Pre-Columbian art
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Pre-Columbian Art is the art of Mexico, Central and South America in the time prior to the arrival of European colonizers in the 16th century.
Pre-Columbian art thrived over a wide timescale from 1800 BC to AD 1500. Despite the great range and variety of artwork, certain characteristics were repeated throughout the region, namely a preference for angular, linear patterns, and three-dimensional ceramics.
Most of the now known artworks made in Central America and South America before the voyage of Christopher Columbus have been found in tombs. Enormous amounts of time, energy and materials were spent to properly equip the societies' leaders and elite for their after-death journeys.
Pre-Columbian cultures viewed reality as a multilayered universe with various divisions, attended by numerous deities whose activities and relationships metaphorically expressed the forces of nature and cosmos. Death was considered a transition and journey from one realm of existence to another. The elaborate preparation and offerings associated with burying the dead reflect the importance of equipping a soul for transition from one realm to another.
