Educator GuidE & WalkinG Map - The Field Museum
Educator GuidE & WalkinG Map - The Field Museum
Educator GuidE & WalkinG Map - The Field Museum
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
©Michel Zabé /AZA. Reproduction authorized by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia.<br />
ThE FIELD MuSEuM EDucaTIon DEparTMEnT prESEnTS<br />
<strong>Educator</strong> <strong>GuidE</strong> & <strong>WalkinG</strong> <strong>Map</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong>’s Education Department develops on-line <strong>Educator</strong> Guides to provide detailed<br />
information on field trip planning, alignment with Illinois State Standards (ILS), as well as hands-on<br />
classroom activities to do before and after your visit to the <strong>Museum</strong>.<br />
This exhibition was organized by <strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong>,<br />
Chicago, in collaboration with the CONACULTA-INAH.<br />
ocTobEr 26, 2008 – aprIL 10, 2009<br />
Major Sponsor:<br />
This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.
thE aztEc World<br />
october 26, 2008 through april 19, 2009<br />
this <strong>Educator</strong> Guide is separated into six sections:<br />
• Corresponding Illinois Learning Standards (ILS)<br />
• Exhibition Guide<br />
• <strong>Educator</strong> and Student Bibliography, Websites, Pronunciation Guide<br />
• Corresponding Harris Resources and Related Exhibitions<br />
• <strong>The</strong> Aztec World Education programs<br />
• <strong>The</strong> Aztec World Walking <strong>Map</strong><br />
thE aztEc World: introduction to thE Exhibition<br />
<strong>Educator</strong> notEs<br />
Welcome to <strong>The</strong> Aztec World! This exhibition tells the story of the grandeur and sophistication of one of history’s<br />
great civilizations, and of how the rise and fall of this empire has powerfully shaped both culture and history from<br />
1325 AD until today. Featuring art, stone works, ceramics and jewelry made from precious metals, the exhibition<br />
explores the daily lives of all the people who created and sustained the Aztec Empire.<br />
<strong>The</strong> exhibition is organized so that visitors move from the periphery to the city center, passing farms and houses<br />
of artisans, merchants and warriors before entering the splendor of the central temple district surrounded by the<br />
palaces of the ruling elite. It also highlights the importance of war in aztec society, and along with it, the values<br />
of conquering, gathering tribute, and sacrificing to the gods. <strong>The</strong> nearly 300 artifacts in the exhibition also bring<br />
attention to the great wealth and riches which characterized the lives of aztec rulers, along with the challenges and<br />
responsibilities that these aztec leaders carried.<br />
Finally, the exhibition highlights the merging of Aztec and Spanish cultures and the endurance of Aztec influence from<br />
the time the Spanish arrived until today, almost 500 years after the empire collapsed. <strong>The</strong> Aztec World explores the<br />
history and legacy of a grand empire in its unique position of social, political, religious and cultural richness.<br />
This <strong>Educator</strong> Guide is designed to serve as a bridge between the exhibition and the classroom, providing activities<br />
and information for use at the <strong>Museum</strong> as well as for before and after your visit. It offers a preview of the exhibition<br />
and correlates its content with the national and Illinois Learning Standards across multiple disciplines.<br />
the exhibition is divided into the following gallery sections:<br />
1. Farmers<br />
2. artisans and Merchants<br />
3. Warriors<br />
4. rulers and Tribute<br />
5. high priests<br />
6. conclusion (Merging of aztec and Spanish cultures)<br />
pre-registration is required for all <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> field trips.<br />
register on-line at www.fieldmuseum.org/fieldtrips or call 312.665.7500 for more information.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 2
corrEspondinG illinois lEarninG<br />
standards (ils)<br />
<strong>The</strong> Illinois Learning Standards (ILS) define what students in all Illinois public schools should know and be able<br />
to do in the seven core subject areas as a result of their elementary and secondary schooling. Use of this<br />
<strong>Educator</strong> Guide in combination with a field trip to the exhibition will help you link learning experiences to the<br />
following ILS. Teachers will need to identify descriptors and benchmarks to individual lesson plans, larger units<br />
of study, and to specific subject area. This exhibition, while suitable for all students regardless of grade level,<br />
maps closely to the concepts studied in upper elementary and middle level school. For more information on<br />
the ILS, visit www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/Default.<br />
English language arts<br />
1A – Students can apply word analysis and vocabulary skills to comprehend selections.<br />
1b – Students can apply reading strategies to improve understanding and fluency.<br />
4a – Students can listen effectively in formal and informal situations.<br />
5b – Students can analyze and evaluate information acquired from various sources.<br />
Mathematics<br />
6A – Students can demonstrate knowledge and use of numbers and their many representations in<br />
a broad range of theoretical and practical settings.<br />
6c – Students can compute and estimate using mental mathematics, paper-and-pencil methods,<br />
calculators, and computers.<br />
science<br />
12B – Students know and apply concepts that describe how living things interact with each other<br />
and with their environment.<br />
12F – Students know and apply concepts that explain the composition and structure of the universe<br />
and Earth’s place in it.<br />
13B – Students know and apply concepts that describe the interaction between science, technology,<br />
and society.<br />
social science<br />
15A – Students understand how different economic systems operate in the exchange, production,<br />
distribution, and consumption of goods and services.<br />
15D – Students understand trade as an exchange of goods or services.<br />
16A – Students can apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.<br />
16b – Students understand the development of significant political events.<br />
16c – Students understand the development of economic systems.<br />
16D – Students understand Illinois, united States, and world social history.<br />
17A – Students can locate, describe and explain places, regions and features on Earth.<br />
17c – Students can understand relationships between geographic factors and society.<br />
17D – Students can understand the historical significance of geography.<br />
18a – Students can compare characteristics of culture as reflected in language, literature, the arts,<br />
traditions, and institutions.<br />
18b – Students can understand the roles and interactions of individuals and groups in society.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 3
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
Gallery 1: Farmers<br />
Farmers formed the foundation of Aztec society. <strong>The</strong>se men, women, and children worked the land and<br />
lived their lives far from the grand temples and opulent residences of central Tenochtitlan. It was there on<br />
the outskirts of the city that Aztec farm families produced the bounty of food that fed an empire.<br />
balanced between the creative and destructive<br />
forces of nature, aztec farmers appeased the<br />
deities of earth, water, sun, fire, and fertility—all<br />
vital elements for the success of farm and<br />
family and all intimately connected to the cycles<br />
of nature and agriculture. Farm families built<br />
small altars inside their homes dedicated to<br />
several deities. Two of the most popular were<br />
Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of streams and lakes,<br />
and Chicomecoatl, goddess of maize. at these<br />
altars, farm families offered tortillas and tamales,<br />
quail, and incense to their gods. occasionally,<br />
people pierced their skin with sharp bone<br />
perforators, offering their own blood as a way<br />
of giving back vital life force to the gods who<br />
provided sustenance.<br />
<strong>The</strong> aztecs transformed low-lying wetlands<br />
and dry mountain hillsides into productive<br />
Florentine Codex, Vol. 4, Folia 73L<br />
farmland. In the shallow waters and swampy<br />
areas of Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco, Aztec<br />
farmers dug drainage ditches and ridges of<br />
earth, called chinampas. by constructing chinampas, soggy lakeshores became fertile plots where several<br />
crops per year could be harvested. It was here, in these moist, highly fertile plots, that farmers grew a<br />
bounty of different foods including maize, squash, chilies, amaranth, and sage. <strong>The</strong>se foods—staples<br />
of the aztec diet—were the basis of religious feasts celebrated by people at all levels of aztec society.<br />
With an ever-growing population, Aztec farmers utilized every available patch of land, including the dry<br />
mountain hillsides above the lakes. Here they built terraces to retain the rich volcanic soil and capture<br />
the scant rainfall needed to grow maize, beans, and maguey. <strong>The</strong> construction of chinampas and terraces<br />
transformed the Valley of Mexico into a productive agricultural landscape, through engineering and<br />
heavy investments of labor.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 4
<strong>The</strong> everyday life of aztec farming families<br />
was centered on home and hearth. Women<br />
wove cloth and made clothing, prepared<br />
food, raised turkeys, and tapped maguey<br />
plants. <strong>The</strong> men worked in the fields<br />
growing a variety of crops. When not<br />
tending their fields, men labored on state<br />
building projects and served as foot soldiers<br />
in the state’s armies. children helped<br />
their parents, aunts, and uncles, carrying<br />
firewood, spinning thread, and rose early<br />
each morning to offer the gods tortillas and<br />
incense at the family altar.<br />
Life for Aztec farmers was not all work and no play. Throughout the year, they celebrated various “feast<br />
days” and sacred holidays— as did people from all levels of aztec society. on these special days, farmers<br />
shared their bounty with family and friends. <strong>The</strong>y also played music, sang, danced, and drank pulque, a<br />
mild beer fermented from sweet maguey sap. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs—like all Mesoamerican peoples— were keen<br />
observers of the skies and highly attuned to the cycles of the seasons. <strong>The</strong>y kept track of their feast days<br />
using two calendars: the 260-day ritual calendar and the 365-day solar calendar. aztec people, at all<br />
levels of society, used large amounts of decorated pottery in their feasts and celebrations. aztec farmers<br />
ate from simple black-on-orange dishes and drank from red ware bowls and cups. Many of these bowls<br />
and cups featured designs and patterns that represented the solar cycles of day and night, and summer<br />
and winter.<br />
Images ©Michel Zabé / AZA. Reproduction authorized by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 1: FarMErs<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 5
Guiding Questions<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 1: FarMErs<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are directly linked with the Gallery Overview. Teachers may wish to provide students with a copy of the<br />
Gallery Overview to answer these “Guiding” questions.<br />
1. Geography played an important role in farming. Where did Aztecs farm and how did they make the chinampas<br />
so productive?<br />
2. Duality, such as creation and destruction, were a part of the mythological stories of the Aztecs. What other<br />
