Mesoamerican Cave Art

The topic that I chose for my research for anthropology of art is about cave art in the Maya region. This interests me because the past few years I have traveled to Belize for an archaeology field school that focuses on the Maya. This type of archaeology is what I plan to do for the rest of my life. caves in this region that have been used or modified by the Maya also interest me because not a whole lot is known about the cave usage. In some of these caves there are petroglyphs, hieroglyphs, and paintings. the basis of my research involved figuring out how cave art in this region affect the usage of caves and the Maya culture in general. This relates to the course because first of all it involves pieces of art, and also I provide analysis on how these piece of art played a specific role in the Mayan culture.

My research mostly consisted of peer reviewed sources that I mostly found either online and online databases. To find most of the sources I searched the journal database JSTOR and searching for articles on Google and Google scholar. Some of the major problems I encountered when researching for my thesis was that there isn't a whole lot of literature on caves in the Maya region because its a fairly recent sub-discipline of archaeology. the other main problem is that there isnt that many caves that contain art in them throughout the Maya region leading to even fewer amount of literature on caves and their art.

If I had to chose a follow up research project I would start with something with more literature about it to make it easier to find information. Maybe delve into classical Greek statues and their significance to the Greeks. First there is a plethora of information on this subject and also because since taking an AP art history class in high school I have had a fascination with Greek statues.

Flint-Knapping

Over the past month I have personally gone to two flint knapping workshops and have to a few others in the past year.Flint knapping is the process of taking a core of stone and chipping away at it to make a piece of stone that resembles a blade, arrowhead, spear point, scrappers, jewelry and pieces of art. This process is not as simple as just striking rocks together to make an arrow head, it takes a lot of knowledge of the materials that is being used and and idea of how to use them. In this particular case the workshop was being held in a small teaching room that had been cleared of its desks and chairs, and now was filled with large chunks of obsidian, and blankets underneath them. The room was jam packed with mostly students and amateur archaeologists alike, and none knew what they had gotten themselves into. Much of the first hour was a lecture on the tools being used in the lecture, and the terminology, of the art making process. All of this I have already heard multiple times throughout the last year, and was eagerly waiting to create my next piece, and I could see the rest of the room anticipating the same. As people began to gather their materials, we all had to wear safety glasses and gloves, and we all looked ridiculous which in my point of view added a little fun to the experience. Once people got started hammering away at their stones in hope of creating something incredible, everybody begins to loosen up and start conversing with each other, but at the heart there is still a bit of competitiveness that is there, to see who can make the best pieces. The Instructor is also floating around the room helping people that need it or if he sees something wrong. At the end of the workshop most people are left empty handed with just a few flakes that sorta resemble arrowheads, and the feeling of accomplishment stays with them as they leave. This Workshop is not about making arrowheads its about learning how paleolithic peoples in Europe and the indigenous people in the Americas made their tools. Its also even more than that, its about "making special" and creating something that is special to you from materials like a rock.