Mesoamerican Architecture: Did you mean...?

Obsidian is a dark volcanic glass which provides the sharpest cutting edge available in nature. Ancient Mesoamerican cultures greatly esteemed the properties of obsidian, and it was widely traded across the region. Obsidian was used to create...

Alure (Wall Walk) The walkway along the higher and interior part of a wall which often gives access to the higher floors of towers within the wall. Typically protected by battlements. Apse A semicircular projecting part of a building...

The Mesoamerican civilizations represent a long continuum of complex societies that emerged independently in Central America and southern Mexico from roughly 1500 BCE to the early 16th century CE, prior to Spanish conquest. Rather than a...

Medieval English churches differed in size and layout. Their original and evolving role(s), financial and material resources, and architectural fashions helped determine variability. However, their look ultimately grew from a constant symbiosis...

Chinese culture developed from small communities such as Banpo Village (c. 4500 BCE) through the early Xia Dynasty (c. 2070-1600 BCE) and the great dynastic periods that followed after, creating some of the most striking and memorable works...

Ceramic Mesoamerican canine vessel from South-Central Veracruz, Mexico, c. 600 to c. 900. This open ceramic bowl from the Veracruz Late Classic period features a mould-made effigy of a canine resembling a xoloitzcuintle, a wrinkly, hairless...

A ceramic vessel with painted scenes of Maya players of the Mesoamerican ballgame. Guatemala, 700-800 CE. (St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri)

A representation of the Tonalpohualli – ‘Counting of the Days’ 260-day calendar used by ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Two systems ran simultaneously with a group of 13 numbered days combined with a group of 20 name days. Thus, each day had...

A sculpture of the Mesoamerican god known to the Aztecs as 2 Rabbit who often represented the pulque gods. These gods represented the alcoholic drink pulque and were also known as the Centzon Totochtin (400 Rabbits). 1100-1300 CE. (Poza Larga...

An 18th-century illustration showing a Mesoamerican using the traditional method of collecting insects to make the prized cochineal dye. (The Newberry Library)