The Mouseion · Africa, Oceania & the Americas · The Ancient Americas

The Ancient Americas

Olmec jade, Maya painted vessels, Andean textiles and gold, and the ceramics of the peoples of the Americas before 1500, made by civilisations that rose and fell without contact with Europe or Asia.

Walk inThe whole museum

On the walls this month

• 
  Bird ornament — Maya artist(s), 600–800 CE, Shell
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Miniature Dress — 12th–13th century, Cotton, feathers
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Miniature Dress — Ica artist, 12th–13th century, Cotton, feathers
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Plate with the god Chahk — Maya artist(s), 600-800 CE, Ceramic, slip
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Ornament in the shape of a mammal — Maya artist(s), 600–800 CE, Spondylus shell
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 1st century BCE–2nd century CE, Gold (hammered)
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile ornament — Nasca artist(s), 1–700 CE, Gold
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile ornament — 11th–15th century, Gold
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 1st century BCE–2nd century CE, Gold (hammered)
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 1st century BCE–2nd century CE, Gold (hammered)
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 1st century BCE–2nd century CE, Gold (hammered)
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 1st century BCE–2nd century CE, Gold (hammered)
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile ornament — 11th–15th century, Gold
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile ornament — 11th–15th century, Gold
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile Ornament — 14th–15th century, Silver
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Textile ornament — 11th–15th century, Gold
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Panel with Royal Woman — K’in Lakam Chahk, c. 795, limestone
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
• 
  Gold Sheet Fragment — 900–1470 CE, Gold
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Beaker with Frontal Figures — 900–1100, gold, hammered
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
• 
  Gold Sheet Fragment — 900–1470 CE, Gold
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Seated female figure — Maya artist(s), 700–800 CE, Ceramic
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Medallion, beads, and spindle whorls — 1000–1532 (medallion), bronze, copper, silver
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
• 
  Vessel with water bird and hieroglyphic text — Maya artist(s), 600–900 CE, Ceramic, pigment
  Original: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• 
  Plate — c. 800, earthenware with colored slips
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art
• 
  Architectural Model — 100 BCE–300 CE, serpentine
  Original: The Cleveland Museum of Art

More of Africa, Oceania & the Americas

• Africa & Oceania — Textiles, ceramics, gold, ivory, and works for the court and the household from across Africa and the Pacific. We show…

Where the works come from

Every work in the Mouseion is a real piece, out of copyright everywhere, shown from the open collections of the museums that hold it — each label names the original’s museum and links to its page there.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art — Open Access
• The Art Institute of Chicago — public-domain collection
• The Cleveland Museum of Art — Open Access
• Wikimedia Commons — public-domain photographs of works held elsewhere