dualities are mentioned in this section? Can you think of three more?<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 6
activities<br />
<strong>The</strong> following pre-, during, and post-activities are linked, by numerical order, to provide a cohesive classroom and<br />
<strong>The</strong> Aztec World student experience. For example, pre-activity #1 prepares a student to complete field trip activity<br />
#1, which is directly tied to post-visit activity #1. <strong>The</strong>se are simply suggestions that can be used in any number of<br />
ways to best fit within the instructional needs of individual classrooms.<br />
pre-Visit activities<br />
1. aztec life was built upon an order of social classes where different classes had different functions and different<br />
advantages within society. at one end of the system were the farmers who were responsible for feeding the<br />
population. Everyday life of Aztec farming families was centered on the field, the home and the hearth. Make a<br />
transparency or photocopy the picture at the end of this section of the farm family in their home. Ask students to<br />
examine the picture and write a brief description of the activities, people, and what objects in the picture might<br />
represent. As a class, discuss student answers, and ask: Why were the hearth and fire important to Aztecs? Are<br />
hearths and fire important today? Why or why not?<br />
2. Chinampas and terracing were important aspects of aztec farming. using activity sheets from <strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong>’s<br />
Underground Adventure website (www.fieldmuseum.org/undergroundadventure/), ask students to examine local<br />
soil properties, as well as factors that affect soil quality. compare the geography of the aztec area to your local<br />
area. Ask questions like: How does geography affect rainfall? Why is volcanic soil important? How are wetlands<br />
and dry hillsides different? How could you create land in the middle of a shallow lake? How would a lake, as the<br />
base of a garden, affect the growth of plants? Discuss with students that chinampas and terraces are only two<br />
types of farming methods used by the aztecs.<br />
<strong>Field</strong> trip activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 1: FarMErs<br />
1. Ask students to bring the Aztec family picture with them to the <strong>Museum</strong>. As students go through <strong>The</strong> Aztec<br />
World Farmers gallery, ask them to write down new information that they see, read, or watch that may help them<br />
interpret the image and individuals represented in the scene (for example, an object’s use, meaning, etc).<br />
2. While at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong>, visit several different areas including <strong>The</strong> Aztec World Farmers gallery and <strong>The</strong><br />
Ancient Americas Farming Villagers and Empire builders galleries to further investigate the importance of<br />
chinampas and terracing. Ask students to create a field trip scrapbook in which they sketch and label evidence<br />
collected in the exhibitions for the ways early societies managed farming (chinampas, terracing, and other), and the<br />
types of food that were harvested.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 7
post-Visit activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 1: FarMErs<br />
1. Art can be a useful tool for interpreting daily life of past and present peoples. Show students several examples of<br />
artwork, and ask them to identify all objects represented in the images. Based on their observations, ask students<br />
to provide interpretations about the significance and use of the objects. Refer to the Aztec farm family picture<br />
again. after visiting <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition, what new information was gathered about objects, actions, and<br />
people represented in the image? For comparison, ask students to create illustrations of themselves or their families<br />
and include items that are important to them. Share the pictures as a class, or have students compare/contrast<br />
pictures in small groups. What are the similarities? What are the differences?<br />
2. Ask students to work in groups to compare<br />
evidence collected at the <strong>Museum</strong> for early<br />
farming and the crops that were produced.<br />
how important is soil quality to productivity?<br />
are these early farming techniques still used<br />
in Mexico today? Using the local soil samples<br />
collected prior to the <strong>Museum</strong> visit, experiment<br />
with growing some foods grown by the aztecs,<br />
like maize, or corn. To learn more about this<br />
economically important crop in the Midwest,<br />
see www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/corn/03static.html.<br />
As an alternative project, students can use their<br />
new information about chinampa technology<br />
to construct their own classroom model. For<br />
even more information, students can read an<br />
archaeologist interpretation of evidence for<br />
chinampa farming at www.ioa.ucla.edu/backdirt/<br />
Fallwinter00/farming.html.<br />
Florentine Codex, Vol. 7, Folio 21r<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 8
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
Gallery 2: artisans & merchants<br />
When the Spanish Conquistadors first laid eyes on the Great Aztec Market at Tlatelolco—the sister city<br />
of Tenochtitlan—they were astounded by its vast stores of goods and huge number of buyers and sellers.<br />
At the time, no market in Europe compared to Tlatelolco. It supplied 250,000 city-dwellers with much of<br />
the food and goods essential for maintaining life in a large urban setting. <strong>The</strong> Tlatelolco market was the<br />
center of economic power in Mexico, and its location in the middle of Lake Texcoco allowed for the easy<br />
transport of goods by boat.<br />
royal tribute and long-distance trade<br />
networks and the local production<br />
of agrarian and craft goods supplied<br />
finished products and raw materials<br />
to Tenochtitlan. From these materials,<br />
artisans created a wide range of consumer<br />
goods. Within Tenochtitlan, groups of<br />
artisans formed their own professional<br />
guilds, lived in their own neighborhoods,<br />
and offered religious sacrifices to their<br />
own patron deities. artisans regarded<br />
the god Quetzalcoatl, or “Feathered<br />
Serpent”, as the patron of the arts.<br />
Three classes of merchants sold goods<br />
within the marketplaces. Both men<br />
and women were merchants at each<br />
Florentine Codex, Vol. 8, Folia 34l<br />
level. at one level, farmers and artisans<br />
sold or bartered homegrown foods and<br />
handmade wares. above them, the tlanecuilo, or regional merchants, dealt in everyday foodstuffs and<br />
household items. at the top of the merchants’ social pyramid, pochteca undertook long-distance trading<br />
and sold luxury items like greenstone, gold, feathers, shell, and cotton cloth. Cacao beans, cotton cloth,<br />
copper axes and bells served as types of currency or standards of exchange within Aztec markets.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 9
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 2: artisans & MErchants<br />
Along with their markets and long-distance trade networks, the Aztecs also maintained a highly<br />
organized tribute system. <strong>The</strong> aztecs demanded that conquered towns send them large quantities of<br />
maize, beans, and sweet maguey syrup, bundles of men’s and women’s clothing, warriors’ uniforms and<br />
other valuables including gold, jade, and the iridescent feathers of tropical birds.<br />
Florentine Codex, Vol. 9, Folia 63r<br />
Markets, trade and tribute brought a wide variety<br />
of products to Tenochtitlan. <strong>The</strong> aztecs imported<br />
obsidian, or volcanic glass, and used it to make<br />
razor-sharp knives, scrapers, and ritual objects.<br />
Laborers quarried local basalt, a volcanic rock,<br />
which they transformed into grinding stones,<br />
sculptures, and building material. Traders imported<br />
flint for tools from the mountains south and west<br />
of Tenochtitlan and travertine from puebla. For<br />
the elite, artisans created sculptures and jewelry.<br />
highly valued greenstone came from the Sierra<br />
Madre del Sur Mountains; turquoise came from<br />
the American Southwest and Northwest Mexico;<br />
and gold from Oaxaca and other provinces south<br />
of Tenochtitlan.<br />
Traders brought large quantities of shells from the<br />
Gulf and pacific coasts to Tenochtitlan. Trees from<br />
mountain slopes were made into canoes, farming<br />
implements, weaving tools, weapons, musical<br />
instruments, and sculptures. <strong>The</strong> bark of the<br />
amatl tree provided the raw material for paper.<br />
aztec potters fashioned clay into a wide variety<br />
of cooking and serving vessels, figurines, spindle<br />
whorls, pipes, flutes and drums. Metal workers<br />
created earrings, pendants and bells of copper,<br />
silver, and gold. Aztec women wove textiles from<br />
local maguey fibers and imported cotton. <strong>The</strong><br />
tradition of large open-air markets continues today<br />
throughout Mexico. Markets at Coyoacan, Jamaica,<br />
Xochimilco, or La Merced in Mexico City help feed<br />
one of the world’s largest urban populations.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 10
Guiding Questions<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 2: artisans & MErchants<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are directly linked with the Gallery Overview. Teachers may wish to provide students with a copy of the Gallery<br />
Overview to answer “Guiding” questions.<br />
1. What was the reaction of the conquistadors to the Tlatelolco market? Why did they react to the open-air market<br />
as they did?<br />
2. What types of material did Aztec artisans use? Name some finished products made from these materials.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 11
activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 2: artisans & MErchants<br />
<strong>The</strong> following pre-, during, and post-activities are linked, by numerical order, to provide a cohesive classroom and<br />
<strong>The</strong> Aztec World student experience. For example, pre-activity #1 prepares a student to complete field trip activity<br />
#1, which is directly tied to post-visit activity #1. <strong>The</strong>se are simply suggestions that can be used in any number of<br />
ways to best fit within the instructional needs of individual classrooms.<br />
pre-Visit activities<br />
1. before visiting the artisans and Merchants gallery of <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition, introduce students to<br />
materials available to Aztecs in their marketplaces, and the geographical origins of these materials, using the<br />
harris Educational Loan center Aztec and Maya Marketplaces Experience Box (For more information, go to<br />
www.fieldmuseum.org/harrisloan). Aztec market buyers and sellers used cacao beans, cotton cloth, copper axes<br />
and bells as different types of currency or standards of exchange within Aztec markets. As a class, practice<br />
market exchange by determining an item in the classroom that could represent the standard of exchange, and<br />
then express the value of other objects in terms of the standard (For example, a classroom book could be<br />
traded for 300 pieces of chalk).<br />
2. artisans were an important part of aztec society, with professional guilds, patron art deities, and defined artisan<br />
neighborhoods. Ask students to read the Artisans and Merchants gallery overview, and then select two or more<br />
items made by Aztec artisans that they would like to know more about. Have students create a KWL chart for<br />
each of these objects, filling information in the “What I Know”, “What I Want to Learn”, and “What I Learned”<br />
columns, prior to their visit to <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition. Ask students to make a preliminary sketch of a guild<br />
