acropolis: an elevated section of a city. altar: a low-lying, horizontal stone slab, often bearing relief sculpture.

Ai Apec: the name used by later peoples to describe the Moche “tusked god,” a fanged guardian of nature associated with mountains and caves.

altar: a low-lying, horizontal stone slab, often bearing relief sculpture.

aryballus: a central and southern Peruvian highland ceramic form with a pointed base and two small loop handles; used to store and carry liquids. Also known by the Inca term, urpu.

Atahuallpa: successor to Huayna Capac and the Inca ruler who was in power at the time of Pizarro's conquest of Peru.

atlante: sculptured male figure serving as a support.

atlatl: a throwing stick, used to increase one's leverage with a spear.

audiencia: a small u-shaped structure located in Chimú ciudadelas, probably to control access to goods stored within.

Bonampak: a satellite center of the Maya, famed for its fresco paintings.

Calendar Round: a 52 year cycle of time based on the interlocking of a 260 day almanac year and a 365 day solar year.

celt: a stone hand ax.

cenote: a sink hole formed by the collapse of an underground cave of the type found in northern Yucatán.

Chac: the long-nosed sky-serpent, a rain god of the Maya.

Chacmool: a reclining figure holding a sacrificial container on its stomach; thought to be a Toltec invention.

champlevé: a technique used in Teotihuacán ceramics. The vessel’s surface is carved so as to produce relief designs which are further clarified by rubbing in red hematite.

Chaneques: mischievous dwarfs with baby faces said by various Mexican Indians to be masters of wild animals and to have rain associations.

chaski (chasqui): a long distance messenger, as in the Inca culture.

chicha: maize beer made and imbibed in South America.

chinampa: a technique used by the Aztec to reclaim land from lake waters by cutting and piling up water vegetation, covering it with mud, and anchoring the plot to the lake bottom by planting willows around it.

chultún: a bottle-shaped pit used by the Maya to collect rain water.

Chuquichinchay: the name used by later peoples to describe the Chavín staff god, a part feline/part human deity considered to be a guardian of animals; he was associated with the stars of the night sky.

cire perdue: a casting technique used in sculpture in which an image is modeled in a thin layer of wax sandwiched between two layers of plaster or clay. Conduits or rods attached to the top of the mold allow molten metal to flow in, as rods attached to the base permit wax to escape.

ciudadela: a rectangular enclosure of the type found at Teotihuacán and Chan-Chan; used for administrative purposes.

cloisonné: a ceramic technique used in Teotihuacán in which hollowed out designs are filled in with various colors.

coatepantli: literally, a “serpent wall”; a wall setting off a sacred area from its secular surroundings, usually with serpent relief carvings adorning it.

Coatlicue: “serpent skirt,” on Aztec earth goddess said to be the mother of Huitzilopochtli.

coca: dried leaves of a South American shrub which yields cocaine today. Coca was chewed in Precolumbian times to ward off the effects of fatigue and hunger and it was also used as a ritual offering to the gods.

Cocijo: the Zapotec water god who had both serpent and feline attributes.

codex: a screen-folded book on deerskin or bark paper.

conopa: a small Inca devotional object, often of llama or alpaca form, that was believed to increase the herds of these animals.

corbeled vault: a false vault in which each successive row of stone is cantilevered over the previous row.

Coyolxauhqui: the Aztec moon goddess who was said to have been slain by her brother, Huitzilopochtli.

Danzantes: literally, “dancers.” Danzantes is often used to describe the M.A. I phase relief sculptures of sacrificial victims found on the Danzantes Building at Monte Albán.

Ek Chuah: the Mayapán god of merchants and warfare.

fresco: a technique of painting on plastered walls. True fresco means the paint is applied while the plaster is still wet; dry fresco means the paint is applied on a dry plaster surface.

fumigator: a ceramic vessel of beaker form having a wavy lip; used as an incense burner in the Tiahuanaco culture.

Guayabo: the largest Precolumbian ruin in Costa Rica.

hacha: literally, an ax; also, a piece of ball game equipment used at Tajín, possibly as a hand protector.

hieroglyphic writing: picture writing.

horror vacuii: literally, a horror of empty spaces; refers to very crowded, baroque compositions.

Huascar: one of the two sons of Huayna Capac who vied for the Inca rulership after the death of his father. He lost his struggle with Atahuallpa and was killed.

Huayna Capac: the Inca ruler whose death resulted in a struggle between two of his offspring to determine his successor.

Huitzilopochtli: the “hummingbird wizard,” the tribal deity of the Aztecs.

Hunab Ku: the Mayan creator god.

Hun-Nal-Ye: the youthful Maize God, also referred to as First Father. He was one of the original Twins of the Maya Creation Story, Hun-Hunahpu. After being defeated by the Gods of the Underworld, he was resurrected by the second set of twins, the Hero Twins, of the Popol Vuh.

Illapa: the thunder and war god of the Inca.

Inti: the Inca sun god.

Ix Chel: Maya Moon Goddess and wife of Itzamná.

