Antiquities Exhibits

Mesoamerica gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before European arrival.  This assortment of ancient cultures that shared religious beliefs, art, architecture, and technology included the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Huastec, Purepecha (also known as the Tarascans), Toltec, and Mexica/Aztecs.  These indigenous civilizations built pyramid-temples, and developed mathematics,  astronomy, medicine, a unique writing system, highly accurate calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, an abacus calculator, and complex theology.  Their number system was base 20 and included zero.  While many city-states, kingdoms, and empires competed with one another for power and prestige, they consolidated power and distributed influence in matters of trade, art, politics, technology, and theology.  Evidence of trade routes starting as far north as the Mexico Central...

Pre-Columbian art from the Maya, Aztecs, Zapotecs, and Olmecs.  Ongoing.  At the Amparo Museum in Puebla, Mexico.  At the Amparo Museum, one of Mexico's most important but least-visited  archaeologocial museums, you can see Mayan stelae depicting the mythological story of the creation of the world, sculptures of rabbit-headed scribe gods, stone representations of Totonac gods of death, ceramic statues of powerful Zapotec lords, and numerous Aztec sculptures of animals like Xoloitzcuintle dogs, spider monkeys, jaguars, coyotes, and snakes. Image:  Ceramic religious sculpture of a mythological beast.  Classical Period.  Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Éclusette.