While each figurine is singularly expressive, their meaning and power are truly anchored in the story they tell when engaged together as a scene.ĢAncient Bodies presented figurines from Burial 39, one of the royal tombs excavated at El Perú-Waka’, and nearly 50 additional figurines from LACMA’s collection that represent ancient cultures from across Mesoamerica. This assemblage of 23 individual figurines is a compelling example of the critical importance of archaeological context, or provenience-the location of an object and its position relative to other objects. These indigenous societies existed long before foreigners from Europe made their way to these countries. Mourners purposefully arranged the figurines in the tomb to tell a story, perhaps their own story, and archaeological excavation documented and preserved that story. What Is Mesoamerica Mesoamerica refers to specific groups of indigenous peoples from multiple countries encompassing Mexico, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
Among these was an elaborate scene composed of ceramic figurines (Fig. 1.) depicting an ancient funerary ritual. These early reports follow a similar format, presenting brief artifact descriptions with often vaguely defined classifications of chipped stone. The tomb, dating to 600–650 CE, contained the remains of a ruler of the city and a rich array of funerary objects selected to accompany the ruler into the afterlife.
In April 2006, archaeologists discovered a masonry tomb chamber while excavating a grand pyramid in the ancient Maya city of El Perú-Waka’, Petén, Guatemala. Both data sets show that stakeholders interested in acquiring Chinese antiquities are increasingly concerned with provenance, that verifiable provenance increases the value of an object, and that Chinese buyers play a significant role in auctions in the United States.It will be challenging to curb the demand for archaeological materials,and this study concludes with a discussion of the future of collecting in the United States, outlining current programs and examining new strategies aimed at changing how collectors view antiquities.1 Ancient Bodies: Archaeological Perspectives on Mesoamerican Figurines explored the central role of archaeological excavation in situating ancient art and artifacts within a cultural framework. To ground the stakeholders’ concerns in fact-based research quantitative data are collected from 86 auctions of Chinese antiquities held between 20. Mesoamerica was dominated by three cultures in the Pre-Classical (up to 200 CE) to Post-Classical periods. Three general questions form the cornerstone of this research: (1) What is the impact of the increased use of cultural heritage legislation on the trade in archaeological objects,and can it be quantified? (2) What does the future of collecting look like for American museums and private collectors? How are museums and collectors changing their policies and approaches as a reaction to new legal actions and changing ethics? (3) What role does China play in the protection and consumption of Chinese cultural heritage? Qualitative data are drawn from interviews with 31 stakeholders. The meanings of the ballgame were many and varied. This study examines the history of collecting, discusses how efforts to prohibit the trade in illicit antiquities are affecting the way in which institutions and individuals acquire cultural heritage material,and supports a broader goal of identifying future strategies for collecting and stewardship.Chinese antiquities that are popular with art collectors are used as a sample group to represent the trade in archaeological material. In fact, Olmec artifacts have been found across Mesoamerica. These transactions have been changing how American museums, private collectors, and art dealers acquire cultural heritage material, particularly when it has an archaeological origin. The name Olmec is an Aztec word meaning the rubber people the Olmec made and traded rubber. During the first decade of the twenty-first century, the number of repatriation requests from foreign governments to museums in the United States greatly increased,and several landmark cases involving looted cultural heritage were decided in favor of the source nation.
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