‘Murica (Early America)

Great Pyramid And Plaza

 

Located in La Venta Mexico. The Great Pyramid and Plaza is of the Olmec Culture. Dating back to 900-400 CE,  it has a height of 100 feet, a diameter of about 400 feet, and is man-made of nearly 3.5 million cubic feet of earth. The pyramid is also made of clay.

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La Venta was an Olmec city which thrived greatly. Th city was built on a ridge, and on top that were several important buildings and complexes. These complexes make up the “Royal Compound” of La Venta. The pyramid was created to stand-in for a sacred mountain in religious ceremonies because there were no other nearby mountains.

 

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The Olmec culture is the earliest of the great Mesoamerican civilizations. La Venta is dominated by Complex C, also called the Great Pyramid. The top of the mound was later destroyed by a nearby oil operations in the 1960’s.

Colossal Heads

 

Located in San Lorenzo, Mexico. The heads are also of the Olmec Culture.

 

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Primarily made of Basalt, the heads have a height ranging from 5 to 12 feet and can weigh from 5 to more than 20 tons. They date back between 1200-900 CE.

The Olmec’s produced an abundance of monumental basalt sculptures, including Colossal heads, altars, and seated figures.

These heads were portrayed as adult males wearing close-fitting caps with chin straps and large, round earspools. Earspools were cylindrical earrings that pierce the earlobe.

Colossal Head La Venta

Ten colossal heads were found  here at San Lorenzo and four were found at La Venta. The colossal heads here  at San Lorenzo were credited at an earlier period than the ones at La Venta. Furthermore, the ones at La Venta all faced the Atlantic.

 

Colossal Head 4 San Lorenzo

They had fleshy faces, almond-shaped eyes, flat broad noses, thick protruding lips, and downturned mouths. Each face was still different, suggesting that they may represent specific individuals. They were thought to be ball players, and all part of a game.

 

Ceremonial Center Of The City Of Teotihuacan Mexico

 

From the Teotihuacan Culture, dating back between 100-650 CE. The city of Teotihuacan was originally from another culture, but later was used by the Aztecs. Because the original culture is unknown, we use the names that was given by the Aztecs. The name Teotihuacan means “the place where the Gods were created”, and it was a very important place religiously for the Aztecs. It was built between 1st and 7th centuries A.D.

 

teot_mapThe city is bisected by a north-south axis road and extends more than a mile. The north end is  called the Pyramid of the Moon which is somewhat shaped like the mountain behind it. As you’re approaching the mountain, the pyramid takes over in your view, showing its importance and also the spiritual and divine symbolism of the building.

 

The largest is the Pyramid of the Sun, just to the east of the Avenue of the Dead, which again was called Avenue of the Dead by the Aztecs. It has a multi-chambered cave with a spring inside of the pyramid, is said to be the reason why worship was conducted there.

 

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At the southern end of the road is the Ciudadela. It’s a sunken plaza surrounded by temple platforms, it is a religious and political center, and could accommodate more than 60,000 people. The focal point of the Ciudadela was the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent

 

Pyramid Of The Feathered Serpent. The Ciudadela

 

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Located in Teotihuacan, Mexico, the Pyramid of the feathered serpent is of the Teotihuacan Culture and dates back to 200 CE.

The pyramid has 7 tiers, and a tal d-tablero which is a slope and panel style of Teotihuacan architecture.

Teotihuacan-Temple_of_the_Feathered_Serpent-3035   There are undulating feathered serpents floating in a watery space punctuated by reliefs of aquatic shells. The bodies are in low relief and have 3D heads.

The squarish headdress and protruding upper jaw makes the pieces unique. The heads have large circular eyes originally inlaid with obsidian, which is a stone made from lava in volcanos, with a pair of round goggles on their forehead.

Teotihuacan_Feathered_Serpent_(Jami_Dwyer)   The pyramid is said to represent the Teotihuacan storm God associated with warfare. The other representations of warriors shown wearing this headdress.

Inside the pyramid are sacrificial victims, humans, wearing necklaces made of human bones with their arms are restrained behind them.

Bloodletting Ritual 

This fragment of a fresco from Teotihuacan, Mexico of the Teotihuacan Culture dating back to 550-650 CE.

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It’s pigmented on damp lime plastered with a height of 82 X 116.1 cm. The walls were polished to give a smooth, shiny, and durable surface. It’s flat, angular, and abstract in the artistic sense. The man in the image is enriching and revitalizing the earth with his own blood.

The large headdress of quetzal bird feathers shows his high rank, more than likely a priest. The stands between the rectangular plots of earth and bundles of grass maguey spines,  which is used to conduct the bloodletting, pierce the ground. Drops of blood fall from his right hand, and is shown by the symbols for blood, seeds, and flowers falling from the other.  The sound scrolls from mouth indicates a chant given that these bloodletting rituals were common throughout Mesoamerica.

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