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.

Mezcala Guerrero Slab Figure Ancient Pre-Columbian Stone Slab Figure from Guerrero, Mexico, ca. 900 - 100 B.C. Carved from a single piece of stone, this standing figure has an arched back, drilled... $445.00

Olmec Standing Jade Figure Ancient Pre-Columbian Jade Figure, from South Mexico, Olmec culture, ca. 900 - 400 B.C. Carved standing figure with drilled head; detailed human facial features, ample... $4,595.00

Chupicuaro Tripod Bowl Simple, classic style... Ancient Pre-Columbian Tripod Bowl from West Mexico, Guanajuato, Chupícuaro culture, ca. 800 - 400 A.D. Redware pottery vessel with pointed openwork... $495.00

Pre-Columbian Colima Seated Flat Figure From West Mexico, Colima culture, ca. 200 B.C. to 200 A.D. Seated male figure, unslipped buff ceramic with remains of original orange glaze. He holds his arms held against... $475.00

Chupicuaro Polychrome Female Figure Ancient Pre-Columbian Female Figure from Mexico, Chupicuaro, Guanajuato or Michoacan, ca. 200-100 B.C. Typical slip-painted pottery figure of a standing female... $1,995.00

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.