Pre-Hispanic and Folk Art

Although the Dolores Olmedo Museum is best known for its collection of paintings by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Olmedo was also an avid collector of pre-Hispanic and folk art.

Interspersed among the galleries of Rivera paintings are showcases filled with some of the more than 900 pieces of pre-Hispanic art that she collected.

As I mentioned before, she was very fond of "xolos", Mexican hairless dogs, and she collected earthenware figures of dogs from the ancient Colima culture of western Mexico.

Mayan incense burners

A monumental Mayan carving

A piece from the Zapotec culture

I assume that this was the kitchen in the original house.  It is decorated in a traditional style, and there are clay cooking pots.

A case filled with porcelain dinnerware

In the courtyard there were two "Trees of Life", large, elaborate clay pieces from the town of Metepec in the State of Mexico.

This one follows the original theme of "Trees of Life"... the Bible story of Adam and Eve.

Later artists created "Trees of Life" that have a wide variety of themes.  This one is a Day of the Dead tree with skeletons and skulls.

At the far end of the grounds is a building which I almost missed.  It contains some of Olmedo's extensive collection of Mexican handicrafts and folk art.  As I mentioned previously, Olmedo was an avid supporter of traditional Mexican culture, and she collected all things Mexican.

At the entrance, however, there was a grouping that I suspect was not a part of her collection, but something that was placed there to celebrate the World Cup games in Mexico.  It is a group of skeletons playing soccer.

Not all of the folk art is labeled.  I have seen enough Mexican handicrafts over the years that I could tell the origin of most of the pieces.

  Ceramic animal figures from the town of Tonalá in the state of Jalisco

The distinctive red glassware from Guadalajara, Jalisco

Masks from the state of Guerrero

"Cartonería" is the art of creating figures out of cardboard and papier mache.

A band of skeletal musicians of "cartonería"

Even though the eyebrows don't quite meet to form an unibrow, I think this skeleton is supposed to represent Frida Kahlo.

 Talavera pottery, a specialty of the city of Puebla

Two more "Trees of Life"

The famous black pottery from the town of San Bartolo de Coyotepec in the state of Oaxaca.

A clay jaguar figure from Amatenango del Valle in Chiapas.

Next we will begin to look at the museum's main claim to fame... its collection of paintings by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, unsurpassed in the world.

The Bouncing Rubber Ball

The rubber ball, today a common object used in sports or as a toy for children and pets, had its origins in ancient Mexico.  Mexico City's subway stations often have cultural exhibits, and currently in the "Zócalo - Tenochtitlan" station there are several showcases highlighting "The Birth of the Rubber Ball".  The ball was used in the pre-Hispanic ball games which were not just a sport, but a religious ceremony that dates back all the way to Mexico's earliest civilization, the Olmecs.

One showcase deals with craftsman Enrique López Hernández who lives in the tropical lowlands of the state of Veracruz.  He creates rubber balls using the traditional process that has been used for millennia.

He gathers the latex sap from the rubber trees that grow in the forest.  He takes the sap and spreads it on the leaves of a bromeliad plant and allows the latex to dry until solid but still pliable.  He then rolls the material by hand, layer by layer, until he has created a ball.

Another showcase deals with recent discoveries at the Olmec site of El Manatí, also in the state of Veracruz.  There archaeologists have discovered a bog in which the ancient Olmecs placed objects as offerings to the gods.  Among them were 14 rubber balls.  They are more than 3000 years old and are the oldest rubber balls in existence.

A replica of one of the balls found at El Manatí

The material is extremely fragile, and the balls survived because of the combination of fine soil, high humidity, acidity and low oxygen levels in the bog.  Now that they have been excavated, archaeologists face the challenge of preserving them.  One of the real balls is now on display at a special exhibit at the Museum of the "Templo Mayor" (the archaeological site in the heart of Mexico City where the foundations of the main temple of the Aztecs was uncovered).  So, I guess a trip to the "Museo del Templo Mayor" is in my future!

Ruins from Above

I visited the National Museum of Anthropology a while ago to see two special exhibits that are currently on display.  One of them was a series of aerial photographs of Mexican archaeological site taken by noted photographer, Santiago Arau.  In keeping with the theme of this summer's World Cup, the emphasis was on the ballcourts of those sites.  A ceremonial ball game was played by almost all of the pre-Hispanic civilizations of Mexico.

