. Guide leaflet. ups ofpeople could retain theirhmguage and developdialects as well as evolvedistinctive customs andart forms. Some of thesetribes developed most so-phisticated civilizations,while others lagged, re-taining a primitive cul-ture. To thread our waythrough the tortuousmazes of the cultures ofthese tribelets is beyondour purpose, nor have wethe knowledoe to do so o even if we wished. Two major artistic de-velopments can be discerned, however, theart of the Maya-speaking people of thelow. hot country of Guatemala and Yuca-tan, and that ot the Xahua tribes of theMexican Highlands. Co
. Guide leaflet. ups ofpeople could retain theirhmguage and developdialects as well as evolvedistinctive customs andart forms. Some of thesetribes developed most so-phisticated civilizations,while others lagged, re-taining a primitive cul-ture. To thread our waythrough the tortuousmazes of the cultures ofthese tribelets is beyondour purpose, nor have wethe knowledoe to do so o even if we wished. Two major artistic de-velopments can be discerned, however, theart of the Maya-speaking people of thelow. hot country of Guatemala and Yuca-tan, and that ot the Xahua tribes of theMexican Highlands. Combinations andtransitions between Maya and Xahua artmay be seen in tlie civilizations of thetribes in adjoining regions. Maya art isthe aesthetic of a gentle peoi)le, whereasXahua art is the product of a more austereand warlike folk. The period of Central American arteo\ers the hrst fifti^en hundred years ofthe Chiistian era. Previous to that time yv/A Munri iwrrin-: or iin:-(()/JMni.\\ (i-:srn.\L .\.-:/H(\ TEMPLE Evil SI B, TWXACTT^X, GUATEMALA This oldest Maya building yet found is made of rubble with a plaster covering. It is a platform with-out any trace of a temple. Note the masks carved at the sides (See p. 57) the tribes of Central America were makingthe slow climb from a hunting stage andinventing agriculture anew, while some ofthe Old World nations had already em-barked on the preliminary stages ofcivilization. The Maya seem to have beenfirst to produce a really fine art inCentral America, but, by the Tenth Cen-tury, tlie Xahua had also developed aconcrete aesthetic expression. AVhile inthe first ten centuries of the Christian erathe Maya were artistically predominant,they afterward began to decline, so thatat the time of the Spanish Conquest in1519, Xahua tribes, like the Aztec andMixtec, produced the major examples ofCentral American art. Having roughly oriented ourselves intime and space, we can now examine thevarious expressions of Central Americanaesthetics.
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