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Product Description
SEE MORE PRE-COLUMBIAN ARTIFACTS
This listing is one of THE rarest Pre-Columbian items we have ever offered. These are an associated pair of Pre-Columbian Teotihuacan finishing stucco plaster trowels for the application of stucco on the exterior of a pyramid or monument, as well as to finish the interior to apply a mural. Found together, they were carved out of basalt, and are complete and unbroken, in their original used condition. Each stone trowel has a layer of ancient stucco still adhered to the surfaces and in the basalt crevices. The rubbing surfaces have heavy use wear and polish. The most famous murals, pyramids, and monuments of all of Mesoamerica, and the cities themselves, were all built by ancient masons using these fundamental tools. Despite our extensive experience with a large number of rare objects from every Pre-Columbian culture, we have NEVER seen these primary tools of any ancient culture monument builders, in a public or private collection. The rarity of this offering is impossible to over-emphasize.
From the estate of Joe Magor who was an archeologist in Mexico during the 1960's.
Teotihuacan stucco masons of the Classic Period (A.D. 450-650), used stucco plaster for both architectural and artistic purposes, creating vibrant murals and stucco-covered vessels, often featuring polychrome decorations and motifs. Teotihuacan construction featured a distinctive type of masonry, with walls often covered in stucco, a lime-based plaster, and featuring the "talud-tablero" architectural style, where an inward-sloping wall (talud) is topped by a rectangular panel (tablero). Studies have shown that ancient stuccoes from Teotihuacan, used nopal (cactus) fiber as a traditional agglomerating agent for lime stuccoes.
Teotihuacan ancient builders thinned out their lime mortar to create a stucco for interior walls, which provided a wonderful surface for hieroglyphics and murals (Tlaxcala, Bonampak). Known for their advanced plasters, they used a two-layer system: an outer layer of lime and volcanic glass shards, and an underlying layer of crushed volcanic scoria (tezontle) mixed with a mud-based binder. Researchers have found the characterization of plaster samples from Teotihuacan were very water-resistant. This stucco was used for wall coatings, floors, and as a base for mural paintings. Walls and floors were often covered with white lime plaster, and these surfaces were frequently painted with vibrant colors, depicting scenes of people, animals, and deities.
HISTORY
In the first millennium A.D., the central American mega-city of Teotihuacan was THE largest city in the Pre-Columbian Americas and had a broad influence on its neighboring cultures both, in simultaneous existence to it and even long after. At its peak in 450 A.D., with an estimated population exceeding 200,000 at this time, it was one of the largest cities in the world. The founders of this great city are a mystery and much debate has circled around who exactly built the city. Because the inhabitants seem to have been multi-ethnic (Nahua, Otomi, Totonac and Mayan) the culture is not attributed to a specific ethnicity or tribe but is called TEOTIHUACAN or TEOTIHUACANO.
Teotihuacan was an enormous industrial city and trading center housing a variety of trades and craftspeople. The quality of artistry in the thousands of mural paintings from Teotihuacan artists rivaled anything that was to be produced by many master painters of Renaissance Europe much later in time. Perhaps, the most famous industry the city was known for was its extensive production of obsidian objects.
Many of the same gods worshipped by otherPre-Columbian cultures of the surrounding region were worshipped by the inhabitants of Teotihuacan. Gods such as the Feathered Serpent and the rain god, which were later worshipped by the Aztecs in their own culture. It is believed the Mayans and later period Aztecs, along with many other tribes, were heavily influenced by Teotihuacan and like those cultures, human sacrifice was practiced in Teotihuacan. This is evidenced by numerous human skeletons showing signs of ritual sacrifice, excavated from the sites where the pyramids were built.
The end of Teotihuacan is as much a mystery as its beginning. Most recent studies now show the city's decline began some time around the 6th century A.D. and may have been caused not by a conquering neighbor but by internal civil unrest and uprising.