1. Aztec Art, Sculpture and Architecture By: Greg Almazan, Jenny Price and Magen Shaw

4. Teotihuacán Place of the gods Before the Aztecs came to the valley of Mexico, ancient Indians built this huge city. At its peak, in the year 600 C.E., around 200,000 people lived here. The Aztecs found the place in ruins, but they were impressed with the buildings, and gave it the name Teotihuacán meaning place of the gods.

5. Aztec Architecture Click the following link to watch a short film on Aztec Architecture: http://www.clipblast.com/clip/2807834560/play/89b6a49894410ce2027edc6b147acc94

7. The Aztecs built a great temple dedicated to their gods which was located in the center of their main city, Tenochtitlan. Over time, the Aztecs rebuilt the main temple four times. Each new temple was built over the previous temple and every new temple was dated with the completion date engraved on the walls.

8. At the top of the temple, there were two shrines dedicated to the gods Huitzilopochtli, god of war and the sun, and Tlaloc, the god of rain.

9. The final height of the last temple stood over 200 feet high.

10. After the Spanish had conquered the Aztecs, the great temple of Tenochtitlan was knocked down and the stones were used to build a Christian church, which was later replaced by the Cathedral of Mexico City. It is estimated that some of the Aztec Empire and temples are buried 23 feet to 26 feet below ground.

11. Aside from the great temples of Tenochtitlan, the biggest building in the city were the palaces of the Aztec rulers. They were big buildings with hundreds of rooms which included workshops, libraries and market rooms. Each palace had a god and most buildings were surrounded by gardens canals, lakes, and bathing pools. Only Noble men were allowed to own two-story houses.

12. Most Aztec people lived in small one room houses built of mud- bricks and branches. Almost all houses had bath houses and furnace. Children from families that happen to die from many different causes, were sometimes buried under their family’s house. Aztec families were organized into groups or communities called Capulli. The Capulli became a work force housing area. They also had their own military school for young men.

15. Aztec Calendar

18. Each day sign is dedicated to a God and ruled by that God, dividing time up among the Gods. There are 20 day signs.

21. WRITING Much of Aztec writings were drawings and symbols, each symbol depicting a word. Certain combinations of symbols or pictures would represent name of towns.

22. Colors were extremely important also, some of the symbols and pictures were so similar that they could only be distinguished from one another by color.

23. Paper was made out of fig trees, strips of bark were taken from the trees then pounded on hard pieces of wood.

24. Aztec records

25. The Aztecs were good record keepers. Merchants kept records of their goods and profits, each temple had its own library of religious and astrological works, records were also kept of taxes collected, lawsuits, maps, birth and death records.

26. Aztec Manuscripts

27. The Aztec Painted Manuscript, known as Codex Mendoza, was written by an Aztec painted book artist by order of Don Antonio de Mendoza shortly after the Spanish conquest. A Spanish priest familiar with the Aztec language, Nauatl, was asked to write a detailed explanation of the contents, so that the Spanish emperor, Charles V, would be able to read it. As soon as it was finished, it was sent to Hispaniola (Santo Domingo) to join the fleet which was about to return to Europe. The Manuscript never made it to Charles V, the ship carrying it was seized by French men of war, and the manuscript was then in possession of Andr é Thevet, geographer to King Henri II of France (note his name at the top of this page of the manuscript). In 1583 Richard Hakluy, chaplain to the English ambassador of Paris, bought the book from Thevet. When Hakluy Died in 1616 the manuscript was passed to Samuel Purchas, a writer of books on travel. When Purchas died the book was passed to John Selden, and when he died it was given to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, where it still remains.

32. An Aztec wedding; the bride is carried at night on the back of the match-maker into the bridegroom’s house, accompanied by four women lighting the way with pine torches.

34. Aztec Religion The Aztecs had a god for almost everything in there lives. They had gods for children, maize (corn), wind, fire, and so on.

37. According to Aztec and Spanish writings, many children were drowned, and beheaded at maize festivals with hopes that their blood would bring good crops. The tears of a child were also considered a good omen for rain.

38. Click the screen to view movie: Warning! Movie content may be too violent for some viewers!

39. WARRIORS Warriors were an important part of the Aztec era. At the age of 17 young men would join the army, they were always fighting their neighbors either to increase the size of their empire or to take captives, who were usually later sacrificed.

40. Sometimes prearranged battles called “Wars of the Flowers” were fought because men were needed for sacrifice. During battle, men were not meant to be killed but to be captured or forced to surrender. These captives were treated with respect and sometimes treated as well as family members until it came time to be sacrificed.

