1. Mesoamerican Art Vocabulary
Olmec
Maya
Teotihuacan
Veracruz
Popol Vuh
Palma
Yolk

2. Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Art
Olmec culture: 1200 BCE, peaked around 500 BCE. Region of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador
Mayan Culture: BC, peaked CE. Region of Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador
Teotihuacan, Mexico: 100 BC-750 CE Peaked between 2nd-3rd centuries CE with a population of over 200,000 people
Aztec culture: CE
Teotihuacan pyramids: Truncated pyramids serve as temple base. Not so much architecture to enclose space as a constructed environmental art form.

3. Olmec culture, Female ritual ballplayer figurine, Mexico, 1500-1000 BCE

4. Olmec, Colossal Head, 900-400 BCE

5. Great Pyramid and ball court, La Venta, Olmec, ca. 1000-600 BCE

6. View of Teotihuacan, Mexico, 350-650 CE

7. Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan

8. Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacan, after 350

10. Mayan Culture, Ball Court, Copan, 600-900 CE

11. Mayan Culture, Popol Vuh Codex page
The tale starts with the beginning of the world, when the creators waited in the emptiness, hiding under green and blue feathers, alone and surrounded with light (Nelson, p. 33). The story then relates the creatorsí failed attempts at creating life, starting with the inarticulate animals, who are succeeded by the men of mud and then the men of wood (who are so unsatifactory their own cooking utensils turn upon them). But before humans are sucessfully created, the Popol Vuh turns to the adventures of the gods, starting with the earthly adventures of the hero twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who slay the false sun, Seven Macaw, and his hapless sons. Then the narrative moves back in time to describe the conception of the hero twins and the demise of their fathers (although not in that order). Itís at this point in the narrative that my comics adaptation begins, as the fathers meet their end in the underworld and their sons grow up to avenge them. After the twins triumph, one becomes the sun and the other the moon and solar time as we know it begins. The final section of the Popul Vuh describes the final sucessful creation of humans from corn. The first four humans are the mythical ancestors of the Quiche nation; the story concludes with a geneology that ends with Quiche kings with adopted Spanish names.

14. Veracruz culture, Palma with God of Death, 700-900 CE
Classic Veracruz Culture Palma depicting the God of Death as a ballplayer holding a knife and a severed head Veracruz, Mexico Late Classic period A.D Basalt

15. Veracruz, Ball game yoke, 600-900 CE

16. Bloodletting Ritual, Teotihuacan, 600-750

17. Lintel with Vision of Lady Xok, Palenque, Mayan, after 681

18. Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, Mayan, late 7th century

19. Cahokia, E. St. Louis, Illinois, 1150

20. Great Serpent Mound, Ohio, ca. 1070

21. Pueblo Bonito, New Mexico, 830-1250

22. Hunter’s Mural, Nine Mile Canyon, Utah, 800-1300

23. Earth Drawings, Nazca Plain, Peru, ca. 100 BCE-700 CE