhibits:

"Worldviews: Maya Ceramics from the Palmer Collection" - explores the wealth of information about religion and beliefs important to the Maya and captured by artisans. Some of the internationally known pieces in this exhibit were published in The Maya Vase Book, vol. 5, by Justin and Barbara Kerr, and Hidden Faces of the Maya, by Linda Schele.

"Images for Eternity: West Mexican Tomb Figures" - discusses the progress being made by modern scholars in understanding West Mexican tomb figures that have lost their original context.

The Library of Congress presents The Cultures and History of the Americas, an online exhibition featuring fifty highlights from the more than 4,000 rare books, maps, documents, paintings, prints, and artifacts that make up the Jay I. Kislak Collection.

This exhibition explores several themes, including the pre-Columbian cultures of Central America and the Caribbean as revealed in sculpture, architecture, and language; encounters between Europeans and the indigenous peoples; the growth of European Florida; and piracy and trade in the American Atlantic.

This exhibition is a preview of the permanent Kislak space to open in the Northeast Galleries of the Thomas Jefferson Building in 2006.

The museum’s holdings include a comprehensive collection of Pre-Columbian objects representing nearly every culture of Pre-columbian Latin America, with the best representations from West Mexico and the Maya region. The museum also possesses a cohesive collection of Guatemalan costumes and an extensive collection of Mexican masks.

Ongoing Exhibits include:

"Gods, Kings and Artisans of Ancient Mesoamerica"
"Ceramics of Ancient West Mexico"
"Painted Vessels of the Maya Elite"
"Power and Guidance - Early Classic Figurines of Mesoamerica"

Upcoming Online Exhibition:

"Ancient Mexican Art" - This upcoming online exhibition will feature pieces selected form the Barrick Museum’s collection to illustrate the cultural and historical continuity of Mexican art. The pieces all date to before the Spanish Conquest of the 1500’s. The materials, techniques, and designs used in ancient Mexico continue to enrich the folk art of today.

The collection of art of the ancient Americas is substantial, consisting of more than 1,900 pieces. The Museum is fortunate in the breadth and depth of the collection as a whole. All three principal cultural centers of the Americas are represented: Mesoamerica, Central America, and the Andes. Most of the important art-producing cultures – from the West México to the Maya and Aztec, from Honduras to Panama, from the Chavín to the Inca – can be appreciated during a visit to the permanent collection galleries.

Ancient America refers to regions in Mexico, Central America and South America at a time prior to the arrival of Europeans. The diverse artistic traditions of the prehistoric people can be traced as far back as 4,000 years. The museum collection includes many examples of pottery and stonework as well as elaborate, hand-woven textiles and costumes. Large burial urns, figurines and jewelry provide a unique insight into these advanced cultures.

The permanent exhibit includes representative objects from all the archaeological regions and time periods in Pre-Columbian Guatemala. The exhibition is organized in chronological sequence, from the earliest traces of human presence in the modern territory of Guatemala, until the Spanish conquest. Three major geographic regions may be distinguished in the study of the ancient peoples of Guatemala: The Pacific Coast, The Highlands, and The Lowlands.

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century in both the Old World and the New, chocolate remained an elite drink, too expensive for ordinary folk to enjoy, and often forbidden to them. But the invention by a Dutchman of a method to extract the fat in cacao paste led to the mutation of chocolate from drink into a solid confection that could be enjoyed by the masses. Chocolate now became "big business" and the cultivation of the cacao tree was spread all across the globe.

The present exhibit: "Kakaw: Chocolate in Guatemalan Culture" brings together many lovely objects that celebrate the mysteries and rituals that surrounded the chocolate drink among the early Maya, as well as the vessels that were made in colonial times so that a new, Creole elite could indulge their new-found taste for this prestigious beverage.

The NMSU Museum is now home to a unique and comprehensive collection of both prehistoric and historical pottery. This permanent exhibit includes almost 600 pottery vessels that reflect the vibrant artistry and beauty of Southwestern and Mesoamerican ceramics. There is also an extensive type collection of sherds from New Mexico and Chihuahua to be explored, as well as other educational materials. The NMSU Museum proudly invites you to view this important and historic cultural collection.

This exhibition features more than 150 works, including 25 pieces that have never been exhibited before, made prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the Europeans during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Representing a time period of more than 3,000 years, the exhibition drawn from the OMA’s Art of the Ancient Americas Collection gives a rare glimpse into the life and culture of numerous civilizations from the North, Central and South American regions including the Aztec, Maya, Moche, Nasca, Inca and Zapotec with significant ancient works of gold, silver, jade, ceramic, shell and wood.

Dig It! Explore Archaeology is a hands-on exhibit that will delight visitors of all ages. Featured is a life-size replica of an excavated trench wall where hands-on elements demonstrate the science of archaeology. A photo-mural illustrates various aspects of archaeological field work. In other hands-on elements, you'll explore how archaeologists study clues from ancient and historic sites. Learn how these clues are used in identifying artifacts, such as ancient pottery, and create your own designs using interactive magnetic drawing slates. Build your own miniature Hohokam village or take a break and enjoy the museum's orientation video in the newly rennovated theater. Both children and adults will find this gallery entertaining, engaging, and educational... in fact, they'll "DIG IT!"

