Today’s artifact blog takes us to Northern Peru during the Pre-Columbian period (1000 BC - 1000 AD). This horizontal-compound vessel is from the Vicus culture and dates to approximately 100 BC- 600 AD.
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This phenomenal ceramic figure you see here is a part of the Jama-Coaque tradition from 1,400-2,300 years ago! While much of the culture remains elusive, their powerful ceramic figurines tell their stories to us today.
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Like many of the cultures surrounding them, their pottery techniques were exquisite. They range from depicting naturalistic to fantastical or supernatural scenes. For the Nasca people, it was their primary way of artistic and symbolic expression.
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Inca keros (sometimes called queros) act as more than just a drinking cup; they can literally seal a person's fate based on how they receive them. They also have changed over time.
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The Moche culture began its history around 200 A.D. along Peru's northern coast and fell around 900 A.D. Their artisans and artists left behind valuable looking-glasses to their culture's values, ideology, mythology, and religious practices found in the crafts they created.
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Today, the Spiro Mounds represent one of the wealthiest and influential centers of the pre-Columbian era. This beaded necklace tells a story of fashion, trade, and wealth in this sophisticated culture. This necklace is made from a 34-inch strand of hollow bird bone beads and found at the Spiro Mounds in Leflore County, Oklahoma. They are estimated to be used within 900 A.D. to 1450 A.D.
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The Mayan civilization is mostly associated with their cultural advances in mathematics, architecture, astronomy, visual arts, and the Mayan calendar inspired by their philosophy of life- nothing has ever been born and nothing has ever died. Of course, this encouraged their beliefs in gods and the cosmos. The complexity of their beliefs is displayed beautifully by this specialized group of stone carvings called “eccentrics” found near Melchor de Mencos, in Guatemala.
Today, in celebration of Día de Los Muertos, we are looking at stone masks from Teotihuacan, dating to around 200 A.D. to 650 A.D! Stone masks are possibly the best well-known representation of Teotihuacan's sculptures and a larger emblem of Mesoamerican history.
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Explore intricately woven bags that hold a special significance in Andean culture, both in the past and present. They are traditionally called Chuspas, but widely known as Coca bags because of their use. Coca bags existed in ancient Andean societies to carry leaves from the coca plant, which were used for medicinal and ritualistic purposes.
Read MoreTextiles in the ancient Andes are saturated with meaning and symbolism. The textile fragments in our collection come from the Chancay culture dating from A.D. 1100 to A.D. 1450 found in central coast valleys of present-day Peru.
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Archaeologists estimate that dogs have been domesticated for over 10,000 years, with evidence in the archaeological record indicating domesticated dogs have existed in the southwestern region of Mexico for at least 3,000 years. Ceramic effigies, or representations, of Xoloitzcuintle, more commonly referred to as Xolo, or Mexican Hairless, have been found across the region.