The ballcourt at Tula, the capital of the Toltec civilization from 900 to 1200.  It exhibits a shape typical of many ball courts... like an elongated letter "H".

Monte Albán, the capital of the Zapotecs (200 B.C. to A.D. 850) sits atop a mountain high above the city of Oaxaca.

The ballcourt of Monte Albán

The slanted walls on either side of the court were not spectator stands.

They were covered with smooth plaster, and the ball would be bounced off of them.

The ballcourt at Coatetelco

Here's one I had never hear of.  Coatetelco is a small town in the state of Morelos.

In the middle of the community is a small archaeological site dating from the Aztec period (1350 - 1521).  The main remaining structure is the ballcourt.

La Quemada is a site in the state of Zacatecas, farther north than most of the major archaeological sites.  Archaeologists are unsure as to which civilization built it.  Some think it might have been a northern outpost of the Toltecs.  You can see the ballcourt in the center of the site.

Tajín, in the state of Veracruz, was the capital of the Totonac culture (900 - 1200).

A closer view with the ballcourt in the center

I had never heard of Chalcatzingo in the state of Morelos either.  It dates back to 400 B.C., and shows influence of the Olmecs, the oldest civilization in Mexico.

The Mayan city of Uxmal, in the state of Yucatán, flourished from 700 to 1000 A.D.  The ballcourt is visible at the bottom of the photo.

Also in the state of Yucatán, the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá has the largest and best preserved ballcourt in Mesoamerica.

Before There Was Soccer

 I thought that this billboard in one of Mexico City's subway stations was interesting.

It says, "Before soccer existed, Mexico was already playing ball."

All of Mexico's pre-Hispanic civilizations, beginning with the Olmecs and continuing through the Mayas and Aztecs had a form of ballgame.  The Mayas called it "pok-ta-pok" and the Aztecs called it "tlachtli".  The exact rules of the game are not known, but it is known that it was played with a solid rubber ball.  Ball courts are found in archaeological sites throughout the country.  It is generally thought that the players kept the ball in motion by striking it with their hips.  Hands and feet were not allowed.  However, there is some archaeological evidence that players used wooden sticks or racquets in some cultures.  The ballgame was more than a sport; it was also a religious ritual.  In later civilizations the game even involved human sacrifice.  

Back to the Anthropology Museum

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.

More from Teotihuacan

I suppose that there are more than a few tourists who come to the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, see the pyramids, and think that is all there is to see.  In fact there is much more to Teotihuacan than just the pyramids.

After climbing the Pyramid of the Moon, Alejandro, Charles and I continued our tour.  To one side of the plaza in front the Pyramid of the Moon there is a structure which archaeologists named the  Palace of the Quetzalpapálotl (Feathered Butterfly).  It is thought to have been the home of a high ranking priest or dignitary.

The head of a feather serpent, the god Quetzalcoatl, is by the entrance to the palace.

The buildings of Teotihuacan were all painted and decorated with murals.  Amazingly after more than 1500 years there are still traces of paint and decorations.

In the center of the palace there is a courtyard with intricately carved pillars.

Archaeologists at first thought that the carvings represented feathered butterflies, hence the name that they gave to the palace.  However, now they are of the opinion that the carvings represent owls.

The palace was built on top of an older temple, known as the Temple of the Feathered Conches because of the carvings on the walls of the subterranean chamber.  It is thought that the conch shell was a symbol of war since they were blown when armies went into battle.

There are also murals which portray birds, perhaps macaws.

Another feathered serpent head

Another structure is known as the Palace of the Jaguars.  In its courtyard are murals showing jaguars wearing headdresses and blowing conch shells.

At this point, Alejandro, Charles and I left the archaeological site to have lunch at a nearby restaurant.  We still had one section of the ruins to see.  At the far southern end of the site there is a large enclosed plaza named the Citadel and the Temple of the Feathered Serpent.  It was only 4:30 in the afternoon when we got there, but they had already closed the gate.  We thought that was quite strange.  Even though Charles did not get the full tour, he was very impressed with the ruins of Teotihuacan.