Pre-Columbian Antiquities from Mesoamerica and Mexico

Mesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before the European discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus.

The major Pre-Classic cultures of Mexico were the Olmec and the western cultures of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit; Teotihuacán, the Maya cities, the Zapotec center at Monte Albán, and the Classic Vera Cruz culture were the dominant civilizations of the Classic period; during the Post-Classic period important cultures developed among the Toltec, the Tarascan, the Huastec and Totonac, the Mixtec, and the Aztecs.

Maya Deity Rattle Ancient Pre-Columbian Rattle, west Mexico, Mayan, ca. 550 - 850 A.D. Molded pottery rattle depicting a standing figure/shaman with one hand hanging down to his side; $1,195.00

Jalisco Blackware House Miniatures Ancient Pre-Columbian Pottery Huts, from the Jalisco Culture, West Coast Mexico, ca. 200 B.C. - 200 A.D. Pair of blackware pottery houses with handles, sitting upon... $245.00

Mezcala Stone Axe God From the Pre-Classic period, Guerrero, Mexico, ca. 900 - 100 B.C. Carved standing stone figure with simple cut facial features and arm detailing. 5-3/4"H, intact with... $595.00

Colima Bedded Female Figure Ancient Pre-Columbian Bedded Figure, Colima culture, West Mexico, ca. 500 - 100 B.C. Constructed from a light brown clay, this female figure is shown lying on her back and... $895.00

Pre-Columbian Colima Rattle Ancient Pre-Columbian Rattle, from West Mexico, Colima culture, ca. 250 B.C. - 250 A.D. Constructed from red clay in club shape with handle. This was the end part of a... $195.00

Many of the ancient Mexican cultures produced ceramic figures and pottery. The site of Tlatilco, in the Valley of Mexico, has yielded famous ceramics of remarkably early date, about 500 B.C. Delicacy of detail characterizes the figurines of Teotihuacán, and the finely decorated funerary urns of Monte Albán are particularly well executed. In the western states of Nayarit, Jalisco, and Colima, early cultures produced an enormously varied array of fanciful and often grotesque terra-cotta figurines and pottery during the Classic period, 300 to 900 A.D. These indigenous civilizations are credited with many inventions in building pyramid-temples, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, writing, highly accurate calendars, fine arts, intensive agriculture, engineering, an abacus calculator, a complex theology, and the wheel: however, without any draft animals, the wheel was used only as a toy. They also used native copper and gold for metalworking.