The Americas was a period that began 2000 B.C - 1521 A.D and took place in central America, Mexico, and Peru. Practices for religion included human sacrifices to the gods and ceremonial centers were the main location for Mesoamerican settlement. The temples provided spacial orientation for the town and the pyramids stood out to represent the gods and the powers of the region. The Olmecs was the first civilization in Mexico in 2000-300 B.C and it came to a sudden end that is unexplainable today. This civilization developed the writing known as hieroglyphic writing. The jaguar was their symbol for their chief deity. La Venta is the first example of a temple that was designed as a city and their ceremony center was composed of the great pyramid of earth, ball court, smaller pyramids surrounding, burial grounds and stone heads. The olmec stone head was carved out of stone and weighed about 50 tons. Other art work of the olmecs included mural paintings and pottery and carvings made from jade and rock crystal. There were three different distinctions between the people with the elites being on top with highly decorated homes and they wore elegant jewelry and clothing. Next were the commoners who lived in homes made of stick and mud and food sources relied on them. Last were the shamans and these people believed they had direct contact to a deity and gave advice about agriculture and rain to the leaders. Below is an example of the Olmec stone head:
Another city during this period is known as the Teotihuacan and it ran about 2 miles in length and consisted of the temple of the feathered serpent and the pyramid of the sun/of the moon. The central spine of this city was considered the "road of the dead". This city was abruptly abandoned with unknown reasoning. Below is a picture of the road of the dead.
The Mayas is considered to be another city during this time and could be found in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and part of Mexico. The famous ceremonial site was known as Chichen Itza and below is a picture:
The Aztecs had pyramids made of stone and brick and the Templo Mayor was considered to be two temples: God of war and god of agriculture. This was eventually destroyed by the spanish. This was when art was expressed through the thoughts on life and the architecture expressed thoughts and beliefs.
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This video below shows many of the maya architecture and presents stone carvings outside the pyramids.
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