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.

Pre-Columbian Colima Miniature Pottery Dog Definitely NOT your typical Colima dog! From western Mexico, ca. 100 to 300 A.D., ancient dog effigy in a very unusual, miniature form! Hollow-molded pottery with ... $1,295.00

Mayan Incised Cylinder Not your typical Mayan cylinder! Most likely from the Yucatan Peninsula, ca. 500 to 750 A.D., this example was created in reddish clay with very thin walls, base left... $1,495.00

Chupicuaro Polychrome Tripod Vessel Fine example of the pottery skills from the Chupicuaro culture of southwestern Mexico. Ca 300 to 200 BC, this bi-chrome vessel stands on three rattle-filled legs, and... $495.00

Colima Effigy Vessel of Deformed Human Truly rare and showing a medical oddity! Ancient bi-chrome vessel from Colima, West Mexico, circa 200 BC/200 AD. Redware pottery figural in the form of a human with... $2,495.00

Jalisco Female Effigy, Ameca Style Ancient Pre-Columbian Female Effigy, Jalisco Culture, Ameca Grey Style, Jalisco, West Mexico, ca. 200 B.C. to 300 A.D. This kneeling / sitting Tomb Shaft figure... $3,995.00

Delightful Michoacan Pottery Female Flat Forgive me, but I come at this completely from a male perspective and must wonder what was the motivation behind the "artist" who made this piece? Here is a large... $595.00

Pre-Columbian Colima Armadillo Olla Unique form! Ancient Pre-Columbian Compound Jar, ca. 200 BC to 200 AD. Redware pottery, called compound because it is actually an olla setting in a bowl). $1,995.00

Colima Portrait Head of a Shaman From Mexico, Colima, ca. 300 B.C. to 300 A.D. Finely-burnished redware pottery portrait head vessel in the shape of a Shaman's head (note Shaman's horn ); he wears... $4,250.00

Michoacan Pottery Pretty Lady Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, ca 300 to 100 BC. Pottery figure of a broad-shouldered female, she "supports" huge, pendulous breasts and wears an ornate necklace and... $695.00

Pre-Columbian Colima Warrior Whistle From ancient Mexico, ca. 300 B.C. to 300 A.D. Terracotta pottery whistle depicting a warrior hiding behind a large shield. For similar example, see The LACMA museum... $895.00

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.