Indigenous Americas 5.4

Indigenous Americas

1000 BCE- 1980 CE

TOPIC 5.4 Theories and Interpretations of Indigenous American Art

Despite underlying similarities, there are key differences between the art of ancient America and Native North America with respect to its dating, environment, cultural continuity from antiquity to the present, and sources of information.

Colonization by different European groups (Catholic and Protestant) undergirds distinct modern political situations for Amerindian survivors. Persecution, genocide, and marginalization have shaped current identity and artistic expression.

Reconstructing the Art and Culture of Ancient America

Archaeological excavation of works of art, monuments, and cities/sites predating European invasion serves as the mainstay for reconstructing the art and culture of ancient America, although most surviving artworks were not scientifically extracted.

Spanish chronicles by invaders, friars, and colonists provide some information about monuments and artistic practices of the last independent indigenous peoples, such as the Inka, Mexica (also known as Aztecs), and Puebloans. These sources can be cautiously applied to earlier cultures’ basic values and approaches.

Hieroglyphs of the Mayas and Mexica illuminate text and image, and historical and artistic elements of those cultures. Ethnographic analogy highlights basic cultural continuities so that present traditional practices, myths, and religious beliefs may illuminate past artistic materials, creative processes, and iconography. Other disciplines, such as astronomy, botany, and zoology, help identify siting of cities and monuments, as well as native flora and fauna subject matter. Like all art historical research, work in these areas uses iconographic and formal analyses of large numbers of artworks and increasingly employs multidisciplinary collaboration.

Native North American Sources

Sources of information for Native North American art include archaeological excavations for precontact and colonial cultures, written ethnohistoric documents, tribal history, (both oral and written), modern artists’ accounts and interviews, and museum records.

Colonial and modern mistreatment of Native North Americans means that historical information sources may be highly contested. Divergent stories depend on whether native or non-native sources are used. Sometimes the stories converge in a positive way, as in Maria and Julian Martinez’s revival of ancient black-on-black ceramic techniques, which was encouraged by anthropologists.

(5) 153. Chavín de Huántar.

Chavín. 900-200 BCE. Chavín.

Learning Objective: Chavin religious complex

Themes:

Place of worship
Religion
Architecture
Pilgrimage
Hybrid
Deities
Status
Ceremony
Animals in art
Devotional object
Fertility
Site-specific

Chavín de Huántar is a stone (complex) in the Andean highlands of Peru and sits at an elevation of 10,330 feet.

The site is important for three reasons:

• It sits between eastern and western ranges of the Andes where the landscape moves from desert/beach to jungle, and it is seen as an important zone of transition.
• Located near the confluence of two rivers (Huachesca and Mosna) it is considered a spiritually powerful phenomenon.
• Also, as one of the most elevated sites it is closer to the divine.

The temple complex is comprised of two buildings:

 U-shaped Old Temple

• Open to the east, where the sun rises
• Interior of temple was full of tunnels, called galleries
• Tunnels all existed in total darkness: no windows
• Many smaller tunnels acted as air passageways
• Tunnels, being made of stone, had perfect acoustics

Rectangular New Temple  

• Also has a rectangular sunken court

Function

The temple site is dedicated to Lanzon god. This god ensured the harvest, fertility, and abundance was represented in the form of a stele. Lanzon was also known as the smiling god and is often represented smiling.

The temple became a significant pilgrimage site across the Chavin empire. The cultural effect of this pilgrimage site was that it became a melting pot of cultures, languages, and art forms. People from all over brought their styles to this site.

 SUB-IMAGE 1 (Lanzon Stela)

 Lanzon god is represented in the form of a stela. The notched shape wedge is over 15 feet tall.

Illustrated as a human-feline hybrid with eyes gazing upward, it has a feline mouth with great fangs.

The left arm is down, while the right arm raises up with claw-like nails. Fangs and talons are associated with the jaguar – the top predator in the Andes. Eyebrows and hair of the figure are rendered as snakes in reference to the passage of time.

This work depicts the Lanzon god using contour rivalry. This is a representational form that uses a complex and deliberately visually confusing style allowing the viewers to see what is there— only if they know what to look for! This creates a barrier between believers who can see the true form and those who cannot.

The technique uses two images with shared parts or outlines. This was a common technique to delineate “true followers” from the masses.

Located deep within the Old Temple tunnels at the intersection of several galleries, this might have been erected before the building and then the building was built around it.

It is built between the ceiling and floor as to indicate its role as conduit between heaven and earth.

Lanzon means “great spear” or “great blade” in Spanish. This is a reference to the stone’s shape but also the shape of a digging stick used in traditional highland agriculture. No one knows the specifics of the rituals that unfolded in this site.

SUB-IMAGE 2 (Relief sculpture at Chavin de Huantar)  

Multiple relief panels cover the site. The same iconography (animal iconography) and contour rivalry was used.

SUB-IMAGE 3 (Nose ornament at Chavin de Huantar)

 The serpent motif is a common form of decoration across the site.

A nose ornament pinches or passes through the septum. This one is a clip on. Once on the nose the snakes lay on the cheeks. It was worn to indicate wealth, religion, and affiliation with the Lanzon cult.

Metallurgy is a main art form of the Chavin.  The gold is formed by hammering and cutting. Gold was believed to transform the wearer. It was considered spiritually powerful. Elite men and women were buried with these.

About the Chavin

Chavin were a pre-Inca civilization along the Andes in South America. They lived in a very diverse, large area of the Andes.

The Chavin were very skilled in metallurgy and in particular, gold.  Animals were often depicted into the imagery of deities.

(5) 156. Great Serpent Mound.

Mississippian (Eastern Woodlands). Earthwork/effigy mound. 1070 CE. Mississippian.

Learning Objective: Native American earthwork

Themes:

Animals in art
Passage of time
Earthwork
Nature
Site-specific

Great Serpent Mound is an earthwork/effigy mound located in Adams County, southern Ohio. It measures 1,348 feet long and 3 feet tall.

Earthwork refers to mounds that are deliberately made into decorative or representational shapes and made of earth. The head is at the northeast. The tail is roughly located in the southwest. There are seven winding coils in between.

Function

Essentially, we are looking at a Native American version of Stonehenge. The head aligns with the summer solstice sunset or longest day of the year. Tail points to the winter solstice sunrise or shortest day of the year. The curves of the body parallel lunar phases.

Perhaps this was used to mark time or seasons. Maybe it was made to indicate when to plant and when to harvest. It also may have been used as a kind of compass in alignment with the Pole Star.

The size is significant and must have had some desire to impress or amaze. Consider other large works like Bayeux Tapestry, Night Attack at Sanjo Palace, Trajan’s column. The size shows time, intricacy, power, supremacy.

There were no burials here.

Content

This one depicts a serpent. Others are smaller but depict bears and deer. Great Serpent Mound is the largest serpent sculpture in the world.

The curled snake that has either an open mouth with wide jaw about to eat an egg, or a large, stylized eye. The egg by the head of the serpent is perhaps a representation of the sun. This might also symbolize a solar eclipse (eating the sun). The Shape of the serpent symbolizes the constellation Draco.

Context

Agriculture in the Midwest US region led to a population boom. Numerous mounds were made by Native American cultures who lived here. Many were destroyed as white American settlers expanded and Native Americans here did not have written records.

Baffled archaeologists point out the total shape can only be gathered from the air or a high vantage point, neither of which the Indians would have possessed. How exactly would Natives have appreciated it? Why make it so big?

Many native cultures in this region attributed supernatural powers to snakes or reptiles.