THE MEETING OF CULTURES

Transcription

1 Primary Source Packet THE MEETING OF CULTURES THE MEETING OF CULTURES The following packet includes the ARTIFACTS and EXCERPTS you will need in order to complete PARTS 5 & 6 of The Meeting of Cultures Activity Aztec Calendar Source: Library of Congress

2 ARTIFACTS (Use to Complete Part 4) ARTIFACT 1 Warrior Seated on a Bench Colombia, Cauca River Valley before A.D Earthenware One of the most impressive known examples of Colombian ceramic art is a seated male figure from the Popayán region of west-central Colombia. Stools were important symbols of rank among the pre-columbian societies of Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. The figure s commanding pose, elaborate headdress and shield, and gold necklace together suggest an individual of wealth and power. The huge hands and firmly planted feet imply strength, solidity, and capacity for action. His swollen calves reflect the use of ligatures (bands) tied tightly below the knee and at the ankle. Amazonian peoples today use ligatures to strengthen muscles. The crested, lizardlike creature clinging to the figure s back recalls the animals that often rise behind monumental carved stone figures at the site of San Agustín, in Colombia s Magdalena River valley. Such creatures may represent protective spirits or alter egos. ARTIFACT 2 Ear Ornaments Peru, North coast, Chimú-Inca, A.D Gold Within the multiethnic Inca empire, dress was strictly regulated and reflected both ethnicity and rank. Only nobles were permitted to wear ear ornaments. The Spanish called these nobles orejones (big ears) because of their stretched earlobes. This pair or ear ornaments has shafts decorated with birds and waves, while the round fronts feature male figures wearing short, wide tunics and large headdresses. The figures wear masks that dangle from hinges, suggesting that the figures are shown participating in a ritual. The ear ornaments were probably manufactured by a craftsman from the north coast Chimú kingdom, which remained an important center for manufacturing and exporting under Inca domination. ARTIFACT 3 Bell Pendant Necklace with Animal Motifs Costa Rica, Diquís region, A.D Gold alloy At the center of this large gold pendant is a composite deer-bird creature whose rounded belly is a bell. The legs are replaced by four smaller deer heads, and at the base is a flared bird tail. Encircling the deer-bird is a braided arch, and an outer frame composed of seven four-legged creatures with curly tails and birdlike heads. The pendant was made using the lost-wax casting process, which involves making a wax model of the desired object, then encasing it in clay to form a mold. Heating the mold melts the wax, and molten metal is then poured into the mold. After cooling, the clay mold is broken away.

3 ARTIFACT 4 Large Cup Peru, North coast, Chimú or Sicán, A.D Hammered silver This cup is the most complex artwork from ancient Peru s north coast region. It was formed of sheet silver, and has decoration created by pushing out from the inside surface of the metal. The imagery, which covers the cup s walls and bottom, includes a giant serpent filled with fish that may represent a river. Architectural compounds, gardens, boats, deer hunters, and supernatural beings are all included in what may be the episodes of a mythological story. Peru s north coast is a desert, but advanced irrigation technology and ocean resources allowed the Sicán and Chimú peoples to support large populations. Master metalworkers from both cultures manufactured spectacular ornaments and vessels of hammered gold and silver. ARTIFACT 5 Costumed Figure Jar Costa Rica, Greater Nicoya region, A.D Earthenware This tripod jar portrays a human being wearing an elaborate costume and mask, probably for a ritual performance. The fundamentally human character of the figure is evident in his upright pose, five-fingered hands, and ears. The face has a crocodilian protruding snout with interlocking teeth and raised nostrils, but incisions and ridges around the edges show that this is a mask. A grinning animal head positioned below the rump forms a tail and also serves as one of the tripod supports. Like the mask, the tail must be a component of the human being s costume or disguise. Incised into the surface of the body are intricate patterns representing costume elements with decorative borders. The very large eyes and short, narrow snout of the mask are not naturalistic features of either crocodiles or caimans. Perhaps these traits are intended to emphasize watchfulness or vision, rather than attacking or devouring. ARTIFACT 6 Breastplate Armor Panama, Azuero Peninsula, A.D Hammered gold alloy Hammered gold breastplates from central Panama are decorated with intricate embossed images of supernatural beings with claws, bared teeth, and serpentine appendages The highest ranking members of ancient Panamanian society were buried with numerous human attendants and lavish offerings. These included pottery and gold ornaments such as helmets, breastplates, wrist guards, pendants, and beaded necklaces. Other valuable materials placed in graves include turtle carapaces, stingray spines, whale teeth, shark teeth, boar tusks, carved bone, agate, quartz, emerald, and serpentine.

