Society and Customs in the Ancient Mexico

Because of its technique, style and content, this fragment of mural painting undoubtedly comes from the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The theme of the image is religious and it most likely decorated a temple or monastery. Tlaloc is recognized in this image by his mask.

It is very likely that the duck was one of the recurring themes in the clay sculptures of Tlatilco because its image went beyond the purely anecdotal. Its flight and its sounds were an essential part of the landscape  as well as being an important source of food.  

Stela with rounded cut at the top showing a character in the frontal position, wearing the ornaments of rulers and with ceremonial elements. A double connotation, royal and priestly, which the Late Classic Maya rulers liked to make use of.

This little hollow figurine has a hole in the base to let out hot air during firing, while the two holes at the level of the armpit served to hang the effigy, which was also a rattle thanks to the clay ball inside it.  

This piece belongs to the Mezcala tradition and formed part of grave goods made up of several types of objects.  It seems that the majority of tombs of this tradition would only have held anthropomorphic figures, which probably represented the deceased or their ancestors. 

Our small sculpture represents a character sitting on a bench with short inclined legs and wide horizontal support. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the top of the sculpture of the character, in this case the headdress, fulfills the function of a brazier or a censer, which was used to burn some aromatic material, and in which smoke was produced.

The three figurines evidence an ancient tradition in the care of newborns for modeling the shape of the skull: in a simple cradle, likely made of some light and somewhat flexible material to facilitate transportation, the baby was immobilized at the forehead, chest and feet.  

Our bird-man wears a sort of hat with a conical protrusion on the back; it has large circular ear-flaps, the red paint on the neck, hands and feet emphasize that he is wearing a costume; the same color stands out on his back, at the waist a knot from which a long ribbon hangs, and again, it can be noted that the individual wears a different skin.  

The snail horn was fundamental in combat; it was used to give signals to the army. But the snail does not only appear in painting and sculpting. Many snails forming part of offerings have also been found. These snail shells are frequently well carved, as in the example at hand.

The vessel shown has some qualities that identify it as part of the Puebla Mixtec tradition. The personage who is seen attached to the vessel carries a spear-thrower and a shield, which identifies him as a warrior.

The culture of the shaft tombs includes outstanding sculptures that are featured in a wide range of architectural enclosures and are called "mock-ups". I propose that it depicts a ritual of a private nature involving collective ingestion, the ritual character of the scene sustains the burial origin of the piece.

This painting, comparable to many others for its technique and style, is quite unique because it is not a sequence but a scene in itself. It would be correct to say that it encapsulates a narrative. There are two male personages with rich clothing and ornaments. Both are armed.  

The piece is undoubtedly Olmec and must have been made at some point between the year 900 and the year 500 B.C., the golden age of the style and set of manifestations we call Olmec. These manifestations occurred in different regions of what we call Mesoamerica, which reveals a close communication between the rulers who strengthened their power in that era (the Middle Preclassic).   

This sculpture of a lying dog, finely modeled in clay, is an example of a very particular type of ceramic called thin orange, widely distributed in Mesoamerica during the classic period, that is very common in Teotihuacan.  

This cover depicts the profile of the god K’awiil, holding a sack of maize or cocoa beans. When the figure of K’awiil is represented on vault covers, it is often linked to food and therefore closely related to agricultural abundance.   

It is an undecorated cylindrical glass. The design of the glass is characteristic of the Late Classic period. It must have been deposited in a burial that suffered water leaks and it is possible that this is the reason why the walls appear to be covered with clay and dirt.  

It is a cone-shaped vessel with a neck that has a narrow base and opens up towards the mouth, giving the impression of a second inverted cone. The color of the engobe, the type of burnishing and the iconography are compatible with the ceramic tradition of Tlatilco.  Its location inside a tomb is what allowed the vessel to be preserved without breaking or cracking.

Our effigy vessel has the shape of a figure who represents a very frequent theme of Mesoamerican art; a carrier who has a vessel on his back, held by a tumpline.  The tumpline was an indispensable element of the carrying technique of the Mesoamerican people, whose beginnings are in the Preclassic Period and which, to date, survives in some areas of Mexico.

The prominent forehead and the swollen cheeks that the figure shows are common in some sculptures in the city of Oxkintok, located in the region of Puuc of the state of Yucatan. These sculptures formed a part of the decoration of the columns that separated the spaces of the palace Ch’iich, colloquially known as the “gorditos de Oxkintok”, for they effectively showed thick and round physical features that greatly differ from the stylized aesthetics of the Classic Maya.