sign for each of the items they selected to research. remind students that guild signs typically used symbols<br />
and images to depict what a merchant has to offer. Examples of guild signs today might include a barber pole, a<br />
mortar and pestle (pharmacy), or a Mason symbol (tradesmen guild).<br />
<strong>Field</strong> trip activities<br />
1. Ask students to examine the “Science behind the Art: Markets, Trade, and Tribute” panels in the Artisans and<br />
Merchants gallery. Can students identify the three-part economic system used by the Aztecs? Ask them to write<br />
a narrative about one of the parts of this economic system (market, long-distance trade, or tribute) from the<br />
perspective of a merchant, buyer, seller, tribute collector or tribute payer to later share with their class. Further<br />
information about markets and exchange can be found in the Empire Builders gallery of <strong>The</strong> Ancient Americas<br />
exhibition. To further explore the Aztec economic system, students can search the marketplace diorama in the<br />
Empire Builders gallery for objects and people discussed in the artisan and merchant overview (See Search and Find<br />
Student activity Sheet).<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 12
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 2: artisans & MErchants<br />
2. Ask students to bring their KWL charts and a clipboard to <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition. Once in the exhibition, ask<br />
students to collect information about the Aztec materials and objects they initially noted on their KWL charts back<br />
in the classroom. Encourage students to use a combination of note taking and sketches to record their information<br />
in the “What I Have Learned” column that would be useful in the creation of their own exhibition! For additional<br />
information on their Aztec materials and objects of interest, visit the Empire Builders gallery of <strong>The</strong> Ancient<br />
Americas exhibition.<br />
post-Visit activities<br />
1. Once back in the classroom, ask students to share their interpretations and narratives about the various types<br />
of exchange represented in the Artisans and Merchants gallery and the types of materials exchanged. Can they<br />
come up with contemporary examples and similar stories for these different types of exchange? How was paying<br />
tribute like paying taxes? For what is tax money used? For what were Aztec tribute goods used? As a class, further<br />
investigate the different types of marketplace exchange with the “Marketplace Exchange” lesson included in the<br />
harris Loan center Aztec and Maya Marketplaces Experience Box curriculum.<br />
2. In groups of 2 or 3, ask students to compare their KWL charts, and share information that was collected about<br />
their chosen Aztec objects. <strong>The</strong>n ask students to create classroom Aztec World Artisans exhibitions based on the<br />
information they collected in their KWL charts—these could include sketches, images and information from <strong>The</strong><br />
Aztec World and <strong>The</strong> Ancient Americas exhibition websites, notes from their visit to the <strong>Museum</strong>, representations<br />
of objects from the exhibition made from Model Magic, etc. Students can also finalize their initial sketches for their<br />
guild signs to attract customers to include in the exhibition.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 13
search and Find student activity sheet<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 2: artisans & MErchants<br />
In <strong>The</strong> Ancient Americas exhibition—Empire Builders gallery diorama, see if you can find the following<br />
objects and activities:<br />
Artisan (Someone making pottery)<br />
adult disciplining child<br />
beans<br />
building materials<br />
cacao beans<br />
canoes<br />
child playing with ceramic pot<br />
clay<br />
cotton cloth<br />
Earrings<br />
Farmers<br />
Greenstone<br />
Iridescent tropical bird feathers<br />
Maize<br />
Someone resting<br />
paper<br />
Pochteca (Long-distant merchant)<br />
Serving vessels<br />
Sculptures<br />
Tools<br />
What did you find that was not listed above?<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 14
Florentine Codex, Vol. 2, Folia 21L<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
Gallery 3: Warriors<br />
In battle, aztec warriors had three<br />
main goals: to conquer territories from<br />
which to collect tribute, to establish<br />
trade routes and open new markets for<br />
aztec products, and to secure enemy<br />
combatants for religious sacrifice. <strong>The</strong><br />
aztecs viewed this last duty as vital to<br />
maintaining order within the universe.<br />
both women and men were a part of the<br />
aztec military ideology.<br />
Warriors identified themselves by<br />
insignias, usually associated with<br />
different kinds of animals. Eagle and<br />
jaguar warriors were the two most<br />
prominent: eagles represented the forces<br />
of daytime, light, and sky associated with<br />
male energy, while jaguars represented<br />
the forces of night, darkness, and the<br />
underworld associated with female<br />
energy. aztec warriors wore elaborate<br />
regalia into battle that evoked their<br />
animal alter-egos. This sacred regalia<br />
imbued warriors with the supernatural<br />
powers of their spirit guides.<br />
<strong>The</strong> aztecs conceptualized warfare differently than we do today. Terrestrial battles reflected the daily<br />
combat between the sun god and the forces of darkness. One objective of battle was to capture enemy<br />
warriors for religious sacrifice. To this end, the aztec warriors tried to wound their enemies—instead of<br />
killing them outright—for easier capture. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs viewed the sacrifice of captured warriors as vital to<br />
maintaining order within the universe. Sacrifice—both literal and symbolic—has played a key role in the<br />
religious beliefs of many people throughout history and in all parts of the world.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 15
childbirth was considered comparable to military combat, and pregnant<br />
women were considered the female counterparts of male warriors. Successfully<br />
giving birth was like taking a captive in battle—dying in childbirth was<br />
like being sacrificed. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs called women who died in childbirth<br />
Cihuateteo. <strong>The</strong>ir spirits lived in the western sky and accompanied the sun<br />
on its afternoon journey towards sunset. In this role, the Cihuateteo were<br />
the female counterparts of dead warriors who accompanied the sun on<br />
its morning journey towards the noon sky.<br />
Located just north of Tenochtitlan’s Templo Mayor, or Great Temple,<br />
the “House of the Eagles” is a structure connected to funerary rituals of<br />
deceased aztec rulers and coronation rites<br />
of new kings. One of two figures excavated<br />
from this structure was originally interpreted<br />
by archaeologists as an “eagle warrior”<br />
or member of an elite military corps. but<br />
some scholars now think the “eagle<br />
man” sculpture may represent the soul<br />
of a dead warrior, one of many “spirit<br />
warriors” who accompanied the<br />
sun on its daily journey through the<br />
morning sky towards the noontime<br />
zenith. other scholars hypothesize<br />
that this figure is a personification of<br />
the rising sun, featuring both human<br />
and eagle attributes.<br />
besides training for battle and<br />
practicing fighting techniques, aztec<br />
warriors also conditioned themselves<br />
by dancing to drums and music. Elite<br />
warriors enjoyed privileged lives. Feasting<br />
was an important part of military culture,<br />
and the citizens of Tenochtitlan honored and<br />
rewarded victorious warriors with feasts, music,<br />
and dancing. aztec warriors danced to musical<br />
instruments including drums, rasps, rattles, and flutes. <strong>The</strong> aztecs played<br />
drums to accompany dances, feasts, and ritual performances. <strong>The</strong> beating<br />
of drums also led warriors into battle.<br />
©Michel Zabé / AZA. Reproduction authorized by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 3: Warriors<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 16
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 3: Warriors<br />
Within the sacred confines of Tenochtitlan’s ceremonial precinct, warriors played a sport of life and death.<br />
practiced by peoples throughout Mesoamerica for thousands of years, the aztec ballgame symbolized the<br />
cosmic battle between the forces of day and night, light and darkness. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs played two versions of<br />
the ballgame: one sacred and one secular. In the sacred version, hundreds of spectators watched the elite<br />
warriors battle one another on the ballcourt—the loser often sacrificed by beheading. <strong>The</strong> secular version<br />
was played by aztec warriors as a conditioning sport, but also by common people as a recreational game.<br />
<strong>The</strong> rules were the same in both: keep a nine-pound rubber ball in play using only your hips and knees.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Aztecs played the sacred ballgame on “I”-shaped playing fields with circular goals on either side of<br />
the court. <strong>The</strong> end zones and centerline are marked by human skulls, reinforcing the sacrificial aspect of<br />
the game.<br />
Florentine Codex, Vol. 4, Folia 20L<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 17
Guiding Questions<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 3: Warriors<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are directly linked with the Gallery Overview. Teachers may wish to provide students with a copy of the Gallery<br />
Overview to answer “Guiding” questions.<br />
1. In battle, warriors had three main goals. List the three goals.<br />
2. pregnant women were considered the female counterparts of male warriors. List the ways aztec women were<br />
compared to male warrior while alive and after death.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 18
activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 3: Warriors<br />
<strong>The</strong> following pre-, during, and post-activities are linked, by numerical order, to provide a cohesive classroom<br />
and <strong>The</strong> Aztec World student experience. For example, pre-activity #1 prepares a student to complete field trip<br />
activity #1, which is directly tied to post-visit activity #1. <strong>The</strong>se are simply suggestions that can be used in any<br />
number of ways to best fit within the instructional needs of individual classrooms.<br />
pre-Visit activities<br />
1. aztec warriors identified themselves by different insignias. <strong>The</strong> insignias were usually associated with different<br />
kinds of animals. Ask students to create their own insignia with an animal that they feel represents them. Ask<br />
students to share their insignia, noting which animal they have chosen and why the animal represents them.<br />
2. Sports have played an important role in society through time. have students brainstorm the different types of<br />
sports they are familiar with, past and present. Ask, what makes these sports similar? How are they different?<br />
Do standard rules govern all these sports? have these activities changed through time? Introduce students to the<br />
Rubber Experience Box available from the Harris Educational Loan Center (See www.fieldmuseum.org/harrisloan).<br />
Students can investigate the origins of rubber, early uses, and its role in contemporary sports. Ask students to<br />
investigate a sport of interest to them that incorporates some type of rubber implement, like a ball. Information<br />
should be gathered about the origin of the sport, how it has changed through time, rules and penalties, historical<br />
moments, and current role in society (if any). In addition, ask students to produce a map of their sport that<br />
