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What makes one culture distinct from another?
What similarities do all cultures share? This exhibition presents artifacts from five culture regions: the AmericanSouthwest and Great Basin, Central America, the Andean region of Central and South America, and various Pacific islands of Polynesia.The artifacts represent a time span of over 2500 years, from 600 BC tothe late twentieth century AD. Disparate in time and origin, these artifacts hold fascinating insights into the concerns, sentiments, andvalues of the various people who made and used them. |
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MESOAMERICA
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| Guatemala is home to a centuries-old weaving tradition through whichindigenous women assert a sense of "belongingness" to family andcommunity. The women and their families are descendants of the ancientMaya, and the tools of their trade are cotton yare, the backstrap loom, and time-proven patterns and techniques. Each design system, alongwith its associated colors is distinctive to a particular village. |
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This ancient stucco head from El Aguacatal, Mexico, represents the headof a ruler. It was made of stuccorather than stone: stone was scarce sothe builders used what was available. Made as part of a building, the head made a political statement about the ruler's power and authority. |
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ANDEAN CULTURES
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In ancient Peru, textiles were trade items and therefore perceived tohave monetary or intrinsic value. They even provided a means of political persuasion and power. Ownership and the power to acquire them reflected an individual's social class, status, and wealth.
Many ancient crafts persist today as part of the thriving tourist business. Hollow gourds, like this one, are among the most ancient types of containers used by the Andean people. Today they can be found in local markets alongside bright hand-woven textiles.
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POLYNESIA
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At the time of European contact, Tapa or bark cloth making was universal in Polynesia. Tapa is traditionally made by women who beatthe inner bark of paper mulberry and other trees with wooden clubs. Tapa traditionally served as clothing, bedding, wall and floorcoverings, and it was a prized gift at births, weddings, funerals and royal ceremonies. The tapa on the left depicts the royal seal of Tonga, making a political statement supporting the royal claim to the monarchy. Hawaiians are traditionally masters of feather work. The art continues today but is hampered, as in the past, by the difficulty of obtaining large quantities of feathers. The color red was traditionally associated with gods and chiefs throughout Polynesia, but in Hawaii yellow replaced red as the chiefly color due to the greater scarcity of yellow feathers. |
GREAT BASIN |
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| Among the most favored designs or "motifs" in Ute beadwork are the rose
and the tepee. Designs have been borrowed from other tribes, traders,
patriotic themes and Christianity. Beadwork may be decorative or
symbolic, and is used on clothing, bags, cradleboards, bridles, brushes,
and anything that needed to be decorated.
Ute dolls, common during the World War II era, were not made for the tourist market, nor as toys per se. Rather, they were crafted for Ute childrenas models of "how to dress" and "how to be. |
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SOUTHWEST | |
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| These sandals and this Navajo rug were woven within a hundred miles of
each other, but are world's apart. The sandals are Puebloan in origin
and woven,probably by a man, from yucca fiber as early as AD 200. The
Navajo rug was woven centuries later by a woman of an entirely different
culture,using wool from sheep introduced to this area hundreds of years
after the sandals were finished. | |
During the 13th and 14th centuries AD Casas Grandes in northern Mexico was an important trade center through which vast quantities of turquoise, shell, colorful parrots, copper items, painted pottery, and other commodities flowed north and south. |
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