Itzamná: one of the supreme deities of the Maya, the son of Hunab Ku, known as the “Lord of the Four Celestial Monsters.” He was generally pictured as an old man with a hooked nose and is credited with being a patron of knowledge and the inventor of writing.

Itzam-Yé: the familiar or alter-ego of Itzamná, also known as the Principal Bird Deity, Big Bird, and Vucub Caquix. In the Maya story of the Hero Twins, he was the False Sun prior to the current era of existence.

Jaina: a Maya necropolis or burial island off the coast of Campeche state in Mexico.

kenning: visual metaphor, as when hair is symbolically represented as snakes.

kero: a simple, beaker-shaped vessel of the type used by several Andean cultures including Tiahuanaco.

Kukulcan: the Mayan word for “Feathered Serpent;” the Maya equivalent of the Mexican deity called Quetzalcóatl.

labret: an ornament worn through the lip. lintel: the horizontel slab over a doorway, oftentimes carved by the Maya people.

Manco Capac: the legendary founder of the Inca people and son of the sun god.

mansard roof: a roof with a double slope on all sides.

metate: a grinding stone.

Mictlán: the Aztec land of the dead.

monolith: a single, usually large, block of stone.

mosaic: inlaid work composed of pieces of stone or shell to create an image.

nagual: an animal or alter-ego born at the same time as a man and said to be his guardian.

Nahuatl: the language of the Aztec.

necropolis: a city of the dead, or burial ground.

negative technique: a technique sometimes used in ceramics in which the design motifs are left the natural color of the clay and the background is painted in.

obsidian: volcanic glass, used frequently for knives and projectile points.

onen: the Mayan word for nahual or alter-ego.

Pachacuti: Inca ruler who initiated the Inca empire.

palma: a palm frond-shaped piece of ball game equipment, perhaps used as a body protector.

pastilliaje: a technique used in ceramic figurines in which the facial features and body parts are formed by pressing and punching the clay.

plumbate: refers to ceramics composed of clay once thought to contain lead because of their high gloss.

polychrome: many colored, as in ceramics of more than two colors.

polygonal masonry: masonry composed of stones with more than four straight sides; a technique used by the Inca, as at the site of Sacsahuaman.

pyrite: a mineral (specifically a metallic sulfide) with reflective properties.

Quetzalcóatl: the “Feathered Serpent,” a Mexican deity considered to be a culture-bringer, who introduced learning to the Aztecs.

repoussé: a design formed in relief, as in metal.

rocker-stamping: a technique of creating patterns in ceramics in which a shell or other textured object is “rocked” across the surface of the clay before firing.

sarcophagus: a stone coffin or tomb.

shaman: a medicine man, who is an intermediary for his people between this, and the unseen, reality.

slip: liquid potter’s clay used for decorating and coating rough surfaces.

stela: an upright stone slab frequently bearing relief carvings; an extremely popular form of sculpture among the Maya who called it a "tree stone."

talud-tablero: an architectural motif used extensively at Teotihuacán in which a rectangular panel with inset is placed over a sloping wall.

tecuhtli: lord, in the Nahuatl language

tenon: a projection on the end of a block of stone or timber for inserting in a socket.

teocalli: the sacred area of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán.

Tezcatlipoca: “Smoking Mirror,” the Mexican jaguar god, patron of the warrior orders, who was associated with the night sky and the Big Dipper.

Tlaloc: a goggle-eyed, jaguar-fanged water god, especially popular at Teotihuacán, and later adopted by the Aztecs.

Tlazoltéotl: the Aztec goddess of childbirth; called “eater of filth” because of her ability to absolve man of his sins.

tumbaga: an alloy of copper and gold, particularly popular in Central and South America.

tumi: a knife with a semi-lunar blade, often used in head hunting and sacrifices; a form especially popular with the Chimú in Peru.

Tupa Inca: the son and successor of Pachacuti as the Inca ruler; greatly expanded the empire begun by his father.

tzompantli: a skull rack.

urpu: a central and southern Peruvian highland ceramic form with a pointed base and two small loop handles; used to store and carry liquids. Also known by the Inca term, aryballus.

Viracocha: the creator god of the Inca.

Vucub Caquix: the familiar or alter-ego of Itzamná, also known as the Principal Bird Deity, Big Bird, and Itzam-Yé. In the Maya story of the Hero Twins, he was the False Sun prior to the current era of existence.

wattle and daub: a construction technique in which mud is applied over a frame of twigs or rods.

wax resist technique: a ceramic technique in which the motifs are held in reserve by applying wax over the natural clay and the rest of the vessel is coated with paint or smoke.

Xibalba: the Maya land of the dead.

Xipe Totec: “Our Lord, the Flayed One,” the Aztec god of Spring Renewal.

Xolotl: the Aztec death god, associated with Venus evening star.

yoke: a U-shaped protective belt worn in the sacred ball game in Mesoamerica.

zoomorphic: having an animal shape, as in zoomorphic ceramics.

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