Each of the following sections contains relevant terms and questions to guide your studies for the upcoming unit test. Be able to not only identify the terms listed, but to be able to analyze their significance within the appropriate context.

Early Mesoamerica and South America

Works to Know:

Chavín de Huántar

  • Chavín de Huántar plan
  • Lanzón Stela
  • Relief sculpture
  • Nose ornament

Yaxchilán

  • Structure 40
  • Lintel 25; Structure 23
  • Structure 33

Terms to Know:

migration

land bridge theory

costal migration theory

trans-Pacific migration

Olmec

Destination cities

ballcourt

mounds

obsidian

jade

step-pyramid

stone heads

masks

fatalism

dualism

were-jaguar

celts

Chavín de Huantar

Andes

drainage

metallurgy

gold / silver smithing

cloth production

piligrimage

sunken courts

Lanzón stele

Axis mundi

Maya

Petén basin

Water instability

cenote

sacrifice

Yaxichlán

Liminal space

Relief carving

glyphs

lintel

roof comb

Guiding Questions:

1. The Olmecs are sometimes referred to as the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica. How is this evident in the common themes, content, materials, and techniques of Mesoamerican art and architecture from 200 CE until the early 16th century?

2. Describe the relationship between the Lanzón stela in Chavín de Huántar and the spiritual practice associated with the temple complex. What do we know about religious ritual at Chavín? What don’t we know? Why?

3. How did the Maya use architecture and art to convey political and religious legitimacy? Provide specific examples.

______

Indigenous North American Art

Works to Know:

Great Serpent Mound

Mesa Verde cliff dwellings

Bandolier bag

Transformation mask

Painted elk hide

Black-on-black ceramic vessel

Terms to Know:

Paleo-Indians

Clovis points

Atlatl

Megafauna

Algonquian

Iroquian

Siouan

Uto-Aztecan

Archaic Age

Midden piles

Woodland period

Adena

Hopewell

Agricultural revolution

Bow and arrow

Pottery

Mound-building cultures

Ancestral Puebloans

Four Corners

Anasazi

Basin-and-range

Pit-houses

Pueblos

Chaco Canyon

Pilgrimage

Kivas

Cliff palaces

Drought

Hopi

Zuni

Kewa

Mimbres

Navajo

Sand paintings

Gender roles

Katsinas

Masks

Totem poles

Chilkat blankets

Ledger paintings

Potsherd

Boiling stones

Basketry

Paddle and anvil

Temper

Effigy pots

Plasticity

Burnishing

María Montoya Martínez

Matte-black on polished black

Reduction firing

Guiding Questions:

1. How are North American cultures and their artistic production different from Mesoamerica and South America? How are they similar?

2. Compare the pottery production of Mississippian and Puebloan groups. What commonalities exist between the forms, methods, and decorations? What differences exist? Why?

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Late Mesoamerican and South American Art

Works to Know:

Templo Mayor (Main Temple)

  • Templo Mayor (reconstruction drawing)
  • The Coyolxuhqui Stone
  • Calendar Stone
  • Olmec-style mask

Ruler’s feather headdress (probably of Motechzoma II)

City of Cusco, including Qorikancha (Inka main temple), Santo Domingo (Spanish colonial convent), and Walls at Waman (Sacsayhuaman)

  • City of Cusco plan
  • Curved Inka wall of Qorikancha with Santo Domingo
  • Walls at Saqsa Waman (Sacsayhuaman)

Maize cobs

City of Machu Picchu

  • City of Machu Picchu
  • Observatory
  • Intihuatana Stone

All T’oqapu tunic

Terms to Know:

Mexica (Aztec)

Tenochtitlán

Texcoc

Tlacopan

“Triple Alliance”

Great Speaker

Calpulli

City-states

Tribute

Nahuatl

Pochtec

Maize

Cacao

Chinampas

Huitzilopochtli

Quetzalcoatl

Tlalo

“Flowery War”

Ritual cannibalism

Auto-sacrifice

Superimposition

Stucco

Sanctuary

Talud-tablero construction

Coyolxauhqui

Inca (Inka)

Cusco

Guiding Questions

1. Describe Incan construction methods. What are some of their characteristics? Why did they choose to use these techniques?

2. Explain the significance of the Coyolxuhqui stone found within Templo Mayor. Why is its placement significant?

Indigenous African Art

Works to Know:

Conical tower and circular wall of Great Zimbabwe

  • Conical tower
  • Circular wall

Great Mosque of Djenné

  • Great Mosque of Djenné
  • Monday market at the Great Mosque of Djenné

Wall plaque, from Oba’s palace

  • Wall plaque, from Oba’s palace
  • Contextual photograph

Sika dwa kofi (Golden Stool)

  • Sika dwa kofi
  • Contextual photograph: sika dwa kofi

Ndop (portrait figure) of King Mishe miShyaang maMbul

  • Ndop
  • Contextual photograph: Ndop

Power figure (Nkisi n’kondi)

  • Nkisi n’kondi

Female (Pwo) mask

Portrait mask (Mblo)

  • Mblo
  • Contextual photograph: Mblo

Bundu mask

  • Bundu mask
  • Contextual photograph: Bundu mask

Ikenga (shrine figure)

Lukasa (memory board)

  • Lukasa
  • Contextual photograph: Lukasa

Aka elephant mask

  • Aka elephant mask
  • Contextual photograph: Aka elephant mask

Reliquary figure

Veranda post of enthroned king and senior wife (Opo Ogoga)

Terms to Know:

Nok

Terracotta

Coiffure

Gender roles

Scarification

Bronze

Bronze-casting

Fly whisks

Christianity

Islam

Animism

Portraiture

Oni

Oba

Ife

Benin

Mali

Mosques

Adobe

Lalibela

Rock churches

Great Zimbabwe

Dry fit

Granary

Monolith

Soapstone

Ivory

Queen mother

Iy-oba

Naturalism

Ndop

Saltcellars

Guiding Questions:

1. What are some significant themes expressed in indigenous African art? How are these themes both similar and different from themes expressed in indigenous American art?

2. What are some limitations which make it difficult for art historians to fully examine indigenous African works of art prior to the 20th century?

3. What religious traditions have impacted African art? Provide specific examples.