4 ARTIFACT 7 Vase with Palace Scene Mexico or Guatemala, Maya, A.D Earthenware with colored slips This simply shaped vessel is a masterpiece of Maya ceramic painting, with a complex composition and beautiful calligraphy. The figures poses and faces are highly expressive, hinting at a now-lost human drama. The scene takes place at a noble Maya court. Inside a palace room with swagged curtains is a ruler who sits cross-legged atop a plastered bench. He leans forward, and appears to sniff a bouquet. Addressing him is a slightly smaller, younger man who touches his own shoulder in a gesture of respect. To the right of the ruler sit four profile men, while on the ground in front of the bench are an attendant and tribute goods, including sacks of cacao beans. Discretely hidden behind a partition, two beautifully garbed women look on. The hieroglyphic inscription identifies the vessel s owner, from the site of Río Azul, who was the father of the ruler in the scene. The four figures to the right of the ruler may have been his sons (grandsons of the vessel s owner). The secondary figure facing the ruler was likely an important courtier, probably involved in tribute collection. ARTIFACT 8 Mask Mexico, Teotihuacán, A.D Jade Mexico s greatest ancient city was Teotihuacan, located north of what is now Mexico City. The site has a long, straight north-south avenue and two immense stone-clad structures now known as the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon. In later Aztec myth, Teotihuacán was the birthplace of the sun and moon. The site also incorporates hundreds of smaller temple mounds and enclosed residential compounds. Numerous stone masks have been uncovered at Teotihuacán, although lack of archaeological context means that their function is still uncertain. Teotihuacán masks are idealized, with a standardized shape and serene expression. Their unpierced eyes and mouths indicate that they were not worn by living individuals. Instead, they may have been affixed to the bundled corpses of the dead in funerary ceremonies, or mounted on deity images made of perishable materials. Many of the masks probably once had inlays of shell, obsidian, or pyrite in the eye and mouth depressions, lending them a dramatically more lifelike appearance.

5 ARTIFACT 9 Jaguar Pendant Necklace Costa Rica, Central region, A.D Jade Carved from a thick, substantial block of blue-green jade, this pendant depicts a feline seated upright on its haunches. The heavy body, long thick tail, and bared teeth reveal that the animal is a jaguar, Costa Rica s most powerful mammalian predator. The mottling of the jade with paler green on the muzzle, belly and legs recalls the cream to orange color shading of the jaguar s pelt. The individual who owned the pendant was likely associated with the feline in some fashion; perhaps his alter ego or spirit companion was a jaguar, or the animal was a clan or family emblem. In any case, the pendant surely advertised the wearer s power and ferocity. The pendant was probably worn as the central component of a spectacular two-tiered necklace. The main suspension hole is drilled through the feline s neck; a secondary strand passed through the loop formed by the tail s curled tip. Both strands would have been strung with additional beads of jade or other materials. ARTIFACT 10 Human Figure Drum Peru, South coast, Proto-Nasca, about 100 B.C. A.D. 200 Earthenware Early Nasca decorative ceramics have design outlines filled in with colored slips applied before firing. The colors are limited: black, brown, tan, and cream. Forms include bottles modeled as birds, animals, fruits, and human beings. Ceramic drums are quite rare. An animal skin was stretched over the large mouth of the vessel, which would have been played in an inverted position. This drum s simply modeled chamber portrays a masked ceremonialist wearing a headcloth with embroidered borders, and carrying a small baton and a wand with dangling elements. Later Nasca decorated pottery has painted rather than incised outlines and a much wider range of slip colors. ARTIFACT 11 Tenoned Serpent Head Mexico, Toluca Valley region, A.D Volcanic stone This large stone serpent head was once incorporated into an architectural structure such as a pyramid. The tenon (shaft) behind the head fitted into a socket in the façade, or at the base of a staircase. Projecting serpent heads once ornamented the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacán, north of Mexico City. Later, the Toltecs and Aztecs of central Mexico carved great serpent heads to flank pyramid staircases. This head most closely resembles carved serpent heads now displayed in Teotitlan del Valle; their exact place of origin is unknown. In pre-columbian thought, snakes were associated with both the earth and the sky. Snakes often live inside holes in the ground; caves openings, considered entrances to the underworld, were often depicted as gaping serpent mouths. The sky was also conceived as a great starry serpent arched over the earth.

