r/AncientAmericas

Source: San Antonio Museum of Art

The wheel was invented in the 4th millennium BC in Lower Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). The earliest evidence of wheels in India, for example, dates back 4,500 years. The wheel didn't reach Europe until 3,000 years ago. In the Old World, one of the last peoples to adopt the wheel was the British, just 2,500 years ago. While Europe was late to the party, Mesoamerica was busy inventing it completely on their own. Archaeologists like Alfonso Caso and his colleagues Stirling and Ekholm proved that rotational movement wasn't just understood in Mesoamerica, it was mastered. Spindle whorls, drills, cylindrical stamps, and yes... wheeled figurines with wooden axles. The only two regions on Earth to officially independently invent the wheel? Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica.

"Encounter with a giant" by David Yorke

La Estela de Raimondi es una famosa escultura de granito de la cultura Chavín. Mide 1,98 metros de alto, 74 cm de ancho y 17 cm de grosor. Representa al "Dios de los Báculos", un ser con rasgos de felino y serpientes.

Aunque parezca la escena de un alíen con antenitas, se piensa que eran personas con tocados cefálicos, esta pintura es de las mas violentas que se registran en el Sitio Arqueológico de La Tunita Catamarca, puesto que tiene en una mano un cuchillo mientras en la otra mano teñida de rojo (sangre?), sostiene a una persona arrodillada

This is my contemporary artistic interpretation of a Mexica/Mesoamerican Macuahuitl. It isn't intended to be an historically accurate reconstruction.

I wanted to combine the form of this fascinating historical weapon with my own practice as a mosaic artist. The body is made from 100 year old reclaimed British beech.

I routed recesses into both faces of the wood and created a completely different ceramic mosaic on each side. Every tessera was cut and shaped by hand and both mosaics were finished with black grout.

One face uses a more geometric turquoise, white and yellow design. The other uses more organic forms and imagery inspired by Mesoamerican art, particularly the visual language associated with Mexica/Aztec imagery.

The black elements along the edges are vitreous glass, while the handle is wrapped in leather with decorative cord and painted feathers.

I deliberately wanted this to sit somewhere between historical object, sculpture and contemporary mosaic rather than try to reproduce an original Macuahuitl.

I'd be interested to hear what people with a better knowledge of Mesoamerican art and material culture think of the designs and the way I've approached the piece. Thanks for looking.

New LiDAR scans are revealing hundreds of ancient earthworks hidden beneath the Amazon rainforest.
Researchers identified 432 earthworks, including 396 that had never been documented before.
Based on the survey, they estimate that the wider Aquiry region could contain 24,000–30,000 earthworks.
The researchers also estimate that the civilization may have supported 1.25–3 million people at its peak.
The scale of this is honestly hard to comprehend.

Nunamarca (también escrita Nunamarka) es un sitio arqueológico prehispánico ubicado a unos 5 km de Chillia, en la provincia de Pataz, región La Libertad, al norte del Perú, a una altitud aproximada de 3.534 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Conocido localmente como “Pueblo de los Espíritus” o “Ciudadela de Nunamarca”, abarca alrededor de dos hectáreas y presenta construcciones de piedra y barro, murallas de 7 a 8 metros de altura, estructuras piramidales, petroglifos y frisos tallados. Fue explorado en 1937 por el arqueólogo Julio C. Tello, quien documentó lajas y estelas que hoy se conservan en museos. Se interpreta como un posible centro ceremonial cuya iconografía incluye la serpiente bicéfala, el cóndor, figuras humanas, felinos y representaciones del sol y la luna. Aunque su cultura constructora no está del todo definida, se proponen influencias de tradiciones Chachapoyas, Wari o Chavín. El sitio enfrenta problemas de degradación por la expansión agrícola y el saqueo de piedras, y en 2016 el Gobierno Regional de La Libertad lo declaró de preferente interés para su reconocimiento como Patrimonio Cultural de la Nación.

I’m going through Mesoamerican deities one by one and trying to understand the iconography rather than simply memorize the names.

Centeotl is usually described as a maize deity, but once you start looking at actual codex figures, identification becomes much less obvious.

What visual attributes would you consider the most diagnostic for Centeotl?

Are there particular headdresses, maize elements, facial markings, colors, ritual objects, or poses that distinguish Centeotl from other agricultural deities?

If anyone knows especially good examples from the codices or museum collections, I’d love to compare them.