42. Eagle and jaguar costumes were the most famous (and feared) among warriors, tunics and shields were very expensive, made of feather covered material or of animal pelts. A warrior’s insignia and protection was his helmet, depending on his costume the helmet would be in the shape of an eagle or a jaguar.

43. Warriors of course carried weapons, war clubs (maquahuitl) and spears, usually made of wood and obsidian. Shields were also carried, often made of jaguars skin with feathers (such as turkey or duck feathers), woolen slings to fire stones and bows and arrows. Aztec Weapons

45. CLOTHING Ancient Aztec clothing varied among the different social classes, the clothing did not completely cover the body and was generally loose fitting. Clothing was made from ayate fiber or cotton which women were taught how to weave together as young teenagers.

46. A simple loincloth was worn by slaves, for the men a triangular cloth (tilmatli or tilma) would also be worn as either a cloak or an apron used to carry things. The women would wear skirts and either short sleeved shirt or sleeve less blouse.

47. The upper class ancient Aztecs wore more prestigious clothing that was brightly colored, a lot of times with head dresses.

49. JEWELRY Aztec art and jewelry was usually owned and worn by the upper class. Emperors would often wear earrings and necklaces.

52. Materials used to make jewelry included; copper, gold, silver, clay, shells, wood, rock (such as obsidian), feathers, jade, opal, amethyst, turquoise and moonstone.

53. Most gold work from the Aztec era was melted down by the time of the Spanish conquest. An octopus fisherman found some Aztec gold in 1975, which is now on display in Veracruz, its known as Fishermans treasure.

54. PIERCINGS Body piercing was a regular part of ancient Aztec life. As with today the Aztecs would pierce lips, ears, noses and tongues.

55. Tongue piercing was performed in ritual form, this was done to draw blood and create and altered state of consciousness so that the Shaman or priest could communicate more effectively with the Gods.

57. Aztec Sculptures and Wood Work

58. Aztec stone sculptures used a variety of different stones for their sculptures from ordinary volcanic rock to high prized precious stone such as jade. Some stone sculptures were as small as religious shrines kept in houses, to objects as large as monuments of all sorts. Aztec carvers used simple stones and hardwood tools, fiber cords, water, and sand to carve the hard stones in to sculptures.

59. They also carved impressive images of gods, goddesses and animals such as serpents, for display in temples and public spaces in the city of Tenochtitlan and other prescient.

60. Sculptures of females are usually shown kneeling with their hands placed on their knees, while male figures are often sitting with their knees faced up and their arms crossed. Attributes, often including animal features such as fangs and claws, and attire specific to each deity such as headdresses, pectorals, and facial ornaments, which made them recognizable to the worshippers.

61. Many sculptures still exist despite massive destruction by the Spaniards, who considered them to be evil or associated with the devil. Many sacred temples displayed large scale stone decorations such as giant heads of serpents. The snake is the most common animal in Aztec art and was the most sacred. Some stone carvings were very life-like, while others were more symbolic which were displayed out side temple walls and stairways.

62. Drums, drum sticks, rattles, masks and wood statues are just some of the things that the Aztecs made from wood. Since the glory was to the gods and not man, many artists did not engrave or sign their work .

63. Terracotta Sculpture

69. Turquoise Mosaic

74. Drums The teponaztli, a sacred Aztec horizontal drum, played with mallets as shown above. Drums played a large part in Aztec Music. They would be played together with other instruments or alone, to lead warriors out to battle, for example. Both the teponaztli and the huehuetl drums were considered sacred. The huehuetl, a sacred upright skin drum The ayotl, drum made from turtle shell

75. Ayacachtlis These shakers played an important part in Aztec music. The Ayacachtli is a gourd shaped rattle, usually filled with beads or pebbles, with an attached handle, very similar to the maraca. . Coyolli Percussion Instruments The head of the shaker was often made to look like a flower and sometimes had feathers or tassels attached at the top. Jingles of various types. Clay, nutshells, dried fruit, gold, copper, or cocoons filled with sand. Strung together and worn by dancers around their necks, wrists, or ankles.

76. Flutes and Whistles Click Sound Icons to Hear Instrument T- Shaped Whistle Skull Shaped Whistle Small Whistle Double Pipe > <Single Pipe Bird Shaped Ocarina Turtle Shaped Ocarina

77. Aztec Art in the Modern World

78. As well as being on display in museums and at architectural ruin sites, ancient Aztec art can be seen today in the form of body art (tattoos).

80. Why do you think the Aztecs worshiped so many gods with such devotion? What is your favorite form of Aztec art and why? List at least 3 reasons. What did you like the most about our presentation and what could we have done to make it better?