Evan Irons, World History, 03.03 Legacies of the Olmec, Zapotec, and Chavin

1. The Legacies of the
Olmec, Zapotec, and
Chavin
A PRE-COLUMBIAN CIVILIZATION TOUR
BY EVAN IRONS

2. Baby Figure
Created by the Olmec
Part of The Michael C. Rockefeller
Memorial Collection
The object was created 12th-9th
Century BC
This pudgy infant holding his hand to
his mouth is a remarkable example of
an ancient Mesoamerican ceramic
tradition. Hollow, sexless, and often
almost life-sized, "babies" of this type
can be curiously mature, exhibiting
individual personalities in manner and
posture.
What the babies signify is unclear.
They may be representatives of elite
lineages or early Mexican deities, or
both.

3. Great Pyramid
The Olmecs
Great Pyramid is located in La
Venta, Tabasco
It is undetermined when the Great
Pyramid was created (probably
around 1200), but La Venta was
abandoned around 900 BCE.
The Great Pyramid was the largest
Mesoamerican structure of its time
It is believed to have been an
important civic and ceremonial
centre.

4. Cocijo
Created by the Zapotec.
Located at the Stanford
Cantor Museum
Created 200 BCE - 700 CE
An urn representing the
Zapotec deity Cocijo who
had a human body with
jaguar and serpent features
with a forked tongue and was
considered the god of rain
and lightning.

5. Monte Albán
Created by the Zapotecs.
Located in the Santa Cruz
Xoxocotlán Municipality in the
southern Mexican state
of Oaxaca
Created The grand Zapotec
capital flourished for thirteen
centuries, from the year 500 B.C
to 850 A.D.
Inhabited over a period of 1,500
years, the terraces, dams,
canals, pyramids and artificial
mounds of Monte Albán were
literally carved out of the
mountain and are the symbols of
a sacred topography.

6. Chavín Feline-and-
Cactus Stirrup
Vessel
Created by the Chavin.
Located at the Art Walters Museum.
Created before 1000 BC
This Tembladera-style Chavín work
depicts a feline rendered in relatively
high relief, alternating with a cactus
form that may refer to the
hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus.
Although we do not know what was
stored in these vessels, suggestions
include corn beer or "chicha," a
native Andean fermented beverage.
Chavín stirrup-spout vessels vary in
both their architecture

7. Chavín de
Huántar
Created by Chavin.
Located in Ancash, Peru
Time range: 1500 BCE- 300 BCE
The ceremonial and cultural nature of
the site is evident in its architectural,
technological and symbolic creation,
which is characterized by coated
quarried stone buildings and artificial
terraces around plazas, containing an
internal gallery system with an intricate
network of vents and .
Chavín once intersected several major
trade routes through the Cordillera
Blanca mountain range, a strategic
location for the capital of the Chavín
civilization. Chavín de Huántar was a
ceremonial center of the Chavín.

8. Works Cited
""Baby Figure" [Mexico; Olmec]" (1979.206.1134) In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1979.206.1134. (October
2006)
Barton, Justin. "Chavín De Huántar Peru." CyArk News. UNESCO World Heritage, 2013. Web. 08 Jan. 2015.
<http://archive.cyark.org/chavn-de-huntar-info>.
"Feline-and-Cactus Stirrup Vessel." Artwork of the Day RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2015.
<http://art.thewalters.org/detail/79372/feline-and-cactus-stirrup-vessel/>.
"Historic Centre of Oaxaca and Archaeological Site of Monte Albán." - UNESCO World Heritage Centre.
United Nations, n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2015. <http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/415>.
"Monte Albán." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2015.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Alb%C3%A1n>.
Pathasema, Sean. "Cocijo." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Birmingham Museum of Art, 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 08
Jan. 2015. <http://www.ancient.eu/image/2129/>.
"Olmec." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 08 Jan. 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec