#Aztec/Mixtec Turquoise

[sergioguymanproust]

In Mesoamerican cultures the royalty were often buried with a mask to be recognized even after they were no longer present on this world ,as people of power and royalty .Like the saying goes once a king always a king .The painstaking work of designing ,cutting and making a mask using semi precious stones and metals to honor the memory of the dead was indeed a job assigned to the best craftsman in the city.The Aztecs ruled from the 1300 to 1521, they spoke a language called Nahuatl or Mexica. And we’re famous for human sacrifices to the gods.Turquoise represented for the Aztecs ,power and authority this is why most people in power wore turquoise bracelet and necklaces,priests,and rulers to separate them from the rest ,also they believed their sun god was made of turquoise ,an interesting fact about this mineral is that we can’t still pinpoint the locations from where it was extracted because there were no mines around the city with the exception of a crust that surrounds Mexico City.Some even suggested that it was brought from the southwestern of the US. Well, we are still digging and finding new treasures from this famous culture.They are part of the second wave of Asian hunter gatherers nomads that used the land bridge that brought them by the coast to Southern California in the 1300 and moved south and settled to what is now known as Mexico. Words by Sergio GuymanProust.

Aztec/Mixtec turquoise mosaic mask - Mexico, 1400-1521.

[memories-of-ancients]

Turquoise mosaic pectoral, Mixtec or Mexica (Aztec), circa 1400-1521

from The British Museum

[arinewman7]

Double-Headed Serpent Pectoral

Aztec/Mixtec Turquoise

Mosaic, 15th–16th Century, A.D.

[jeffrevolucion]

Aztec/Mixtec bird head mask made out of wood, turquoise, pearl, shell and resin. From around 1500.

Seen in Museum van Volkenkunde, Leiden.

[gnotionlearning]

[mesoamericanaesthetic]

Tezcatlipoca mask, pyrite, shells, and lignite mosaic, on a human skull. 16th century.

Bicephalous serpent breastplate, shells and turquoise mosaic on wood. Around 1400 - 1521.

British Museum (London) collection.

[thatshowthingstarted]

Mosaic Mask, Aztec/Mixtec (Possibly Xiuhtecuhtli), 1400-1521,

Mask (human face, possibly representing Xiuhtecuhtli) made of cedro wood (Cedrela odorata) and covered in turquoise mosaic with scattered turquoise cabochons. 

The pierced elliptical eyes worked in mother-of-pearl (Pinctada mazatlanica) and the teeth are made of conch (Strombus) shell, although two are modern synthetic replacements. The eyelids were gilded. 

The interior surface of the mask is painted with cinnabar. The wood was carved to produce a curve and the underlying contours of the face.

Turquoise, mother-of-pearl, cedrela wood, conch shell, cinnabar, pine resin, 

Height: 16.80 cm, Width: 15.20 cm, Depth: 13.50 cm, 

The British Museum

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Wooden mask.

Culture: Mixtec or Aztec

Period: Postclassic period

Date: A.D. 1100–1521

Place of origin: Central or Southern Highlands, Mexico

Medium: Wood with turquoise, black stone, shell, and mother of pearl.

[dream-tailor]

Turquoise Mosaic Mask

Aztec/Mixtec

AD 1400-1521, Mexico

[tlatollotl]

sacrificial knife; mosaic

Cultures/periods: Aztec or Mixtec

Production date: 1400-1521

Findspot: Mexico

Provenience unknown, possibly looted

Sacrificial knife, in the form of a crouching eagle warrior, with flint blade. Handle made of cedro wood (Cedrela odorata) and covered with mosaic made of turquoise, malachite and three types of shell: white conch (Strombus sp.), thorny oyster (Spondylus princeps) and mother-of-pearl (Pinctada mazatlanica). Pine resin is used as adhesive and decoratively as inlay. The blade hafting is bound with maguey fibre (Agave) and coated with Protium resin.