demonstrates the layout and dimensions of the area used to enact the sporting activity.<br />
<strong>Field</strong> trip activities<br />
1. While at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong>, ask students to visit the Warriors gallery of <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition. Have students<br />
find the different images of warriors and identify the animal represented on the artifacts. Ask students what animal<br />
is most frequently represented? Why do they think this animal was important to the Aztecs? Students should<br />
create a detailed sketch of one warrior and their insignia. How might the insignia influence a warrior in battle?<br />
2. While at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> visit <strong>The</strong> Aztec World Warriors gallery. Ask students to create a detailed sketch map of<br />
the aztec ballcourts as represented in the descriptions and images in the gallery. have students record information<br />
about the Mesoamerican ballgame as they did for their sport of interest (Pre-visit activity 1). Specifically, ask<br />
students to include information about the equipment used in this ballgame (rubber ball). <strong>The</strong>n lead students to the<br />
Central American rubber tree (Case # 28B22) in the Plants of the World exhibition to learn more about the source<br />
for rubber, the rubber tree.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 19
post-Visit activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 3: Warriors<br />
1. have students compare the insignia they created in the classroom with the insignias in <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition.<br />
Ask students to investigate the meaning behind the two animals. What makes the Aztec insignia an interesting<br />
choice for a warrior? What about their own insignia? What insignias are used in the US military today? How do<br />
these insignias differ from aztec insignias? have insignias in the uS military changed over time?<br />
2. Building upon their sports investigations, including the Mesoamerican ballgame, ask students to consider how<br />
sports, dancing, and feasting are connected, and how they were used by the aztecs to condition warriors. Do<br />
dancing and feasting activities also play a role in contemporary American sports (eg., football players often take<br />
ballet, marathon runners eat carbohydrate-rich “feasts” before running marathons). How does music have a role in<br />
both sports and military action? One option for enhancing this conversation is to check out the World Percussion<br />
Instruments Experience Box available from the Harris Educational Loan Center to examine various types of drums<br />
and brainstorm the different roles for drums in diverse settings (See www.fieldmuseum.org/harrisloan).<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 20
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
Gallery 4: rulers<br />
<strong>The</strong> aztec military played an important role in securing wealth from<br />
conquered towns and cities, helped with important state rituals<br />
events, and oversaw certain large hydraulic projects. Aztec rulers<br />
required that taxes be paid to them by these conquered towns and<br />
cities in foodstuffs, raw materials, and manufactured goods. Many<br />
valuable tribute items were made from greenstone, gold, and fine<br />
ceramics as well as from cotton cloth, feathers, animal pelts, wood<br />
and foodstuffs, although these tribute items are not as prevalent in<br />
the archaeological record because of their perishable nature. one of<br />
the largest rooms in the palace of Emperor Moctezuma II, who ruled<br />
from aD 1502 – 1520, housed tribute items collected for the emperor.<br />
<strong>The</strong> aztecs used a counting system to count everything from these<br />
tribute goods and market items to taxable acres of land. This Aztec<br />
arithmetic was base 20 (unlike our base 10 system today) and<br />
included the concept of zero. In written records, glyphs represented<br />
the main numbers in the aztec counting system: a dot represented 1<br />
(20 0 ), a flag, 20 (20 1 ), a feather, 400 (20 2 ), and a bag, 8000 (20 3 ).<br />
by law, the emperor and the ruling elite of Tenochtitlan had access to certain<br />
possessions and privileges that were not available to the vast majority of people within<br />
the Aztec Empire. <strong>The</strong> nobility enjoyed the best of everything. <strong>The</strong>y wore clothes<br />
made from the finest cotton cloth and adornments of gold and greenstone, ate food<br />
off of high-quality ceramic plates, drank chocolate made from valuable cacao beans,<br />
and lived in luxurious palaces surrounding the sacred precinct in the center of town.<br />
With such power and prestige also came duties and responsibilities. <strong>The</strong> emperor,<br />
known as the “great king” or huey tlatoani, lived in a sumptuous palace filled with<br />
luxuries and stood at the pinnacle of Aztec society. He was also burdened with heavy<br />
responsibilities and was expected to perform many roles, including high priest, military<br />
commander, supreme judge and builder of public works. Some of these duties included<br />
presiding over religious ceremonies and building and maintaining temples, conquering<br />
neighboring people and regions, and overseeing the building of aqueducts, canals<br />
and dams. In fact, if the emperor did not fulfill his duties to the nobility, he could be<br />
slain—a fate that befell the Emperor Tizoc in 1486.<br />
©Michel Zabé / AZA. Reproduction authorized by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 21
Guiding Questions<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 4: rulErs<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are directly linked with the Gallery Overview. Teachers may wish to provide students with a copy of the Gallery<br />
Overview to answer “Guiding” questions.<br />
1. <strong>The</strong> Aztec emperors were known as “great kings”. What are some of the benefits and challenges that came with<br />
having such great power?<br />
2. What are some of the similarities and differences between the Aztec counting system and the system of counting<br />
we use today?<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 22
activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 4: rulErs<br />
<strong>The</strong> following pre-, during, and post-activities are linked, by numerical order, to provide a cohesive classroom and<br />
<strong>The</strong> Aztec World student experience. For example, pre-activity #1 prepares a student to complete field trip activity<br />
#1, which is directly tied to post-visit activity #1. <strong>The</strong>se are simply suggestions that can be used in any number of<br />
ways to best fit within the instructional needs of individual classrooms.<br />
pre-Visit activities<br />
1. In small groups, ask students to brainstorm a list of “people of power” from different communities (federal<br />
government, local government, household, classroom/school, sports teams, extra-curricular activities, etc).<br />
Ask students to make a chart and list the benefits and challenges that come for each of these people with<br />
being in a position of power. As a class, share your examples and discuss the patterns you see, despite the<br />
great differences among the roles of these people. are there any things that some people see as benefits of<br />
power that others think of as challenges?<br />
2. As a class, respond to the following prompt: Imagine if we were Aztec nobility and were allowed to “conquer”<br />
another classroom. If we could not ask the other classroom for money, what would we ask for them to give as<br />
“taxes” to their ruling classroom (us)? Within groups, ask students to design a “tribute page” showing what items<br />
the classroom will owe us, and in what quantities, without using written words. remember: aztecs did not have<br />
currency for money like we do today, and they did not have the same written language that we use today.<br />
<strong>Field</strong> trip activities<br />
1. As students explore the Rulers gallery, ask them to fill in a Venn-diagram with “Benefits of being an Aztec<br />
emperor” in one circle and “Challenges of being an Aztec emperor” in the other. Students should write aspects of<br />
the job that seem to be both benefits and challenges in the area where the two circles overlap.<br />
2. Many highly valued tribute items were created by artisans throughout the aztec Empire from gold and greenstone<br />
and as exquisitely painted ceramics. Have students pick two tribute items to examine up close in the Rulers gallery<br />
and either draw the item with as much detail as possible, or create a detailed written description of what they see<br />
in these items. Ask students to consider why they think these items were requested by the emperors? Why do they<br />
imagine they were and are so valuable, both in the past and today?<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 23
post-Visit activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 4: rulErs<br />
1. Ask students to share the information they gathered in their Venn-diagrams while at <strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> (<strong>Field</strong> Trip<br />
Activity 1). Ask students to decide if they would have wanted to be an Aztec emperor. With a partner, ask students<br />
to write a brief argument explaining their decision side (“I would not have wanted to be an Aztec emperor…” OR<br />
“I would have wanted to be an Aztec emperor…”). Remind students to support their arguments with information<br />
gathered while at the <strong>Museum</strong>. Student teams can write both papers together, sharing ideas, or they can each take<br />
one side and write arguments rebutting each other.<br />
2. Ask students to make a series of sequential pictures (like a cartoon strip) of what it was like for an emperor to<br />
secure tributes from his conquered towns and cities. <strong>The</strong> series of pictures should show the entire process, from<br />
the emperor (and maybe other ruling elites) deciding what goods should be acquired/taxed, to a depiction of<br />
how these goods were requested and then collected, to what was done with them once the emperor had secured<br />
them (…and even, where these items are today now that the Aztec empire no longer exists). Explain to students<br />
that they may want to focus heavily on the tribute items they gathered information about during their visit to the<br />
<strong>Museum</strong> (<strong>Field</strong> Trip activity 2).<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 24
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
Gallery 5: hiGh Priests<br />
at the very center of Tenochtitlan, the aztecs constructed their<br />
sacred precinct, a compound of over 70 buildings marking the<br />
heart of the aztec world. here, high priests – both male and<br />
female – performed rituals and gave offerings to hundreds<br />
of deities. <strong>The</strong> Templo Mayor or Great Temple, stood at the<br />
center of this sacred precinct and the aztec universe. <strong>The</strong> aztecs<br />
dedicated this temple to two central deities: Huitzilopochtli, god<br />
of war and the sun, and Tlaloc, god of rain.<br />
Within Tenochtitlan’s sacred precinct, Aztec priests performed many<br />
different types of religious ceremonies. <strong>The</strong>y re-enacted sacred myths,<br />
buried ritual offerings, burned incense and blood offerings, danced,<br />
chanted, praised the deities, and they sacrificed human victims to their<br />
gods. <strong>The</strong>y believed that offerings of human hearts and blood ensured<br />
the continuance of the gods, the universe, and of all humankind.<br />
<strong>The</strong> aztecs shared this practice of human sacrifice with other<br />
Mesoamerican societies, and evidence of human sacrifice is also<br />
found in many ancient cultures around the world, including<br />
many European, asian, and african societies. Though<br />
