Aztec Art

5 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)

Lecture, four hours. Introduction to Aztecs through analysis of art in different media including sculpture, featherworks, polychrome pottery, manuscripts, and architecture. Readings from ethnohistoric sources compiled in early colonial period by indigenous scribes and Spanish officials (friars, soldiers, chroniclers, and administrators). Study of Aztecs, their art, their civilization, and major topics discussed in existing, scholarship, including calendar, foundational and creation myths, stories of migration, human sacrifice, rulership, warfare, gender, religion, philosophy, and art and architecture. Assessment of validity of scholarly assumptions about Aztecs, their art, and society in light of available sources. P/NP or letter grading.