>>> What did ancient America life look like
before Christopher Columbus set foot on the
America Continent? Is pre-Columbian culture as
primitive as commonly believed? Spring 2018,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled the landmark
exhibition Golden Kingdoms, Luxury and
Legacy in the Ancient Americas.
>>> This exhibition features over 300 works
from 52 different lenders in 12 different countries.
The exhibition begins high in the Andes mountains
around about a 1000 BC and we follow the development
of gold working across the Americas concluding in
what is now Mexico in the 16th century.
>>> Gold was the sacred material used by Queens
and Kings. Gold jewelry and masks can transform a
person into a higher being, who has the power of God.
>>> It's about transformation.
You're transforming yourself and you are aligning yourself
with powerful forces.
>>> Big earrings were reserved for nobilities.
>>> When the Spaniards arrived in the 16th
century they had no trouble recognizing
members of the nobility because they all had
floppy earlobes. The most remarkable was one that
depicts a warrior wears a crescent head dress,
a crescent nose ornament, a beautiful tiny little owl
head necklace. Most of these elements are removable.
>>> Nose rings were also popular in ancient times.
Many jewelry patterns symbolize fertility and abundance.
>>> These would be suspended from the septum
of the nose. So they're made of silver and gold
and silver seems to be closely associated with
women and the moon and gold is closely associated
with men and the sun.
>>> In Ancient America, gold wasn’t considered as
valuable as jade, feather, sacred shell or textiles.
The feather work is far more valuable than gold,
made from precious bird feathers.
>>> Around 500 AD we have the rise of the first
Empire in the central Andes and it's an Empire known as
the Wari Empire. These are nine panels of what were
originally 96 panels buried on Peru's South Coast.
>>> The famous Mayan people lived in Mexico and
Central America from 250-950 CE.
>>> The Maya Royal Crown was made of a jade
ornament that would have been worn perpendicular to
the forehead. This is a royal scene, the center of
the composition is a king known by the name of Pakal
and you can see that he is wearing a jade royal crown
as are the two figures next to him here.
These two figures are actually his grandsons. The Maya
rulers would let their own blood as a pious act to
speak about what they were doing for the sustenance
of the world to feed the Earth. And we see the
Pakal himself wears a jade bar pendant. We also have
the Red Queen. She was the queen of King Pakal. Her
funerary mask was made out of malachite.
>>> A “Cenote” is an opening in a limestone
cave filled with water, and the Mayan people
considered it to be an opening to the underworld.
>>> Works from all over were found in the cenote.
This jade bar pendant was associated with the son
of Pakal. Here we see Kan Bahlam, which was his name,
wearing a jade bar pendant on a jade bar pendant.
>>> Conquistadors, soldiers and explorers
from Europe, came to conquer the Americas.
They were allowed to rob locals as long as they send 20%
or one fifth back to the Spanish Crown.
>>> These are Mixtec gold ornaments. Those tiny
banners at the top have the letter C and a crown.
That meant that this gold had been marked as part of
the royal fifth. It was on its way back to Spain but
this ship sank and they were only recovered in the
late 1970s by an octopus fisherman.
>>> The Aztec empire was highly successful before
the Spanish arrived. The population living in its capital
was more than that of London or Rome at that time.
They were smart negotiators, and asked
other rulers to pay tax tributes instead of
fighting them in battle.
>>> That this is the world's most beautiful tax
document and it's about what the Aztecs required
of the region's they had conquered. Little Feather at
the top represent the number 400 and then down
below these are the beautiful feather garments,
feather shields, jade beads, and then turquoise beads.
There's this great tradition of writing in ancient Mesoamerica,
but unfortunately very few of these books have survived
to the present day. Most of them were burned as
instruments of the devil in the early colonial period.
This wonderful manuscript here is exquisitely painted on
deerskin that was prepared with a white gesso.
This is a history about one of the most important dynasties
of the Mixtec culture. This is a Labret.
This is an ornament that would be worn through
the lower lip. The Aztecs called their rulers Huey Tlatoani,
or the great speakers.
>>> This 16th century painting documented what
nobilities look like at that time.
>>> We see Don Francisco and his sons are wearing
shirts in this style of traditional Andean
garment, pre-Columbian style nose ornaments and
ear ornaments, but they're wearing European-style
garments over the top but made of silks probably
from Asia. The arrival of the Spaniards into the new
world in the 16th century spelled much destruction
and much death. In some parts of the Americas up
to sixty to ninety percent of the population died
from the diseases that were introduced by Europeans.
>>> This painting is made of feathers from exotic birds.
It was a gift for the pope, a thanks for his decision in
1537 that the indigenous people were human beings.
>>> This is actually the earliest dated work of
Christian art from the Americas.
>>> So often the written history of the ancient Americas
was very negative. They justified the conquest as
bringing civilization to the barbarians. Thanks to new
archaeological findings and masterpieces from major
museums in Latin America, Europe and the United States,
this exhibition casts new light on these ancient civilizations
and restores the glorious history of its descendants.