human sacrifice was indeed terrible and cruel, it appears<br />
that Spanish conquerors greatly exaggerated the<br />
extent of it in Aztec society, in part to justify their own<br />
conquest of the Aztecs and all of Mexico.<br />
Within Tenochtitlan’s sacred precinct, Quetzalcoatl’s<br />
temple held a place of honor in front of the Templo<br />
Mayor. <strong>The</strong> aztecs recognized Quetzalcoatl, or “Feathered<br />
Serpent” as a creator deity and credited him with<br />
inventing the arts, the calendar, and even humans. Though<br />
Tenochtitlan’s sacred precinct was dominated by temples<br />
dedicated to male deities, aztec priests also venerated female<br />
deities. <strong>The</strong> aztecs built temples to different female deities, but<br />
they venerated Cihuacoatl, the earth goddess, above all others,<br />
for she gave birth to the sun each morning and received its death<br />
each night.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 25
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 5: hiGh priEsts<br />
<strong>The</strong> Aztecs, like most Mesoamerican peoples, were intrigued by time and thought of it as cyclical rather<br />
than linear. <strong>The</strong>y tracked time using two main calendar systems: a 365-day “solar” calendar and a 260day<br />
“ritual” calendar. Patterns of birth, death, and renewal repeated again and again within the Aztec<br />
cosmos, from the daily cycles of the sun to the annual cycles of the seasons. <strong>The</strong> aztec equivalent of our<br />
century was a 52-year cycle called a xiuhmolpilli or “bundle of years”.<br />
<strong>The</strong> aztecs built their temples from several types of volcanic stone quarried from the hills surrounding<br />
Lake Texcoco. Laborers cut the stone without the aid of metal tools; instead, they used stone tools, rope,<br />
and a mixture of sand and water as abrasives. <strong>The</strong>n, human laborers carried stone from the quarries to<br />
canoes, which transported the stone across the lake to the temple construction sites. Unlike the exposed<br />
stone seen in today’s ruins, in the aztec era, painted stucco covered the temples. a Spanish eyewitness<br />
described the monumental buildings as “gleaming white”, though other colors— including yellow,<br />
red, and blue — were also used as accents. In the years after the conquest, the Spaniards demolished<br />
Tenochtitlan’s sacred precinct and buried the ruins under the colonial buildings of Mexico City. Until the<br />
archaeological excavations of the 20th century, architectural historians could only look to temple models<br />
and illustrations from the Aztec codices to learn what Tenochtitlan’s sacred buildings once looked like.<br />
© <strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong>, A114594_06Ad, Photographer John Weinstein<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 26
Guiding Questions<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 5: hiGh priEsts<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are directly linked with the Gallery Overview. Teachers may wish to provide students with a copy of the Gallery<br />
Overview to answer “Guiding” questions.<br />
1. <strong>The</strong> Templo Mayor (Great Temple) sat at the heart of Tenochtitlan’s sacred precinct. What religious rituals and<br />
deities were most highly regarded in aztec society?<br />
2. Many aztec practices set the foundation for modern innovations, including construction technology and<br />
astronomical science. What systems that we currently rely upon have foundations in Aztec society? What are some<br />
of the similarities between these aztec practices and the ones we follow today?<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 27
activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 5: hiGh priEsts<br />
<strong>The</strong> following pre-, during, and post-activities are linked, by numerical order, to provide a cohesive classroom and <strong>The</strong><br />
Aztec World student experience. For example, pre-activity #1 prepares a student to complete field trip activity #1,<br />
which is directly tied to post-visit activity #1. <strong>The</strong>se are simply suggestions that can be used in any number of ways to<br />
best fit within the instructional needs of individual classrooms.<br />
pre-Visit activities<br />
1. as a class, brainstorm five to ten different religions or cultures – ones you have learned about or ones you have<br />
personal experience with – that practice rituals and/or hold a set of traditional beliefs. <strong>The</strong>n, in one column,<br />
record who or what is most highly regarded in each of these traditions/religions (beings, objects, values, symbols).<br />
In the next column, list some rituals that you know each culture practices. Discuss as a class the similarities and<br />
differences between the rituals of different religions/cultures as well as between the beings and values they<br />
worship. You may also discuss which traditions and cultures you know less about, and which you would like to<br />
explore more thoroughly.<br />
2. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs tracked time using two calendar systems. One is the daily/weekly/monthly/yearly solar calendar that<br />
we use as the standard calendar in our lives today. If you could make a second calendar system that repeated itself<br />
in cycles during your life, on what would it be based on? What events would mark the divisions of the time cycles?<br />
As a class, imagine your school year as one example of a second cyclical system of time. Together, brainstorm and<br />
record different “phases” during the school year (recurring events, patterns, activities) of this cycle that mark time<br />
passing. <strong>The</strong>n ask students, individually, to create a “calendar” of the different cyclical phases that represent time<br />
passing by in a school “cycle”. If you didn’t know what the date was, what would indicate passing time through the<br />
school year?<br />
<strong>Field</strong> trip activities<br />
1. Ask students to choose two deities to study closely in the High Priests gallery. Have students draw and/or describe<br />
the deities in as much detail as possible, including what the deity represents, and what he/she looks like in the<br />
Aztec representations you observed or read about. Also, students should take note of the symbols that the deities<br />
are associated with as well as what they physically look like, what they represented to the Aztecs and what legends<br />
and rituals they may be a part of.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 28
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 5: hiGh priEsts<br />
2. We’ve learned that many Aztec practices set the foundation for contemporary innovations, including construction<br />
technology and the standard calendar system we use today. As students explore the High Priests gallery, have<br />
them note how some of these aztec practices, which have influenced many things we see in our lives today, have<br />
changed over time. Make a chart with one column for “<strong>The</strong>n” and one for “Now”. Practices that may be included<br />
are: “Religious Practices (in general)”, “Calendar Systems”, “Construction Technology”, etc. While the information<br />
for “<strong>The</strong>n” (what the Aztecs did) will be pretty straightforward from the exhibit, there is a lot of room for variation<br />
in the “Now” section. Since there isn’t one correct answer, encourage students to think about how these Aztec<br />
practices are related to things that exist today!<br />
post-Visit activities<br />
1. using the drawings and notes students gathered in the high priests gallery (<strong>Field</strong> Trip activity 1), have students<br />
find a partner who chose different deities. <strong>The</strong>n, in partners, students should tell the story of one deity, without<br />
letting the other person see their illustration. Ask students to describe what the deity represents, what he/she<br />
represents, what he/she looks like in the Aztec depictions you saw, what symbols are often found with him/her,<br />
and, what your drawing from the exhibition looks like. As one partner describes the deity, the other partner should<br />
draw and label a recreation of this deity (be sure to spell the name for your partner!) <strong>The</strong>n, partners should switch<br />
roles.<br />
2. Using their “<strong>The</strong>n” and “Now” chart, have students choose one Aztec technology or practice that has set the<br />
foundation for a modern practice or innovation. Ask students to think about how the Aztecs developed this<br />
technology or practice, and how we have adapted it and built on it today. <strong>The</strong>n, students should write a paragraph<br />
describing what they think this technology or practice will be like in the next 100 years. What is the future of these<br />
practices that were laid so long ago by the aztecs?<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 29
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
Gallery 6: conclusion<br />
(Merging of Aztec and Spanish Cultures)<br />
<strong>The</strong> aztecs created one of the greatest civilizations in human history, but their magnificent world came<br />
at a very real human cost. Thousands of Indigenous peoples revolted against the aztecs when the<br />
Spaniards arrived in 1519, and the resulting battles eventually destroyed Tenochtitlan and brought down<br />
the aztec Empire. Thousands died of introduced European diseases as the old regime was replaced by the<br />
viceroyalty of New Spain. What followed was the birth of a new society that incorporated elements of<br />
two cultures: one Indigenous, the other European.<br />
<strong>The</strong> aztecs initially wondered if the arrival of Spanish ships along the coast of Veracruz signaled the<br />
return of Quetzalcoatl, as foretold by ancient prophecy. Soon, however, hernán cortés and his men, with<br />
the help of tens of thousands of rebellious Indigenous peoples, laid siege to Tenochtitlan and eventually<br />
brought down the city.<br />
Codex Durán, courtesy the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Spain / <strong>The</strong> Bridgeman Art Library<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 30
Though the Aztecs possessed skilled metal<br />
workers, iron and steel were unknown until<br />
the arrival of the Spaniards. Guns and steel<br />
weapons provided the Spaniards with some<br />
military advantages, but Spanish swords<br />
were not necessarily superior to the aztecs’<br />
obsidian-lined macahuitl and steel armor<br />
was cumbersome compared to the aztec’s<br />
quilted cotton armor. <strong>The</strong> greater threats to<br />
aztec warriors were foreign germs and the<br />
Spaniards’ local allies. ravaged by European<br />
diseases and vastly outnumbered by their<br />
enemies, the aztec warriors were greatly<br />
disadvantaged. after nearly two years of<br />
fighting, Tenochtitlan finally fell.<br />
after the conquest, the Spanish crown<br />
established royal mints in Mexico City<br />
and other colonial capitals for the minting<br />
of gold and silver coins. Mexico quickly<br />
became a leading producer of silver and<br />
exchanged this precious metal for Chinese<br />
silks and porcelains during colonial times.<br />
Despite the brutality of the conquest, the Spaniards were unable to completely eradicate aztec culture.<br />
Instead, two separate cultures—one Indigenous and one European—blended together to create a new<br />
society. Traditional beliefs continued, as did aztec crafts—such as the manufacture of ceramic vessels and<br />
figurines – often mixing Spanish and Aztec forms and designs. <strong>The</strong> result of this cultural melding was the<br />
birth of modern Mexico. Mexican Christianity often retains strong influences of the old religion. Christian<br />
ritual items were even sometimes crafted from Aztec objects.<br />
Even after Spanish rule was ousted from Mexico, the Aztec culture continued to leave its legacy. In 1810,<br />
when Mexico declared its independence from Spain, the Aztec Empire served as a precedent and symbol for<br />
