British Museum visit, 2006

Huaxtec goddesses (640 x 427)

By far the largest display in the Mexican gallery is this collection of Huaxtec goddess statues. They are carved in the same style as the Huaxtec artwork, and would originally have adorned temples. The rearmost statue is believed to be a depiction of Tlazolteotl, a fertility goddess. (Gotta love those Mesoamerican names. I'm not entirely sure how to pronounce that!)

Belt template (640 x 427)

The native Mexican cultures were quite a bloodthirsty bunch. Bloodletting and human sacrifice formed a large part of their belief systems. Several times, I found myself reading about an innocuous-looking artefact on display, only to find that it was involved in some gruesome practice or other. Take this harmless-looking stone object, for example. It's actually a template for a leather belt. A strip of leather would be moulded onto it in order to press the pattern onto the leather. Sounds fairly safe, until one learns that the belts formed part of the uniform for a ball game used to settle disputes. The winner got to sacrifice the loser...

Aztec "comic book" (640 x 427)

Made from deerskin parchment, a pictorial retelling of an epic story. The colours and detail really caught my eye; I think the colours actually look more vibrant than most real comic books printed before around 1990. I'm just glad I can't understand it, it's doubtless thoroughly gory.

Aztec pottery (427 x 640)

My brother asked me how I decide which artefacts to photograph. My answer was something along the lines of "I choose things that look suitably big, or interesting, or orange".

Doorway totem pole (427 x 640)

Moving on from the Mexican gallery, we had a quick snoop around the North American displays. Here's an interesting totem pole that originally stood astride a doorway.

Doorway totem pole, low shot (427 x 640)

It's not a proper day out unless at least one photograph requires me to lie on the floor!

Enormous totem pole (427 x 640)

I didn't realize they could be this big!