The flora and fauna of the forest, the rhythm of burning and planting, and the cycles of birth and death shaped the myth, ritual, and pageantry that are celebrated in art and architecture of these ancient and contemporary peoples. This exhibit features exact copies of Classic Maya monuments–four towering stelae and two massive zoomorphs–from the ancient city of Quiriguá, Guatemala, covered with hieroglyphs that recount the stories of Maya rulers and gods. The exhibit backdrop is a colorful mural resplendent with the animals and birds of the jungle surrounding the Ceiba tree, the symbolic tree of life that links the heavens, earth, and underworld. Exhibit cases contain fine examples of Maya pottery and figurines, as well as information on how the giant monuments were carved more than 1200 years ago.

Explore objects from various areas of the Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collection to enrich visitors' understanding of their content, style, and historical context. The collection includes sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, and textiles created by Native Americans, the inhabitants of Teotihuacan, and the Olmec, Maya, and Aztecs of ancient Mesoamerica — the geographical area comprising New Mexico, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. Includes lesson plans for the classroom, maps, glossary, books, and art projects for the home.

Pre-Columbian art from Mexico, Central and South America has been at the heart of the Bowers for many years. A series of galleries communicates the power and sophistication of the mysterious cultures that rose and fell in ancient America.

The Bowers Museum also offers the following Educational Activities for Schools (grades 3 & 4):

Pre-Columbian Art Tour
(History/Social Science content standards and Visual Arts Framework)
The series of five intimate galleries portray the rich art and culture of ancient Pre-Columbian civilizations. The exhibit details the emergence of Mesoamerican cities highlighting architecture, ritual art, the sacred ball game, funerary art, and hieroglyphic writing depicted in Mayan art. Various artifacts include the ceramics and stone carvings of the pre-Columbian Maya and Olmec peoples illustrating their sacred rituals.

Ancient Mesoamerican Art Classes
(Visual Arts Framework)
Clay Masks, Jaguar Masks, Tooled Foil Mythical Beasts, Clay Animals

In 2002, The Dayton Art Institute was fortunate enough to be able to showcase the stunning pre-Columbian collection of the late Harold W. Shaw, on loan from Mrs. Mary Louise Shaw. Thanks to Mrs. Shaw’s generosity, we are once again able to share these treasures with our members and visitors. The Shaw collection features gold, silver, jade, stone and ceramic works from ancient Meso-America and South America. Assembled during the 1960s and 1970s, this stunning collection is a testimony to the gifted eye of Harold Shaw.

Journey through history to get the complete story behind the tasty treat that we crave in Chocolate, an exciting new exhibition developed by The Field Museum.

You’ll begin in the rainforest with the unique cacao tree whose seeds started it all. Visit the ancient Maya civilization of Central America and discover what chocolate meant nearly 1,500 years ago. Then travel forward in time and northward to the Aztec civilization of 16th-century Mexico, where cacao seeds were so valuable they were used as money. Discover chocolate’s introduction into the upper classes of European society and its transformation into a mass-produced world commodity.

In addition: Opening in the Winter of 2007:
The Halls of the Ancient Americas - It tells the epic story of human life on the American continents, from the arrival of small groups of hunter- gatherers, whose way of life survived into the 20th century, to the great but fragile empires of the Aztecs and the Incas - empires that stretched thousands of miles, encompassed as many as 10 million people, and came to sudden, brutal ends. Click here for additional information.

The objects in this gallery are from "Mesoamerica," the area encompassing most of southern Mexico, all of Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador and parts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. In parts of this culture area farming villages grew into towns and cities, tribal chiefs were made kings and emperors, trade networks became more complex, stone monuments and pyramids were erected, a calendar and writing-system developed, and devotion to nature spirits developed into state ceremonies in honor of the gods and ancestors.

This site explores Aztec and Mayan law through images and brief overviews of topics such as warfare, tribute, Aztec courts, attorneys and judges, property law, family law, punishment, drunkenness, slavery and Maya Law. Includes a small collection of annotated links on Aztec, Mayan, and other Mesoamerican civilizations.

Hundreds of earthenware pots and other Precolumbian artifacts from ancient West Mexico are now part of the collections of Wake Forest University’s Museum of Anthropology.

The objects, most dating from 300 B.C. to 400 A.D., were donated to the museum in May. The collection of 1,040 pieces includes 162 complete ceramic vessels, ceramic figurines, greenstone beads and necklaces, obsidian spear and arrow points, knives, and grinding stones.

The artworks for this exhibition, loaned by the directors of the Austen-Stokes Ancient Americas Foundation, are highlights of the foundation’s collection and include more than 120 objects. Many of the objects have never been shown before and rank among the most beautiful and striking pieces created by these cultures. In the sculptures, vessels, and jewelry, the artists and craftsmen encoded a wide range of religious beliefs in representations of humans, animals, and supernatural beings. From gem-like objects of stone and gold to paintings and ceramic figures, the intricate compositions, remarkable naturalism, and sometimes powerful abstraction indicates how much remains to be learned about these ancient cultures.

All of the major civilizations of Mesoamerica are featured, including Olmec, Maya, and Teotihuacan, among others. The exhibition focuses on small ceramic sculpture from these cultures--enigmatic figures and animals that probably served a ritual function. These pieces are complemented by larger ceramic sculptures from West Mexico, intricate gold objects from Colombia, elegant ceramics from Ecuador, and works from the Caribbean and Alaska.

Among the collection are outstanding Jaina terra-cotta figurines from the Maya period, striking figures and house models from western México. Particularly important and rare is the clay model of a ball game, which is complemented by a yoke, hachas, and additional items related to this ancient sporting activity. South American cultures are represented by a small number of vessels, sculptures, and other objects, including textiles. The exhibit also includes a painted Maya vase and the largest carved Maya femur known, along with a notable selection of Olmec and Maya pieces.