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Ancient civilizations of Mexico and Central America (1917) (18009178109)
Summary
Title: Ancient civilizations of Mexico and Central America
Identifier: ancientcivilizat03spin (find matches)
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Spinden, Herbert Joseph, 1879-1967
Subjects: Indians of Mexico; Indians of Central America
Publisher: New York
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: IMLS / LSTA / METRO
Text Appearing Before Image:
222 MEXICO AM) CENTRAL AMERICA merited with longitudinal panels of geometric designs arranged according to a carefully worked out plan. The geometric patterns are entirely formal and are mosaics of separately carved stones which fit neatly together. The chambers are long and narrow and formerly had flat roofs which have completely vanished. The door- ways are wide and low, usually with two piers. The lintels are blocks of carefully trimmed stone of great Length and weight. All the outer surfaces of the Mitla temples seem to have been sized with plaster and painted red. The frescoes, traces of which can still be seen in several buildings, are in red and black upon a white base. Various gods and ceremonies are repre- (3)0fe)0ee & fe> & (3) ^ & fc> &> yy yye^.y
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. XI. Wall Paintings of Mitla, resembling in Style the Picto- graphic Art of the Codices. sented, but only the upper portion of the bands, which show7 the heavens can be made out completely. Cruciform tombs are found under several of the temples at Mitla as well as at a number of neighboring sites such as Xaaga and Guiaroo. In these tombs the designs in panels appear on the inside and are carved directly on large blocks of stone. Pottery remains are rare in the cruciform tombs of the Mitla type but a few7 examples of gold work have been discovered in them. Within a short distance of Mitla is a fortified hill with several heavy walls that still stand to the height of per- haps twenty feet. In the flat valley between this hill
Mesoamerican civilizations were a group of ancient cultures that inhabited Central and South America, including parts of modern-day Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The Mesoamerican civilization is known for its advanced and sophisticated cultures, which developed complex systems of writing, art, architecture, and science. The Mesoamerican civilization is generally considered to have begun around 2500 BC and to have reached its peak between AD 600 and AD 900. The Mesoamerican civilization is known for its impressive achievements, including the development of the Maya and Aztec cultures, which are among the most well-known of the ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Aboriginal American Indian cultures that evolved in Mesoamerica (part of Mexico and Central America) and the Andean region (western South America) prior to Spanish exploration and conquest in the 16th century. The pre-Columbian civilizations were extraordinary developments in human society and culture, ranking with the early civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. Like the ancient civilizations of the Old World, those in the New World were characterized by kingdoms and empires, great monuments and cities, and refinements in the arts, metallurgy, and writing; the ancient civilizations of the Americas also display in their histories similar cyclical patterns of growth and decline, unity and disunity.
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