Art and the Senses in Ancient America : Materiality and Meaning

Art and the Senses in Ancient America addresses three essential questions. The first is the materiality of the arts in pre-Columbian America, considering different cultures of both ancient Mesoamerica and the Andean area. In several of its chapters, the importance of physicochemical studies applied to the study of the art of past cultures is evident, because they offer results on the raw materials that were used, which were not always referenced in written or visual sources. The volume approaches art not only from its tangible dimension, but also from its immaterial one, as demonstrated by chapters focused on the culinary, aromatic and musical arts, which appeal to the senses of taste, smell and hearing. This brings us to the second dimension under discussion: the close relationship between the materiality of the arts and their sociocultural meanings. In this sense, the raw materials from which the images, textures, sounds, fragrances and flavors were made, which were part of the art and daily life of these pre-Columbian cultures, had meanings of great importance in their environments of belonging and use, whether they were public or private. This, finally, leads to the third argument that this book explores: the senses and sensory perception of art and daily life that participated in the sacred and the profane, giving identity to numerous sociocultural practices that are present in today’s indigenous communities, who safeguard the historical memory of their ancestors.