British Museum

[boneandpapyrus]

Turquoise Mosaic Mask

Mixtec-Aztec, Mexico, ca. 1400-1521 AD

Mask possibly representing the god Xiuhtecuhtli, made of aromatic cedro wood (Cedrela odorata) and covered in turquoise mosaic with scattered turquoise cabochons. The pierced elliptical eyes worked in mother-of-pearl and the teeth are made of conch shell, although two are modern synthetic replacements. The eyelids were gilded. The interior surface of the mask is painted with cinnabar and the wood was carved to produce a curve and the underlying contours of the face.

Suspension holes at the temples indicate that the mask was intended to be worn, or perhaps tied to another object. Examination by SEM has revealed that the gold on the eyelids was applied as a thin foil about one hundredth of a millimetre thick. 

Masks of the major Aztec deities were probably worn by impersonators to enact scenes from creation stories and to recount the deeds of culture heroes. The protuberances visible on the surface allude to the boils said to have erupted on the face of the Sun God Tonatiuh when he dallied too long in the fiery depths. The darker blue patterns of the cheeks and brow may refer to the Fire God, Xiuhtehcuhtli, whose name also means Turquoise Lord - he is sometimes shown adorned with turquoise mosaic and a nose ornament in the form of an identifying butterfly emblem.

Source: British Museum

[aic-americas]

Mosaic Disk with a Mythological and Historical Scene, Mixtec, 1401, Art Institute of Chicago: Arts of the Americas

Turquoise and shell mosaics were a specialty of the Mixtecs of northern Oaxaca, whose artists worked in the imperial Aztec (Mexica) capital, Tenochtitlan, after the mid-15th century. This disk commemorates historical events using calendrical and mythological imagery. In Mixtec culture, as elsewhere in ancient Mesoamerica, the history of the world was conceived in terms of cosmic cycles of creation, destruction, and re-creation. Each cycle, known as a “sun,” lasted many centuries. On a smaller scale within each cycle, time was organized into repeating 52-year periods whose end and renewal were marked by equinox sunsets and sunrises in rituals of transition. On this disk, the sign for “year” and the date “3 Flint- Knife” (A.D. 1456) are associated with the image of the sun on the left; the date “4 House” (A.D. 1457) is linked by footsteps to the sun on the right. These dates mark the end of one 52-year cycle and the beginning of a new one. In the center, crossed darts symbolize a military alliance. Alliance members are represented by the skeletal figure at the left and the animal figure at the right. Below, a prone human form (damaged) signifies a sacrifice to confirm the association. The imagery of the disk stems from a long-established Mixtec tradition of pictorial manuscripts. Through prior gift of Louise A. and Ruth G. Allen, and Mrs. Daniel Catton Rich Size: Diam. 30.5 cm (12 in.) Medium: Turquoise, earthenware, stucco, spondylus shell, mother of pearl, and iron pyrite, with pigment

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/146930/

[puredamien]

unknown, Aztec/Mixtec mosaic mask - possibly Xiuhtecuhtli, (turquoise, mother-of-pearl, cedrela wood, conch shell, cinnabar, pine resin), 1400-1521 (The British Museum) [3024x4032]

[archaeologicalnews]

Aztec Turquoise Tiles May Solve a Mesoamerican Mystery

With its brilliant hues of blue and green, turquoise was a highly prized gemstone to the ancient Aztecs and Mixtec in the region that stretches from central Mexico to Central America known as Mesoamerica. They used the mineral to create armbands and nose plugs, for handles on sacrificial knives and also to design elaborate mosaics of warriors that adorned their ceremonial shields and fearsome statues of double-headed serpents.

For more than a century, archaeologists have questioned the origins of  the turquoise used in these beautiful pieces of artwork and jewelry. Because scientists have found little evidence of turquoise mining in Mesoamerica, some researchers have used the presence of turquoise artifacts in the area as evidence of a long-distance trade exchange with ancient civilizations thousands of miles away in the American Southwest, where turquoise mines have been found.

But a recent geochemical analysis of Aztec and Mixtec turquoise suggests that the mineral did not originate in the American Southwest, but rather in Mesoamerica. Read more.

