The art of pre-Columbian America. Artistic achievements and architecture of the peoples of pre-Columbian America

When the first Europeans came to the American continent, they faced a civilization that was very different from anything they had seen before. Local residents had no idea about many concepts, long and firmly rooted in the Old World. The peoples of pre-Columbian America did not use the wheel, did not make iron tools and did not ride horses.

The more surprising is the fact that the Indians, as Native Americans called immigrants from Europe, managed to build several fairly advanced civilizations. They had cities, states, long paved roads between settlements, writing, astronomy, and unique artifacts.

Civilizations of pre-Columbian America arose independently from each other in two geographical regions - in Mesoamerica and the Andes. Up until the Spanish conquest, these areas were centers of intellectual and cultural life of the continent.

Mesoamerica

This geographical area covers the territories of central and southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The first people appeared here in the 12th millennium BC. Cities and states emerged in the third millennium BC. Since then, and before the Spanish colonization began in Mesoamerica, several developed cultures emerged.

The earliest was the Olmec civilization that lived on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They had a huge impact on the traditions of all subsequent peoples who settled this region.

Olmec Culture

The most ancient art of pre-Columbian America is represented by very unusual and mysterious artifacts. The most famous monument of the Olmec civilization is the giant heads made of basalt boulders. Their sizes range from one and a half meters to 3.4 meters, and they weigh from 25 to 55 tons. Since the Olmecs did not have a written language, the purpose of these heads is unknown. Most scholars are inclined to the version that it is most likely portraits of ancient rulers. This is indicated by the details of the headgear, as well as the fact that the faces of the sculptures do not resemble each other.

Another area of Olmec art is jade masks. They were executed with great skill. After the disappearance of the Olmec civilization, these masks were discovered by the Aztecs, who collected and stored these as valuable artifacts. In general, the culture of pre-Columbian America was formed under the strong influence of this ancient people. Figures, statuettes and sculptures of the Olmec are found hundreds of kilometers from the territories once inhabited by them.

Mayan civilization

The next great culture of Mesoamerica originated around 2000 BC and lasted until the era of European colonialism. It was the Maya civilization, which left behind a huge number of works of fine art and architectural monuments. The highest rise in Mayan culture occurred in the period from 200 to 900 AD. In this era of pre-Columbian America experienced a flourishing of urban development.

Frescoes, bas-reliefs and sculptures of the Maya are executed with great grace. They quite accurately convey the proportions of the human body. Maya had a writing and a calendar, they also created a detailed map of the starry sky and knew how to predict the trajectory of the motion of the planets.

Maya Art

Color images are poorly preserved in a humid climate. Therefore, up to now, not so many mural murals have come down. Nevertheless, fragments of such images are everywhere found in the ancient cities of this people. The surviving fragments show that the art of pre-Columbian America was not inferior to the best works of the classical civilizations of the Old World.

Maya achieved high skill in the manufacture of ceramics, including painted. From clay, they molded not only dishes, but also statuettes depicting gods, rulers, totemic animals, as well as scenes from everyday life. Maya made jewelry made of precious stones and engraved in wood.

Preserved many sculptures and bas-reliefs, which reflect the history of pre-Columbian America of that period. The Maya artists often left important events in public life that were captured in the stones. On many images, there are inscriptions, which helps historians in the interpretation of the plots presented on them.

Architecture of the Maya

The culture of America at the time of Maya was experiencing its heyday, which could not but affect the architecture. In cities, apart from residential buildings, there were many specialized buildings. Being enthusiastic astronomers, the Maya built observatories to observe the celestial objects. They also had playgrounds for the ball. They can be considered the forerunners of modern football fields. Sami balls made from the juice of a rubber tree.

Maya erected temples in the form of stepped pyramids, on top of which there was a sanctuary. Special platforms were also built, reaching four meters in height and intended for holding public ceremonies and religious ceremonies.

Teotihuacan

On the territory of modern Mexico is an abandoned city of ancient Indians with perfectly preserved buildings. Nowhere has the architecture of pre-Columbian America reached such heights (literally and figuratively), as in Teotihuacan. Here is the Pyramid of the Sun - a giant structure with a height of 64 meters and with a base of more than 200 meters. Earlier at its top stood a wooden temple.

Nearby is the Pyramid of the Moon. This is the second largest structure of Teotihuacan. It was built after the Pyramid of the Sun and was dedicated to the great goddess of the earth and fertility. In addition to the two large ones, there are several smaller four-level stepped structures in the city.

