For the second time in less than a month I played tour guide at the National Museum of Anthropology. I previously mentioned Charles, the law partner of one of my high school friends, who was visiting Mexico City. I had told him that I would be happy to give him a tour of some of the highlights of Mexico's greatest museum. So last week, we spent a few hours there, and I gave him an overview of some of the country's pre-Hispanic civilizations.
Here are a few random photos from our visit...
Charles stands next to a colossal stone head carved by the Olmecs, the oldest civilization of Mexico.
A life-size replica of a Mayan temple in the garden outside of the Mayan Hall
A Mayan "chac mool", a messenger of the gods
The hearts of sacrificial victims would be placed on the bowl that the figure holds over its belly.
A skull carving from Teotihuacan, the archaeological site north of Mexico City that we had visited just a few days before.
A replica of a mural painting from a palace in Teotihuacan
An enormous column in the shape of a warrior
It held up the roof of a temple in the Toltec capital of Tula.
A stone hoop from a pre-Hispanic ball court
Most of the civilizations played a ball game in which they would try to hurl a rubber ball through the hoop... without using their hands or feet!
A monolithic statue of the Aztec mother goddess, Coatlicue
Her head is composed of two serpent heads and her feet are eagle's talons.
She wears a necklace of human hands, heats and skull, and a skirt of snakes.
A model showing what the ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, looked like. Behind it is a mural showing the city which was built on an island in the middle of a lake.
Present-day Mexico City stands atop the remains of Tenochtitlan.
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