autonomous rule and centralized authority, inspiring the modern Mexican state. <strong>The</strong> art and architecture<br />
of the Aztecs—along with other Indigenous peoples of Mexico—also inspired the great Mexican muralist<br />
movement of the 20th century and the rebirth of traditional Mexican arts.<br />
© <strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong>, A114589_04d, Photographer John Weinstein<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 6: conclusion<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 31
Guiding Questions<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 6: conclusion<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are directly linked with the Gallery Overview. Teachers may wish to provide students with a copy of the Gallery<br />
Overview to answer “Guiding” questions.<br />
1. When the Spanish led by Hernán Cortés arrived at Tenochtitlan and laid siege to the city, the great Aztec Empire<br />
fell. What were three primary reasons the Empire was susceptible to their attack? What were their weaknesses in<br />
the face of this Spanish conquest?<br />
2. although the Empire fell under Spanish conquest, the Spaniards were not able to eradicate aztec culture. In what<br />
ways was aztec culture able to survive after the Spanish conquest? In what was does it still survive today?<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 32
activities<br />
Exhibition <strong>GuidE</strong><br />
GallEry 6: conclusion<br />
<strong>The</strong> following pre-, during, and post-activities are linked, by numerical order, to provide a cohesive classroom and <strong>The</strong><br />
Aztec World student experience. For example, pre-activity #1 prepares a student to complete field trip activity #1,<br />
which is directly tied to post-visit activity #1. <strong>The</strong>se are simply suggestions that can be used in any number of ways to<br />
best fit within the instructional needs of individual classrooms.<br />
pre-Visit activity<br />
1. In small groups, ask students to brainstorm what concrete things represent “Mexican culture”. Encourage students<br />
to think of things they have seen, learned about, or heard about from different sources: people they know, books,<br />
museums, festivals, school, art, neighborhoods, traveling etc. have the group share their brainstorms to develop a<br />
thorough and varied perspective of “Mexican culture” prior to visiting <strong>The</strong> Aztec World.<br />
<strong>Field</strong> trip activity<br />
1. In the final gallery of the exhibition, have students examine the ways the Aztec Empire influences the modern<br />
Mexican state. Ask students to choose the Mexican movement for independence from Spain in 1810, the great<br />
Mexican muralist movement of the 20th century, or the rebirth of traditional Mexican arts to take brief notes on<br />
the ways the aztecs influenced these modern movements.<br />
post-Visit activity<br />
1. Upon returning to the classroom, have students use the notes they took on the ways that the Aztecs influence<br />
modern Mexican culture and the modern Mexican state. <strong>The</strong>n, pick one artist or leader influenced by Aztec<br />
principles. Research this person, and write a short report on how he or she is important in modern Mexican culture,<br />
anD, how his or her ideas or art can be connected to the aztec Empire.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 33
<strong>Educator</strong> biblioGraphy<br />
<strong>Educator</strong> and studEnt biblioGraphy<br />
Aghajanian, Alfred. 2007. Chinampas: <strong>The</strong>ir Role in Aztec Empire—Building and Expansion.<br />
IndoEuropeanpublishing.com.<br />
aguilar, Francisco de, 1977. Relación de la conquista de la Nueva España, Jorge Gurría Lacroix (Editor), México,<br />
unaM.<br />
Alcina Franch, José, “Guerra” 1992. Azteca-Mexica, Turner.<br />
barlow, robert h. 1989. Tlatelolco: fuentes e historia, v 2, Editors. J Monjarás-Ruiz, E Limón y M.C. Paillés,<br />
México, INAH, Universidad de las Américas.<br />
berdan, Frances. 2004. Aztecs of Central Mexico: An Imperial Society (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology).<br />
Wadsworth Publishing, Kentucky.<br />
bernal, Ignacio. 1979. Historia de la arqueología en México, Editorial Porrúa, México.<br />
Bierhorst, John. 1990. <strong>The</strong> Mythology of Mexico and Central America. William Morrow and Company, New York.<br />
brumfel, Elizabeth and Gary Feinman (Editors). 2008. <strong>The</strong> Aztec World. Abrams, New York.<br />
burnett, Eric.2003. Aztec Plays for the Classroom. Weekly Reader Teachers Press.<br />
carrasco, David. 2001. <strong>The</strong> Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures: <strong>The</strong> Civilizations of Mexico and<br />
Central America. Oxford University Press, New York.<br />
carrasco, pedro. 1996. Estructura político territorial del imperio tenochca. La Triple Alianza de Tenochtitlan,<br />
Tezcoco y Tlacopan. México, COLMEX, Fideicomiso Historia de las Américas y Fondo de Cultura.<br />
castello, T. 1986. Presencia de la comida prehispánica, Banamex, México.<br />
clendinnen, Inga. 1991. Los Aztecas: una interpretación. Nueva Imagen, México, DF.<br />
closs, Michael (Ed.). 1986. Native American Mathematics. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas.<br />
Coe, Michael, and Rex Koontz. 2002. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. Thames and Hudson, New York.<br />
Conrad, G. W. 1988. Religión e imperio. Dinámica del expansionismo azteca e inca, alianza, Madrid.<br />
covarrubias, Miguel. 1971. Arte indígena de México y Centroamérica, México.<br />
Davies, nigel. 1980. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs: A History. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma.<br />
Duvergier christian. 1987. El origen de los aztecas, México, Ed. Grijalbo.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 34
<strong>Educator</strong> and studEnt biblioGraphy<br />
Evans, Susan. 2000. Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, Oxford.<br />
Feder, Kenneth. 2005. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. McGraw-hill<br />
Humanities, New York.<br />
González, Carlos Javier. 1992. Chinampas prehispánicas, México, INAH.<br />
J Rodríguez, María. 1997. La mujer azteca, UAM, México.<br />
Joyce, Rosemary, and Susan Shumaker. 1995. Encounters with the Americas. peabody <strong>Museum</strong> of archaeology &<br />
Ethnology, cambridge Massachusetts.<br />
Larsen, Linda. 2004. Mayans, Aztecs and Incas <strong>The</strong>matic Unit. Teacher created resources, california.<br />
Leon-portilla, Miguel. 1992. <strong>The</strong> Broken Spears. English translation by Lysander Kemp. Beacon Press, Boston.<br />
León Portilla, Miguel. 1959. La visión de los vencidos UNAM, México.<br />
León Portilla, Miguel. 2003. Códices Los antiguos libros del nuevo mundo. Aguilar, México.<br />
Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. 1989. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs. Rizzoli International Publications, New York.<br />
Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. 1986. Vida y muerte en el Templo Mayor, México, Ediciones Océano.<br />
Miller, Mary and Karl Taube. 1997. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the<br />
Maya. Thames and Hudson, New York.<br />
pasztory, Esther. 1983. Aztec Art. Harry N. Abrams, New York.<br />
Pohl, John. 2000. Exploring Mesoamerica. Oxford University Press, New York.<br />
Sahagún, bernardino de. 1986. Coloquios y doctrina cristiana (translated by León-Portilla, Miguel, Newberry<br />
Library, northern Illinois, northwestern, and university of Illinois have copies).<br />
Sahagún, fray bernardino de. 2005. Fauna de Nueva España, México, FCE.<br />
Smith, Michael. 2002. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs. Blackwell Publishing, Ames, Iowa.<br />
Taube, Karl. 1993. Aztec and Maya Myths. University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas.<br />
Todorov, Tzvetan 1996. La conquista de América y el problema del otro. Siglo XXI, México.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 35
studEnt biblioGraphy<br />
<strong>Educator</strong> and studEnt biblioGraphy<br />
aguilar-Moreno. 2005. Handbook to Life in the Aztec World. Facts on File Publishing, New York.<br />
(Grades 9 and up, www.factsonfile.com)<br />
Bierhorst, John. 2002. <strong>The</strong> Mythology of Mexico and Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford.<br />
(Grades 10 & up)<br />
Bingham, Jane. 2007. <strong>The</strong> Aztec Empire (Time Travel Guide). raintree, Indiana. (Grades 5– 8)<br />
Cooke, Tim. 2007. National Geographic Investigates: Ancient Aztecs. National Geographic Children Books,<br />
Washington, DC. (Grades 4–7)<br />
Kimmel, Eric A. And Leonard Everrett Fisher. 2000. <strong>The</strong> Two Mountains: An Aztec Legend. holiday house,<br />
New York. (Grades 3– 6)<br />
Klobuchar, Lisa. 2006. History and Activities of Aztecs. heinemann, new hampshire. (Grades 3 –7)<br />
Libura, Krystyna. 1997. What the Aztecs Told Me. Groundwood Books, Toronto, Canada. (Grades 2– 5)<br />
Macdonald, Fiona. 1994. How Would You Survive as an Aztec? Watts Books, New York. (Grades 3–7)<br />
navarrete, Federico. 1998. Huesos de lagartija, México, SM de Ediciones. (Col. El barco de vapor, 2.<br />
recomendado para lectores de 12 años en adelante).<br />
Morgan, nina. 1997. Technology in the Time of the Aztecs. Hodder Wayland, London, UK. (Grades 4 – 6)<br />
phillips, charles. 2007. <strong>The</strong> Everyday Life of Aztec and Maya. Southwater publishing, california. (Grades 4 –7)<br />
rees, rosemary. 2006. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs (Understanding People in the Past/ 2nd Edition). heinemann, new<br />
hampshire. (Grades 3–7)<br />
reid, camilla. 2000. Aztecs and Incas, A Guide to Pre-colonized Americas in 1504. Kingfisher, UK.<br />
(Grades pre-school – 3)<br />
Santella, andrew. 2003. <strong>The</strong> Aztec (True Books: American Indians). children’s press, chicago, Illinois. (Grade 2–7)<br />
Smith, Michael (consulting Editor). 2005. <strong>The</strong> aztecs: Empire builders. Calliope: Exploring World History.<br />
cobblestone publishers, new hampshire. (Grades 3– 8, www.cobblestone.com)<br />
Sonneborn, Liz. 2005. <strong>The</strong> Ancient Aztecs (People of the Ancient World). Franklin Watts, New York. (Grades 3–7)<br />
Steele, phillip. 2000. History News: <strong>The</strong> Aztec News. Candlewick, Massachusetts. (Grades 5 and up)<br />
Wood, Marion. 1998. Growing up in Aztec Times (Growing up Series). Troll Communications, New York.<br />
(Grades 2–7)<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 36
WEbsitE rEsourcEs<br />
<strong>The</strong> Aztec World<br />
official <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> website<br />
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/aztecs/<br />
<strong>The</strong> Ancient Americas<br />
aztecs are featured in the Empire builders Gallery section<br />
www.fieldmuseum.org/ancientamericas/<br />
National <strong>Museum</strong> of Mexican Art<br />
Local community resource for Mexican art and history, and resources for the classroom<br />
www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/<br />
<strong>The</strong> University of Chicago, Center for Latin American Studies<br />
Instructional resources for educators and researchers<br />
//clas.uchicago.edu/instres.shtml<br />
Arqueologia Mexicana<br />
www.arqueomex.com/S8N2VersionesLinea.html<br />
<strong>The</strong> Aztecs: a Pre-Columbian History<br />
Yale –new haven Teachers Institute curricular unit plans for aztec activities<br />
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1999/2/99.02.01.x.html<br />
Museo Nacional de Anthropologia<br />
Background information on Aztecs economy, politics, religion, culture and European conquest<br />
www.mna.inah.gob.mx/muna/mna_ing/main.html<br />
Famsi: <strong>The</strong> Aztec Beginnings<br />
www.Famsi.org/research/pohl/pohl_azetc.html<br />
additional <strong>Educator</strong> and<br />
studEnt rEsourcEs<br />
American <strong>Museum</strong> of Natural History<br />
