ANTH 325 - Ancient Mexican Society and Art

Units: 3

Examines Ancient Mexican art, cosmology, architecture, mythology, and literature as they reflect social structure, religion, social roles, ideology, economic and political organization, world-view, and the family. Using archeological and ethnographic sources, the course covers the preclassic, classic, and postclassic periods, focusing on several cultural areas including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Monte Alban and the Zapotec and Mixtec of Oaxaca, the Toltecs, the Maya, and the Aztec, or Mexica. Among other topics to be examined are the calendar, writing, concepts of space and time, the ball game, tribute, human sacrifice and bloodletting, sacred plants, and specific Mesoamerican deities.

Satisfies GE area: CC