Images in Teotihuacan

Almost all buildings in the city have frescoes. The background in them is usually red. Other colors are used to depict characters and other drawing details. Plots of frescoes are mostly symbolic and religious, illustrating the myths of pre-Columbian America, but there are also scenes of daily activities. Also there are images of rulers and fighting soldiers. In Teotihuacan a lot of sculptures, including those that are elements of the architecture of buildings.

Culture of the Toltecs

Today little is known about what pre-Columbian America was in the period between the decline of the Mayan civilization and the rise of the Aztecs. It is believed that at this time in Toledo lived in Mesoamerica. Information about them, modern scientists derive mainly from the Aztec traditions, in which real facts are often intertwined with fiction. But archaeological finds still allow you to get some reliable information.

The capital of the Toltecs was the city of Tula, located in the territory of present-day Mexico. In its place remained the remains of two pyramids, one of which was dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent). At its top are four massive figures depicting Toltec warriors.

The culture of the Aztecs

When the Spaniards sailed to central America, they met there a powerful empire. It was the state of the Aztecs. On the culture of this people, we can judge not only by architectural monuments. Thanks to the Spanish chroniclers who described the civilization they saw, information about the Aztec poetic, musical and theatrical art was preserved.

Poetry of the Aztecs

The poetic art of pre-Columbian America, apparently, had a long tradition. In any case, by the time of the appearance of the Spaniards, the Aztecs already had poetic contests held with a large crowd of people. In the poems, as a rule, there were metaphors, words and phrases with a double meaning. There were several literary genres: lyrical poetry, military ballads, mythological legends, etc.

Fine Arts and Aztec Architecture

The capital of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan. In its construction, architectural forms dominated, which invented the pre-civilization of pre-Columbian America. In particular, over the city towered a 50-meter pyramid, resembling similar structures of the Maya.

Figures and bas-reliefs of the Aztecs depict both scenes from everyday life, and various historical and cult events. There are also paintings of human sacrifices on them that were held during religious festivities.

One of the most unusual and mysterious artifacts of the Aztecs is the Sun Stone - a large round sculpture, with a diameter of almost 12 meters. In the center of it is depicted the god of the Sun, surrounded by the symbols of the four past eras. A calendar is written around the deity. It is believed that the Sun Stone served as a sacrificial altar. In this artifact, the culture of pre-Columbian America reveals several of its facets at once - astronomical knowledge, cruel rituals, artistic mastery merge into one.

Inca culture

The peoples of pre-Columbian America reached a high level of development not only in the central part of the continent. In the south, in the Andes, a unique Inca civilization flourished. This people were geographically separated from Mesoamerican cultures and developed separately.

The Incas have achieved high mastery in many arts. Of great interest are their patterns on tissues, called tokapu. Their purpose was not only to make the clothes more elegant. Each of the elements of the pattern was also a symbol denoting a word. Being located in a certain sequence, they formed phrases and sentences.

Music of the Incas

The musical art of pre-Columbian America is partly preserved in the Andes, where the descendants of the Incas live, to the present day. There are also literary sources of the times of colonization. Of these, we know that the Incas used a variety of wind and percussion instruments. Music accompanied religious rites, many songs were associated with the cycle of fieldwork.

Machu Picchu

The Incas also became famous for being a unique city built high in the mountains. He was discovered in 1911 already abandoned, so his real name is not known. Machu Picchu in the language of local Indians means "old peak". The buildings in the city are made of stone. Blocks are so precisely adjusted to each other that the skill of ancient builders surprises even modern specialists.

Culture of North America

The Indians, who lived north of present-day Mexico, did not erect stone buildings, such as the Pyramid of the Sun or Machu Picchu. But the artistic achievements of the peoples of pre-Columbian America, who lived in the territory of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers , are also quite interesting. In this region, many ancient burial mounds have been preserved.

In addition to simple mounds in the form of a hill, in the valley of the Mississippi River there are stepped platforms, as well as mounds, in the outlines of which the figures of various animals, in particular snakes and crocodiles, are guessed.

The influence of the art of pre-Columbian America on modernity

The civilizations of the ancient Indians are in the past. But the current culture of America bears the imprint of ancient pre-colonial traditions. So, the national costumes of the indigenous peoples of Chile and Peru are very similar to the Inca clothing. In the paintings of Mexican artists are often found stylistic devices, typical for the fine arts of the Maya. And in the books of Colombian writers fantastic events are intricately interwoven into a realistic plot with the usual ease for Aztec poetry.