[oswhys]

Dumb AC concept ideas

So this is basically a info dump of ideas for potential AC games and concepts that its been playing with in my head, it's mostly me nerding out about junk (look if I can info dump about Teotihuacan I’ll do it.) like it's ideas that I think would be cool and what id want to see in future installments, even if they aren't likely to happen. It's also written super casually cause I started making this in a burst of inspiration at like 2 am and yet still got distracted from it cause I started going on tangents. So it's a bit of a mess. I’m totally down for bouncing ideas around if anyone has their own concepts.

1920’s jazz age assassin from the beginning of unity and the abstergo employee handbook. "The lives and failures of the most degenerate Americans to ever grace the world's stage - Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Stein." please tell me how this doesn't sound cool as shit? Okokokokokokok SO… CARS. like this dude would have a car (and of course the player can earn different cars and looks for their car and junk, including a yellow Duesenberg… like come on if he knew Fitzgerald they gotta let this dude drive Gatsby's car.)  I think there can be an argument about him having a rope launcher attachment buuut maybe not??? I mean a car and a rope launcher would be dope as hell. The dude probably bounced between Paris and New York if he's a genuine jazz age junkie like how abstergo describes him and his writer pals. Also it would be cool to meet Picasso… also his base of operations should be a fucking speakeasy, like duh, like where else would a 1920’s assassin camp out? I don’t really have any plot ideas but the concept of a jazz age assassin is cool enough for me to want it this badly.

1970’s-1980’s William Miles in a corporate espionage type game, like i know he had Desmond in 1987 but he was an active filed assassin in 1977 when he was in Moscow so clearly he could've been doing other junk around then. It doesn't have to be him, i just want a 70’d-80’s assassin trying to fuck with abstergo and trying to steal animus research or something. Like Alieen Bock died in 81 and that was at the height of animus research before abstergo started really investing in it cause of Vidic. Like the surrogate initiative and the animus project are… basically the same thing really. Like knowing that Altair and Ezio were not actually related until their bloodlines crossed with Desmond. So with the memory keys being cited as an integral part of the animus project they obviously had a role to play in the surrogate project. Besides the newer games are pretty loosey-goosey with how the DNA and animus junk works now, with the spear having DNA traces or whatever and its corrupted enough that we could… choose things?? (don't ask questions just have fun i guess.) ok i’m over thinking this stuff… but come on… disco!!!!! Please please please have a disco assassination. Like… the idea of an assassin taking out a target at the disco is cool enough for me to want it. ALSO!!! If it goes into the 80’s then please for the love of god a Thriller inspired outfit would be to die for. Like i know getting the exact look would be a trademark nightmare but an inspired look may be able to get away with it. I just want some real corporate espionage type missions while dressed in some brightly colored dorky(cool as shit) 70’s/80’s fashion.

So like… ANYTHING from ancient Andean culture. So The Chimú or the Moche… that would be cool, but I'd settle for Wari and Tiwanaku. I just kinda want to see Chan Chan recreated. And Moche art was so fucking good like… idk man they're making video games that are mostly of ancient cultures now so the possibility of them making something in a more modern setting is slim to none. Like come on they're gonna want to make like idk maybe one more really ancient cultural game so they can still reuse assets again before making a whole new saga. That's just their track record. The problem with doing an ancient andean cultural video game is that there isn't a lot to work with other then our knowledge of the architecture and artistry of the ancient peoples. We have art documentary significant events but there isn't really any historical recordings so there's no significant figures to meet or events to take part in that we know of right now. BUT that also means that hey if Ubisoft wants us to have freedom of choice within the narrative this would be a great opportunity.

