[Aztlan] Striking newly discovered figurines from Teotihuacan

[Matthew H. Robb]

Leonardo Lopez Lujan and other members of the team that excavated at Xalla published a highly informative article on the large figure from Xalla, linking it to several others of similar style (though considerably smaller in size) that were also smashed in the city's final days. I would point out that they identify the stone as marble, specifically "whitish fine-grained calcite marble." Kim, where does the travertine identification come from?

"The destruction of images in Teotihuacan: anthropomorphic sculpture, elite cults, and the end of a civilization"
L Lopez Lujan, LF Nadal, B Fash, WL Fash,  … - Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 2006MHR




________________________________
From: michael ruggeri <michaelruggeri at mac.com>
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Sent: Friday, August 7, 2009 11:06:37 AM
Subject: [Aztlan] Striking newly discovered figurines from Teotihuacan

Listeros,

The present exhibition on Teotihuacan at the National Museum in Mexico
City has on display some very striking pieces just recently excavated.
One of the pieces was broken into 300 pieces when found. That piece is
now restored and is one of the most unique figurines ever found at
Teotihuacan. That piece is dated to 300 CE and is made of serpentine,
calcite, dolomite, jade and obsidian. Another very large figurine was
made of travertine. (The article cited below mistakenly identifies
this as marble. Kim Goldsmith, our listero at Teotihuacan, provided me
with the corrected information). This figurine was ritually destroyed
and it shows the burn and cut marks of the destruction.

You can see a very large photo of the striking serpentine figurine
here at Art Knowledge News;
http://www.artknowledgenews.com/2009-08-05-00-00-00-restored-teotihuacan-effigy-exhibited-at-national-museum-of-anthropology.html

A tiny URL;
http://tinyurl.com/mq4r2s

A photo of the large figurine of travertine can be found in the
virtual gallery of the exhibition published online by INAH.

Go here to see the Exhibition home page in English;
http://culturainah.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id8&ItemidS

A tiny URL;
http://tinyurl.com/lsh3au

Then click on fotos on the bar on the left under the multimedia
heading. Then go over to the 8th photo and click on it and you can see
the large travertine figurine dug up at the Pyramid of the Moon in
recent years.

Mike Ruggeri

Mike Ruggeri's Teotihuacan; City of the Gods
http://tinyurl.com/2nrs9d

Mike Ruggeri's Teotihuacan Art Portfolio
http://tinyurl.com/6ovgvf











Another sculpture restored by INAH to be exhibited at the Teotihuacan
show is the “Xalla Captive”, the greatest anthropomorphic
representation of the exhibit, was carved in marble and gives account
of ritual and intentional destruction performed by ancient Teotihuacan
people, since it presents burns and cuts.


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