Module 10 Flashcards
(29 cards)
Olmec
An archaeological culture. Known for stone sculptures and monuments.
San Lorenzo
Small village, first city in Mesoamerica.
Regal-Ritual City
Urban centre with highly developed ritual functions.
Hero Twins
Sculptures of two identical kneeling humans and jaguars. From mythology.
Colossal Heads
From San Lorenzo. 10 known heads from here, believed to have been actual people not deities.
La Venta
One of most important art production centres in early Mesoamerica.
Great Pyramid of La Venta
Centre point of city.
La Venta Stela 1
Deeply carved stone slab of female.
La Venta Triumphant Altar
There is a snake above the carvings head. Assumed to be tabletop ceremonial throne.
Atelier
An artist’s workshop.
La Venta Complex A
A mortuary complex. Yielded 5 complex tombs. A sandstone sarcophagus depicting a were-jaguar here.
Bloodletter
Ritualized self-cutting or piercing.
The Traveller Statue
Contains elements of what could be writing, but we don’t know.
La Venta Monument 1
Unusual to other colossal heads here. Greater refinement in the carving.
Drop earrings vs. ear flares
Recognizably, males wear ear flares.
Later Olmec sculpture
Human figures lack the naturalism present in early works.
Were-jaguar
Some believe it was a representation of people living with a congenital disease. Art depicts the suffering.
Teotihuacan
First metropolis in Mesoamerica. 6th largest city of the world. 8 sq miles, fully urbanized.
Avenue of the Dead
Runs 4 miles, multi-level series of broad plazas. Enshrined mummy bundles of their ancestors in temples that lined the avenue.
Talud-tablero architecture
A rectangular panel (tablero) with inset placed over a sloping wall (talud).
Pyramid of the Sun
First major construction of Teotihuacan. There was a man-made cave underneath. Possibly where elites were buried.
Pyramid of the Moon
Human sacrifices made here.
Cosmopolitan city
Teotihuacan. People with different cultural identities lived in the city.
Teopancazco neighborhood
Centre of garment manufacture. Cotton clothes worn by elites may have augmented the neighborhood’s status. Craftspeople may have had status.
Temple of Quetzalcoatl
Temple of Feathered Serpent. Destruction of the temple shows a dramatic shift in religious or political beliefs. Only pyramid to have sculpture reliefs. Ritual human sacrifice here.
Collapse
Buildings burned, sculptures shattered, but no evidence of foreign invasion. This suggests a revolution.
Tlaloc
Rain and argriculture God. Had to keep him happy because he could cause drought.
