User:Bruiz011/Looting Art

Looting of Tenochtitlan
The city of Tenochtitlan, present day Mexico City, was conquered by Hernan Cortez on behalf of the Spanish crown. Mexico City was founded in 1521 with the political decapitation, physical destruction, enslavement, and displacement of Tenochtitlan and its people. Valuables like gold, were the first pieces to be taken by Spanish conquistadors from the Aztec capital. In the Aztec empire, gold was of little value and it was mainly used for decorative and ceremonial purposes. In this case gold was the very first form of art and artifact that was taken from these pre-Colombian civilizations. Cultural and traditional knowledge was the least of the concerns during the age of exploration and colonization. According Ivan Lindsay, in his book, The History of Loot and Stolen Art, Mexico’s gold was 10% of the world’s gold production in just the first five years it was conquered.

Knowledge of temples and the city of Tenochtitlan were only heard of by traveler and missionary accounts kept in journals and papers. The physical structures were left to be forgotten or destroyed in order to create a new Spanish colony; like Mexico City.

In colonial America, after the conquest of Tenochtitlan and the rise of Mexico City, Alexander von Humboldt, travelled Spanish America collecting traditional knowledge as well as engraved plates and his sketches on pre- Colombian America.

Mexico City is the center piece of colonial subjugation and violence, as well as evidence of culture and art plunder. In the archaeological context, Mexico City is constantly being dug by archaeologists. Reparations are well under way, with museums focusing on celebrating native culture and valuing the archaeology under their city.

Looting in Archaeological Sites
Archaeology in Mexico continues to be a recurring job to recover pre- Colombian artifacts explaining Mexican ancestry. Temples uncovered represent little of how it once looked due to Spanish colonists tearing and taking blocks from Aztec temples to build their new temples. Archaeological sites are often at the center of the city, given the ancient civilization of Tenochtitlan lays underneath modern -day Mexico City. Modern infrastructure usually yields new sites because of infrastructure and foundation building. About 40,000 artifacts have been excavated from Mexico City reflecting the once established Tenochtitlan. Artifacts include, obsidian mirrors, turtle shells, jade and turquoise masks.

Archaeological sites around Mexico also encompass Mayan civilization. David Freidel, an archaeologist specialized in Mayan civilization has encountered art dealers and acquaintances looting archaeological sites. In his article, Mystery of the Maya Façade, Freidel encountered an art dealer selling ancient painted stucco decorated with the depiction of a Mayan king. An exhibition, Before Cortez, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was showcasing pre- Colombian art and the looted piece was on the road to be exhibited. The looter was astute enough to take as many photographs of the piece in situ before damaging it and removing it from its context. The piece did not make it to the museum and ended in a Mexican museum. Freidel, as an archaeologist, was intrigued to study and interpret the piece. He assisted Mexican archeologists in interpreting and dating the artifact in a further effort to understand the historical context.