Speaking of ancient culturesssss ancient Mexican cultures would be REALLY cool too. Like obviously Mayans culture is the first to come to mind but AC already kinda explored the Mayans so idk maybe a more underrated ancient culture deserves the spotlight. The Zapotec and other civilizations in the Oaxaca. Like this would be really cool since we actually see a rise in raiding and conquest warfare, like theres these bas-relief stone carvings called Las Danzantes which are actually depictions of sacrificial victims, most likely foreign captives. The architecture is also to die for like i’m a sucker for talud-tablero style stuff popping up in ancient Latin america. Also do i gotta say it? BALL COURTS!!! A recreation of the ancient ball game in a video game would be cool as shit my dudes like… please i want this so bad. Like how origins depicted mummification with respect I’d love to see the same kind of loving dedication to the funerary practices of the ancient peoples. (off topic completely but some latin american civilizations had their own forms of mummification) like i wanna see the abandonment of Monte Alban and the later use of it by the Mixtecs. But the most important thing about the celebration of the ancient Zapotec would be the ability to celebrate the modern Zapotec culture, that would just be cool. Ok I’ll finish up this train of ideas with the one i really really really want to see recreated, the original Teotihuacan, before the Aztecs found it. With the pyramids being painted and covered in beautiful carvings and, of course, talud-tablero style architecture. It's basically the biggest ancient city in mesoamerica with hidden cave systems that we are still finding today and so much of the ancient city was built over because it might've been covered up or eroded to the point where no one knew it was there, or because there wasn't really anyone who cared enough to uh, not build on top of historical sites. Modern mexico city is built all around and on top of it (apparently you can see Walmart from the top of the temple of the sun…) so its a huge ancient city that was really colorful and really populated with crazy ancient tunnels underneath the pyramids that we’ve only discovered recently so how fucking cool are those possibilities? Like i just can't get over the idea of some assassin-esque person climbing up red pyramids and sitting next to statues and carvings of Queztalcoatl painted in a turquoise. Ancient farms and city life thriving. From what we know about it, like many other ancient latin american cities it was abandoned at some point, exactly why is unclear though (probably a mix of things cause there wasn't any kings really but more like… neighborhood councils (that's the best guess rn)). It was an actual city though, most archaeologists compare it to modern cities due to its city planning and its huge population. What was left behind was so spectacular that when the Aztecs found it they legit thought it was the city of the gods. This was a real fucking city and I’m crazy about it man i want it in a fucking video game my dudes.

COWBOYS PLEASE. Like i know rdr2 came out so they probably wont do it (for a while at least) and they already have the gold rush assassin so they've dabbled with cowboy stuff but… cowboys… like theres nothing else to say really… Cowboys. Also like i know how AC is pretty much ass melee combat and cowboys means guns and lots of guns and bows and probably rope darts. But… folding swords. That my shitty solution to have melee combat, like syndicate had melee and some gun stuff cause duh, but it was mostly melee. Like you can make the game centered around stealth so a lot more sneaking then combat, kinda like in unity. I have a few ideas for this one but most of them play into my own personal cowboy wish fulfillment fantasy of owning a farm with snakes for the production of venoms and other toxins. It's hard to explain but i kinda really want to see someone with a snake/spider enclosure where they produce venoms for the protag to use. The specific time period i have in mind is like 1870-1888 but it could defo go later. It's just that was peak for a lot of famous gunslingers and robberies. And Mesa Verde was basically rediscovered in the late 1880’s (its kinda weird like it was “officially” discovered in 88 but others saw it before that soooo. Also Montezuma Castle would be cool to visit in game as well. I dont have have a lot of knowledge about mesa verde or Montezuma but i know they're cool af.) the wild west is just ripe with possibility so i have some hope they’ll do one in the future but i don't see it happening anytime within the next couple of years.

Please for the love of god give me a AC3/unity dual sequel. Set in 1798 Egypt before during and maybe a little after the french invasion of Egypt. There would be a ton to work around and justify to get that to happen in universe buuuuut… i want it so badly. I have a shit ton of ideas but im saving all of that for a rainy day. 

I wouldn't mind if they actually did stuff with WWI, mostly cause i really like that one WWI assassin from project legacy and Lydia's whole thing was really cool.

Ok I’m kinda on burn out after all that cause I just… its 4 AM and i’m supposed to be writing a paper but I made this big fucking oops.

[thevintagejesus]

Wooden mask. Culture: Mixtec or Aztec Period: Postclassic period Date: A.D. 1100–1521 Place of origin: Central or Southern Highlands, Mexico Medium: Wood with turquoise, black stone, shell, and mother of pearl. Source: educators.mfa.org.⁣ ⁣ Via @archaeologyart 🖤 https://www.instagram.com/p/CZXN8o6udlA/?utm_medium=tumblr