Aztec ArtLo : Investigate the art and artefacts

from the ancient Aztec civilisation.Where did the Aztecs live?

The Aztecs lived in Mexico – can you find it on the map? Mexico is part of the area between North and South America.The Aztecs lived in massive cities. Can you remember some facts about the city we learned about – Tenochtitlán. What is this city known as now? Do you remember how people got around the city?

The Aztec tribe lived in ancient Mexico for about 400 years. For the first 200 years, the Aztecs were constantly on the move. No one wanted the Aztecs as neighbors. The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice. They believed that if their gods were

not fed, they would not do their jobs. The sun god would not bring up the sun, and everyone would die. To keep their gods happy, the Aztecs believed that human sacrifice was necessary. They used people to feed their hungry gods. Some of the people they sacrificed were Aztecs. However, most of the people they sacrificed were captured from neighboring tribes. This did not make them popular with their neighbors. Sooner or later, their neighbors would band together to chase the Aztecs away.

To build the city they wanted, they knew that they would need many engineers, builders, and traders. This required an educated population. To solve this problem, the Aztecs set up a system of public schools. Attendance was mandatory for all Aztec children, even girls and slaves. The Aztecs were the only people up to that time in history to have free schools that every child had to attend. There were three different schools: one for girls, and two for boys. Girls learned about religion and were trained to be good wives and mothers. They learned how to cook, sew, and how to care for their children. They also learned how to make beautiful woven textiles.

Their empire was wiped out 500 years ago.

What we are going to look at today is the Aztec art which was created. They created many works of art that still survive today. They took a lot of their ideas and traditions from the Mayans and Olmecs, like their calendar, sacrificing people to the Gods and some of their ball games. They also copied the style of their sculpture and artwork.

The Aztec word for art is toltecat. Only powerful or rich Aztecs were allowed to own pieces of art. There were many different types of art; statues, head dresses, knives, masks and paintings. Many were about animals or the Aztec gods.

Take a look at the Aztec Printing Activity to learn more about Aztec images.

Aztec Gold

Aztec Headress

Aztec Masks :

 Masks were created in a variety of ways for a number of purposes, but there's one thing that may surprise you about a typical type of mask - they were often made for display, not to be worn.  That's why you'll often see masks with no eye-holes, or masks placed on stone or on skulls.What were they made from?Turquoise, a valuable non-transparent mineral, considered sacred, was often used in Aztec art.  Sometimes masks were covered in mosaics made of various materials.  The mask itself could be made of green or black stone, wood, obsidian (a hard dark volcanic glass/stone), or even placed on a real human skull.  Common mosaic materials were turquoise, obsidian, gold pyrite, coral, and shell.  Sometimes the mask would simply have inlaid teeth and eyes.What were they used for?Aztec masks were used as ornaments, and were sometimes worn as part of a ritual, or in death as a death mask. They usually represented one god or another, and the Aztecs did have many gods. Like the artistry and materials, the Aztecs worshipped gods collected from a variety of cultures. A common type of mask would have snakes on it, a representation of the god Quetzalcoatl or perhaps Tlaloc. The masks generally then were used for worship of the gods, whether by being displayed in a temple or worn by a priest.

Do you know? Answer these questions• What were Aztec masks used for?

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• What were Aztec masks made from?_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am going to challenge you to make a mask in the style of the Aztecs. Before you begin, can you think about:-• What shape will my mask have?• What am I going to use to make it?• What colours am I going to use?• Is there an animal I would like to include in the design?• Will the mask have a headdress?

Look at the image below, which colours would you use? Is there an animal element to the design? Colour these masks to practise with colour you may use.

Now I would like you to think about how the colour is added. In Aztec art, there are patterns and blocks which are used. Try this next activity to see which pattern you might use in your design.

Now try the Aztec Colour and Patterns Activity

Now move to the Aztec Patterns Activity

Before you start designing your mask, you need to complete the Aztec patterns to understand which images you might

include.