Greater Mesoamerica and the aztecs<br />
www.amnh.org/ology/index.php?channel=archaeology#featres/zapotec?TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=750<br />
MesoWeb Teacher’s Page<br />
highlights cultures of Mesoamerica with interactive activities<br />
www.mesoweb.com/teachers/teachers.html#<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 37
Latin American Studies, Indiana University<br />
photos of aztecs artifacts and culture<br />
www.latinamericanstudies.org/aztecs.html<br />
<strong>The</strong> Aztec Empire<br />
brief review of aztec history with photos<br />
www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/aztecs/highlights.html<br />
Law in Mexico Before the Conquest<br />
http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/rare/aztec/Home.htm<br />
Nahuatl Home Page<br />
http://www2.potsdam.edu/schwaljf/Nahuatl/<br />
Tu Cuate<br />
La diversidad en Mexico<br />
www.tucuate.com/index.html<br />
<strong>The</strong> Mexica/Aztecs<br />
history, religion, economy and society of aztecs<br />
www.wsu.edu/~dee/cIVaMrca/aZTEcS.hTM<br />
Chocolate Exhibition<br />
<strong>The</strong> importance of chocolate and cacao seed to 16th century aztec civilization<br />
www.fieldmuseum.org/chocolate/exhibits.html<br />
Minnesota State University Mesoamerican Sites and Cultures<br />
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/meso/mesotable.html<br />
Royal Academy of Arts: Aztecs<br />
Links to all aspects of Aztec society<br />
www.aztecs.org.uk/en/index.html<br />
Aztecs at Mexicolore<br />
aztec related resources for teachers<br />
www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php?one-azt&two=aaa<br />
<strong>The</strong> Archaeology Channel—Maya, Aztecs and Incas<br />
Short film clips—click on the video link to “Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas”<br />
www.archaeologychannel.org/content/videoguide.asp<br />
additional <strong>Educator</strong> and<br />
studEnt rEsourcEs<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 38
An Ancient Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico<br />
Essay on the conquest of Mexico<br />
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/aztecs.1.html<br />
<strong>The</strong> Ancient Aztec<br />
Site created by students on ancient aztec life<br />
www.library.thinkquest.org/27981/?tqskip1=1<br />
Ancient Aztec Webquest<br />
Webquest for students with links for research, includes activities for Journey to a New Land, Tenochtitlan, Polytheism,<br />
Social order, communication, Economy, arrival of the Spanish, and Fall of an Empire with a culminating event of the<br />
students creating an online-museum.<br />
www.cgs.conway.ma.us/ancientaztec.html<br />
ArchNet<br />
Search by region, topic and grade level for resources in South and central america and caribbean archaeology<br />
archnet.asu.edu<br />
Aztecs: Mighty Warriors of Mexico<br />
activities introducing students to aztec life and culture<br />
www.edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=446<br />
Aztec Mythology<br />
Aztec myths related to the sky and earth<br />
www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/mythology/aztec_culture.html<br />
Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries<br />
www.humanities-interactive.org/splendors/<br />
Laconquista: <strong>The</strong> Fall of the Aztec Empire<br />
www.ancientmexico.com/content/conquest/index.html<br />
Hall of Jades<br />
Compare early Chinese use of Jade to Aztec use of greenstone<br />
www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/exhibit_sites/jades/index.html<br />
additional <strong>Educator</strong> and<br />
studEnt rEsourcEs<br />
Underground Adventure<br />
Explore online soil education and biodiversity activities that invite students to develop research questions about soil<br />
ecosystems in their neighborhood.<br />
www.fieldmuseum.org/undergroundadventure/teachers/index.shtml<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 39
pronunciation <strong>GuidE</strong> — Deities represented in <strong>The</strong> Aztec World Exhibition<br />
Chalchiuthlicue [CHAL-chee-OOT-lee-quay], goddess of streams and lakes.<br />
additional <strong>Educator</strong> and<br />
studEnt rEsourcEs<br />
Chicomecoatl [CHEE-ko-may-co-aht], goddess of maize. Chicomecoatl wears a distinctive house-shaped headdress<br />
and carries ears of corn in both hands.<br />
Cihuacoatl [SEE-wha-co-aht], or “Snake Woman”. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs considered Cihuacoatl their “Great Mother,” or<br />
the earth goddess, and she possessed all the regenerative powers of the Earth and the fertility of the land.<br />
cihuacoatl gave birth to the sun each morning and received its death each night.<br />
Citlalicue [seet-LAH-lee-kway], the goddess of the starry sky.<br />
Coatlicue [co-AHT-lee-kway], Coyolxauhqui’s mother.<br />
Coyolxauhqui [co-yo-zha-OO-kee], the moon goddess.<br />
Ehecatl [AY-hay-caht], the wind god, recognized by his duck-bill mask and spiral shell belt. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs believed that<br />
Ehecatl “swept the way” for Tlaloc, the rain god.<br />
Huitzilophochtli [wheet-see-lo-poachT-lee], god of war and the sun.<br />
Mictlantecuhtli [meek-TLAHN-tay-coot-lee], the deity of death and the underworld. <strong>The</strong> Aztecs linked<br />
Mictlantecuhtli with the forces of chaos.<br />
Pahtecatl [pah-TAY-caht], identified by his moon-shaped nose ring and tuquoise crown. Pahtecatl, like all the pulque<br />
deities, represents the stars, who are the brothers of the moon goddess, Coyolxauhqui [co-yo-zha-OO-kee].<br />
Tlaltecuhtli [tlal-tay-COOT-lee], or “Lord Earth,” the devourer of the dead.<br />
Tlaloc [TLAH-lok], god of rain.<br />
Tonatiuh [toe-nah-TEE-ooh], the sun deity. Warriors had a duty to secure victims for Tonatiuh to ensure the sun’s<br />
daily journey across the sky<br />
Tzitzimitl [SEET-see-meet], or thousand stars who continually threatened the sun and the forces of day.<br />
Quetzalcoatl [ket-zal-coe-AHT], or “Feathered Serpent,” the patron deity of artisans. Considered as a creator deity<br />
and credited with inventing the arts, calendar, and even humans.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 40
additional <strong>Educator</strong> and<br />
studEnt rEsourcEs<br />
Xipe Totec [SHEE-pay TO-tek], “Our Flayed Lord,” a deity dressed in the flayed skin of a sacrificed warrior. Recent<br />
scholarship links Xipe Totec to agricultural fertility, the planting season, the harvesting of first fruits, and<br />
warfare.<br />
Xiuhtecuhtli [zhee-ooh-tay-COOT-lee], the “Fire God,” often depicted as an old man who dwelled at the center of<br />
the universe.<br />
Xochipilli [so-chee-pEE-lee], the god of music, song, dance, games, and poetry.<br />
Yacatecuhtli [ya-ka-tay-KOOT-lee], or “Nose Lord” was the protector and patron deity of merchants. Yacatecuhtli<br />
was so important to the pochtecas of Tenochtitlan, that they dedicated a temple in his honor. considered to be<br />
a guiding star.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 41
pronunciation <strong>GuidE</strong> —General words in <strong>The</strong> Aztec World Exhibition<br />
additional <strong>Educator</strong> and<br />
studEnt rEsourcEs<br />
Amatl (ah-MahT), a tree—imported from Morelos, Guerrero, and puebla—that provided the raw material for<br />
paper.<br />
Chacmool (CHOK-mool), an Aztec sculpture representing a rain god. <strong>The</strong> chacmool had three functions: as a<br />
platform for offerings, as a container for human hearts, and as an altar for human sacrifice.<br />
Chicahuaztli (CHEE-ka-whazt-lee), a ceremonial scepter carried by fertility deities. A symbol of agricultural renewal<br />
connected with the sun’s energy and the regenerative power of rain.<br />
Chinampas (chEE-nam-pas), or raised fields. It was here, in these highly fertile plots, that farmers grew a bounty of<br />
different foods including maize, beans, squash, chilies, amaranth, and sage.<br />
Cihuateteo (see-WHAHtay-tay-o), or women who died in childbirth. <strong>The</strong>ir spirits lived in the western sky and<br />
accompanied the sun on its afternoon journey towards sunset. In this role, the Cihuateteo were the female<br />
counterparts of dead warriors who accompanied the sun on its morning journey towards the noon sky.<br />
Cipactli (see-PAHKT-lee), or earth monster. According to one version of the Aztec creation story, the cipactli’s body<br />
became the source of all things that humans need: trees, plants, herbs, springs, rivers, lakes, and mountains.<br />
cipactli also represented the first day of the aztec ritual calendar and was therefore associated with the<br />
beginnings of both time and space.<br />
Cuauhtecatl (kwa-TAY-kaht), or sacrificed warrior.<br />
cuauhxicalli (kwah-shee-KAH-lee), literally “eagle’s gourd”. A stone offering vessel.<br />
Huey tlatoani (ooh-ee tla-toe-AHN-ee), or “great king.” <strong>The</strong> emperor was the pinnacle of Aztec society, and lived<br />
in a sumptuous palace filled with luxuries. Yet despite his privileged lifestyle, he was burdened with heavy<br />
responsibilities and expected to perform many roles, including high priest, military commander, supreme judge,<br />
and builder of public works.<br />
Macuahuitl (mah-cwah-WHEET), or “stick of the hand.” Special armament used by warriors, neither a club nor a<br />
sword, but rather a wood baton lined with razor-sharp obsidian blades.<br />
Mixtec (MEESH-tek), artisans who were brought from Oaxaca to Tenochtitlan to create magnificent adornments for<br />
the aztec ruling class.<br />
Obsidian (OB-sid-ee-an), a type of volcanic glass. Artisans crafted obsidian into beautiful ritual objects and practical<br />
cutting tools; in fact, obsidian knives can be sharper than surgical steel.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 42
Ollin (OH-leen), or glyph representing “movement.”<br />
additional <strong>Educator</strong> and<br />
studEnt rEsourcEs<br />
Pochteca (poach-TAY-kah), merchants/traders who undertook long-distance trading expeditions and sold luxury<br />
items such as greenstone, gold, feathers, shell, and high-quality cotton cloth.<br />
Pulque (PULL-kay), a fermented drink made from the sap of the maguey plant. To make pulque, women first<br />
“tapped” the maguey sap by scraping the plant’s center with sharp stone tools, often made of obsidian. After<br />
being transferred into ceramic containers, the sap was allowed to ferment. pulque was linked with the moon<br />
and the stars.<br />
Temalacatl (tay-mah-lah-caht), literally “spindle whorl made of stone.” <strong>The</strong> Aztecs often forced captured warriors to<br />
fight while tied to a temalacatl.<br />
Teponaztli (tay-poe-NAHZ-lee), a horizontal wood drum carved from a single log and played with drumsticks tipped<br />
in rubber.<br />
Tequihua (tay-KEE-whah), or emissary. Warriors were often promoted by emperors to the rank of tequihua.<br />
Tlanecuilo (tla-nay-KWEE-lo), or regional merchants who dealt in everyday foodstuffs and common household<br />
items.<br />
Xiuhmolpilli (shee-ooh-mol-PEE-lee), or “bundle of years.” <strong>The</strong> Aztec equivalent of our century was a 52-year cycle.<br />
Xochimilco (so-CHEE-mil-koe), a lake where Aztecs built chinampas. Also the name of a town town south of Mexico<br />
City, where Aztec chinampas still survive and flourish. Xochimilco means “place of flower fields,” and today<br />
farmers still grow flowers and vegetables here.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 43
Visit us on-line at www.fieldmusem.org/harrisloan, or call 312.665.7555.<br />
ExpEriEncE boxEs<br />
corrEspondinG harris Educational<br />
loan cEntEr rEsourcEs<br />
ancient Egypt: life along the nile<br />
Learn how ancient Egyptians used water for irrigation by assembling a model of a shaduf and compare to methods<br />
used by ancient Aztecs! Also, experiment with Egyptian measurements by using a cubit stick.<br />
aztec and Maya Marketplaces<br />
Marketplaces played an important role in Aztec economy. Merchants served customers from all levels of society,<br />