6 EXCERPTS: (Use to Complete Part 5) EXCERPT 1: Christopher Columbus October 11, 1492 What follows are the very words of the Admiral in his book about his first voyage to, and discovery of, these Indies. 1, he says, in order that they would be friendly to us -- because I recognized that they were people who would be better freed and converted to our Holy Faith by love than by force -- to some of them I gave red caps, and glass beads which they put on their chests, and many other things of small value, in which they took so much pleasure and became so much our friends that it was a marvel. Later they came swimming to the ships launches where we were and brought us parrots and cotton thread in balls and javelins and many other things, and they traded them to us for other things which we gave them, such as small glass beads and bells. In sum, they took everything and gave of what they had very willingly. But it seemed to me that they were a people very poor in everything. All of them go around as naked as their mothers bore them; and the women also, although I did not see more than one quite young girl. And all those that I saw were young people, for none did I see of more than 30 years of age. They are very well formed, with handsome bodies and good faces. Their hair coarse -- almost like the tail of a horse-and short. They wear their hair down over their eyebrows except for a little in the back which they wear long and never cut. Some of them paint themselves with black, and they are of the color of the Canarians, neither black nor white; and some of them paint themselves with white, and some of them with red, and some of them with whatever they find. And some of them paint their faces, and some of them the whole body, and some of them only the eyes, and some of them only the nose. They do not carry arms nor are they acquainted with them, because I showed them swords and they took them by the edge and through ignorance cut themselves. They have no iron. Their javelins are shafts without iron and some of them have at the end a fish tooth... All of them alike are of good-sized stature and carry themselves well. I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies and I made signs to them asking what they were; and they showed me how people from other islands nearby came there and tried to take them, and how they defended themselves; and I believed and believe that -- they come here from tierrafirme to take them captive. They should be good and intelligent servants, for I see that they say very quickly everything that is said to them; and I believe that they would become Christians very easily, for it seemed to me that they had no religion. Our Lord pleasing, at the time of my departure I will take six of them from here to Your Highnesses in order that they may learn to speak They came to the ship with dugouts that are made from the trunk of one tree, like a long boat, and all of one piece, and worked marvelously in the fashion of the land, and so big that in some of them 40 and 45 men came. And others smaller, down to some in which came one man alone. They row with a paddle like that of a baker and go marvelously. And if it capsizes on them they then throw themselves in the water, and they right and empty it with calabashes that they carry. They brought balls of spun cotton and parrots and javelins and other little things that it would be tiresome to write down, and they gave everything for anything that was given to them. I was attentive and labored to find out if there was any gold; and I saw that some of them wore a little piece hung in a hole that they have in their noses. And by signs I was able to understand that, going to the south or rounding the island to the south, there was there a king who had large vessels of it and had very much gold... This island is quite big and very flat and with very green trees a I and much water and a very large lake in the middle and without any mountains; and all of it so green that it is a pleasure to look at it. And these people are very gentle, and

