Best Mesoamerican
The Olmec Colossal Heads are massive stone monuments carved by the Olmec civilization in the tropical lowlands of the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Dating from roughly 1400 to 400 BC, these sculptures were crafted from large basalt boulders quarried from distant mountains and transported over land and water...
The Codex Mendoza is a sixteenth-century manuscript created in colonial Mexico, probably during the early 1540s and associated with Antonio de Mendoza, the first viceroy of New Spain. Its pictorial and Spanish-language sections describe Mexica rulers and conquests, tribute owed by subject towns, and...
The Pyramid of the Sun dominates the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan in present-day Mexico. Constructed around 200 CE, it is the largest known structure at this UNESCO World Heritage site. Its immense size, rising over 65 meters, reflects the religious and political importance of the city’s...
The Codex Borgia is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican screenfold manuscript associated with the group of ritual books named after it. Painted on animal skin and folded accordion-style, it presents deities, calendrical signs, ceremonies, and divinatory sequences connected with the 260-day ritual calendar....
The Madrid Codex, also known as the Tro-Cortesianus Codex, is one of the few surviving pre-Columbian Maya screenfold manuscripts. Written and painted on a long strip of bark paper coated with a prepared white surface, it is the longest of the surviving Maya codices. Its hieroglyphic texts and images...
Olmec Colossal Head 1 is a monumental basalt sculpture from the archaeological site of San Lorenzo in Veracruz, Mexico. Carved during the first millennium BCE, it portrays a helmeted male face and is generally interpreted as the image of an Olmec ruler, although the individual's identity is unknown....
The Pyramid of the Moon stands as a central structure within the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, Mexico. Constructed primarily of stone, it served as an important religious and ceremonial center. The pyramid’s alignment with the Avenue of the Dead highlights its significance in the city's...
The Pyramid of the Sun is a massive Mesoamerican monument located at Teotihuacan in Mexico. Constructed around 100 CE, it stands approximately 65 meters tall and served as the central structure within this ancient city. It was likely used for religious ceremonies and held significant importance for...
The Grolier Codex, officially renamed the Maya Codex of Mexico, is a pre-Columbian Maya screenfold manuscript generally dated to the 13th century. Its surviving pages pair painted figures with calendrical signs connected to the cycles of Venus. Long disputed because of its unusual discovery history,...
The Pyramid of the Moon is a significant Mesoamerican monument located at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Built over centuries from approximately 100 to 450 CE, it represents one of the city’s largest structures and served as a central element for ritual activities. Primarily constructed by the ancient Teotihu...
The Paris Codex, also called Codex Peresianus, is one of the few surviving screenfold books attributed to the pre-Columbian Maya. Written and painted on prepared bark paper, it contains hieroglyphic texts, calendrical material, ritual almanacs, deity figures, and a sequence often interpreted as a Ma...
Xochicalco is a fortified pre-Columbian archaeological site in Morelos, Mexico, that flourished from approximately 700 to 900 CE following the decline of Teotihuacan. The site served as a significant commercial, religious, and astronomical center, featuring a main ceremonial plaza, ball courts, and...
Tula, also known as Tollan, is an archaeological site in the Hidalgo state of Mexico that served as the capital of the Toltec civilization. Flourishing between roughly 900 and 1150 CE during the Early Postclassic period, the city was a major military and political center in Mesoamerica. The site is...
Monte Albán was the ancient Zapotec capital founded around 500 BCE on a mountain top in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. The city served as a major political, economic, and ceremonial center for over a millennium, reaching its peak between 300-700 CE with an estimated population of 25,000. The site fea...
The Kingdom of Texcoco was a prominent pre-Columbian Acolhua city-state located in the Valley of Mexico. It functioned as a vital member of the Aztec Triple Alliance alongside Tenochtitlan and Tlacopan, which dominated central Mexico in the 15th and 16th centuries. Texcoco was distinguished as a maj...
Dried chia seeds are the edible seeds of Salvia hispanica, a flowering plant in the mint family native to central and southern Mexico. Cultivated since pre-Columbian times by Aztec and Mesoamerican cultures, they are recognized for their ability to absorb liquid and form a characteristic gel coating...
The Purépecha Empire, also called the Tarascan state, was a pre-Columbian polity centered around Lake Pátzcuaro in present-day Michoacán, Mexico. Governed from Tzintzuntzan, it developed into a major regional power and successfully resisted attempts by the Aztec Empire to conquer its territory. Puré...
The Bearded Screech-Owl is a small, endangered bird of prey native to the highland pine-oak forests of Central America, distinguished by its prominent white facial whiskers.
Smallest of the three Aztec Triple Alliance city-states formed in 1428, a Tepanec polity in the Valley of Mexico that received one-fifth of all imperial tribute.
Rhachicreagra is a genus of grasshoppers endemic to South America, notably distinguished by their specialized feeding habits on toxic plants.
Ninth tlatoani of the Aztec Empire (r. 1502–1520) who oversaw its greatest territorial expansion before the Spanish conquest led by Hernán Cortés ended his reign in 1520.