fueling the busting Aztec economy. Explore some of the items available in Aztec and Maya marketplaces, and identify<br />
where some of these materials originated.<br />
Metate<br />
<strong>The</strong> metate is a volcanic flat rock used in Mexico and Central America for grinding corn and other foods products.<br />
Students can experience grinding corn into meal.<br />
religion and ceremony (british airways)<br />
Discover why religion and ceremony is so important to many cultures and how different religions and ceremonies fit<br />
into daily life.<br />
underground adventure: science Explorers<br />
use scientific methods to discover the underground world around you! Includes tools used to collect specimens of<br />
soils in field research. This kit provides an excellent introduction to careers in science.<br />
underground adventure: Vacant lot<br />
Find out about city soils and plants by using scientific tools to examine plant samples.<br />
Vamos a comer (let’s Eat!)<br />
Take a closer look at Latin American cultures by examining the plants and foods of different countries in the region.<br />
Volcanoes<br />
Volcanoes are clues to the constant changes of the Earth’s surface. Look at pumice, obsidian, and basalt, and find out<br />
how they were formed. Kit includes a volcano model and Rivers of Fire videotape.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 44
Exhibit casEs<br />
corrEspondinG harris Educational<br />
loan cEntEr rEsourcEs<br />
corn<br />
Examine the great versatility and interesting cultural history of corn. A native of Mexico, corn’s usefulness goes<br />
beyond flour and cornmeal, to paper, mattress stuffing and even explosives.<br />
Volcanic products<br />
Investigate the more peaceful time, after a volcanic eruption, when lava cools. Specimens of pumice, obsidian, and<br />
basalt demonstrate how igneous rocks are formed.<br />
rubber<br />
bounce into the fascinating world of rubber production. rubber is, and was an important resource in Middle<br />
America. Extracted from milkweed trees, rubber is exposed to acid, sulphur and high heat to create a variety of useful<br />
materials. Rubber was imported into Central Mexico from Veracruz.<br />
pyralin<br />
It takes a lot to convert cotton bolls into usable cotton fabric. Investigate the step-by-step process that mixes this<br />
cellulose product—that forms the basis of the cotton fabric—with shredded and treated cotton, eventually producing<br />
manufactured pyroxylin.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 45
the ancient americas Exhibition<br />
rElatEd Exhibitions<br />
Follow the epic tale of the peoples of the Americas! This exhibition<br />
presents the diverse and fascinating story of the early cultures of<br />
north, central, and South america and the caribbean, from the<br />
earliest peoples in the Western Hemisphere to roughly AD 1500.<br />
compare early social structures in the americas to those you are<br />
familiar with today, including the aztecs.<br />
Visit thE FiEld MusEuM’s Many othEr FascinatinG pErManEnt<br />
Exhibitions about Early pEoplEs oF thE aMEricas, includinG:<br />
native north americans hall<br />
the alsdorf hall of northwest coast and arctic peoples Exhibition<br />
compare life in the arctic with that along a temperate pacific coast, and learn<br />
how these environments led to different lifeways. amazing historic photographs<br />
supplement life-sized cross-sections of houses and displays of tools, cooking gear,<br />
clothing, and luxury goods that portray the daily life and complex social organization<br />
of these maritime cultures.<br />
Find out more about some of the over 500 Indigenous groups in North America. Displays exploring select peoples<br />
from the Great Lakes, the Prairies, the Plains, and the Southwest regions include a wide range of traditional clothing,<br />
ceramics, basketry, textiles, weaponry, beadwork, and children’s toys, all created mostly in the late 19th century.<br />
the pawnee Earth lodge and the Webber Gallery<br />
Explore a full-scale reconstruction of a traditional Pawnee lodge to learn about some<br />
of the traditional ways of this Great Plains tribal group. Or, visit the Webber Gallery to<br />
discover the arts and traditions of contemporary Indigenous cultures of north, central,<br />
and South America through small traveling exhibitions and presentations created from<br />
the <strong>Museum</strong>’s own collections.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 46
hall of Jades<br />
Jade has meant many things to many people. Its luminous beauty and<br />
extraordinary durability have inspired cultures throughout history to invest it<br />
with meaning. compare the meaning and use of greenstone by the aztecs to the<br />
meaning and use in prehistoric china. This stunning permanent display of more<br />
than 450 objects from the <strong>Museum</strong>’s collection takes you on a walk through<br />
china’s history, from prehistoric burials through two thousand years of the world’s<br />
most enduring empire.<br />
inside ancient Egypt Exhibition<br />
Explore the world or the ancient Egyptians! Help students make connections<br />
between aztec and Egyptian everyday life and mythology.<br />
pacific spirits: life, death, and the supernatural Exhibition<br />
Investigate pacific peoples’ beliefs about religion, warfare, and ancestor veneration<br />
while making comparisons to ancient Aztec beliefs about religion, warfare, and<br />
ancestors.<br />
plants of the World Exhibition<br />
Marvel at world-famous plant models, from algae to orchids. You won’t believe<br />
these are models crafted from glass and wax! Explore plants with connections to<br />
the ancient Aztecs and those commonly found in Mexico today.<br />
underground adventure Exhibition<br />
<strong>The</strong>re’s more to soil than meets the eye. <strong>The</strong> world of soil is a rich habitat for many<br />
amazing creatures. What do you think life would be like if you lived underground?<br />
Investigate the role agriculture in aztec society with the importance of soil and<br />
agriculture in the world today.<br />
rElatEd Exhibitions<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 47
studEnt proGraMs<br />
aztec Mexico: Earth, Water and sky, Grades 3–5<br />
available november 10, 2008 – april 17, 2009<br />
thE aztEc World Education proGraMs<br />
In this class, students will get an in-depth look at the artistic traditions of the Aztec Empire.<br />
Students will travel through <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition and interpret fantastic displays of history,<br />
art, culture, spirit and science. Using examples of Aztec literature, art, and materials, students will<br />
examine elements of Aztec life and Mesoamerican society.<br />
Meets ILS goals 11, 16, 17.<br />
Tuesdays through Fridays, 10:00am–12:00pm<br />
$4 per student; pre-registration required.<br />
aztec: Exploring the Marketplace, Grades 6–8<br />
available november 10, 2008 – april 17, 2009<br />
Students will tour <strong>The</strong> Aztec World and discover a remarkably unique and artifact-rich exhibition<br />
on the history and culture of the Aztecs. Students will also explore a classroom that has been<br />
converted into an Aztec marketplace and work in groups to understand the natural environment,<br />
government and religion of the aztecs.<br />
Meets ILS goals 11, 16, 17.<br />
Tuesdays through Fridays, 10:00am–12:00pm<br />
$4 per student; pre-registration required.<br />
Michael heralda: aztec stories, Grades 3–12<br />
Through a presentation of ancient poetry, narratives, oral tradition stories and ballads, students<br />
will learn to sing songs in the nahuatl language and play with hand-made, Indigenous-styled<br />
instruments. This program allows students the opportunity for interactive, improvisational<br />
participation.<br />
Meets ILS goals 18, 26, 27.<br />
Friday, March 6, 2009 at 10:30am<br />
Free; pre-registration required.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>Map</strong>s <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 48
FaMily proGraMs<br />
thE aztEc World Education proGraMs<br />
Gallery programs: interpretive stations<br />
Aztec Sun Stone<br />
Utilize the cast of the Aztec Sun Stone in <strong>The</strong> Ancient Americas exhibition to explore the images found on<br />
this tablet and discover their meaning.<br />
Mega <strong>Map</strong>s of the Americas<br />
Explore sites illustrating the routes the first peoples of the Americas took to spread across the continents<br />
and find out more about Native peoples’ explanation of their origins in these lands.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Story of Domestication<br />
Trace the routes and history of products in the americas and discover the story of their domestication<br />
through trade and industrialization.<br />
Schedule varies. Please check the information kiosk on the day of your visit for a list of the day’s activities.<br />
Free with basic admission.<br />
kraft story time<br />
Take a seat in the Crown Family PlayLab, hear a story, and make an art project to take home, all in 20 minutes!<br />
Stories during November will highlight Mexico.<br />
Saturdays and Sundays in november at 1:30pm, free with basic admission.<br />
scientists at the <strong>Field</strong><br />
Meet a <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> scientist and see rarely displayed specimens from our Mesoamerican collections.<br />
Saturday, november 15, 2008<br />
11:00am–2:00pm, free with basic admission.<br />
creating codices<br />
Gain a further understanding of Aztec culture though their writings. Look at the meaning of different<br />
Aztec codices while creating a codex of our own.<br />
Saturday, november 15, 2008 at 10:00am<br />
$7, members $4; pre-registration required, call 312.665.7400.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 49
pErForMancEs<br />
thE aztEc World Education proGraMs<br />
nahui ollin<br />
Enjoy a spectacular performance by Chicago-based dance troupe Nahui Ollin! Watch as they perform indigenous<br />
ceremonial dances from Mexico using native instruments such as the jarana, huehuetl drum, rattles, whistles and<br />
a guitar made from a turtle shell.<br />
Saturday, november 1, 2008 at 12:00pm, free with basic admission.<br />
chicago youth symphony orchestra<br />
<strong>The</strong> chicago Youth Symphony orchestra features gifted musicians 7–18 years old who perform great orchestral<br />
works. Under the direction of Music Director Allen Tinkham, this concert will feature works by Marquez, Copland,<br />
Moncayo and Falla.<br />
Saturday, november 1, 2008 at 1:00pm, free with basic admission.<br />
Michael heralda: aztec stories<br />
Through a presentation of poetry, narratives, oral tradition stories, and ballads, families will learn about ancient<br />
Mexico from an Indigenous perspective.<br />
Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 12:00pm, free with basic admission.<br />
adult lEcturEs<br />
the aztec World conference adult lecture<br />
Explore Aztec art and culture with the foremost experts in the field of Aztec anthropology.<br />
conference will place a special emphasis on women, farmers, and commoners; sacrifice; and<br />
contemporary excavations in Mexico City.<br />
Featuring the curators of <strong>The</strong> Aztec World exhibition:<br />
Felipe Solís Olguín, Director, National <strong>Museum</strong> of Anthropology, Mexico City<br />
Juan Alberto Román Berrelleza, Professor-Researcher, Templo Mayor <strong>Museum</strong>, Mx City<br />
Leonardo López Luján, Director, Templo Mayor Project, Mx City<br />
Elizabeth Brumfiel, professor of anthropology, northwestern university<br />
Sunday, october 26, 2008 at 2:00pm, free; pre-registration required, call 312.665.7400.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 50
RULERS<br />
HIGH PRIESTS<br />
CONCLUSION<br />
EXIT<br />
ENTRANCE<br />
WARRIORS<br />
ARTISANS<br />
FARMING<br />
INTRO<br />
<strong>WalkinG</strong> <strong>Map</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Field</strong> <strong>Museum</strong> • <strong>The</strong> Aztec World <strong>Educator</strong> Guide Page 51