7 because of their desire to have some of our things and believing that nothing will be given to them without their giving something, and not having anything, they take what they can and then throw themselves into the water to swim... E. G. Bourne, ed., The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot (New York: publisher unknown,1906). EXCERPT 2: Christopher Columbus October 14, 1492 As soon as it dawned I ordered the ship s boat and the launches of the caravels made ready and went north-northeast along the island in order to see what there was in the other part, which was the eastern part. And also to see the villages, and I soon saw two or three, as well as people, who all came to the beach calling to us and giving thanks to God. Some of them brought us water; others, other things to eat; others, when they saw that I did not care to go ashore, threw themselves into the sea swimming and came to us, and we understood that they were asking us if we had come from the heavens. And one old man got into the ship s boat, and others in loud voices called to all the men and women: Come see the men who came from the heavens. Bring them something to eat and drink. Many men came, and many women, each one with something, giving thanks to God, throwing themselves on the ground; and they raised their hands to heaven, and afterward they called to us in loud voices to come ashore.... And I saw a piece of land formed like an island, although it was not one, on which there were six houses. This piece of land might in two days be cut off to make an island, although I do not see this to be necessary since these people are very naive about weapons, as Your Highnesses will see from seven that I caused to be taken in order to carry them away to you and to learn our language and to return them. Except that, whenever Your Highnesses may command, all of them can be taken to Castile or held captive in this same island; because with 50 men all of them could be held in subjection and can be made to do whatever one might wish. And later [I noticed], near the said islet, groves of trees, the most beautiful that I saw and with their leaves as green as those of Castile in the months of April and May, and lots of water. I looked over the whole of that harbor and afterward returned to the ship and set sail, and I saw so many islands that I did not know how to decide which one I would go to first. And those men whom I had taken told me by signs that they were so very many that they were numberless. And they named by their names more than a hundred. Finally I looked for the largest and to that one I decided to go and so I am doing. It is about five leagues distant from this island of San Salvador, and tile others of them some more, some less. All are very flat without mountains and very fertile and all populated and they make war on one another, even though these men are very simple and very handsome in body... E. G. Bourne, ed., The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot (New York: publisher unknown,1906). EXCERPT 3: Aztec Poetry Sample 1: I have come, o my friends, with necklaces I entwine, with the plumage of the tzinitzcan bird I bind... Poem of Temilotzin (Leon-Portilla 1992:195) Sample 2: Even jade is shattered, Even gold is crushed, Even quetzal plume are torn... One does not live forever on this earth: Nezahualcoyotl's (Lord Feathered Coyote's) poem of sorrow

8 EXCERPT 4: Coronado s Report to Viceroy Mendoza Sent from Cibola, August 3, 1540 As soon as I came within sight of this city, I sent the army-master, Don Garcia Lopez, Friar Daniel and Friar Luis, and Ferrando Vermizzo, with some horsemen, a little way ahead, so that they might find the Indians and tell them that we were not coming to do them any harm, but to defend them in the name of our lord the Emperor. The summons, in the form which His Majesty commanded in his instructions, was made intelligible to the people of the country by an interpreter. But they, being a proud people, were little affected, because it seemed to them that we were few in number, and that they would not have any difficulty in conquering us. They pierced the gown of Friar Luis with an arrow, which, blessed be God, did him no harm. Meanwhile I arrived with all the rest of the horse and the footmen, and found a large body of the Indians on the plain, who began to shoot with their arrows. In obedience to the orders of Your Lordship and of the marquis, I did not wish my company, who were begging me for permission, to attack them, telling them that they ought not to offend them, and that what the enemy was doing was nothing, and that so few people ought not to be insulted. On the other hand, when the Indians saw that we did not move, they took greater courage, and grew so bold that they came up almost to the heels of our horses to shoot their arrows. On this account I saw that it was no longer time to hesitate, and as the priests approved the action, I charged them. There was little to do, because they suddenly took to flight, part running toward the city, which was near and well fortified, and others toward the plain, wherever chance led them. Some Indians were killed, and others might have been slain if I could have allowed them to be pursued. But I saw that there would be little advantage in this, because the Indians who were outside were few, and those who had retired to the city were numerous, besides many who had remained there in the first place. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Translation of the Letter from Coronado to Mendoza, August 3, 1540, The Journey of Coronado , The City of Mexico to the Grand Canon of the Colorado and the Buffalo Plains of Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska, Translated and Edited by George Parker Winship (New York: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1904), EXCERPT 5: The Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca (1542) Translated by Fanny Bandelier (1905) Once in sight of Apalachen, the Governor commanded me to enter the village with nine horsemen and fifty foot. So the inspector and I undertook this. Upon penetrating into the village we found only women and boys. The men were not there at the time, but soon, while we were walking about, they came and began to fight, shooting arrows at us. They killed the inspector s horse, but finally fled and left us. We found there plenty of ripe maize ready to be gathered and much dry corn already housed. We also found many deer skins and among them mantles made of thread and of poor quality, with which the women cover parts of their bodies. They had many vessels for grinding maize. The village contained forty small and low houses, reared in sheltered places, out of fear of the great storms that continuously occur in the country. The buildings are of straw, and they are surrounded by dense timber, tall trees and numerous water-pools, where there were so many fallen trees and of such size as to greatly obstruct and impede circulation. Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, The Journey of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and His Companions from Florida to the Pacific , translated by Fanny Bandelier (New York: A.S. Barnes & Company, 1905).