. Ancient civilizations of Mexico and Central America. Indians of Mexico; Indians of Central America. THE LESSER CIVILIZATIONS 157 sen I But the site is chiefly remarkable for pottery and heads that are picked up by thousands. south side of the small stream that flows through the ruins is a group of buildings called the (litadel. A few large sculptures have been found at Teoti- huacan. figurines The heads present such a marked variety of facial contour and expression that it would seem as if every race1 under the sun had served as models. It is very likely that these heads formed part of votiv
. Ancient civilizations of Mexico and Central America. Indians of Mexico; Indians of Central America. THE LESSER CIVILIZATIONS 157 sen I But the site is chiefly remarkable for pottery and heads that are picked up by thousands. south side of the small stream that flows through the ruins is a group of buildings called the (litadel. A few large sculptures have been found at Teoti- huacan. figurines The heads present such a marked variety of facial contour and expression that it would seem as if every race1 under the sun had served as models. It is very likely that these heads formed part of votive offerings, beings attached to bodies made of some perishable material. The heads were seldom used to adorn pottery vessels, al- though many modern and fraudu- lent vases are so adorned. Dolls with head and torso in one piece and with movable arms and legs made of separate pieces wTere known. The face of Tlaloc, the Rain God, is fairly common in Teotihuacan pottery but other deities have not surely been identi- fied. It is not improbable that the God of Fire is personified as an old man with wrinkled face, and that Xipe, Lord of the Flayed, is repre- sented in the faces that look out through the three holes of a mask. The jaguar, the monkey, the owl, and other animals are also modeled with excellent fidelity. The Mayan convention of the human face in the open jaws of the serpent is not un- known. A number of beautiful vases painted in soft greens, pinks, and yellows have been recovered at • Fig. 55. Jointed Doll of Clay from San Juan Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Spinden, Herbert Joseph, 1879-1967. New York
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, booksubjectindianso, booksubjectindiansofmexico
