Modeling Mesoamerica

Origins and Originality in a Teaching Collection

Introduction

What happens when we consider models of Central American antiquities not as more or less authentic copies of something else but as cultural artifacts in their own right? We discover that their meaning depends as much on why they were made and collected as on the ancient originals they interpret.

Thumbnails of SUAC's Mesoamerican models collection taken from our  online database. 

Stanford University Archaeology Collections has several models of well-known artifacts from Mexico and Central America that were acquired for research and teaching. Seven plaster pieces depict archaeological finds and monuments at size or in miniature, and two full-scale ink rubbings on paper show details of carved stone monuments. The works represent ancient people and periods from "Mesoamerica," a diverse region spanning central Mexico to northern Costa Rica.

Map of the region known as Mesoamerica, which spans central Mexico through northern Costa Rica. Left: imposed geopolitical boundaries and names. Right: Overlay of Indigenous territories. Courtesy  Native Land .

Student curators and museum staff researched this collection in 2020. We present our findings here in an "inquiry driven" virtual exhibition. With little to no information in our records, we began with simple questions: what is it? who made it? where did it come from? Answers led to fascinating stories of exploration and artistry, as well as debates about authenticity, creativity, and popular conceptions of Indigenous cultures.

We decided to call these objects “models” because they are not straightforward copies. When documenting the skill and creativity of ancient creators, the three 20th-century archaeological artists who made these things displayed skill and creativity of their own. In doing so, they also assumed the power to represent other people and cultures. To find the origin of an artifact model, we had to investigate both the model and the original that inspired it.


Meet the Models


Makers/Motives

Introduction

When we encounter a reproduction, we tend to ignore it and focus instead on the artifact it represents. We lose sight of artifact models as objects in their own right, created by individuals for particular reasons. In this section, we focus on our models' makers and their motives to explore the ways Mesoamerica was imagined during the twentieth century.


Ancient Originals

Introduction

Stanford’s Mesoamerican teaching models prove that model making is a creative act as much as a documentary one. They helped us realize that the originals our models interpret are also models. Through them, ancient makers represented time, the cosmos, sacred landscapes, divine beings, people, and historical events. To understand what these artifacts mean, we need to pay attention to the contexts of their creation and the choices of ancient creators.


Reflection

There is only one ancient, “original” Sun Stone. But we have learned that every version of the Sun Stone also has its own originality: its own creation story, its own unique physical attributes, its own history of interpretation and display. The Sun Stones give meaning to each other. This is true of all of our Mesoamerican models and of artifact reproductions in general. They teach us that recreation is an act of interpretation.

The 3D models and digital photographs featured in this virtual exhibition are the newest examples of this process. Creations of plaster, paper, and paint never quite reproduce the original carved stone. Our digital surrogates don’t look or act exactly like our Mesoamerican models. We can do things with these virtual objects that we can’t do with the originals. Yet they “are” the ancient artifacts they represent.

Whether virtual or physical, artifact models challenge our expectations. They inspire us to look differently at ancient originals and to think differently about what originality is.


End Matter

Curatorial Statements

Acknowledgements

This virtual exhibit features artifacts from the  Stanford University Archaeology Collections  and was developed during the spring 2020 course Museum Cultures: Material Representation in the Past and Present, Christina J. Hodge, Instructor. Digital production support was provided by the  Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA)  with financial support from the  Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education . Digitization was undertaken by the  Stanford Libraries Digital Production Group .

STUDENTS

Curators
  • Noah Bennett
  • Sophia Chen
  • Clementine Chou
  • Daniel Guillen
  • Tyler Johnson
  • Caelin Marum
  • Shayna Naranjo
  • Kaylee Nok
  • Aneri Patel
  • Neil Patel
  • Amy Shoch
  • Elizabeth Spaeth
  • Charles Tsao
  • Maria Viteri
Digital production
  • Mireille Vargas
Research assistant
  • Medora Rorick

INSTITUTIONS

Stanford University Archaeology Collections
  • Sara Godin, Christina J. Hodge, Suzy Huizinga, Veronica Jacobs-Edmondson
Stanford University
  • Branner Earth Sciences Library and Map Collections: Andria Olson
  • Cantor Arts Center: Peg Brady, Kate Holohan
  • Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Research (CIDR): Peter Broadwell, Claudia Engel
  • Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA): Amanda Bergado, Giovanna Ceserani, GP Lebourdais
  • Rumsey Map Center: Salim Mohammed, Andrea Renner, Rueiyun Wang
  • Stanford Archaeology Center: Olivia Bethel, Emily Bishop, Ian Hodder, Jessica Lopez, Van-Anh Nguyen
  • Stanford Geospatial Center: David Medeiros
  • Stanford University Libraries: Tony Calavano, Dinah Handel, Michael Olson, Regina Roberts, Astrid Smith, Wayne Vanderkuil
Off-campus
  • Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco: Christina Hellmich, Hillary Olcott
  • Fowler Museum at UCLA: Matthew H. Robb
  • El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument: Emily Wooten 
  • National Museum of Natural History: Jane Walsh
  • Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology: Anya Dani
  • University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology: Alessandro Pezzati and students

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Credits

Stanford University Archaeology Collections. Originally published 23 October 2020. © Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305. All images are by the  Stanford University Archaeology Collections  of the Stanford Archaeology Center unless otherwise noted and are intended for educational purposes only. All student work is used with permission.

Tribal Land Acknowledgement: The Stanford University community recognizes that the present-day  Muwekma Ohlone Tribe , with an enrolled Bureau of Indian Affairs documented membership of over 550, is comprised of all of the known surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Missions Santa Clara, San Jose, and Dolores, during the advent of the Hispano-European empire into Alta California; and who are the successors and living members of the sovereign, historic, previously Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County. Furthermore, the Stanford University community recognizes that the university is established within the Puichon Thámien Ohlone-speaking tribal ethnohistoric territory, which based upon the unratified federal treaties of 1851–1852, includes the unceded ancestral lands of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the enrolled Muwekma lineages are descended from direct ancestors from the Thámien Ohlone tribal territory whose ancestors were baptized and had affiliation with Missions Dolores and Santa Clara. The Stanford University community also recognizes the importance of this land to the indigenous Muwekma Ohlone people of this region, and consistent with our principles of community and diversity strives to be good stewards on behalf of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe whose land we occupy.

Thumbnails of SUAC's Mesoamerican models collection taken from our  online database. 

Map of the region known as Mesoamerica, which spans central Mexico through northern Costa Rica. Left: imposed geopolitical boundaries and names. Right: Overlay of Indigenous territories. Courtesy  Native Land .